India will be looking to give tough fight to Oman after recently concluded successful season of ISL season 7 behind closed doors and they will be playing without their talismanic skipper Sunil Chhetri who is currently recovering from COVID-19.
However coach Stimac has hinted that young Indian players will go out there to play fearless football against Oman in International Friendliness match here on Thursday.
Stimac further asserted that the youngsters will get more chances to prove themselves and they are advised to play fearless football irrespective of the result.
“We need to come to the pitch without any fear, we need to try to make our transitions properly, and we need to try and enjoy the possession that we have. That’s what I want to ask of my players,” Stimac had said ahead of the camp here.
The absence of Chhetri will be the biggest blow for young Indian players as the regular skipper is the second highest International goalscorer among active footballer.
However Blue tigers were able to pull a goal-less draw against Asian Champions Qatar in Doha without the star striker in a 2022 World Cup qualifying round match in 2019.
“It’s a big miss, not having Chhetri bhai in the squad. But I’m sure the boys will take this as an opportunity and we have to play together as a team,” said goalkeeper and senior player Gurpreet Singh Sandhu who has led the side on many occasions.
However if we look at head to head matches between both sides till date where they have played against each other six times in which India has won only one match so ideally the stats are in favour of Oman.
However Indian team consisting of 27 members is a perfect amalgamation of young and experience players. Let’s have a look at the complete India squad described below
India: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Dheeraj Singh, Ashutosh Mehta, Akash Mishra, Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Chinglensana Singh, Adil Khan, Mandar Rao Dessai, Mashoor Shereef, Rowllin Borges, Lalengmawia, Jeakson Singh, Raynier Fernandes, Anirudh Thapa, Bipin Singh, Yasir Mohammad, Suresh Singh, Halicharan Narzary, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Ashique Kuruniyan, Manvir Singh, Ishan Pandita, Hitesh Sharma, Liston Colaco.
Match Starts at 7.15pm IST; to be telecast live on Eurosport.
