KOCHI: Viva Kerala may have lost its biggest star, Nigerian Baba Tunde, but the team management appeared confident on Monday while unveiling its new line-up for the season. The Kochi-based professional team, which will be making its National Football League debut this September, has signed three players from Ghana, all newcomers to India.

"Baba Tunde's absence will not hurt us, we have signed three stars who have played for Ghana's champion club, Hearts of Oak. Two of them have played for the country," said the Viva secretary V.M. Liaquat Ali.

"We are confident of finishing among the top four in our first NFL year."

Of the three, midfielder Yaw Amankwa Mireku played for Ghana in the World Cup qualifiers while striker Wisdom Abbey played in the under-17 World Cup, he said.

The team's other foreigner is forward Alfred Nil Larbi Darku.

`Too costly'

"Baba Tunde wanted a huge amount this season, he has become too costly," said the Viva Chairman P. Bhaskaran.

Tunde, the top scorer of the Second Division NFL a few months ago, is likely to be snapped up by Goa's Salgaocar, which gained promotion to the Premier NFL along with Viva this year.

Apart from the foreign trio, Viva does not seem to have any big names, though there are some familiar faces like Mahindra United's T.G. Purushothaman (who played a few matches for Viva a little more than a year ago) and Indian Bank's James Singh and Jotin Singh.

Of the 22 players, only four have been retained from last season's team. Viva, which also plans to start a youth team and a fan club, is likely to have its first session on July 15 under A.M. Sreedharan who has been retained as the coach.

The team: Goalkeepers: T.G.Puruthothaman (from Mahindra United, Mumbai), N. Raghavendra (SAI, Bangalore), Jinesh Thomas (Cochin Port Trust). Defenders: Othallo Tabia (Mahindra United), Irungbam Khelemba Singh (Churchill Bros., Goa), Sajin (SBT, Thiruvananthapuram), S. Arun (SAI, Bangalore), Sunil Kumar Thakur (Mohammedan Sporting, Kolkata), Yaw Amankwa Mireku (Ghana). Midfielders: S. Satish Kumar (Sporting Goa), Bimanyu Bimal Birua (JCT, Phagwara), Sagolsem James Singh (Indian Bank, Chennai), Saikhom Santa Singh (Mohammedan Sporting), Parveen Rawat (Churchill Bros). Strikers: Jotin Singh (Indian Bank), Alfred Nil Larbi Darku (Ghana), Wisdom Abbey (Ghana), O.K. Javeed (Calicut University). Players retained from last year's team: Shine Raj, Shiju, Sajesh, Jain P. Raj. — Principal Correspondent

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