Asian Games: In Indian football team's 18-member squad, Azfar Noorani's selection raises questions

It’s a relief that India have finally managed to put together a squad for the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The original squad was announced as early as 1 August by Igor Stimac and that included top names like Sunil Chhetri, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, and Sandesh Jhingan as the three senior players allowed for the Under-23 competition besides some of the established names like Anwar Ali, Aakash Mishra, and Jeakson Singh. Cut to 13 September and the squad has undergone a sea of change with only nine from the original 22 making it to the revised 18-member squad for the Asiad which is set to begin on 19 September. Frustrating as it may be, there’s no surprise the changes to the squad are drastic. With the 2023-24 season of the Indian Super League (ISL) starting on 21 September the clubs are not willing to release their best players. As the Asian Games fall outside the FIFA window, the ISL clubs are not required to release players and the fact that the Asian Games were initially not part of the Indian football calendar and only added on 26 July has only made life difficult for the clubs. Club vs country: Compromises needed but talks should have begun earlier Indian men’s and women’s football teams did not meet the Sports Ministry’s criteria of falling among the top-eight sides in Asia and were not expected to take part but Chhetri and Co’s impressive SAFF Championship win at home gave the necessary confidence to AIFF to apply for an exemption. After extensive back-channel negotiations, AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey managed to gain the exemption but it made the football calendar crammed with international assignments. The Blue Tigers had and have matches lined up in FIFA windows for September, October, and November. They will also be participating in the AFC Asian Cup in January next year and there’s a general election in India next year. No wonder the ISL is in a hurry to finish the league in a suitable period.

Eventually, the packed schedule resulted in a revised squad which, apart from talismanic Sunil Chhetri, mainly consists of squad players. That, however, doesn’t explain a number of questions that arise from the squad we have on our hands. Workload worries For example, AIFF on Wednesday first announced a 17-member squad before adding Deepak Tangri to it. Still, the squad strength is four short of what they are allowed to have. India are scheduled to play China on 19 September followed by Bangladesh (21 September) and Myanmar (24 September). If they manage to go past the group stage, there will be more matches. It is difficult to understand how a squad of just 18 players has been picked when the team is scheduled to play three matches in a space of six days. There are only two goalkeepers in the side - what happens if one or both get injured? 10 outfield players have to be drawn from a pool of just 16 players. Is no one worried about fatigue and injury? 17 out of 18 players picked for the Asian Games are from ISL. The only exception is Azfar Noorani who was with Kenkre FC, who were relegated from the I-league last season, and joined Gokulam Kerala FC on Thursday. Read: No clarity on Igor Stimac accompanying Indian team for Asian Games If Noorani, a left-sided winger from Mumbai, can get into the Indian squad, why did the AIFF not pick more players from the I-League to have a 22-member squad? The Asian Games were initially looked at as an occasion for Stimac and his players to prepare for the gruelling Asian Cup challenge but even if the first-choice players are not travelling to China, the Asiad still provides an invaluable opportunity to give some U-23 players a once in a lifetime opportunity. Additionally, it would have given enough cover to the team to deal with fatigue and injury. Don’t forget that the team is yet to travel to China and will participate on the back of just a few training sessions. Spotlight on Noorani’s selection Sticking with Noorani. Nothing against the 24-year-old attacker but there are players in the same position in the I-League who did better than the player last season. In fact, as per InStat Sport, Noorani was the 17th best left-sided midfielder in India’s second-division league in the 2022-23 season. While a number of foreign players were ahead of him, there’s also a long list of Indian players better than Noorani in the ranking who are also eligible for the age-group competition at Asiad.

In the 2023 edition of the Games, 24-year-old players are eligible to play because of the one-year postponement of the Asiad from 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Noorani scored three goals and made two assists last season with one goal and one assist coming against Sudeva Delhi who were also relegated. There’s R Lalthanmawia of Aizawl FC who is seventh in the list with three goals and five assists. There’s Sreenidi Deccan’s Songpu Singsit who is ninth on the list with two goals to his name. Sreenidi’s R Lalbiakliana is 11th and scored three goals and made the same number of assists. At 15 is former Sudeva Delhi player Carlos Pao who scored three goals. Goals and assists are not always the best indicators to judge a player but they are ahead of Noorani on the InStat Index, an algorithm that is used by the biggest names in football and helps in determining the “players’ class”. Noorani is a hard hard-working player but there are others who could have easily been included and hence it leaves you with a feeling that something is amiss with the selection. AIFF has worked hard to convince ISL clubs to put together a squad of largely top-division players but one can’t deny there are too many gaps in the squad.