Gurpreet named captain for India’s game against Puerto Rico

Mumbai, Sep 2 (PTI) India’s national football coachStephen Constantine today anointed towering goalkeeperGurpreet Singh Sandhu as captain for tomorrow’s internationalfriendly against higher-ranked Puerto Rico at the suburbanAndheri Sports Complex ground here. "Gurpreet Singh Sandhu will captain the team tomorrowagainst Puerto Rico," Constantine announced at the fag end ofthe pre-match media conference to give a huge boost to the24-year-old, one of the youngest players to lead the nationalfootball team. The elevation of Gurpreet, the only Indian playingprofessional football in Europe with Stabaek FC in Norway,in place of regular leader and ace striker Sunil Chhetri,means senior custodian Subrata Paul, who recently won theArjuna award, would have to sit out. The game against the CONCACAF rivals, the first footballinternational to be held in this megapolis since the Indiaversus USSR match way back in 1955, gives a chance to thenational side seek to climb the FIFA ranking. Currently India are 152 as compared to Puerto Rico’s 114and this would be the national team’s fifth international gamethis year. Puerto Rico squad missed their connecting flight and areto reach only this evening, it was announced, but coachConstantine brushed aside any extra advantage for India due tothis late arrival of the opponents. "They are a good side with many good players. Yeah, onemay mention about their landing timing in Mumbai but youcannot take away their quality. Can you ? Puerto Rico were oneof the best movers in the FIFA Rankings. They are a veryorganised side," said Constantine. "They love to keep the ball and play it around. They aretechnically very good. Once they are around the box they arevery dangerous. Against USA they split open the rival defencewith three touches," said the national coach. "They have similarities with Guam. Most of their playersare based in the United States. In fact they even have a teamPuerto Rico FC which play in the US League. They have a numberof players playing in Europe and they will be a very goodside, make no mistake of that. (More) PTI SSR DK ATKCMRYS