ABHA (SAUDI ARABIA), Mar 16: Indian football team head coach Igor Stimac said on Saturday that he is keeping a close watch on the players competing in the I-League for a possible national team call up.
The Croatian also said that the I-League calendar should be in sync with the FIFA window so that players don’t miss out of national selection.
A 25-member Indian team, led by skipper Sunil Chhetri, underwent their first training session on Saturday evening after arriving here a week in advance to acclimatise to the high-altitude venue ahead of the away Round 2 tie of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification here on March 21.
“I watch all the games throughout the season but this time, I especially went to see some of our youngsters playing in the I-League,” said Stimac, indicating how serious he is about scouting for talent in the domestic tournament.
“(Coach of the India U-23 team) Mahesh (Gawali) is responsible for following I-League players and I wanted to see some of the boys he mentioned to me play live like David (Lalhlansanga) and Bikash (Sagolsem) of Mohammedan (Sporting), Sourav of Gokulam (Kerala FC) and Edmund (Lalrindika) of Inter Kashi. I’m happy with what I have seen and we will keep following their progress,” said Stimac.
“The problem is that the I-League calendar wasn’t adjusted to FIFA windows and clubs need them now, so they will miss this opportunity of representing the U23s in Malaysia. But I am sure this will change soon,” added Stimac.
Three young Indian Super League players, defenders Amey Ranawade and Jay Gupta, and winger Imran Khan are with the India side here.
Speaking on the three youngsters in the side, Stimac said, “Amey was in our plans a long time ago before he suffered an injury. He is an intelligent young player with good ability and needs time to start picking up experience at this level,” said Stimac of the young defender.
“Jay has shown interesting offensive capabilities but we still need to work a lot on his defensive shape and positioning. Imran, we believe, can add something extra to the competition for midfield positions.
“He’s been consistent in taking shots from a distance and creating danger so we need to check how good he can be at this level,” added the head coach.
Stimac said acclimating to the venue here, which is at an altitude of 2,470m above sea level, was his top priority.
The squad led by Sunil Chhetri, landed here as early as possible after the ISL paused for the international break just to get used to the altitude.
The Blue Tigers, after playing their away tie against Afghanistan here, will play the home tie in Guwahati on March 26.
India are currently tied on three points in Group A of the qualifiers, along with Kuwait, who are ahead on goal difference. The Blue Tigers defeated Kuwait (1-0) in Kuwait City in their opening match of the qualifiers, before losing to Qatar (0-3) in Bhubaneswar. Qatar currently lead the group with six points. (PTI)
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