US Soccer keen on tie-up with India

NEW DELHI: After top European clubs showing interest in forging a strategic parterniship with Indian football, it's now the turn of United States.
The visit of India-born Sunil Gulati, who is also the president of US Soccer, has raised hopes of a tie-up between the AIFF and US. As a first step, India's under-16 national team is likely to tour US on an exchange programme.
"We discussed a lot of things and might do something together," said Gulati, who traces his roots to Allahabad. "We can work together in three-four distinct areas - possible exchange programme at the youth level, holding dialogues on referees and coaches, sponsorships and organising workshops for AIFF officials," he said.
This partnership could indeed give a boost to Indian football. In recent times, European heavyweights like Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich have launched development programmes in India.
Meanwhile, the AIFF released a list of 27 probables for a 16-day national camp to be held here from June 22. There are no new faces in the list which says a lot about Bob Houghton's insistence on working with his trusted set of players.
The probables:
Goalkeepers: Arindam Bhattacharya, Subrata Pal, Subhashish Roy Choudhary.
Defenders: Govin Singh, Gourmangi Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik, Surkumar Singh, Anwar Ali, Deepak Mondal, NS Manju, N Mohanraj, Rakesh Masih.
Midfielders: Anthony Pereira, Clifford Miranda, Climax Lawrence, Meharjuddin Wadoo, Syed Rahim Nabi, Renedy Singh, Baldip Singh, Jagpreet Singh, NP Pradeep, Steven Dias.
Forwards: Sunil Chettri, Sushil Singh, Bhaichung Bhutia, Abhishek Yadav.