The Tamil Nadu Football Association announced a strong 20-member squad for the 66th Santosh Trophy national football championship to be played in Odisha (Bhubaneswar and Cuttack) from May 11 to May 27. Former international Syed Sabir Pasha is the coach.

According to Sabir, the team, who are on the verge of wrapping up a 20-day camp at the Nehru Stadium, were selected purely on merit.

“The performance in the camp was a critical selection criterion. We have a balanced unit with the right mixture of youth and experience,” the coach said.

Notable exclusions from the squad were left-back S. James Selvakumar and midfielder P. Sudhakar. “I would have loved to see the Customs duo in our line-up. But both are carrying injuries and that’s why they weren’t included.

This is the best team we could come up with. I am confident of a good show and the boys are raring to go,” added Sabir.

Tamil Nadu were bolstered with the inclusion of midfielder V.R. Murugappan and goalkeeper Rajini Kumar, who play for BEML and Vasco SC respectively in the I-League second division.

The other two players who made it to the squad, despite not playing in the CFA senior division league this year, were striker A. Reagan and playmaker Amal Pai (both turned out for Income Tax in the CFA second division league).

Meanwhile, RPF custodian Akhil Soman was picked over seasoned Arun Pradeep (Chennai Customs) and Alexander (AGORC). Amal earned his place through his outstanding performance in the camp.

Tamil Nadu, who have directly qualified for the quarterfinal league, are in Group D along with Indian Railways. The winners of preliminary rounds (cluster 1 and 6) will join TN and Railways for the QF league.

Tamil Nadu will play their first match on May 19 against cluster 1 winners. The group comprises teams from Jharkhand, Andaman & Nicobar, Delhi and Gujarat.

On May 21, TN will face cluster 6 (Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Mizoram) winners before playing their final league game against Railways on May 23.

In all, 28 teams are divided into seven clusters. Apart from TN, the other quarter-finalists from last year — Bengal, Punjab, Manipur, Goa, Services, Chhattisgarh and Railways — reserved direct QF leagues berths. Hosts Orissa have also received a straight quarterfinal entry.

The top four teams from the QF league will advance to the semis. The preliminary round matches begin Friday while the quarterfinal league gets underway from May 18.

The semi-finals and final will be held in Cuttack on May 25 and 27.

TN squad

Goalkeepers: Rajini Kumar (Chennai, Vasco), Akhil Soman (Chennai, RPF). Defenders: Suman Raj (Chennai, ICF), D. Edison (Chennai, AGORC), K. Sathish (Thiruvallur, Customs), R. Naveen Kumar (Nilgiris, AGORC), M. Murthy (Thiruvallur, AGORC), N. Dhinakaran (Kanchi, Indian Bank). Wingers: V.R Murugappan (Madurai, BEML-Bengaluru), Nirmal Kumar (Chennai, Customs), Shanta Kumar (Chennai, ICF), S. Karthik (Chennai, Indian Bank). Midfielders: Charles Anandraj (Vellore, FCI), John Paul (Kanyakumari, FCI), L. Stegin (Kanyakumari, AGORC), Amal Pai (Chennai, Income Tax). Strikers: A. Reagan (Kanyakumari, Income Tax), M. Ramesh (Chennai, Customs), U. Jayakumar (Thiruvallur, Customs), M. David (Chennai, ICF). Standbys: Sivapriyan (Cuddalore, FCI defender), Ashok Kumar (Dindigul, FCI midfielder). Coach: Syed Sabir Pasha (Indian Bank). Assistant coach:K. Chandrasekar (FCI). Physio: M. Ragunath.