Udanta, Jeakson return as Stimac names India's SAFF championship squad

The tournament will feature India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the host Maldives. Each team plays each other once with the top two teams qualifying for the final.

Sunil Chhetri will lead India at the SAFF championship.

Udanta Singh and Jeakson Singh returned to the Indian football team squad for the upcoming SAFF championships which is slated to begin from October 1 in Maldives.

India head coach Igor Stimac named a 23-man group on Sunday with the Bengaluru and Kerala Blasters winger and midfielder added to the group after having missed the trip to Nepal for the two international friendlies earlier this month.

The tournament will feature India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the host Maldives.

India begins its campaign on October 4 against Bangladesh. Each team plays each other once with the top two teams qualifying for the final.

Stimac stated: “We are all looking forward to the SAFF Championship as the leading football country in this part of Asia. These 4-5 games are extremely crucial for us as we won’t have any other chance of getting together before the start of 3rd round AFC Asian Cup qualifiers next season. So these matches should help us to improve a few points in our game.”

Following are India’s fixtures in the group stage (Timings in IST):

October 4:  Bangladesh vs India (4.30pm). October 7:  India vs Sri Lanka (4.30pm). October 10:  Nepal vs India (8.30pm). October 13:  India vs Maldives (8.30pm).

The list of 23 probables is as follows:

GOALKEEPERS:  Gurpreet Singh, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, Vishal Kaith.

DEFENDERS:  Pritam Kotal, Seriton Fernandes, Chinglensana Singh, Rahul Bheke, Subhasish Bose, Mandar Rao Dessai.pu

MIDFIELDERS:  Udanta Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Lalengmawia, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Jeakson Singh, Glan Martins, Suresh Singh, Liston Colaco, Yasir Mohammad.

FORWARDS:  Manvir Singh, Rahim Ali, Sunil Chhetri, Farukh Choudhary.