Coach Stephen Constantine calls up Jackichand Singh, Nishu Kumar to Indian squad ahead of friendly against Jordan

New Delhi: Midfielder Jackichand Singh and left-back Nishu Kumar were included in India’s 22-member squad on Thursday for the forthcoming international FIFA friendly against Jordan slated to be held on 17 November. [caption id=“attachment_5558011” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Jackichand Singh. Twitter@IndSuperLeague[/caption] Nishu and Jackichand were the only two changes coach Stephen Constantine made in his squad from the team that played a goalless draw against China in their last international friendly in October. Constantine emphasised that the forthcoming friendly against Jordan will “aid India’s preparation” for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in UAE. “We want to do well in AFC Asian Cup and the clash against Jordan will aid us. Jordan are a good side and they have a number of good players in their ranks,” he said. Jordan, who are ranked 112 in the latest FIFA rankings, lost 1-2 to FIFA World Cup 2018 finalists Croatia in their last friendly fixture. The news of recent floods in Jordan did crop up in talk among the players and striker Jeje Lalpekhlua said the team needs to “accept it and move ahead”. “There is nothing one can do about natural calamities. We have to accept it and move ahead. Come what may, we are to play our hearts out and there won’t be any compromise on that,” he said, adding, “our prayers stay with the people of Jordan during these tough times.” Winger Halicharan Narzary, who has been a pivotal member of the Indian team said the team will definitely miss star striker Sunil Chhetri, who has been ruled out for the tie because of an ankle injury. “Undoubtedly, we are going to miss Sunil but we can’t just sit back and cry over it. We’ll try our level best to churn out a positive result in Amman,” he said. “The match against China was massive for us. Jordan won’t be anything lesser, if not bigger. We have to keep our heads down and keep working to get something positive out of this tie,” added Narzary. Indian squad: Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh. Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Nishu Kumar, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, Salam Ranjan Singh, Subhasish Bose, Narayan Das, Jerry Lalrinzuala. Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Jackichand Singh, Pronay Halder, Anirudh Thapa, Vinit Rai, Germanpreet Singh, Halicharan Narzary, Ashique Kuruniyan. Forwards: Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sumeet Passi, Balwant Singh, Manvir Singh.