Mondal to lead Indian football team

Mohun Bagan medio Bassudev Mondal will lead a 22-member Indian team for the Millennium Cup international football tournament which gets under way from January 10. The matches will be played simultaneously at Calcutta, Kochin and Goa.

India, who are placed in Group B along with Uruguay, Iceland and Indonesia, will play their league matches at Kochin.

The team will leave Goa, where they are training, on January 8, Alberto Colaco, All India Football Federation secretary said in a statement on Friday.

Goalkeeper Francis Fernandes (Dempo), Rajat Ghosh (Mohun Bagan), medio R P Singh (Mohun Bagan) and defender Mustafi Hossain (Mohun Bagan) have been dropped from the 26 players retained for the second coaching camp.

The team:
Goalkeepers: Virender Singh, Sandeep Nandy And Balaji.

Defenders: Suresh Kumar, Mahesh Gowali, Deepak Mondal, Ratan Singh.

Midfielders: Jules Alberto, Jo Paul Ancheri, Hardeep Singh Sangha, Rennedy Singh, Basudev Mondal, Venkatesh, Noel Wilson, James Singh, Carlton Chapman.

Forwards: I M Vijayan, Bijen Singh, R C Prakash, Sabir Pasha, Bruno Coutinho and Alvito D'Cunha.

Officials: O K Bevassi (manager), Krishnaji Rao (technical director), Islam Ahmedov (chief coach), Brahmanand Shankwalker (goalkeeping coach) and Dr Sameer (physiotherapist).