By IANS,
New Delhi : Despite his brilliant run in the National Football Championship with 13 goals, Services striker S. Raleng was Wednesday left out from the list of 31 probables for the national camp starting here from July 23.
The Services striker hogged the limelight all throughout the tournament in Srinagar for his goal scoring abilities. Services, however, lost to Punjab in the title clash.
Services coach Raghavendra Singh was fuming when he learnt that his 23-year-old striker from Assam Rifles was not given a chance to impress national coach Bob Houghton.
“I am really disappointed. After a good performance, he (Raleng) should have been given a chance to be in the national camp. I am not telling to select him, but he should be given a fair chance to show whether he is good enough to represent the country,” Singh told IANS.
“The National Championship is a platform where one can find potential talents for the national team. And if you don’t give the deserving players a chance how will good players come up,” he added.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Secretary Alberto Colaco refused to take any question on the selection and said: “I don’t want to talk on this issue.”
The AIFF Wednesday announced a list of 31 players for the national football team’s camp ahead of its Portugal tour. The camp, which was shifted from Goa to Delhi will be held at the Ambedkar Stadium.
The players, who will be at the camp after a disappointing performance in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup where India finished runners-up, will be joined by coach Bob Houghton, who is currently holidaying in the Maldives.
The Indian team will leave for Portugal in the first week of July. The under-16 team will also go to the US for an exposure trip at the same time and the under-19 team will play in Malaysia in August.
Players’ list:
Goalkeepers: Arindam Bhattacharya, Subhashish Roy Chowdhary, Subrata Paul and Sandip Nandy.
Defenders: Govin Mojranginem, Rakesh Masih, Denzil Franco, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Gouramangi Singh, Deepak Mondal, N.S.Manju, Anwar, Syed Rahim Nabi and Sameer Naik.
Midfielders: Kattimani, Baldeep Singh (Jr), Steven Dias, Climax Lawrence, N.P. Pradeep, Clifford Miranda, Bungo Singh, Ajayan Nair, Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Renedy Singh.
Forwards: Baichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri, Manjit Singh, Abhishek Yadav, Sushil Singh and Tarif Ahmed