Salgoacar are worthy winners of Federation Cup

East Bengal coach PK Banerjee’s strategy based on counter-moves put paid to Dutta’s attacking `creative’ soccer. Of course, without Bhaichung Bhutia and Samuel Omollo that day, Dutta’s diamond might well have outshone `PK’.

It needed Salgaocar coach TK Chathunni’s tactical brilliance and their superior defence to pip East Bengal. It also needed Bruno Coutinho’s calm head and thundering right foot to grab the limelight ahead of Bhutia and Chima Okerie.

Defence proved to be the crucial factor in the entire tournament. It was Churchill Brothers’ poor defending which led to their humiliation at Guwahati. That is not taking away anything from Chima Okerie, the big Mohun Bagan striker who scored four goals, including a hat-trick that day.

Bagan made the same mistake against East Bengal in the semi-finals at Calcutta. In their attempt to increase men in the attack, they left the defence soft. It just could not stop Bhutia. The Sikkimese boy got a hat-trick this time. Banerjee was, however, more cautious. He knew of Chima’s abilities and instructed Naushad Moosa to follow the Nigerian like a shadow. Chima, however, managed to score Bagan’s lone goal.

In the other semi-final at Guwahati, played under very difficult conditions, it was again Chathunni’s level head which saw Salgaocar beat Dempo by a solitary goal. The slush and the mud had made the ground unplayable. Pleas of postponement by both camps to the AIFF yielded little result. The game was eventually played and Salgaocar did the sensible thing; go for long, aerial balls. In contrast, Dempo preferred short passes, a technique taught by their Brazilian coach Francisco Gonsalves D’Silva.

The final was again a test for Salgaocar’s trusted defence. Roque Pereira, Franky Bareto, Roberto Fernandes and Francis Coelho are definitely the best to have in the back-line; and they have the advantage of height too. They did an excellent job in containing Bhutia and Somatai Saiza. Salgaocar proved superior in all the three areas defence, midfield and the attack.

Savio Mediera anchored the midfield very well as he had done against Dempo. And in the attack, it was the unstoppable Bruno Coutinho, later declared the Player of the Tournament.

For Salgaocar, the key was fitness. Never did they show signs of tiring on the heavy grounds, either in Guwahati or Calcutta. The fluidity in the midfield was a treat to watch. Salgaocar’s secret to success was sticking to the basics and not going for experimentations.

A total of 56 teams took part in this edition of the Federation Cup. Eight of them were directly seeded into pre-quarters. Of the remaining 48, eight qualified for the main stage. The qualifiers included Mohammedan Sporting and Churchill Brothers. Among the qualifiers, only Churchill Brothers and Mohammedan Sporting could make it to the quarters.

The draw for the main stage turned out to be real quirky with Jagatjit Cotton Textile Mills and Churchill Brothers clashing in the first round itself. Expectedly JCT, one of the contenders last year, lost. Then, the top three Calcutta teams were in the same half of the draw. The other half had Salgaocar and Dempo, leaders from Goa. Barring upsets, the lots made it clear that the final would be a Calcutta team against a Goa team.

Finally, the crowd needs a special mention for its selectiveness. The Guwahati semi-final found just 2000 in the stands, and the next day, there were 1,31,783 at Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta. Even the final at the Salt Lake Stadium, which featured only one Calcutta team, had over a lakh in attendance. The colossal crowd compelled Doordarshan to cover the last two matches live in spite of their earlier stance that as long AIFF’s telecast rights stay with STAR Sports, they will have nothing to do with Indian football.