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Saturday, Dec 29, 2007
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Sreedharan confident of Viva’s comeback

Principal Correspondent

KOZHIKODE: Viva Kerala coach A.M. Sreedharan said his team would bounce back from the 0-5 defeat against Churchill Brothers last week.

“We didn’t play as badly as the score line suggests; it was some serious lapses in the last 25 minutes, during which conceded four goals, that destroyed us,” he said, on the eve of Viva’s home match in the ONGC I-League against JCT, to be held at the Corporation Stadium here on Saturday.

The coach indicated that the team’s accent would be on defence, because of the presence of two dangerous strikers in the JCT line-up, Eduardo da Silva Escobar and Sunil Chetri.

“The return of Wisdom Abbey, who didn’t play in the last two matches because of injury, would rejuvenate our forward line,” said Sreedharan.

Positive impact

Meanwhile, Chetri, named recently as the Player of the Year by the All India Football Federation, said the presence of foreign players and coaches made Indian football more competitive. “The foreign players have made a positive impact on the game in the country.” JCT’s coach Sukhvinder Singh said it was disappointing that the number of clubs and tournaments is fast dwindling in States with rich tradition for football like Kerala and Punjab. “But football continues to be very popular in the country; the domestic tournaments are a proof of that,” said the former National coach.

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