On Monday, after the South African Football Federation expressed its inability to participate in the four-nation tournament, Kenya has been roped in as a replacement for South Africa in the forthcoming Hero Intercontinental Cup.

Apart from Kenya hailing from the CAF region, the Intercontinental Cup, which will kick off at the Mumbai Football Arena on June 1. It will have the representation in the form of New Zealand from the Oceania region, and Chinese Taipei from the AFC region. Leading to the replacement, the Kenyan squad increased the number of players in their team. The players will consist of who play across various professional premier leagues in Europe and other parts of the world.

According to the sportskeeds, the tournament is being organised to strengthen India's preparation for the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019. The county's second qualification to the continental championship in eight years and fourth overall, the last being in Doha 2011. The Indian national team which has been on an upsurge over the last couple of years is currently ranked 97 (as per April 2018 FIFA rankings) and was on an unbeaten run for 12 official matches for a span which extended from June 2016 to November 2017.