Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Chennai, Jan 30: The Philips Football League has reached a stage where the teams are feeling the compelling need to change gears, albeit for different reasons.
Calcutta’s East Bengal, hard hit by the inter-club transfer, with 11 points from eight matches, take on Indian Bank who are not exactly sitting pretty with six points from seven outings.
P K Banerjee, technical director, East Bengal, said it was imperative for them to win the match tomorrow and also the one against Mohun Bagan on February 8, to entertain any hopes of finishing in the top three. Some of the regulars, like goal-keeper Kalyan Choubey, Dulal Biswas and Abayomi Felix, are down with fever. It is the mid-field which seemed to bother Banerjee with the team missing Basudev Mondal, who switched over to Mohun Bagan this year. The kingpin of their attack, Bhaichung Bhutia, could have done with more prompting from the medios, he felt.
For Indian Bank, who belied expectations to finish fifth in the last edition, things have not rolled well.With two wins against five losses, they have to do a lot better to wriggle out from a spot, aware they are that things could get a little hot at the home stretch.
The bankmen are sure to miss Sebastian Netto in the goal, out with two yellows. All the same, coach Albert Fernando felt that it would be a chance for Felix to rise to the occasion.
Syed Sabir Pasha, who struck a dream goal in the bankmen’s first home match against JCT, must be hoping for an encore. On that occasion, the promptings from Hamilton Bobby and Mahesh Singh acted as fodder for Pasha. Sathyan’s towering presence in the rear should spur them on.
It may well boil down to the individual brilliance of Bhaichung Bhutia and Sabir Pasha at the either end. Bhutia is always known to come up with something out of the ordinary against the bankmen and that should be of cold comfort to the opposition. The bankmen have their counter in Pasha, who in one fleeting moment, is capable of mocking pre-match calculations.
