Sports
132nd Durand Cup: Gokulam, Blasters meet in Kerala derby; Downtown Heroes set for debut (Preview)
Gokulam Kerala take on the Kerala Blasters in a crucial Group C game of the 132nd Durand Cup at the Mohun Bagan ground on Sunday
KOLKATA — Gokulam Kerala take on the Kerala Blasters in a crucial Group C game of the 132nd Durand Cup at the Mohun Bagan ground on Sunday, putting on display the Kerala Derby rivalry in the football-crazy city of Kolkata.
This will be the second derby in the Durand Cup after the Kolkata Derby between Mohun Bagan Super Giant and East Bengal on Saturday and will be followed by a match between Downtown Heroes of Kashmir and Shillong Lajong in a Group D clash in Kokrajhar’s SAI Stadium.
Kerala derby in Kolkata
The Group C game between Indian Super League (ISL) side Kerala Blasters and former champions Gokulam Kerala is a needle derby between football-crazy fans of north and central Kerala, one of Indian football’s bastions.
With earning the top spot in the group stage crucial in this edition of the Durand Cup, the clash assumes greater significance, given Bengaluru FC, the defending champions have chosen to field a young side while the already once-vanquished Indian Air Force team makes up the fourth team in the group.
Given the context both managers, Serbian Ivan Vukomanovic of the Blasters and Spaniard Domingo Oramas of Gokulam would go all out to pocket three points from the game. This would, in turn, make for an exciting game of football with the talent they have at their disposal.
The Malabarians would have the advantage of having played once in the tournament and will go into the game with the confidence of three points in their bag.
Their two Spanish attackers Nili Pedromo and Alex Sanchez seemed to be getting into some rhythm and players like Sourav and Sreekuttan, who probably came up with the goal of the tournament with his second-half strike against the Airmen, were impressive in the first game.
The Manjappadas on the other hand are coming off their pre-season and with a new-look but strong squad. Coach Vukomanovic’s attacking philosophy will prevail with old-timers like Uruguayan star Adrian Luna and Rahul KP still shoring up their attack.
The Blasters also have an experienced defence line with players like Pritam Kotal, Prabir Das, Hormipam and Naocha Singh in their ranks and they have a surprise upfront in 20-year-old Nigerian striker Emmanuel Justine.
Shillong take on fellow debutants Downtown Heroes
Sunday’s game in Kokrajhar pits two Durand Cup debutants, Shillong Lajong who are now two games old and Kashmir’s Downtown Heroes, against each other.
Shillong have let in 10 goals so far in the two games they have played, going down in both of them to NorthEast United FC and FC Goa respectively.
It would be fair to say that they were simply overwhelmed by the professional approach, organization and technical superiority of both the ISL teams. The rust of not being part of top-flight Indian football for years was clearly showing in their performance.
They would however be looking for redemption against Downtown Heroes and would like to bow out with a first Durand Cup win. The Kashmir side is the joker in the group currently and it remains to be seen what Hilal Rasool Parray and his boys can do to extend their impressive run in the I-League second division recently, where they finished second with four wins in their campaign, behind Delhi FC won and were promoted to the I-League.