Chief coach Wim Koevermanss fear of losing important national players to the IPL-style tournament planned by IMG-Reliance seems to be coming true. The Dutchman had to leave out key players like goalkeeper Subrata Pal and wide midfielder Syed Rahim Nabi out of the squad for the friendly match at Tajikistan on August 14 due to poor match fitness. Pal and Nabi are among six national team players contracted with IMG-R. Unlike the other India players,who have begun pre-season training with their I-League clubs,the IMG-R players have been inactive since May,when the 2012-13 season ended. In order to bridge their match-fitness gap,IMG-R had arranged a camp for their players at Mumbais Cooperage Stadium under former East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan,but that camp only began on Monday. Koevermans,who had expressed concern last month that some of his key players wouldnt be part of any football action till the start of the IMG-R tournament in January,was reluctant to gamble on the fitness of Pal and Nabi ahead of the friendly. The rest of the national team players have been involved with pre-season training for close to a month now. The players who are with IMG-R have begun training only on Monday and the coach was concerned about that. It isnt enough for an important match like this, a source said. Of the six IMG-R players,only defenders Nirmal Chhetri and Gouramangi Singh have made the cut. It is learnt that Koevermans included Chhetri and Singh only because of lack of availability of decent defenders for the friendly. With fewer players at his disposal,Koevermans had to make do with a squad of 20 players instead of 23,which is the usual squad strength for international friendlies. fair omission Pals omission doesnt come as a surprise as he had not been in the best of form over the last one year and was replaced under the bar by veteran Sandip Nandy in Indias last international friendly against Palestine in February. fitness issues However,Nabi,who was among the goalscorers in that match,is a surprise exclusion. The former Mohun Bagan player has been one of the mainstays of the national team for the last few years. He is also slated to attend trials for Major League Soccer club DC United next month. Nabi and Pal have not been involved in rigorous training since the I-League ended in May. The team management did not want to take any chance, the source said. Other notable players left out include winger Anthony Pereira and young Alwyn George,who played in the Palestine friendly. Koevermans,meanwhile,brought back Robin Singh as the third striker in the squad along with captain Sunil Chhetri and uncapped Sporting Clube de Goa forward Dawson Fernandes. Tajikistan are ranked 106th in the FIFA Rankings while India lie in 146th.
