Sunil Chhetri secures his place in Indian squad for the Hangzhou Asian Games

Veteran striker Sunil Chhetri was the only notable face in the 18member Indian squad for the Hangzhou Asian Games as All India Football Federation AIFF finally managed to stich a secondrung team but there is still a big question mark on head coach Igor Stimac accompanying the teamMost of the clubs had shown unwillingness to release the 22 players named in the Indian squad as the Asian Games football competition schedule clashes with the ISL which starts on September 21This could be seen as a massive loss of face for AIFF president and BJP leader Kalyan Chaubey who had actually made hectic parleys with the ministry to send the team despite not meeting the government criteria to compete in the quadrennial extravaganzaAlso Read All Hail Sunil ChhetriAfter prolonged parleys the AIFF was able to announce an understrength team made up of nine players from the original 22 including Chhetri while the remaining were made up of inexperienced players from the clubsBut there are doubts whether Stimac will travel to Hangzhou at the helm of such an understrength team He had earlier said that the Asian Games was a priorityInitially the AIFF said through a press release that the team will comprise 17 players but later added Mohun Bagans Deepak Tangri in the squadIt could be a rare instance of India sending an understrength football team in a major competition The only saving grace was the inclusion of the current Indian football poster boy Chhetri who recently became a fatherThe two other senior footballers defender Sandesh Jhingan of FC Goa and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu of Bengaluru FC were not released by their clubsAzfar Noorani of Mumbai Kenkre FC which played in the 202223 ILeague but were relegated to second division was also named in the teamThe national federation which was able to stitch together the team just three days before its departure for China still thanked the Indian Super League clubs and the FSDL for coordinating with it for the release of playersThe Indian team is scheduled to begin its Asian Games campaign with a match against China on September 19 followed by games against Bangladesh September 21 and Myanmar September 24The top two teams from the six groups will make it to the prequarterfinals with four bestranked thirdplaced sides also qualifyingThe football team did not meet the qualifying criteria to be part of the Asian Games contingent but got clearance from the sports ministry on the prospect of the best side being picked with Chhetri Jhingan and number one goalkeeper Gurpreet in the squadBut the ISL clubs had other plans as they refused to release their players as doing so would mean missing three to four matches They are however not bound to release the players as the Asian Games did not fall in the FIFA international match windowA hapless AIFF was even hoping that the ISL clubs would release any 22 players from the registered 50 for the Asian Games to allow the senior mens team to participate in the continental showpieceThe understrength team has just two goalkeepers instead of three in a normal 22member squad and it could be problematic if there are injuries during the tournamentThe team will also have to pick 10 outfield players from 16 and any further injury can lead to limiting the number of substitutions and most of the players will have to be on the field for long timeBengaluru FC which had six players in the original 22 refused to release Gurpreet but agreed to Chhetri and Rohit Danu to be with the national team In the absence of Gurpeet the Indian goal will be manned by either Gurmeet Singh or Dheeraj Singh MoirangthemFC Goa also refused to let go of Jhingan while East Bengal which had two players in the earlier squad did not have any in the final team Mohun Bagan have two players in Sumit Rathi and Tangri while Gurkirat Singh is the lone player from Mumbai City FCMany of final team players have not played too many matches for their respective ISL clubs and have not been regular first XI playersThe Indian SquadGurmeet Singh Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem Sumit Rathi Narender Gahlot Deepak Tangri Amarjit Singh Kiyam Samuel James Rahul KP Abdul Rabeeh Anjukandan Ayush Dev Chhetri Bryce Miranda Azfar Noorani Rahim Ali Vincy Bareto Sunil Chhetri Rohit Danu Gurkirat Singh Aniket JadhavWith Agency Inputs