Federation Cup 2009: Travancore Titanium | Team Profile
The fourth and the final team we bring to you in our analysis of Kerala teams in the Federation Cup qualifying stages is Trivandrum’s Travancore Titanium
Team Name: Travancore Titanium
Introduction
Travancore Titanium Products Limited, India’s largest Titanium dioxide Company was established in 1946 by His Highness Chithira Tirunal Balaramavarma Maharaja of Travancore. In 1960, Kerala Government took over the company. The Titanium football Team was established in 1973 and dominated Kerala football during the later 70’s. Titanium has also played a major part in supplying Kerala with some great talents from the Travancore region.
Past Achievements
Titanium was crowned the Champions of Thriruvananthapuram District league in the current season ahead of strong opponents like KSEB and SBT. Their success came after finishing runners-up in the three previous years (2008, 2007 and 2006).
Travancore Titanium came 3rd in Kerala State league in 2004, 2006 and 2007. They lost in the group stages in 2005 State league but compensated the performance by wining the State Club Championship the same season. They came second in the 2007 season of the State Club championship.
Form Guide
Travancore Titanium is the only team coming into Federation Cup qualifiers after competeing in tournaments outside the state. They were the finalists in Sikkim CM’s Gold Cup, unfortunate to lose to Army XI in tie breaker after leading 80 minutes during the game. They lost to Mohammedan Sporting 3-1 in a tournament in Orissa in semi finals after defeating a second string Mumbai FC.
Transfers
IN: Lenin Lawrence, Satheesh R., Tinson Justin, Jalaludeen M., Renjith G., Byju K.V., Rakesh K., Tomy Antony, Diljith R.P., Midhun Wilwet
OUT: Rajesh, Vincent
Coach
Titanium is trained by Rajiv Kumar, an AFC B license holder. He played for Titanium at the Club level and represented the State as a goalkeeper winning Santosh Trophy in 90s.
He is part of the new batch of coaches for the AFC A license programme in the coming month.
Strengths
Strikers Usman, Cleatus and Ebin Rose have been in good form and scoring in the previous tournaments. Titanium having played a lot of matches coming into the tournament will definitely help their cause. Their defence has always been strong and well served due to the presence of physically strong players from the nearby coastal regions. They have further strengthened the team by recruiting new players from theie traditional catchment areas.
Weakness
The midfield lacks creativity and many of the veteran players are already on the wrong side of the fence in terms of age. The current squad consists of a number of new faces. Most of them coming into the team from college teams will have to step up their game and work harder to keep up their shape. The inexpeirience of these players cost them the Trophy in the previous tournaments they played in Orissa and Sikkim. These youngsters will have to come out from their shell if they hope to get into the main rounds of the Federation Cup.
Squad list
Navas (GK), Joby, Shabeer (C), Satheesh, Tinson, Sabir, Dinraj, Ebin Rose, Abdul Hameed KT, Cleatus, Baiju, Diljith, Usman T, Deepu, Prashanth, Sugunan, Tomy, Fatheen
Key Players
KT Navas, Ebin Rose, T Usman, Cleatus and Shabeer
