Injuries to second and third goalkeepers could lead to Bengaluru FC not releasing Gurpreet Singh Sandhu for next month’s Asian Games, officials at the club and All India Football Federation (AIFF) told HT on Tuesday. The officials requested anonymity to protect relationships within the club and the federation.
Sandhu, 31, is one of the three over-24 players whose names were added to ensure, according to AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey, that India have “its strongest representation” at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Sunil Chhetri and Sandesh Jhingan are the other players in the 22-member list for the Asian Games who are over 24 years old.
India play the hosts on September 19, Bangladesh on September 21 and Myanmar three days later. The top two from each of the six groups and four best third teams will qualify for the round of 16.
Bengaluru FC goalkeepers Amrit Gope and Vikram Lakhbir Singh are injured and unlikely to be available in September, said an official at the club. Lara Sharma, another keeper, has been loaned to Kerala Blasters. “We are struggling to even conduct training sessions,” said the official.
The 10th season of the Indian Super League (ISL) could start in the third week of September, said an official at Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), which runs the league, on Tuesday. AIFF has written to FSDL requesting it to ensure all top players are available when the league starts, said the federation official mentioned above.
But should ISL start during Asian Games, clubs are not obliged to release players as it is not during a FIFA window (designated slots for only international matches – one of them being from September 4-12 during which India will play the King’s Cup – where clubs cannot hold back players). Back-channel talks between AIFF and Bengaluru FC have been on for the past three days to find a way out.
Confirming this, AIFF secretary-general Shaji Prabhakaran said on Tuesday he is hopeful that Sandhu, one of Asia’s best goalkeepers, would be available for Asian Games. “At the same time, we can’t ignore Bengaluru’s injury problems.” Six players, the most, in India head coach Igor Stimac’s squad for the Games are from Bengaluru FC.
The possibility of Sandhu being absent will not be Stimac’s only problem. The Games’ squad has seven players from Indian clubs involved in Asian competitions in September 18 and 19 ruling them out for the opening match.
Vikram Pratap Singh, Akash Mishra and Apuiah (Lalengmawia Ralte) could be involved with Mumbai City when they host Iran’s FC Nassaji Mazandaran in Pune on September 18 in the Asian Champions League. Mohun Bagan Super Giant’s Anwar Ali and Ashish Rai and Odisha FC’s Narender Gahlot and Aniket Jadhav may face each other in the AFC Cup on September 19. That could leave Roshan Singh as the only regular full back available against China.
Prabhakaran said efforts would be made to fly the players to Hangzhou on September 20.
He also said AIFF would point out to Asian Football Confederation, the continent’s apex body, the need to relook at some rules at the Asian Games. Such as the absence of flexibility in registering more players since like the Olympics, football at Asian Games stretches beyond the usual eight-nine days FIFA allots in its windows. Only for continental championships of FIFA confederates is there a month-long window. Football in Hangzhou will run from September 19 to October 7.
When the draw was made in July, it was expected India would progress to next round, a first since 2010. Not doing so would still be an upset but it could be tougher now given the lack of preparation and the absence of key players, at least for one game.
After King’s Cup games on September 7 and 10, India will stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand, before checking into the Games village on September 16.