Merdeka Cup: Igor Stimac announces 26 probables

The Merdeka Cup will commence from October 13.

Senior Men’s National Team Head Coach Igor Stimac, on Friday, September 29,2023, named a list of 26 probables for the Merdeka Cup 2023, to be played in Malaysia from October 13-17. 

The Merdeka Cup 2023 will be a four-team affair with hosts Malaysia, Palestine and Tajikistan are the other teams. To be played on the knockout basis, India will take on hosts Malaysia in the second semi-final on October 13. Palestine and Tajikistan will cross swords in the first semi-final earlier on the same day. 

October 17 has been kept as the day for the final and also for the third placed match, which will be played between the two losing semi-finalists. 

The final list of 23 players, who will travel to Malaysia, will be announced in the second week of October.

The 26 member probable list are as follows – 

Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kate and Dheeraj Singh.

Defenders: Nikhil Poojari, Roshan Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Mehtab Singh, Lalchungnunga, Akash Mishra and Subhashish Bose.

Midfielders: Jeakson Singh, Suresh Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Rohit Kumar, Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandes, Lalianzuala Chhangte, Udanta Singh, Vikram Pratap Singh, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Liston Colaco and Nandhakumar Sekar.

Forwards: Sunil Chhetri and Manvir Singh.

Head Coach: Igor Stimac