Well prepared Indian side under
the supervision of Wim Kovermans are going to take Singapore in a FIFA
international friendly match at Chau Chau Kang stadium, Singapore today. After
the major Nehru Cup triumph under the guidance of Dutchman Kovermans the Blue
Tigers first time going to play against any kind of opponents, regarding to
that triumph this time Indian side look relatively strong & confident enough
to conquer Singapore easily. Kovermans wants to continue his wining momentum of
Nehru cup here which will guide India a few steps onwards in the FIFA ranking.
Several times in the near past we
witnessed the tussle between the clubs & the AIFF regarding the release of
the key players due to national purpose but this time Kovermans is going to get
a full-fledged Indian squad in his hand without any controversy in a match in
FIFA date against a bit of superior side according to the current FIFA ranking.
The Singapore side is currently placed in 162nd place whether the
Indian side is in the 168th place right now.
The Singapore side are playing this match as a
preparation of upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup, they are going to miss few key players
alongwith their regular captain Shahril Ishak in the final squad. Serbian Coach Radojko Avramovic has
named a full strength squad ahead of the friendly as the Lions prepare for the
AFF Suzuki Cup. Singapore last played against Philippines and lost 2-0 when
they were expected to easily get past their opponents and then drew 1-1 against
Myanmar. 22
year old goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud will start in goal for the Singapore team
while Daniel Bennett, a British Citizen who switched nationality to Singapore
will lead the defense. The 34 year old is a veteran of 110 caps and will be
accompanied by Baihakki Khaizan in the center of defense.
Indian captain Sunil Chhetri told
in a press meet yesterday that “we are excited to come here and play. Our last
tournament was memorable one but that’s past. Now it’s up to us to take up the
challenge”, Chhetri reminded.
Lasttime India won a match against foreign soil almost 15 months ago
while the Blue Tigers have beaten Quatar by a 2-1 margin in a friendly game.
India don’t have good past record in the foreign soil which makes Kovermans
quite worried. The Ductman is expected to apply the same formation 4-4-1-1 he
used in the last Nehru Cup, first tournament in his tenure.
Possible Starting XI
(4-4-1-1): Subrata Pal; Rahim Nabi, Gourmangi Singh, Raju Gaikwad, Nirmal Chhetri;
Clifford Miranda, Mehtab Hussain, Lenny Rodriguez, Sanju Pradhan; Alwyn George;
Sunil Chhetri
The match is going to start at
7-45pm according to the local time of Singapore it means for live action
according to IST the match will kick off at 5-15 pm.
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