The Hindu : Mahindra United in summit clash

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 07, 2003

Sport

Sport - Football

Mahindra United in summit clash

By Amitabha Das Sharma

— Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

Mahindra United forward L. James Singh (right) and Vasco SC defender John Dias race for the ball during their Federation Cup football semifinal in Kolkata on Wednesday.

KOLKATA AUG. 6. Mumbai giant Mahindra United entered the final of the Tata-sponsored 25th Federation Cup football tournament prevailing over Goa's Vasco SC 2-1 here in the second semifinal at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Mahindra United will be taking on local challenger Mohammedan Sporting, which beat defending champion Mohun Bagan first semifinal on Tuesday, in the title clash scheduled on Saturday.

With a two-day break before the final, the ground, which has been criticised in the earlier stages of the tournament for being in poor shape, will be revamped for the summit clash.

Though Mahindra has progressed to the final of the premier knock-out tournament in 1991 and 1993, it has never won the title.

However, the Mumbai team appeared to be in the right frame of mind today against its Goan opponent and took the initiative from the start. Mahindra breached Vasco defence at will. Despite tackling the two Dias', Seby and John who marshalled the Vasco deep defence, Mahindra could not produce the goal.

The Mumbai team's sharpness and variety was quite impressive but the finishing remained poor as its Togo striker Raphael Patron and James Singh could not find the right shot even after finding themselves unchallenged inside the opponent box on couple of occasions.

Mahindra had to wait till the 17th minute and a set-piece situation to take the lead. The ball swerved sharply as James Singh kept his corner-kick low to surprise the Vasco defence. As the Vasco defender Kamal Thapa failed to clear the ball, Patron sneaked from behind and tapped home.

Mahindra kept pressure on Vasco and found the net again as Patron volleyed home the team's second goal in the 25th minute. The provision again came from James Singh who put up a tireless effort upfront.

Playing under its new English coach, David Booth, Mahindra flaunted a novel approach. The Mumbai team played free-flowing football with players swapping positions more often than not. James Singh and Shanmugan Venkatesh played well with their crafty runs and sudden bursts of speed creating confusion in the opponent ranks. The two goals resulted chiefly because of this ploy.

The scoreline could have been bigger for Mahindra but James Singh found the Vasco custodian, Saji Joy, coming in the way yet again to save his 30th minute attempt.

Mahindra, which seemed content with the two-goal lead, suddenly contracted into a shell in the second session. Abandoning its creative approach, the Mumbai team appeared more bent on defending giving Vasco enough space and time to attempt a revival.

The Goa outfit succeeded partially in its bid by reducing the margin through K. Ajayan in the 66th minute. And Vasco made the typical second session changes introducing forwards Anthony Fernandes and Sushant Mathew but it was the resolve of Ajayan which seemed to help the team most. Ajayan almost equalised in the injury-time, but his shot from the top of the box was brilliantly saved by the Mahindra custodian, Sunder Rajan.

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