NEW DELHI: A new chapter will be added to the east-west rivalry in Indian football when I-League champions Salgaocar and last year's Fed Cup winners East Bengal face off for the Super Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium on Tuesday. The Goan stalwarts and the Bengal icons have a knack of creating something special whenever they have gone for a knockabout. Seldom have their matches been insipid affairs.
Be it Bruno Countinho's thumping strikes that muzzled a hundred thousand East Bengal fans at the Salt Lake Stadium in the summer of 1997 in the Fed Cup final or the more recent 3-1 drubbing by the Goans at the same venue for the same title, the fixture always brings with it a heightened adrenalin rush.
Hopefully, on Tuesday will not be any different. The stakes are pretty high in this one-off winner-takes-all game which is the dress rehearsal for the I-League.
Salgaocar, under Karim Bencherifa, have really turned the corner and completed the League and Cup double in perfect style this year. More importantly, they do not have any injury problems to worry about. Edeh Chidi, Ryuji Sueoka and Francis Fernandes are in fine nick as they showed just a month ago at East Bengal's favourite stomping ground, the Salt Lake Stadium in the Fed Cup final.
Trevor Morgan's East Bengal are not quite so lucky. They lost two among three games inVietnam, where they went to play an invitational tournament (BTV Cup) last week. Seven of their regulars, including two goalkeepers, are nursing injuries. It is obvious that the British coach has not included them for this game, keeping in mind the I-League, starting from October 22.
Bencherifa, however, is not the one to take things for granted. "It's true we defeated them in the I-League and the Fed Cup but the level of competition is very high between us. There's no place for complacency."
The fit-again Ozbey Tolgay and Allan Gow have the potential to be quite a handful as local boy Robin Singh is likely to be looking for a high-end show.
The sub-plot of revenge will be there in Morgan's mind. The humiliation in the Fed Cup final is till fresh but he knows Salgaocar are in better rhythm.
A win in the Super Cup may not have much of a bearing on the I-League, but the winner will have the bragging rights for sure apart from the prize purse of Rs 10 lakh.
The kick-off is at 7pm.
Be it Bruno Countinho's thumping strikes that muzzled a hundred thousand East Bengal fans at the Salt Lake Stadium in the summer of 1997 in the Fed Cup final or the more recent 3-1 drubbing by the Goans at the same venue for the same title, the fixture always brings with it a heightened adrenalin rush.
Hopefully, on Tuesday will not be any different. The stakes are pretty high in this one-off winner-takes-all game which is the dress rehearsal for the I-League.
Salgaocar, under Karim Bencherifa, have really turned the corner and completed the League and Cup double in perfect style this year. More importantly, they do not have any injury problems to worry about. Edeh Chidi, Ryuji Sueoka and Francis Fernandes are in fine nick as they showed just a month ago at East Bengal's favourite stomping ground, the Salt Lake Stadium in the Fed Cup final.
Trevor Morgan's East Bengal are not quite so lucky. They lost two among three games inVietnam, where they went to play an invitational tournament (BTV Cup) last week. Seven of their regulars, including two goalkeepers, are nursing injuries. It is obvious that the British coach has not included them for this game, keeping in mind the I-League, starting from October 22.
Bencherifa, however, is not the one to take things for granted. "It's true we defeated them in the I-League and the Fed Cup but the level of competition is very high between us. There's no place for complacency."
The fit-again Ozbey Tolgay and Allan Gow have the potential to be quite a handful as local boy Robin Singh is likely to be looking for a high-end show.
The sub-plot of revenge will be there in Morgan's mind. The humiliation in the Fed Cup final is till fresh but he knows Salgaocar are in better rhythm.
A win in the Super Cup may not have much of a bearing on the I-League, but the winner will have the bragging rights for sure apart from the prize purse of Rs 10 lakh.
The kick-off is at 7pm.
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