The Hindu : Sport / Football : Bengal looks at outstation players to salvage pride

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Monday, Oct 31, 2005

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Bengal looks at outstation players to salvage pride

Sports Reporter

KOLKATA: There was a strain of duress in the way Bengal assembled its team for the 60th edition of the senior National championship for the Santosh Trophy, to be held in Kerala.

The squad for the fresh edition was announced on Sunday. The composition gave out the exigency and the stress on the team think-tank, who tried to regroup a few of the old campaigners in an effort to end the title drought for the 29-time champion.

It was in 1999 when Bengal won Santosh Trophy for the last time. The new millennium has favoured other States like Maharashtra, Kerala (the defending champion) and Manipur for the crown.

Even worse, Bengal, which reached the finals on 39 occasions, has missed the title rounds successively in the last four editions.

This dented the State's credibility. To regain past glory, the selectors and new coach Aloke Mukherjee are planning to bring back some old faces that had been a part of the team's successful past.

With the `nativity rule' in force most of the outstation players, especially from the North East, were made unavailable. This invited some lobbying on the part of the administrators, and the secretary of the State body, IFA, Subrata Dutta procured the team's biggest talisman, Baichung Bhutia, convincing his counterpart in Sikkim.

Bhutia has been re-crowned the captain with the hopes that he will be able to motivate the team in regaining the crown it lost six years ago. It was during Bhutia's tenure that Bengal won six consecutive titles between 1994 and 1999. The other name was Raman Vjayan. The lanky forward from Tamil Nadu, took the position next to Bhutia in contributing to the State's success in the recent years.

Notably, his two golden goals in the semifinal against Maharashtra and in the final against Goa ensured the title for Bengal in the 53rd edition of tournament in 1997.

The third name is State's own Dipendu Biswas. He also has a good record for the State and is one of the important members in the mission redemption. Covan Lawrence, denied a place by his native state Goa, fills in the chasm in the defence, which has occurred owing to injuries. Another Goa player Noel Wilson too will have an important role to play in the midfield. The rest in the 20-member squad are the state's own products.

Aloke Mukherjee, who has the task of shepherding the odd combination as the coach, was upbeat about his team.

"This team is a champion stuff and is very motivated, but in football predictions cannot be made about the outcome. However, we expect good result as the boys are eager to perform,'' he said after the team was declared.

IFA secretary Subrata Dutta said that there are some injury problems that have let to the exclusion of the big names like Devjit Ghosh, Alvito D'Cunha, Ashim Biswas and Debrata Roy.

He said, "The present combination has the potential to produce good results. We hope to regain the title this season.''

Bengal, placed in cluster VIII alongside Mizoram, Nagaland and Andhra Pradesh in the preliminary round, plays its matches on alternate days on November 5, 7 and 9. The coach said the fixture is tight, "but that is the same for all other teams. I have a very good set of 20 players, which gives lot of choice and the scope to rest a few to allow recovery.''

The squad: Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul, Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Kalyan Chobey. Defenders: Covan Lawrence, Madhab Das, Amulya Mondal, Manas Das, Rajib Ahmed, Soumik Day. Midfielders: Mehtab Hussain, Noel Wilson, Chandan Das (vice-captain), Sashti Duley, Subhas Chakraborty, Jayanta Sen, Sankho Roy Chowdhury. Forwards: Baichung Bhutia (captain), Syed Rahim Nabi, Raman Vijayan, Dipendu Biswas.

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