Goa won the tournament last in 2008-09.
Addressing a press conference, coach Mathew D'Costa said, "Our team is a mix of youth and experience. I have faith in my boys, who have shown a lot of promise during this three weeks training. I am confident that they will lift their game when it comes to the crunch and do enough to win the trophy.
"This time we do not have players from the I-League clubs but have picked up three outstation players. We also have two experienced players who have played in the Santosh Trophy earlier while others are playing for the first time."
Elvis Gomes, the executive director of the Sports Authority of Goa, said, "This time no I-league players will be playing in the team and the pressure will be more on the youngsters to perform and bring the trophy back home after a gap of three years."
Apart from the skipper, who is a former Dempo midfielder, the other players are: Macklas Moraes, Agnelo Noronha, Jaidganesh Goitekar, Jessel Carneiro, Agnelo Barreto, Gary D'Mello, Fulgencio Cardozo, Wellington Fernandes, Keenan Almeida, Perryson Rebello, Sachin Gawas, Jerose Oliveira, Pratesh Shirodkar, Joel Sequeira, Velito D'Cruz, Gabriel Fernandes, AGnelo Colaco, Rakshak Naik, and Pramod Mardolkar.
