Forlan’s first Uruguay squad has 46 names in it, and the last stop is Kolkata

Forlan’s first team sheet as Uruguay coach runs to 46 names, and the last of the three matches it covers is in Kolkata on 6 October.

Uruguay released the provisional list on Saturday for a September-October window that takes them across Asia. Japan first, on 24 September. South Korea four days later. Then India at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, the closing fixture of the tour.

The 46 break down as five goalkeepers, 18 defenders, 16 midfielders and seven forwards. A provisional list that long is normal at this stage of a window, since clubs have not released anyone yet and Forlan has to cover for withdrawals. What matters for Indian supporters is who is on it, and the names near the top are not the sort an October friendly usually attracts.

Valverde and Bentancur in, Suarez out

Federico Valverde of Real Madrid is in. So is Rodrigo Bentancur of Tottenham Hotspur. Ronald Araujo and Jose Maria Gimenez, the centre-backs who have anchored Uruguay’s defence for most of the last five years, are both on the list. So are Darwin Nunez, Lucas Torreira, Giorgian de Arrascaeta and Mathias Olivera.

The obvious absentee is Luis Suarez. He is 39, and Forlan has left him out of the first squad he has ever picked for the senior side. That ends the speculation about a Suarez comeback, at least for this window, and it removes the single most recognisable Uruguayan name from a fixture that is being sold in India partly on recognition.

Forlan himself carries plenty of that. He is 47, he won the Golden Ball at the 2010 World Cup, he scored 36 goals in 112 caps, and he was part of the side that won the Copa America in 2011. He took the job on an interim basis after Marcelo Bielsa left following Uruguay’s group-stage exit at the World Cup this summer, and he is running the under-20 team alongside it. A permanent appointment is expected around the turn of the year, which gives these three matches an unusual status. They are an audition for the coach as much as a look at the players.

Three home matches in twelve days

For India this is the busiest and by some distance the most glamorous stretch of home football in years. Khalid Jamil named a 26-player squad on 31 August covering the whole run. Panama come to the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru first. That match was originally set for 26 September and has been brought forward a day, to 25 September, because the Wipro Bengaluru Marathon is using the same stadium on the 27th and the police wanted the gap.

Then Kolkata gets both South American sides. Brazil on 3 October, Uruguay on 6 October, at the same ground. The Brazil match is the one people will remember, and not only because of the shirt. Brazil are ranked fifth in the world, which makes them the highest-ranked opponent India have faced since FIFA started publishing rankings in 1992. The two senior men’s sides have never played each other.

Uruguay, arriving three days later, are a harder fixture to price. They are a smaller football nation than Brazil by almost every measure except results, and the pool Forlan has drawn from is built around players holding down places in Europe’s bigger leagues. Whether all of them travel is a separate question. The provisional 46 will be cut well before the tour begins, and long trips to Asia in October are exactly the kind clubs push back on.

What India get out of it

Two matches against sides of this level inside four days is not preparation in any conventional sense. India will not be trying to match Brazil or Uruguay in possession, and a heavy defeat in either would tell nobody anything they did not already know. The value sits elsewhere. A full Salt Lake, and a group of Indian players getting a proper reference point for what the top of the sport actually looks like.

That last part should not be waved away. India have spent years playing friendlies against opponents chosen mainly because they happened to be available. Getting Brazil and Uruguay into the same window, in the same city, is a different order of organisation. The Panama match being shuffled around a marathon is also a reminder of how much of Indian football still runs on borrowed venues.

Squads will firm up closer to the window. For now, Forlan has put 46 names on paper, and the last stop on the list is Kolkata.

Follow India’s build-up to the Kolkata friendlies