On October 13, the Indian football team will play the hosts Malaysia in the Merdeka Cup 2023 semifinal. The game will take place in Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Jalil National Stadium. The competition will involve Palestine and Tajikistan and last through October 17.
The other semi-final, which will occur earlier on the same day, will feature Palestine vs Tajikistan. Initial plans were for Lebanon to play Palestine, but the team withdrew. The participation of the Palestine Football Team at the Merdeka Cup 2023 appears to be in risk. This comes in the wake of Hamas incursions into Israel early Saturday
Taking place in Malaysia since 1957, the Merdeka Cup, also known as Pestabola Merdeka, is an international football event between friendly nations. It is performed to commemorate the nation’s Independence Day.
However, the competition is returning after a ten-year hiatus and was last conducted in 2013. India has participated in 17 of the 41 iterations of the Merdeka tournament, with their most recent appearance occurring in 2001.
The October 17 final will include the winners of the two semifinal matches. While earlier that day, in the third-place playoff, the two losing teams face off.
The top seed in the competition will be Palestine, who are currently ranked 96th in the FIFA football rankings. They will be followed by India (102nd), Tajikistan (110th), and Malaysia (136th).
This will be Malaysia’s 32nd international encounter against India, a record. The Blue Tigers triumphed 3-2 in a friendly match that took place in Kolkata back in 2011. The Indian Football Team’s head coach, Igor Stimac, has announced a list of 26 probable players for the Merdeka Cup 2023. The final list of 23 players, who will travel to Malaysia, will be announced in the second week of October.
The 26-member probable list for Merdeka Cup 2023 is as follows –
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Vishal Kaith and Dheeraj Singh.
Defenders: Nikhil Poojary, Roshan Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Mehtab Singh, Lalchungnunga, Akash Mishra and Subhasish Bose.
Midfielders: Jeakson Singh, Suresh Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Rohit Kumar, Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandes, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Udanta Singh, Vikram Pratap Singh, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Liston Colaco and Nandhakumar Sekar.
Forwards: Sunil Chhetri and Manvir Singh.
Head Coach: Igor Stimac
Merdeka Cup 2023 schedule:
October 13, Friday
- Semi-final 1: Palestine vs Tajikistan – 2:00 PM IST
- Semi-final 2: Malaysia vs India – 6:30 PM IST
October 17, Tuesday
- Third-place play-off: Loser of SF1 vs Loser of SF2 – 2:00 PM
- Final: Winner of SF1 vs Winner of SF2 – 6:30 PM
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