National football coach Stephen Constantine named 32 probables on Wednesday for India's upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup joint qualification Round 1 home and away matches against Nepal.
India first host Nepal on March 12 at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium in Sajusarai, Guwahati, while the return leg is slated to be played in Nepal on March 17.
"With the help of Savio Medeira and Venkatesh we first registered the list of 50 Players and then Venky and myself sat down to select 32 players for the Camp," Constantine said.
The squad will be further pruned to 26 after the completion of the Round 8 matches in the ongoing Hero Indian I-League.
The shortlisted 26 will report to the camp in Guwahati from March 4.
"We hope to send a message to everybody who has an Indian nationality that they have a chance to play for the national team. I am really excited and looking forward to it.
"We won't get everybody together in the camp at the same time. There's a Hero I-League match on March 4 and, hopefully, everyone would assemble by the next day, March 5," added Constantine.
Meanwhile, the list of 32 players who will report to the preparatory camp in Goa (from March 1), for the AFC Under-23 Championship, slated to be played in Dhaka from March 27, was also announced.
Probables for World Cup qualifier:
Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul, Karanjit Singh (both Salgaocar SC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (Stabek FC), Arindam Bhattacharya (Kalyani Bharat Football Club).
Defenders: Keegan Pereira, Rino Anto (both Bengaluru FC), Shaumik Dey, Raju Gaikwad, Arnab Mondal (Kingfisher East Bengal), Aiborlang Khongjee (Shillong Lajong Football Club), Sandesh Jhingan (Sporting Clube de Goa), Rowilson Rodrigues (Dempo SC), Augstine Fernandes (Salgaocar SC), Pritam Kotal (McDowell Mohun Bagan).
Midfielders: Prabir Das, Francis Fernandes, Lenny Rodrigues (all Dempo SC), Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Anthony D’Souza (both Bengaluru FC), Mehtab Hossain, Cabin Lobo, Lalrindika Ralte (all Kingfisher East Bengal), Dhanapal Ganesh (Pune FC).
Forwards: Mandar Rao Desai, Romeo Fernandes, Alwyn George, Holicharan Narzary (all Dempo SC), Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh (both Bengaluru FC), Balwant Singh, Jeje Lalpekhlua (both McDowell Mohun Bagan), Jackichand Singh (Royal Wahingdoh).
Probables for AFC U-23 Championship:
Goalkeepers: Amrinder Singh (Pune FC), Albino Gomes (Salgaocar SC), Ravi Kumar (Sporting Clube de Goa), Reenesh TP (Kalyani Bharat Football Club).
Defenders: Abhishek Das (Kingfisher East Bengal), Satish Singh, Zangpo Bhutia (both McDowell Mohun Bagan), Shankar (Bengaluru FC), Bikramjit Singh (Kalyani Bharat Football Club), Pawan Kumar (Salgaocar SC), Sandeep Singh, Nimdorjee Tamang (Shillong Lajong Football Club), Deepak (Bhowanipore SC), Denechandra Meitei.
Midfielders: Germanpreet Singh, Myron Fernandes, Vineet Rai (all Dempo SC), Manish Bhargav (McDowell Mohun Bagan), Siam Hangal (Bengaluru FC), Brandon Fernandes, Sumit Passi, Mauvin Borges (all Sporting Clube de Goa), Fanai Lalrempuia (Pune Football Club), Adarsh Tamang (McDowell Mohun Bagan).
Forwards: Seiminlen Doungel (Shillong Lajong Football Club), Udanta Singh (Bengaluru Football Club), Nadong Bhutia (Royal Wahingdoh), Haokip Thongkoshim (Pune FC), Jayesh Rane (Mumbai Football Club), Rajinder Kumar (Kalyani Bharat Football Club), Nikhil Kadam (Pune FC), Abhinash Rui Das (Kingfisher East Bengal).
Image: The Indian football team signs the national anthem before the start of an international match.
Photograph: AIFF Media
