The Hindu : Sport / Football : NFL starts from today

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Tuesday, Jan 10, 2006

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NFL starts from today

Sports Reporter

KOLKATA: The National Football League celebrates the completion of a decade. The 10th edition of the tournament gets underway simultaneously at Goa and Kolkata on Tuesday.

The format this year has been pruned and the participation number has been rolled back to the status prevalent in the initial year. Hence a total of 10 teams, led by the defending champion Dempo, will kick-start the race for supremacy.

Shift

The season so far has marked a shift in the trend that has seen the emergence of the Goa and Mumbai clubs as the favourites for the title. The dominance of the Kolkata clubs like Kingfisher East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, who had virtually monopolised the title winning it six out of the nine occasions, have been pushed to the backstage by poor performances. Neither of the these two, and the new comer Mohammedan Sporting, have been able to make their mark in the two national level meets, Federation Cup and the Durand Cup. Even the Santosh Trophy saw Bengal bow out in the quarterfinals.

If results in Santosh Trophy, which saw Goa reign supreme beating Maharashtra 3-1 in a hard-fought final, are any indicator about the might of the teams then the best is likely to come from the any of the six teams that these two states have in the NFL. Mahindra United is the highest adorned club in the country with the Federation Cup title under its belt. The other Mumbai team, Air-India, is making a comeback to the elite stage after a long time.

Goan teams to the fore

The scale of the predictions tilts towards Goa under the sheer weight of the number of the teams it has contributed. The state has four representatives. Dempo SC leads the count being the defending champion. But the team — which has given a lacklustre performance in the season exiting early both in the Federation and Durand Cup meets — will have a big task in the tournament. The best is likely to come from Sporting Clube de Goa. The runner-up last year has shown sparkling form with its Nigerian duo of Dudu Omagbemi and Chidi. Salgaocar SC and Frabnsa-Pax FC are the two other Goan teams in the fray.

All the Kolkata teams — East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting — have changed their coaches and this lends an element of mystery making predictions difficult. JCT Mills remains the only team from North.

The first phase of the tournament — seeing eight rounds and 40 matches — will continue till February 9 before going into more-than-a-month-long-break to accommodate India's international assignments.

In the simultaneous encounters at two different venues, East Bengal will take on Mohammedan Sporting at Kolkata while Sporting Clube de Goa meets local rival and defending champion Dempo SC in Goa.

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