Bhubaneswar: Igor Stimac, Indian senior men's football team head coach, announced India's 27-member squad for the much-awaited FIFA World Cup Qualifier clash against the formidable Kuwait side with forward Parthib Gogoi and defender Muhammad Hammad missing out due to injuries. This encounter will be the final game of the country's ace footballer Sunil Chhetri, who has recently announced a retirement through a social media post.
A total of 32 players had been camping in Bhubaneswar, out of which five -- Phurba Lachenpa, Parthib, Imran Khan, Hammad and Jithin MS -- have been released from the camp.
"All of them were very professional and hard-working. The competition is really strong amongst them, especially in the positions of Jithin and Parthib. Parthib and Hammad suffered minor injuries a few days back and will need 7-14 days of rest," Igor Stimac said in a media release.
The remaining players will continue to train in Bhubaneswar. The Indian team will then travel to Kolkata, mecca of Indian football, on May 29. The Blue Tigers will face Kuwait at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on June 6. Following the match against Kuwait, India will travel to take on Qatar on June 11 in their last two matches of Group A.
The match against Kuwait will bring the curtains down on a glittering 19-year career during which the 39-year-old Chhetri became India's top goal-scorer with 94 strikes. He will leave the scene as India's most-capped player after competing in 150 matches at the end of his swansong contest. Chhetri will bow out third in the list of goal scorers among active players behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. He currently sits fourth in the all-time list of international goal-scorers.
"The match Against Kuwait is the Last," the 39-year-old Chhetri said while announcing his decision to retire.
"The feel that I recollect in the last 19 years is a very nice combination of duty, pressure and immense joy. When I did decide that this is going to be my last game, I told my family about it. Dad was normal. He was relieved, happy, everything. It was my wife, strangely. I told her, ‘You always used to bug me that there are too many games, there’s too much of pressure. Now I am telling you that I’m not going to play for my country anymore after this game.’ Even they couldn’t tell me why there were tears. It’s not that I was feeling tired, not that I was feeling this or that. When the instinct came that this should be my last game, I thought about it a lot, eventually, I came to this decision," Chhetri said.
India are currently at the second spot in the group A, with four points from four matches. The top two teams in the group will qualify for Round 3 of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and book their berth at the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith.
Defenders: Amey Ranawade, Anwar Ali, Jay Gupta, Lalchungnunga, Mehtab Singh, Narender, Nikhil Poojary, Rahul Bheke, Subhasish Bose.
Midfielders: Anirudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Edmund Lalrindika, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Liston Colaco, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Nandhakumar Sekar, Sahal Abdul Samad, Suresh Singh Wangjam.
Forwards: David Lalhlansanga, Manvir Singh, Rahim Ali, Sunil Chhetri, Vikram Partap Singh.
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