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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, October 14: Nobodoy expected Delhi Blues to get past the league stage of the Chief Minister’s Football tournament for the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Cup that is currently on at the Ambedkar Stadium. Yet a bunch of talented footballers, picked from different Delhi clubs, have proved their point beyond doubt.
Having reached the semi-finals, the team’s hopes have now soared skyhigh and they are determined to make the final as the first task and, if possible, go on to win the Cup. Their determination is not without basis. The team’s immediate hurdle, however, will be the Mumbai club, Mahindra and Mahindra, in the semi-finals.
Delhi have the strength to beat Mahindras. After their relagation in the National Football League last season — they finished last — the Mumbai club is on its mend. S.S. Hakim took over from Derryk D’Souza and the Olympian is trying to bring the team back on its rail. He has infused some young blood into the team but it still remains a disjointed unit. More often than not, it has dependend too much on the experienced P.J. Jose and Sanjay Rawal to guide its fortune. In other words, Mahindras have to really play well to make a match of it.
This is where the Delhi Blues have their advantage. International Bhupinder Thakur is a most feared striker who, on his day, can rattle even the best of defence. Similarly, the experienced Dinesh, Shyam Kumar and Harish Bisht in the midfield will come in handy with their accurate passes.
But Delhi Blues’ only worry seems to be their defence. They did upset the applecart of Punjab Police, the third formidable team after ITI and SBT in the tournament, but the team from Punjab failed to exploit the holes the Delhi team had left in their opening match. If Delhi can only organise their defence, the rest will be taken care of by the strikers with their wingers ever ready to feed them.
However, the first semi-final between ITI (Bangalore) and State Bank of Travancore should in all probability be the final. The two teams from the south, who have qualified for the NFL this year, know each other’s strength as well as weakness. Even the game they play is more or less the same and it could be anybody’s game tomorrow. In fact, these two teams were expected to lock horns in the final. But unfortunately for SBT, an abandoned match favoured Mahindras, who topped their pool, and it meant the team from Kerala taking on ITI in the semis.
Both teams believe in short passes and have speedy forwards in their ranks. While ITI will look up to R.C. Prabhu, Sudhakar and Suresh Babu to score, the threesome will need a good support from Ram Babu in the midfield. STB’s strength lies in Manoj, who is a sharp shooter and a great opportunist, and Sunny. The two can fashion SBT’s win on the morrow provided midfielders Preejeev and Shabeer Ali and their wingers provide them with opportunities.
The semifinals and final will be played under gates. The rates of admission will be Rs 10 and Rs 5. There will, however, be no tickets for the general gallery.
