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Experienced goalkeeper Owais Khan of Nagpur has been appointed captain of the Maharashtra team which will participate in the qualifying round of the AIFF 72nd National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy to be held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat from January 9 to 13, 2018.
The 20-member Maharashtra team was selected after the 40 probables went through a strenuous camp under the supervision of Head Coach Augusto D’Silva, an AFC ‘A’ License holder. D’Silva, is being accompanied by Mathew Susainathan, Assistant Coach, Sudhakar Rane, Manager and Physiotherapist Kunal Bargal.
Maharashtra will face off against Daman & Diu (Jan 9), Lakshadweep (Jan 11) and Madhya Pradesh (Jan 13) in the qualifying round.
Matches will be played on a single leg league basis and the top two teams from each group will qualify for the Finals of the Championship.
The team: Goalkeepers – Owais Khan (Nagpur), Harshad Meher (Mumbai); Defenders – Dion Menezes, Shubham Khanvilkar, Nikhil Prabhu, Samson Joseph (all Mumbai), Afzaal Akhtar (Nagpur); Midfielders – Ashrafali Makandar, Himanshu Patil, Linekar Machado, Mervin Stephen, Advait Shinde (all Mumbai), Kiran Pandhare (Solapur), Mohammed N.R. Ansari, Vasu Kanojiya (both Nagpur), Asifullah Khan (Yavatmal), Sahil Bhokare (Pune); Forwards – Aniket Joshi (Nagpur), Ranjeet Singh, Aaron D’Costa (both Mumbai).
Head Coach: Augusto D’Silva (Mumbai); Assistant Coach: Mathew Susainathan; Manager: Sudhakar Rane; Physiotherapist: Kunal Bargal.
