Former Indian skipper, Bahichung Bhutia, who had been left out of the national team for World Cup qualifier matches has been included in the 32 member probables list for the India - Pakistan football tournament released by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday. Four Malayalis including Churhcill Brothers duo Bineesh Balan and MP Sakeer are also among the list of probables.
For three players out of the four - MP Sakeer, Bineesh Balan and Shahbaz Saleel - it has come as their first call up into the senior national team camp, while striker CS Sabeeth kept his place in the team. Bineesh, 20 years of age, is a TFA product who has a had a couple of good seasons for Churchill Brothers, scoring and creating goals for the Goan giants. Bineesh, hailing from Thrissur district of Kerala, has earlier represented India in the under-14 and under-19 levels.
Former Viva Kerala captain MP Sakeer, also from Churchill, was included in the Indian under-23 team that lost to Qatar earlier this month, but was replaced after the first leg due to an injury. Meanwhile Saleel was instrumental in Viva’s promotion into the top division two seasons back. Saleel left for ONGC FC after winning promotion with Viva Kerala and has been playing for the Mumbai-based club for the last two seasons.
The other Malayali, Sabeeth is also named in the sqaud for the FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifiers and has scored two goals for the national team.
The Indian National Football Team will be playing a three-match series against Pakistan in England, starting August 25. The team is scheduled to play three matches in Manchester, Coventry and London in what has been dubbed as ‘Clash of the Titans – India-Pakistan UK tour’. This will be the first-time that India would be playing a three-match series against Pakistan in a neutral venue. The last time the two nations met was in a three-match series in 2005 at Pakistan.
Probables for Indo-Pak Tour:
Goalkeepers: Subrata Pal, Laxmikant Kattimani, Jagroop Singh, Ravi Kumar
Defenders: Debabrata Roy, Raju Eknath Gaikwad, Deepak Devrani, Nirmal Chhetri, Arnab Mondal, R.Vishal Kumar, Abhishek Das, Lalrozama Fanai, Shahbaz Saleel, Gurjinder Kumar, Shouvik Ghosh
Midfielders: Renedy Singh, Jewel Raja Sheikh, Shilton D’Silva, Gilbert Oliveira, Ongnam Milan Singh, Jibon Singh, Subodh Kumar, Lalrindika Ralte, Snehasish Chakraborthy, Anthony Barbosa, MP Sakeer Forwards: Bhaichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sabeeth CS, Bineesh Balan, Bijendra Rai
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 20 July 2011, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.