MARCH 7: Air-India do not wish to stay grounded for long. Bimal Ghosh, coach-manager of the Mumbai National League (NFL) side that finished at the bottom of their preliminary group, is plotting a quiet route to the top.The Air-India coach was in Margao recently to watch talent on view at the Super Six. He believes his side has plenty to offer Indian soccer next season with his blueprint to whip the team back into shape.Ghosh, constrained by Air-India's limited budget and restrictions on the recruitment of foreign players, has long battled the odds. But he feels that Air-India will continue producing players who will play a major role in the country.Hard-hit last season with the transfer of three players - striker P Jose (to Mahindras), N Khengtang Paite (Mohun Bagan) and defender Jeevan Moraes (also Mohun Bagan) - the former striker believes his team's poor billing this season in the NFL is only a bad phase.Last spot in the group brings on the spectre of relegation for the Mumbai side but wordfiltered through that with an increased field for next year's NFL, Air-India may continue playing in the premier league.``If we survive relegation, we can re-emerge as one of the best teams in the country even though we have only Indian players,'' Ghosh said.``We intend strengthening the team by recruiting a mid-fielder, defender and one positive striker. That will go alongside scouting and developing local junior talent,'' he added.The Air-India coach has seen in Goa just the right players he needs. ``Deepak Mondal, the stopper for JCT, Salgaocar's mid-fielder Shanmugham Venkatesh, talented Salgaocar striker, youngster Alvito D'Cunha and FC Ghosh Kochin mid-fielder Noel Wilson would fit in well,'' he observed.For long now, Ghosh, voted best coach at last season's NFL, has had to grind raw talent into finished products and is confident of moulding players into the big league. Six players of his squad found themselves in the elite list of 45 named by the All-India Football Federation strikersAnthony Fernandes, Godfrey Pereira, goalkeeper Yusuf Ansari, wing-back Henry Picardo, mid-fielder Khambiton Singh and Khalid Jamil.And two players in his squad, Picardo and Abbas Ali Rizvi, shared glory at Colombo when the Indian side lifted the Independence Cup after beating the hosts in the final.Ironically, the slump in the NFL came after the team shaped well in other campaigns.Air-India beat Mahindras, the Durand Cup champions, twice in the local league. The airmen also beat Mohun Bagan in the Durand Cup before being edged out in the tie-breaker by Mahindras in the semi-finals.After four successive defeats in NFL, Air-India proved that nothing can be taken for granted. Dempo learnt that while crashing to a 0-1 defeat at home. Although Air-India's fortunes continued taking a tail-spin, the Mumbai side bid adieu to the competition in style with a 1-0 win over Churchill Brothers.``I told my boys before the match that there would be no relegation and that they should play for pride,'' Ghoshsays. ``Besides, had we lost, suspicions of match fixing would have surfaced as the outcome had a direct bearing on the prospects of two Calcutta sides, Bagan and Tollygunge Agragami,'' he explained. Air-India stand relegated, going by NFL rules for this season. But relegation poses to be an absurdity, given what appears to be an unacceptable format that divided 12 teams into two groups. The bottom three of either group are not getting a chance to pit their abilities as are the top three, currently fighting it out in the Super Six.
