Top five players making comeback in India's probable squad for Vietnam International friendlies

The Indian football team is in search of their maiden win this year.

After a disastrous Intercontinental Cup, the Indian football team are set to return in the Tri-Nation friendly tournament, which will be hosted in Vietnam during the October FIFA International match window. The Blue Tigers are going to face the host Vietnam, on the 9th of October and Lebanon on the 12th of October, 2024.

This year, the national team has played nine international games. Among which the team could not find a single victory. They have drawn three and faced defeat in six. The team has scored only two goals, with only one coming from open play.

On Monday, head coach Manolo Márquez announced a 26-member probable list, including five players making comebacks for the national team. Let us look at all these players.

Vishal Kaith

The first-choice goalkeeper of Mohun Bagan Super Giant is back in the National team camp after the World Cup qualification round two. Vishal Kaith debuted for the national team in the SAFF Championship, in 2018, where India were the runners-up after losing the final by 2-1 against Maldives. 

The custodian between the sticks is in good form. With his outstanding performances, he led his club Mohun Bagan to the Durand Cup final. In the final league match of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24, his remarkable performance, with four diving saves, helped his team win the ISL league Shield.  In the presence of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Amrinder Singh, it will be interesting to see if Vishal makes it to the final eleven.

Brandon Fernandes 

The Mumbai City FC midfielder is coming back to the national team once again after the World Cup Qualifiers. He has eight assists to his name with the national team. 

Brandon played in the national team against Qatar on the 11th of June, 2024. In that match, his clever pass found Lallianzuala Chhangte, who converted it to score the sole open-play goal that the Indian team scored this year. This year, the player signed with Mumbai City FC and has only played 40 minutes in total in the first two matches for the team.

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Vikram Partap Singh

The Indian forward made his debut under former national team head coach Igor Stimac against Australia in the AFC Asian Cup, in 2023. He only played the final minutes of that match. In the World Cup Qualifiers match against Afghanistan, he made into the starting XI for the first time. 

The forward had an outstanding ISL 2023-24 season. In his 23 league appearances, Vikram scored eight goals and provided four assists.

This performance includes a hat trick against NorthEast United FC. However, this season, he started from the bench in the first two matches for Mumbai City FC.

Farukh Chaudhary

The midfielder is making his comeback after almost three years. Farukh Chaudhary played his last match for the national team on the 10th of October, 2021, against Nepal. In his 14 appearances for the Indian football team, he had one goal and one assist in his name. The Chennaiyin FC left winger scored two goals against Odisha FC in the ongoing ISL season.

Rahim Ali

The new center forward of Odisha FC is also one of the latest names to be called up by Manolo Márquez. The last time, Rahim Ali played was in the World Cup qualifiers against Qatar.

Although Ali could not convert the chances, he played well up front and troubled Qatar’s defense. In the last ISL season, Rahim Ali scored three goals and created two assists in 17 match appearances for Chennaiyin FC.

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