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PREVIEW
India face Malaysia in the first match of the 2023 Merdeka Tournament at the Bukit Jalil Stadium in Kuala Lumpur on Friday evening. The hosts are ranked 32 places below Igor Stimac’s side in the FIFA rankings, but with the support of a raucous home crowd, will be expected to provide the Indians a stern test.
This will be India’s 18th time participating at the Merdeka Tournament, with their best finish being a runners-up finish twice – in 1959 and 1964. The tournament itself is returning after a 10-year hiatus, and it is a senior tournament for the first time in 15 years.
India will be boosted by the return of skipper Sunil Chhetri, who opted out of the squad for the King’s Cup in Thailand last month. With Chhetri returning, there’s a familiar look to the squad, which now looks pretty close to the one Stimac will choose for the AFC Asian Cup in January.
Jeakson Singh will miss out, though, due to an injury, while Ashique Kuruniyan is out for the season after he picked up a knee injury in Thailand last month. However, with the likes of Sahal Abdul Samad and Naorem Mahesh Singh enjoying excellent starts to their respective ISL seasons, Stimac has no lack of options in the attacking third.
The Croatian said that Anwar Ali, Subhasish Bose, Brandon Fernandes and Manvir Singh are all carrying injuries from their club commitments, even though they have travelled to Malaysia with the squad.
The winner of this game between India and Malaysia will face Tajikistan in the Merdeka Tournament 2023 final on Tuesday evening. In addition to qualification for the final, this match also presents Stimac with a final opportunity to finetune his squad and tactics ahead of next month’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers. India will be facing Kuwait away and Qatar in Bhubaneswar in November, which will both be difficult games, so the opportunity to build on last month’s impressive 2-2 draw against Iraq will be welcome for Stimac.
