India Probables for Caribbean Tour

Last night the national team players returned to New Delhi after a short break at home ahead of the trip to the Caribbean to play Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad&Tobago. 26 players were supposed to report to the probables camp with 23 players set to fly across to the Caribbean next week for the three match series to take place later this month.

But especially Kolkata giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan are against releasing the players while their pre-season is on. AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das has met the club officials to explain to them that such a tour was of general interest to Indian football with such expose for Team India rare.

East Bengal have agreed for Raju Gaikwad, Robert Lalthlamuana ad Baljit Singh Saini to be part of the squad while they want Mehtab Hussain and Harmanjot Singh Khabra to stay back. Mohun Bagan have left it to their new coach Steve Darby to decide.

From the 30 player squad for the home-and-away tie against the United Arab Emirates in the 2014 FIFA World Cup - Asian Round 2 qualifiers the following four players have been left out - Sandip Nandy (East Bengal Club), Denzil Franco (Churchill Brothers SC), Rakesh Masih (Mohun Bagan AC) and Shilton D'Silva (Indian Arrows). But if other players aren't released then other players might be called to the camp.


INDIA Probables
Goalkeepers
Subrata Pal (Pune FC), Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar SC), Laxmikant Kattimani (Dempo SC)

Defenders
Sameer Naik (Dempo SC), Valeriano Rebello (Dempo SC), Gouramangi Singh (Churchill Brothers SC), Raju Eknath Gaikwad (East Bengal Club), Mahesh Gawli (Dempo SC), Rowilson Rodrigues (Dempo SC), Debabrata Roy (Dempo SC), Robert Lalthlamuana (East Bengal Club)

Midfielders
Steven Benedic Dias (Churchill Brothers SC), Lalrindika Ralte (Churchill Brothers SC), Peter Carvalho (Dempo SC), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal Club), Lalkamal Bhowmick (United SC), Harmanjot Khabra (East Bengal Club), Jewel Raja Sheikh (Mohun Bagan AC), Climax Lawrence (Dempo SC), Syed Rahim Nabi (Mohun Bagan AC), Clifford Miranda (Dempo SC)

Forwards
Sunil Chhetri (Mohun Bagan AC), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Pune FC), Sushil Kumar Singh (United Sikkim FC), Baljit Singh Sahni (East Bengal Club), C.S. Sabeeth (Indian Arrows)

Officials
Armando Colaco (Chief Coach), Savio Medeira (Assistant Coach), Marcus Pacheco (Goalkeeping Coach), Mandar Tamhane (Manager)

India could Tour the Caribbean in September

The All India Football Federation has received an offer from a US based company for a three to five match Tour of the Caribbean in September 2011. The AIFF is said to be considering the proposal as it would give the senior national team much needed international exposure outside of Asia.

As per infos available at the moment the tour organisers original plan was to play three matches between India and Trinidad&Tobago, but now they are said to be considering to make it a real tour of the Caribbean. A match against the 2006 FIFA World Cup finalists Trinidad&Tobago is a certainly if the tour takes place, but matches could also be played against the national sides of Barbados, Guyana, Suriname and Bahamas.

The tour looks likely to be a 15 to 20 day trip to beautiful locations across the Caribbean with some of the countries even having a substantial Indian origin population.

The Caribbean know a lot about Indian Cricket, who are currently touring the region, would get to know more about our football. While for our Team India it would be a useful experience to play a different kind of football and in a different kind of football atmosphere.

The tour wouldn't be the first interaction between India and the Caribbean in football. In August/September 2002 India faced Jamaica in two friendly matches in England. After losing the first game 0-3 at the Vicarage Road Stadium in Watford, India drew Jamaica goalless at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton.