AIFF XI ready to take on Frenz United

"We need to convert the intensity of the practice sessions into the match," the head coach Goutam Ghosh told www.the-aiff.com after the session ended.

AIFF XI takes on Frenz United Indonesia in their first Home-match of the Asia Champions Trophy 2014 at the Barasat Stadium on Saturday (May 24).

The kick-off is at 6.35 pm and the match will be telecast live on DD Sports.

"The format of the Tournament makes the Home-matches so important. We understand and know that our opponents, Frenz United, Indonesia are a strong unit. They have several U-16 National Team Players in their ranks. We need to be cautious,” Ghosh said.

He added, "The mistakes which we committed in our first match should not be repeated."

Ghosh made one change to his squad of 18 which had played against Frenz United, Malaysia, A in the first match with Edmund Lalrindika replacing Bedashwor Singh.

As per the Tournament regulations, six substitutions are allowed in a Match.

Incidentally, Frenz United, Malaysia A, AIFF XI’s opponents in the first match and Frenz United, Indonesia are run by the same management with the same owner.
 
“The boys have responded well after the away-loss in the first match. The Malaysian National Team who were represented by Frenz United had finished ahead of Korea in the AFC U-16 Qualifiers. The fact that we created three open chances against them speaks about the quality of my boys,” Ghosh said.

“I want quality. You need to handle them in a delicate manner. You always need to remember they are 15-year olds; some are even 14- year olds. Coaching an age-group Team is so different,” he said.

Commenting on the loss in the first match, Ghosh said, "Understandable, they were dejected. At this age, that’s obvious. But its early days in the Tournament."

“The excitement of the boys knows no bounds. They will be playing their first Home-match ever. In recent years, this is the first time, an AIFF XI will play at Home,” he added.

Every team will play 10 matches in the Home and Away format with the top two from each Group advancing to the semifinals, which are also to be played on a Home and Away format as are the finals.

THE SQUAD:

GOALKEEPERS: Dheeraj Singh (Manipur), Subrata Das (West Bengal).

DEFENDERS: Jayananda Singh and Kishan Singh (both from Manipur), Jerry Lalrinzuala (Mizoram), Prosenjit Chakraborty and , Amit Tudu (both from West Bengal), Amey Ranawade (Maharashtra).

MIDFIELDERS: Bodo Baoringdao (Assam), Kyntiew Kharlukhi (Meghalaya), Anirudh Thapa and Deependra Singh Negi (both from Uttarakhand), Aaron Franklin (Goa).

FORWARDS: Nijwm Muchahary (Assam) Krishna Pandit (Chandigarh), Nuruddin Sameer (Uttar Pradesh), Kapil Hoble (Goa), Edmund Lalrindika (Mizoram).

(Image courtesy: AIFF Media)