Mahindra United has a point to prove

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI, AUG. 15. Mahindra United has a reputation to live upto in the Federation Cup, fielding seven current internationals and two experienced Nigerians. The Mumbai team has reached two finals, in 1990 and 1993, losing on both occasions, the first to Kerala Police and then to Mohun Bagan. Coach Harish Rao does not want to predict whether his squad will go the whole way this time, but promises exciting football from his bunch of professionals.

``Football is a team game so results will come if the players perform upto potential. All I can say is that we have a balanced team and no major injuries unlike in the National Football League,'' said Rao, for whom the Federation Cup is the first major challenge of his coaching abilities. ``The knockout format of the tournament makes it trickier, but my confidence in the boys is based on this season's performance. We won the Nadkarni Cup in Mumbai when the internationals were away playing for India. The India stars were fielded in a local league game.''

Mahindra United will arrive in Chennai on August 17, three days ahead of its August 20 opening match against Indian Telephone Industries, Bangalore. The current India players in the Mumbai team are goalkeeper Virender Singh, defenders Surkumar Singh and M. Suresh, midfielders Jules Alberto and Khalid Jamil, forwards M. Najeeb and youth international Abhishek Yadav. Nigerians Bernard Oparanozie and Habib Adenkule comprise the foreign element.

``This season, our target was to win three titles which have eluded us so far - the Nadkarni Cup, the Federation Cup and the National Football League. The first one is already with us, now I am looking forward to a team effort so that we can live upto our reputation in the other two tournaments,'' said Rao, whose problem will be to choose the first eleven, in consultation with manager Henry Menezes, an ex-India goalkeeper, and physio Sujit Manna.

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Section  : Sport
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