32nd Federation Cup: We’ll give our best shot – Muralidharan

HAL might have come late to the party, but the team from the garden city is right here at Cuttack, and ready to take the surprise package of last season, Pune FC.

Speaking to GardencitySoccerStars over phone, coach Muralidharan sounded positive, “We’ve been practicing together for several weeks and will give our best shot here.”
 

Like several other teams here, HAL will play their first competitive game of the season today. “We’ve played couple of friendlies against Army XI in Bangalore” said coach.

Muralidharan added, “RC and Hamza has formed a nice combination and they will be the strikers for today, later, based on the progress of the game, we will make the necessary change.”

Under-14 inter-district school tournament postponed

Owing to the mid-term examination conducted by majority of the schools, under-14 inter-district school tournament is postponed by the district football association (BDFA). The association cites the reason that the schools will be carrying exam from September 20 to October 7. This tournament will commence from October 15.

Also, this delay should give a chance to the schools that have yet to post their entry.

Promising players from this tournament will be selected for the forthcoming sub-junior national championship for the 33rd Coca Cola sponsored Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy 2010-11.

HAL team for 2010-11

Goalkeeper

1.    Pramod P (Malabar United)
2.    ArunKumar (Viva Kerala)
3.    Another goalie to be taken on loan during the 2nd transfer window

Defense

4.    R Sreekanth (retained)
5.    Jaikumar (retained)
6.    T Karthikeyan (Indian Bank)
7.    Liliyan Kenneth (Malabar United)
8.    Joseph Femi Adeola (foreigner, retained)
9.    Rohit Chand (Player of Asian Origin, PAO from Nepal)

Mid-field

10.    Goutam Debnath (Vasco)
11.    Xavier Vijaykumar (retained)
12.    Rajendra Prasad (retained)
13.    SatishKumar Sr. (retained)
14.    Murali J (retained)
15.    James Singh Jr. (Air India)
16.    Bengkok Nameirakpam (Lajong FC)
17.    Sanath Kumar (Salgaonkar)
18.    Prakash Koley (BEML)
19.    Shekar Muralidharan (Churchill Brothers)
20.    Samuel Dhinakaran (Amity United)

Striker

21.    RC Prakash (BEML)
22.    Abdulla Hamza (BEML)
23.    Meikinlung (NISA)

Coach

Muralidharan (retained)

 
The class of 2010-11 for HAL definitely looks like a weak team on paper. What else can you expect when almost half of the regulars have moved on?

However coach sounded positive, “I know this is not the best we have, but let us not write off. We have got a decent team with a combination of youth and experience and we will put up good show.”

Federation Cup 2010: HAL placed in Group A, to play in Cuttack

The Indian national-level football season kicks off with the Federation Cup from September 21. The 32nd edition of the Federation Cup will be played in 5 venues, Silchar (Assam), Mapusa (Goa), Cuttack (Orissa), Ludhiana (Punjab), and Vasco (Goa).

Earlier, the first 2 venues will host the qualifying round matches. The final round, starting from quarter-final, will be hosted by the remaining venues. Also, Cuttack will be hosting the semi-final and final matches. The matches in Cuttack will be played in Barabati Stadium, famous for hosting international cricket matches.

There are 4 groups with 4 teams in each group. The group toppers qualify for the semi-final round.

As an I-League division I team, HAL gets directly entry to the main round. They find themselves in Group A along with East Bengal, Air India, and Pune FC. HAL play their first match against Pune FC on Tuesday, September 21.

Qualifying Round

Group A - Silchar

• M1- September 15, 2010: Oil India 3 (H L Route, Bhimkanta Sonowal, and Manas Manjit Chetia) Vs Mohammedan Sporting 1 (Dipendu Biswas)
• M2- September 16, 2010: NISA 0 Vs Shillong Lajong FC 3 (Kelechi Okoye, Niwan Gatpoh, and James Giblee)
• Group A Final - September 18, 2010: Oil India 2 (Jayanta Basumatary [2]) Vs Shillong Lajong FC 4 (Kelechi Okoye, Niwan Gatpoh, Kryshan Lyngshing, and Anil Gurung)

Group B - Mapusa

• M1- September 14, 2010: Vasco 0 Vs Sesa Football Academy 1 (Lesley Fernandes)
• M2- September 15, 2010: Sporting Clube de Goa (Emmanuel Akwuegbu [hat-trick], Keita Boubacar, Agnel Colaco, and Anthony D'Souza) Vs Malabar United 0
• Group B Final - September 17, 2010: Sesa Football Academy 2 (tie-breaker 5) Vs Sporting Clube de Goa 2 (tie-breaker 4)

Quarterfinal Round

Group A – Cuttack

• September 21, 2010: East Bengal 3 (Tolgay Ozbey-2 and Robin Singh) Vs Air India 1 (Vijith Shetty)
• September 21, 2010: HAL 1 (Hamza) Vs Pune FC (0)
• September 23, 2010: Air India Vs Pune FC
• September 23, 2010: HAL Vs East Bengal
• September 25, 2010: East Bengal Vs Pune FC
• September 25, 2010: HAL Vs Air India

Group B – Vasco

• September 21, 2010: Sesa Football Academy [Group B Qualifier] 0 Vs Chirag United 1 (Denson Devdas)
• September 21, 2010: Churchill Brothers 4 (Koko Sakibo, Odafe-2, and Samenia) Vs Viva Kerala 0
• September 23, 2010: Viva Kerala Vs Chirag United
• September 23, 2010: Sesa Football Academy [Group B Qualifier] Vs Churchill Brothers
• September 25, 2010: Sesa Football Academy [Group B Qualifier] Vs Viva Kerala
• September 25, 2010: Chirag United Vs Churchill Brothers

Group C – Ludhiana

• September 21, 2010: Dempo 5 (Peter Carvalho, Ranty Martins-3, and Joachim Abranches) Vs ONGC 2 (Badmus Babatunde)
• September 21, 2010: JCT 0 Vs India XI 1 (Malswmfela)
• September 23, 2010: Dempo Vs India XI
• September 23, 2010: ONGC Vs JCT
• September 25, 2010: India XI Vs ONGC
• September 25, 2010: JCT Vs Dempo

Group D – Cuttack

• September 22, 2010: Mohun Bagan Vs Shillong Lajong FC [Group A Qualifier]
• September 22, 2010: Salgaocar Vs Mumbai FC
• September 24, 2010: Shillong Lajong FC [Group A Qualifier] Vs Salgaocar
• September 24, 2010: Mohun Bagan Vs Mumbai FC
• September 26, 2010: Mohun Bagan Vs Salgaocar
• September 26, 2010: Shillong Lajong FC [Group A Qualifier] Vs Mumbai FC

Semifinal – Cuttack

• September 29, 2010: Group A Winner Vs Group B Winner
• September 30, 2010: Group C Winner Vs Group D Winner

Final – Cuttack

• September 30, 2010

AFC Referees Day celebrated by KSFA

Similar to last year's celebration, Karnataka State football Association (KSFA) in association with the Karnataka State Referees Board marked Referees Day at the Bangalore Football Stadium today.

This important day was marked by playing an exhibition match between Referees XI and Veterans XI. Living up to the importance of the day, Referees XI defeated Veterans XI 2-1. 

In this occasion, Mr. A R Khaleel, vice president of AIFF and president of KSFA gave away the award for the best referee of the year to G Murthy and best referee of the year to T Elangovan.

Final match played on natural grass?

Interestingly, this match can be termed as the last match played on natural grass at the Bangalore Football Stadium. Good news is that laying of artificial turf on the stadium is going to start soon. The official source indicates that the work is starting from next Sunday, September 5.

Artificial giving way to natural grass

Bangalore Football Stadium is 1 of the 4 venues in India selected by the FIFA for laying artificial turf under FIFA’s “Win in India with India” initiative.