Indian Football
Chief coach Bob Houghton has announced 44 probables to select the Indian team for the AFC Challenge Cup 2011 qualifiers, but the list excludes several of India’s stalwarts who did duty at the Asian Cup in Doha.
While captain Baichung Bhutia expectedly excused himself to recover from injury, Houghton also chose not to include the likes of stand-in captain Climax Lawrence, Mahesh Gawli, Clifford Miranda, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Surkumar Singh, Deepak Mondal, NP Pradeep, MehrajuddinWadoo, AbhishekYadav and, quite inexplicably, the promising Mohammad Rafi. “I just saw the list and I do not know why I have been left out,” Climax told TOI from Doha, where he will be leading Dempo Sports Club against Al Sadd in the AFC Champions League qualifier.
The list of 44 members registered for the AFC Challenge Cup:
Subrata Paul, Arindam Bhattacharya, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Denzil Franco,Gourmangi Singh, Anwar Ali, N Mohanraj, Nirmal Chhetri, Govin Singh, Syed Rahim Nabi, N S Manju, Raju Gaikwad, Steven Dias, Joaquim Abranches, Baldip Singh, Jagpreet Singh, Rakesh Masih, Jewel Raja, Shilton D’Silva, Sunil Chhetri, Sushil Kumar Singh, C S Sabeeth, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Jagroop Singh, Ravi Kumar, Vishal Kumar, Abhishek Das, Deepak Devrani, Inderpreet Singh, Souvik Ghosh, Lalrozama Fanai, Pratamesh Moulingkar, Akshay Kumar Mall, Subodh Kumar, Milan Singh, Bikramjit Singh, Lalrindika Ralte, Trithankar Sarkar, Jibon Singh, Manandeep, Robin Singh, Holicharan Narzary, Malswamfela and Jagtar Singh.
Climax was not alone in his predicament until All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das stepped in to clear the air: “The senior players have been provided with a well-needed rest. The list has been submitted to us by the coach and he must have given it a good thought. We have an important World Cup qualifier coming up (in June).”
The AIFF, it is learnt, were initially in favour of fielding the under-23 squad for the AFC Challenge Cup.
Tags: AFC Challenge Cup 2011, AIFF, All India Football Federation, Asian Cup, Bob Houghton, Chief Coach, Football, Indian Football, Indian Squad
