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PREVIEW
India face Malaysia within the first match of the 2023 Merdeka Match on the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Friday night. The hosts are ranked 32 locations under Igor Stimac’s facet within the FIFA rankings, however with the help of a raucous dwelling crowd, shall be anticipated to offer the Indians a stern check.
This shall be India’s 18th time taking part on the Merdeka Match, with their finest end being a runners-up end twice – in 1959 and 1964. The event itself is returning after a 10-year hiatus, and it’s a senior event for the primary time in 15 years.
India shall be boosted by the return of skipper Sunil Chhetri, who opted out of the squad for the King’s Cup in Thailand final month. With Chhetri returning, there is a acquainted look to the squad, which now appears to be like fairly near the one Stimac will select for the AFC Asian Cup in January.
Jeakson Singh will miss out, although, attributable to an harm, whereas Ashique Kuruniyan is out for the season after he picked up a knee harm in Thailand final month. Nevertheless, with the likes of Sahal Abdul Samad and Naorem Mahesh Singh having fun with wonderful begins to their respective ISL seasons, Stimac has no lack of choices within the attacking third.
The Croatian mentioned that Anwar Ali, Subhasish Bose, Brandon Fernandes and Manvir Singh are all carrying accidents from their membership commitments, although they’ve travelled to Malaysia with the squad.
The winner of this recreation between India and Malaysia will face Tajikistan within the Merdeka Match 2023 closing on Tuesday night. Along with qualification for the ultimate, this match additionally presents Stimac with a closing alternative to finetune his squad and techniques forward of subsequent month’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers. India shall be dealing with Kuwait away and Qatar in Bhubaneswar in November, which is able to each be tough video games, so the chance to construct on final month’s spectacular 2-2 draw towards Iraq shall be welcome for Stimac.