A 23 member Indian squad for the AFC Asian Cup 2011, starting on Januray 7 at Qatar, has been announced. The team will be led by the inspirational Bhaichung Bhutia and will take on Australia in their first group match on January 10th.
The team has just one player from Kerala in midfielder NP Pradeep. The other Keralite who was in the probables list, Mohammed Rafi who was in good goal scoring form in the last season, was 'shockingly' missing in the final list. It seems as if the striker who played in a few friendlies for India failed to impress the Indian coach Bob Houghton.
Meanwhile, India has appointed Raul Carmo Fernandez, managing director of Gulf International Promotions has taken over as the Indian national team manager, after Pradip Chaudury left the team.
Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul (Pune FC), Subhasish Roychowdhury (Dempo SC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (AIFF XI)
Defenders: Surkumar Singh (Mohun Bagan), Gouramangi Moirangthem (Churchill Brothers), Anwar Ali (Free Agent), Mahesh Gawli (Dempo SC), Syed Rahim Nabi (East Bengal), Deepak Mandal (Free Agent), N.S. Manju (Free Agent), Rakesh Masih (Mohun Bagan), Govin Singh (Free Agent)
**Midfielders: **Steven Dias (Churchill Brothers), NP Pradeep (Free Agent), Climax Lawrence (Dempo SC), Clifford Miranda (Dempo SC), Renedy Singh (Free Agent), Mehrajuddin Wadoo (East Bengal), Baldeep Singh (JCT)
Strikers: Bhaichung Bhutia (East Bengal), Sunil Chhetri (Kansas City Wizards), Abhishek Yadav (Free Agent), Sushil Kumar Singh (East Bengal)
Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul (Pune FC), Subhasish Roychowdhury (Dempo SC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (AIFF XI) Defenders: Surkumar Singh (Mohun Bagan), Gouramangi Moirangthem (Churchill Brothers), Anwar Ali (Free Agent), Mahesh Gawli (Dempo SC), Syed Rahim Nabi (East Bengal), Deepak Mandal (Free Agent), N.S. Manju (Free Agent), Rakesh Masih (Mohun Bagan) & Govin Singh (Free Agent) Midfielders: Steven Dias (Churchill Brothers), N.P.Pradeep (Free Agent), Climax Lawrence (Dempo SC), Clifford Miranda (Dempo SC), Renedy Singh (Free Agent), Mehrajuddin Wadoo (East Bengal), Baldeep Singh (JCT) Strikers: Bhaichung Bhutia (East Bengal), Sunil Chhetri (Kansas City Wizards), Abhishek Yadav (Free Agent) & Sushil Kumar Singh (East Bengal)
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Monday 27 December 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.
Comments · 2
Where is MOHAMMED RAFI? has Bob Houghton gone nutzzz????
Who is Sushil? How did he get in the squad in place of Rafi?