2023 AFC Asian Cup - India in Group B
Nagendra
Rajahmundry, A.P6473 Points
The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will involve 24 national teams after expansion in 2019, with Qatar as the defending champions.
On 17 October 2022, the AFC announced that the tournament will be held in Qatar. Due to the high summer temperatures and Qatar's participation in the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the tournament was postponed to 12 January – 10 February 2024, while retaining the original name for sponsorship purposes.
Qualified teams
Of 24 teams set to appear, 20 teams will return after appearing in the 2019 edition.
India qualified for the first time in successive tournaments (2019 & 2023).
Tajikistan is set to be the only debutant in the competition, whereas Hong Kong marked its return for the first time in 56 years. Malaysia & Indonesia qualified for the first time since hosting the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.
Credit : Wikipedia
Comments
Indian Squad (26-member squad):
Goalkeepers: Amrinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Vishal Kaith.
Defenders: Akash Mishra, Lalchungnunga, Mehtab Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Pritam Kotal, Rahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan, Subhasish Bose.
Midfielders: Anirudh Thapa, Brandon Fernandes, Deepak Tangri, Lalengmawia Ralte (Apuia), Liston Colaco, Naorem Mahesh Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Udanta Singh.
Forwards: Ishan Pandita, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Manvir Singh, Rahul K Praveen, Sunil Chhetri, Vikram Partap Singh.
Groups (Draw based on pots: FIFA ranking):
Roshan,ashish,sana all are good players and he left all of them. Our defence will be the weakest point on the tournament.
Though Sana is slow, he is miles ahead of Lalchungnunga & Mehtab Singh and is technically strong as well. Lalchungnunga is good, but still raw and need to play few more NT friendlies before getting nod. Mehtab Singh gets the nod since he is Mumbai City player & coach might have thought he can gel well with Bheke, Akash, Apuia & Chhangte. Pritam Kotal is surprise inclusion for me in defense. Coach might have considered his club form along with his NT experience.
Based on this squad, I expect coach to field same team (XVIII) & also formation mostly will be same (switch b/w 4-5-1 & 4-3-3) across all 3 group stage games. Understanding b/w Chhetri & Mavir is not great else coach might have tried age old formation, 4-4-2 as well.
Possibilities: Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Iraq, Lebanon
If it is Iraq, it would be great match for us. Also since it is unofficial friendly, coach will give chance for atleast 22 players in this match.
Some other new youngster should have been given a chance