Kerala football news

Federation Cup 2009: Match Preview – Viva Kerala vs. East Bengal

Kerala’s Neelapada take on Bengal’s Red and Gold brigade in the first round of Group A matches. The group is evenly placed with all teams have a great chance of moving to the next stage.

East Bengal has won the Federation Cup five times in the past with the last one being in the 2007 season. They have also finished runners-up seven times. Whereas, Viva Kerala’s best performance was a quarterfinal appearance two seasons back.

However, Viva Kerala has a two-time Federation Cup winner in the form of coach AM Sreedharan. He won the Cup as coach of the erstwhile Kerala Police team in 1990 and 1991.

It needs to be seen if Viva’s shot-gun style and gung-ho approach can get the better of East Bengal’s style of creating attacking moves along the flanks. The two teams played an evenly contested game this season during the first phase of I-League matches and East Bengal scraped past the Kerala team by a single goal.

Form Guide
Last five completed matches during the current season (2009-10) excluding friendlies/practice matches and most recent results first

Viva Kerala – WWWLD
Viva fully utilized the mid-season break by playing against Kerala based clubs. They stream-rolled past I-League Second Division team Malabar (2-1) and Cochin Premier League winners Central Excise (9-0) before edging KSEB in the finals by a solitary goal to win the INS Dronacharya Trophy held in Cochin. They also thrashed Cochin Premier League runners-up Golden Threads 4-1 in a friendly.

They are definitely raring to go and getting past the group stages seems like a realistic target for the team.

East Bengal – WLDWW
After winning three games on the trot at the I-League before the mid-season break, East Bengal had two poor games at the Kolkata Premier League dropping a point against Railways FC (2-2) and loosing to Tollygunge Agragami (2-1). They, however, beat Calcutta Port Trust 4-2 in their last local league match.

East Bengal will be looking to make up for having an average season by going beyond the group stage without dropping any points.

Team News

Viva Kerala
Sreedharan has an almost full-strength team at his discretion and it could give dividends for the Kerala team.

There are two newcomers in the team, Ahmed Malik signed from Malabar United and KP Nishad from Bengal Mumbai FC will bolster the team.

And, Viva has gone through significant changes during the mid-season but they still have most of their first team intact. Thai U21midfielder Wisut Bunpeng’s contract was terminated on mutual consent and the youngster is back in Thailand. Defenders Ajith Fermin and Nidhin have joined Golden Threads on loan, former TFA products Bimal Birua and Sumit Thapa have received a job offer from Railways and exited the club and midfielder Freddy has joined Chennai based Integral Coach Factory.

On the other hand, Viva has managed to hold on to captain MP Sakeer and defender VV Surjit (both have signed for KSEB and is likely to make an exit at the end of the season). They have also sorted out differences with British-born Patrick Sisupalan which means the player will feature prominently for the team during their Cup campaign and beyond.

While Siraj, Noushad and Rahul are back in the team after recovering from injuries, former junior India striker CS Sabeeth is still out of the Cup squad. Sabeeth had featured briefly during Viva’s practice matches but the coach definitely did not want to risk the player and give him more time to recover.

Charles Dzisah will not be part of the Cup squad as only two foreigners are allowed as per the tournament rules. Former India international Amarwant Singh will replace him as Bello Rasaq’s partner in central defence.
K Sharat continues to excel and will hold onto his first team place ahead of former junior India camper Shahin Lal Meloly. Patrick is likely to keep the holding midfielder role ahead of Rahul as the weather is likely to suit him well. Makeshift striker and Kerala U21 captain KP Anish is likely to play second fiddle to Rueben Senyo upfront.

Former junior India camper and striker VK Shibinlal, central midfielder P Rahul and defender Marshook will feature in the match at some point.

Probable XI (4-4-2): K Sharat – K Noushad, Bello Rasaq, Amarwant Singh, VV Surjit – T Karma, Raman Patrick Sisupalan, MP Sakeer (Captain), C Sirajuddeen – Rueben Senyo, KP Anish.

East Bengal
Belgian coach Philipe De Riddier created a flutter in the media when he named the squad for the Cup matches. Eye-brows were raised at some of the names that were included as well as the ones who were excluded.

In the goalkeeping department, youngster Avjit Ghosh who has featured regularly in the last few rounds of the I-League was dropped from the squad all together meaning early-season favorite Abhra Mondal is back in contention.

Indian national camper and EB regular Govin Singh is not with the team and has stayed back in Kolkata. Left winger and member of the Indian SAFF Cup winning team Jibon Singh has been left behind too as the coach seems to be unimpressed with him. Jibon has been a livewire for EB and has featured regularly in the previous rounds of the I-League.

India’s best left winger for over a decade Rennedy Singh, player of Asian origin Sreco Mitrovic, youngsters Riston Rodrigues and Sanju Pradhan are also missing from the team. The current team really lacks depth and this could give the coach a headache when there are any major injury concerns especially in defence and midfield.

Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia and fellow international and EB regular Mehrajuddin Wadoo are injured and will miss the match. And, so will midfielder Beikokhei and striker Budhiram Tudu.

Goal-bound Abel Hammond was dropped in favour of a more creative and versatile Yusuf Yakubu. Yusuf will partner youngster Subhas Singh upfront. With restrictions on the number of foreign players for the Federation Cup, defender Uga Okpara was named as the second foreigner.

Former India international and ex-EB skipper Alvito D’Cunha is likely to feature regularly during the Cup campaign and he is also known to be a favorite of the coach.

Probable XI (4-4-2): Abhra Mondal – Nirmal Chetri, Uga Okpara, Saikat Saha Roy, Saumik Dey – Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Mehtab Hossain, Alvito D’Cunha , Syed Rahim Nabi (Captain) – Yusuf Yakubu, Subhas Singam Singh.

Players to Watch
Rueben Senyo (Viva Kerala) – He has thumped in goals at ease during the last few matches and seems to be in red-hot form. Viva’s fortunes will depend a lot on this man’s ability to find the net.
Yusuf Yakubu (East Bengal) – The Ghanian is the spearhead of the East Bengal attack. The experienced striker will look to give his best and justify his claim for a first-team place.

Key Matchups
Bello Rasaq vs. Yusuf Yakubu
Rueben Senyo vs. Uga Okpara
AM Sreedharan vs. Philipe De Riddier

Jason Morais writes for footballkerala.com