The Hindu : Sport / Football : Air India-Fransa match drawn

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Sunday, May 02, 2004

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Sport - Football

Air India-Fransa match drawn

By Our Sports Reporter

KOCHI, MAY 1. Strangely, when Air India and Fransa FC met on Saturday, they appeared to forget all the good work they had done earlier. The Mumbai and Goan had impressed with their superior passing and free-flowing game in their opening encounters here a few days ago.

But Saturday was a very different day in the Second Division National Football League (Phase I, Group `C') at the Nehru Stadium here. There were mis-passes galore and misses plenty. And there was not even a goal to cheer the small crowd at the end of the evening.

With today's goalless draw, both Air India and Fransa have four points each from two matches in the five-team league.

Probably, the teams were under pressure. Air India, coached by Bimal Ghosh, had finished fourth in last season's Second Division. And Fransa, trained by former national coach Shabbir Ali, has been gaining a reputation the last few months as a team to watch and as a favourite to grab one of the two premier division berths. Under the circumstances, the pressure to produce the goods was rather heavy.

And after the first half, which was for a major part a story of poor passing, there was a certain haste to get the elusive goal in the second session. And this undid both the teams.

There were a few good moves, with Air India attackers Muritala Ali, Mohammed Abbas and Antony Fernandes working in tandem neatly, but poor finishing let the team down. Abbas and Ali shot wide frequently and midway through the second session, Benoy Kuruvilla's promising header, off a Naushad Moosa throw-in, banged the crosspiece. The tall Marcos Secco also put up a stubborn resistance in the Fransa defence.

At the other end, Fransa medios Cresson J.Antao and Abewuasi A. Tokonbo stood out, with some smart interceptions and steady feeds but the forwards Ival Fiel, Mohammed Najeeb and Naushad Pari clearly had an off day.

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