India to face Asian champions Iraq in friendly

Chief coach Bob Houghton will be a worried man going into tomorrow's international friendly against defending Asian champions Iraq in Sharjah as numerous players continue to be injured with Sunil Chhetri the latest addition to the casualty list.

Already on the sidelines due to injuries are captain Baichung Bhutia, Mahesh Gawli, Sameer Naik, N.P. Pradeep and Arindam Bhattacharya out of the 30 player strong contingent. With Sunil Chhetri now also out it means that Abhishek Yadav and Sushil Kumar Singh will start upfront for India, but the team management is hopeful that Chhetri will be back in training in a few days. In midfield youngster Rakesh Masih will get a chance in place of injured N.P. Pradeep besides stand-in captain Climax Lawrence with Steven Dias and Anthony Pereira on the wings. The back four remains unchanged with Surkumar, Anwar, Gouramangi and Nabi; while Subrata Pal stays in goal.

Iraq will be the toughest opponent India has faced in their run-up to the 2011 AFC Asian Cup so far. A real test of strength and character as this is the level of competition to the faced in the Asian Cup, so it will be interesting to see if our weakened squad can face this kind of competition as especially upfront we are vulnerable with the absence of Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri.

The Iraqis are coached by seasoned German Wolfgang Sidka, who has years of experience in working in the Gulf after having worked in the Bundesliga. Iraq have a number of players abroad playing in the Gulf, in Egypt, Libya and even Australia; but they won't have their strongest squad to play as it isn't a FIFA match date. The Iraqis are using the match as preparations for the Gulf Cup which starts in Yemen on November 22.

The match will be played at the Al Shaab Stadium in Sharjah; which is just outside of Dubai and as per latest information with me there will be no live television coverage of the match.


Likely India Line-up

1-Subrata Pal; 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 5-Anwar, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi; 23-Steven Benedic Dias, 41-Rakesh Masih, 30-Climax Lawrence, 28-Anthony Pereira; 9-Abhishek Yadav, 18-Sushil Kumar Singh