The new-look Federation Cup saw some breath-taking soccer dished out mostly by foreign players, writes M.S. Unnikrishnan

IT was payback time for Mahindra United, for all those crores they had invested in building the team, when they bested Sporting Clube de Goa to annex the Federation Cup for the second time. Though Mahindra won the cup courtesy their Brazilian import Jose Ramirez Baretto, which may not be a good reflection on standard of Indian football, it was still a victory to be cherished.

Super Cup champions Sporting Clube de Goa’s strategy fell flat when Baretto got into the cruise mode. Mahindra did it again against Sporting, as they had prevailed over the Goan club in the National Football League, enabling Dempo to emerge champions.

The Rs 12 lakh prize money is not much for Mahindra United compared to what they had spent for recruiting players and nurturing talent. But their second Federation Cup victory — they first won in 2003 — has given the club a big image boost, the fair play trophy, and a berth in the AFC Cup. For coach Derrick Perreira, it was a memorable moment as Mahindra hit the jackpot under his guidance, though he had been part of the Salgaocar team when they won the cup on three occasions.

The 27th edition of the Federation Cup was an apt tribute to Brazilian star Cristiano Junior, who died last year at Bangalore after scoring the match-winner for Dempo. He collided with Mohun Bagan goalie Subrata Paul after scoring the goal and died on the field. The best player award, instituted in Junior’s name, was bagged by Mahindra skipper S Venkatesh, who was the winner of AIFF’s player of the year award this year. Baretto won the golden boot title, while Mahindra custodian Sandeep Nandi walked away with the best goalie award.

Though Dempo crashed out in the first round, the championship rolled on nicely. And it was just as well that another Brazilian star, Baretto, shone throughout to take Mahindra to the summit, knocking in six goals along the way, including both their goals in the final and two against their nemesis Churchill Brothers.

That there still exists a loyal following of football was evident during the championship. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Fatorda in Goa’s Margao witnessed a football carnival rarely showcased in the country after the "extinction" of the hugely popular Nehru Gold Cup. Upward of 30,000 persons turned up to witness the matches daily. During the final, the stadium had over 35,000 spectators.

Despite the country’s obsession with cricket, the popularity of football was clearly evident in the well-packaged
Federation Cup.

Many a reputation was marred, and a few made, as the championship unfolded in a new avatar. There was liberal sponsorship, with a total prize money of Rs 26 lakh, besides live coverage by a satellite channel.

The money went into the AIFF kitty but most fans were denied the privilege of watching the contests live as the telecast rights were awarded to a private channel, which had only limited reach. Doordarshan, the most penetrative of television networks, had no "feed" to show the matches.

The AIFF, perhaps taking a cue from the successful conduct of the Premier Hockey League (PHL) by the Indian Hockey Federation at Hyderabad last year, decided to innovate. The move paid off.

ESPN-Star Sports had employed imaginative marketing strategy to promote PHL with dollops of glitz and glamour thrown in. And Zee Sports had just to play the copy cat to put on a pedestal the Federation Cup, which had lost its sheen a long time ago due to the regressive policies of the football federation. Twelve cameras were put at vantage points to cover the on-field and off-field action. Carnival dancers, zebra cheer squads, bands, models and dancers livened up the atmosphere.

The championship helped put football back in focus, and the Goa experience is all set to be replicated in the Santosh Trophy Championship at Cochin later this month.

The Federation Cup had lost its sheen with the advent of the National Football League (NFL). Though defending champions Dempo, also the NFL champions, were knocked out in the first round by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which did not boast of any star names, the championship witnessed some breath-taking matches.

HAL fell to Mahindra United in the second round, and in the end, the two best teams contested the final. Mahindra United and Sporting played consistently brilliant soccer to win and create a huge impact. Mahindra’s progression was like a rising graph as after stunning former champions JCT 1-0, they whipped HAL 4-2 and Churchill Brothers 4-1.

The victory over Churchill was also a sweet revenge for not releasing sharp shooter Yusuf Yacoob, who had been bought by Mahindra for a huge sum. (Churchill refused to give the no-objection certificate unless they were suitably compensated).

Sporting waded their way into the final after beating State Bank of Travancore 2-1, Fransa Pax Goa 4-1 and Salgaocar 6-5 via tie-breaker. Other wonted clubs like four-time champions East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Sporting, Air India, State Bank of Travancore and Punjab Police fell by the wayside as things hotted up.

East Bengal were assisted by ageing warhorse IM Vijayan and the talented M Suresh, but they sorely missed the services of Baichung Bhutia, who was not included in the team on "disciplinary" grounds. No team could afford to relax in this knockout tournament as even one mistake spelt doom.

Mahindra owed their success to Baretto, who took a heavy burden on his shoulders. His relentlessly attacking display created a new benchmark. He scythed through the rival defence to create openings and score as no defence was good enough to check this marauding Brazilian.

Sixteen teams — the top 12 of the NFL and the top four of the B Division League — vied for the title, including six from Goa and four from Bengal.The Goan teams included former champions like Dempo, Churchill, Sporting, Fransa, Vasco and Salgaocar, while Bengal were represented by East Bengal, Tollygunge, Mohammedan Sporting and Mohun Bagan.

Most teams relied on their foreign stars to deliver. Some delivered while others ended up as glorified flops. Dempo netted as Junior’s substitutes Nigerians Bam Bam Dum Day, Rentic Martins and defender Bolagi Magic, but they came a cropper against HAL. Mahindra had Baretto and Gabriel Umehand Stevan Dias, while Sporting boasted of Edh Chidi and Dudu Omegbemi.

IN THE NEWS
Top gun
Vikramdeep Johal

THE super sub might be the new fad in one-day cricket, but the good old genuine allrounder is still a force to reckon with. The Indian team hasn’t seen any top-class ones ever since Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri and Mohinder Amarnath left the scene, but now Irfan Pathan is fast emerging as a multi-utility player of great significance. While continuing to do wonders with his superb swing bowling, the 21-year-old Pathan has improved his batting several notches.

In the first one-dayer against Sri Lanka at Nagpur, he was sent in at number three at the fall of Virender Sehwag’s wicket. A whirlwind 20-30 runs were all that his team expected from him. Instead, he mixed caution with aggression to post his highest one-day score (83), while sharing a big century partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. Unfortunately, his marvellous knock was overshadowed by the euphoria over the master blaster’s comeback.

In the Mohali match, he tormented the Lankans with the ball, getting rid of Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Tillekeratne Dilshan. Tendulkar threatened to steal the limelight from Pathan again, but the latter’s deadly spell of 4-37 was good enough to earn him the man of the match award.

Pathan’s ability to do the damage not only with the ball but also with the bat can prove to be invaluable for India in the 2007 World Cup. He has age firmly on his side, a factor which goes against another promising allrounder, JP Yadav. A worrying thing in Pathan’s case is his high economy rate (about five runs per over). No doubt his prime job is to take wickets, but if he can cut down on the number of runs conceded, it would be an added bonus.

As far as his performance in Tests is concerned, Pathan needs to improve his record against top teams. Of the 66 wickets he has claimed in 15 matches, 39 have come in four Tests — two each against minnows Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. He has struggled against Australia and to some extent, Pakistan. With two Test series coming up in the next few months — Sri Lanka (December) and England (March, 2006) — Pathan has ample opportunity to show that he can come good against the best in the longer version of the game.

Test and ODI record

Batting: Tests: 15; Runs: 359; Average: 22.43; Best: 55. ODIs: 41; Runs: 495; Average: 27.5; Best: 83.

Bowling: Tests: 15; Wickets: 66; Average: 26.15; Best: 7-59; ODIs: 41; Wickets: 68; Average: 26.6; Best: 5-27.

Cricket Afghani
M Shakeel Ahmed

THE Indian cricket team has Mohammed Kaif as one of its star batsmen. So does war-ravaged Afghanistan. The Afghani Kaif is an up-and-coming 15-year-old batsman who, along with a number of other youngsters, aspires to build a strong team to play international matches.

Cricket fever is gradually gripping this nation. One reason for the popularity of the game is the return of a large number of Afghan refugees from neighbouring cricket-loving Pakistan. Football has been relegated to the number two spot.

Though the Afghan national cricket team was formed in 1995 soon after the withdrawal of the Soviet forces, the sport could not be advanced because of Taliban elements getting a foothold in Afghanistan.

With the exit of the Taliban forces, cricket has started to flourish, with the country now boasting of over 300 registered clubs and a cricket academy which was recently opened in Kabul.

Work has commenced to start a national cricket stadium of world standards.

The Afghan team has slowly started making its presence felt. It defeated Malaysia and Bahrain in a recent tournament in Dubai.

"We are knocking at the doors of world cricket," says Taj Malik Alam, general secretary of the Afghanistan Cricket Federation and national coach, as he watches under-15 boys enthusiastically undertake gruelling four to five hours of practice sessions even while observing day-long Ramzan fast.

Pinch hitter Karim Sadiq is popularly known as Virender Sehwag of Afghanistan and Alam proudly says the youngster has the ability to play big knocks. Sadiq has four centuries to his credit, including two in Pakistan’s domestic cricket.

The national team has four spinners, an equal number of allrounders and two fast bowlers who can bowl at a speed of 140-145 km.

Sachin Tendulkar is looked upon by many as their idol with teenagers trying to copy shots played by him during net sessions.

"We want to play with India, which has produced legends like Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. Even an exhibition match will boost our morale," Alam said.

Alam said the national team was now striving to secure a berth in the Asia Cup by finishing among the first two teams in the ACC Trophy qualifiers.

"The two finalists will play in the Asia Cup along with teams like Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," Alam said, adding that "our aim is to beat Pakistan as President Hamid Karzai has promised to give a Toyota vehicle to each member of the team if we do so."

He said the under-15 team had now got a sponsor, Standard Chartered Bank, which showed that the game was picking up in the country.

The under-15 team, he said, had been picked up from a huge list of 700 aspirants across the country who had appeared for the trials.

But a cherished dream for the Afghan team has still remained unfulfilled — to play a match against India.

He said he had mentioned this proposal to Sourav Ganguly sometime ago in Kolkata and also to BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla, who had welcomed it but nothing has materialised so far.

Giving an account of the cricket infrastructure available in the country, he said the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) was giving a grant of $ 70,000 per annum for ground development, equipment and physical fitness of the cricketers.

Alam said the country had five umpires and 18 coaches trained by the ACC in conjunction with Cricket Australia. — PTI

SPORTS MAIL

The much-hyped Super Series between Australia and World XI proved to be fiasco. It only helped Australian captain Ricky Ponting cement his place at the helm of affairs. The threat to his captaincy, which loomed large after Australia lost the Ashes to England, has blown over now.

The way World XI played gives rise to the suspicion that these matches were fixed. Had Pakistan or South Africa alone played Australia Down Under, they would have done much better.

K.K. Bhardwaj, Patiala

The Tribune should devote more space to football reports and photos of football stars. There should be adequate coverage of footbal matches played all over the world.

Dashmesh Soccer Academy, Faridkot

The selection of Rahul Dravid as the captain of the Indian cricket team is commendable. Dravid has the right temperament — he remains ultra-cool under pressure — to lead the team. I hope that under his dynamic leadership the team will attain greater heights.

Dr Rajan Malhotra, Kangrari (Rehan)