Millennium Cup: India to play in Kochi

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 29. ``I will be there with my team in Calcutta, the city of Mother Teresa. I wish all success to the tournament, '' was the message from Chilean captain Ivan Zamarano on the occasion of the draw of lots for the Millennium Super Soccer Cup. The $ 3,25,000 event will be staged at Kochi, Goa and Calcutta from January 10 to 25.

In a build-up to one of the biggest soccer events in Asia, 16 teams, including four seeded ones, Yugoslavia, Uruguay, Romania and Chile, were placed in four groups during the draw. The draw was made in the presence of the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) President, Mr. Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and representatives from the Embassies of the participating nations here on Friday.

After the draw of lots for 12 sides (on the basis of FIFA rankings), Mr. Dasmunshi opted group `B' for the host, in which Uruguay, Iceland and Indonesia are the other teams. ``We have chosen the particular group as we wanted to play in Kochi,'' said Mr. Dasmunshi.

The draw of lots was started by Mr. Jaswant Singh followed by the former international Sailen Manna and the NIS coach, Dr. Biru Mal Sharma.

Among the three venues, Kochi will also stage the matches of group `A', which comprises Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Iraq and Bangladesh. The Group `C' matches involving Romania, Cameroon, Jordan and Hong Kong will be held in Goa, while the group `D' teams, Chile, Uzbekistan, Japan and Bahrain will be seen in action in Calcutta. Two teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals, to be played at all the three venues. The semifinals and final will be held in Calcutta. In all, there will be 32 matches, which will be telecast on DD Sports Channel.

Mr. Dasmunshi said that the West Bengal Government had sanctioned Rs. 1.90 crores for Calcutta's Yuba Bharati Krirangan, where the opening and closing ceremonies would also be held.

The schedule for league matches will be announced in Kochi on Saturday, while the official release regarding the list of players will start from January 2.

The groupings and FIFA rankings:

Group `A': Yugoslavia (9), Bosnia (78), Iraq (79) and Bangladesh (151). Group `B': Uruguay (32), Iceland (50), Indonesia (97) and India (122). Group `C': Romania (13), Cameroon (39), Jordan (105) and Hong Kong (123). Group `D': Chile (19), Uzbekistan (71), Japan (38) and Bahrain (138).

The knock-out schedule:

January 20: quarterfinals, match 1: Winner group `A' v runner-up group `C'. match 2: winner of group `B' v runner-up group `D'. match 3: winner of group `C' v runner-up group `A'; match 4: winner group `D' v runner-up group `B'.

January 22: semifinal, winner of match 1 v winner of match 3, Calcutta.

January 23: winner of match 2 v winner of match 4, Calcutta.

January 25: final, Calcutta.

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