The Hindu : Sport / Football : E.K. Nayanar Memorial Gold Cup from today

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E.K. Nayanar Memorial Gold Cup from today

Principal Correspondent

KANNUR: Soccer fans of this north Kerala town would be hoping to see a glimpse of some Brazilian magic when the second E.K. Nayanar Memorial Gold Cup international football tournament opens at the Municipal Jawahar Stadium here on Monday night. Ferroviaria, Sao Paulo, is indeed the biggest attraction of the event.

In the opening match, the Brazilian side, which has earned a promotion to the first division of Sao Paulo State, meets Kerala XI, led by K. Jaseer. CODFAC FC, Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Bayelsa United (Nigeria) are the other foreign teams in the fray.

Sporting Clube de Goa and Mohammedan Sporting represent Bengal and Goa, the two sporting powers of Indian football. INSC (Manipur) and Air-India complete the line-up. The eight teams have been split into two groups and the top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals.

Exuding confidence

The organisers here are confident that the tournament would be a big success. “The response to the sales of season tickets has been extremely good,” says E.P. Jayarajan, Chairman of the organising committee. “Last year we had priced the tickets a bit too high, as we overestimated the demand. This time around the tickets would cost a lot less, so we do expect bigger crowds.”

He believes the tournament would grow in stature in the years to come. “When we wanted to conduct a football tournament in memory of Comrade Nayanar, who was a football fan and hailed from a family of football players, we thought it shouldn’t be just another tournament; that’s why we decided to invite foreign teams. Besides, we thought an event like this would rekindle the interest in football in this region,” says Jayarajan.

Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will inaugurate the tournament. The kick-off is at 6.30 p.m. every day.

The fixtures: April 14: Kerala XI v Ferroviaria. April 15: Sporting Clube de Goa v Mohammedan Sporting. April 16: Kerala XI v Mohammedan Sporting. April 17: Ferroviaria v Sporting Clube de Goa. April 18: Kerala XI v Sporting Clube de Goa. April 19: Ferroviaria v Mohammedan Sporting. April 20: Bayelsa v CODFAC. April 21: INSC v Bayelsa. April 22: Air-India v CODFAC. April 23: Air-India v Bayelsa. April 24: CODFAC v INSC. April 25: Air-India v INSC. April 26: First semifinals. April 27: Second semifinals. April 29: Final.

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