“Preparing for my Masters exam” - Lalengmawia Ralte likely to miss FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers due to University exams
Indian midfielder Lalengmawia Ralte took to Instagram to post a story about his preparation for the Masters exam. Interestingly, the Indian men’s national football team is expected to play the FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers game against Kuwait during his University exams.
The Indian football team is likely to miss the services of Lalengmawia Ralte during the game against Kuwait. Unfortunately, Akash Mishra, Rahul KP, and Mohammed Yasir are also likely to miss out on the Qualifiers due to their respective injuries.
He captioned his story:
"No training = Study time, Preparing for my Masters exam."
A major setback for India if Lalengmawia Ralte misses out
Besides multiple players missing out, skipper Sunil Chhetri could join later than May 10 owing to illness in the family as the first batch is all set for the preparatory camp in Bhubaneswar.
“He (Ralte) has spoken to a national team staff asking to be excused from the camp but has been asked to talk to head coach Igor Stimac,” an official at the All India Football Federation (AIFF) told Hindustan Times.
Ralte, who has 18 senior team caps, is on the second list of players who are supposed to join the camp on May 15 in the second batch. In ISL 2023-24, Ralte had 85% passing accuracy and created 17 chances for Mumbai City FC.
In the ISL 2020-21, Lalengmawia Ralte emerged as the hero of the month in February 2021 and he was the ISL emerging player of the season in 2020-21.
Indian senior men’s team head coach Igor Stimac recently announced the list of probables for the Bhubaneswar camp ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 matches against Kuwait and Qatar. A total of 41 players will be a part of the camp.
India is occupying the second spot in Group A in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers as the top two teams at the end of the group stage will advance to Round 3 and secure their place at the AFC Asian Cup 2027.
India will compete against Kuwait in Kolkata on June 6 before traveling away to compete against Qatar on June 11.