The Hindu : Sport / Football : Kerala takes on Sao Paulo FC

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Wednesday, Feb 07, 2007
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Kerala takes on Sao Paulo FC

KOCHI: A three-hour session under a merciless sun at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday showed how serious Brazilian champion Sao Paulo FC was about its Wednesday evening's Super Soccer Series game against Kerala.

Brazil, the world's top football country, may be 157 rungs above India in the FIFA World rankings. And the team here, Sao Paulo's second string but with many talented faces, may have won its last three matches in India by huge margins but it is not taking its opponent lightly.

The home team is in a different zone altogether. "Everybody knows what we are against. We're not bothered about the result. We'll just do our best," said the Kerala coach K. Bharathan.

Kerala has gone all out to field a strong side. Led by M.A. Abdul Hakkim, the home team is virtually its Santosh Trophy side, the Haryana National Championship semifinalist, but there's a new weapon. Nigerian Baba Thunde, the Viva Kerala striker, has been included and his Kerala `debut' should be an interesting feature of the exhibition match which has a 6 p.m. start. — Principal Correspondent

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