National Football League set to kick-off

After a close call, when it was caught in the cross-fire between the nascent Indian Premier Football Association and All India Football Federation, the fifth edition of the National Football League is ready to roll.

The beleagured event finally kicks off on Thursday with the inaugural tie between JCT Mills, Phagwara, and defending champions Mohun Bagan.

The Calcutta giants, who last month won a record 16th Durand Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium turf will be looking to stretch their fine run and can expect good crowd support, as they were rooted to the hilt in the Durand final against Mahindra United.

However despite their good run, coach Subroto Bhattacharya said he was not happy with the team's preparation.

"On November 11 we played the Durand final and there has been a big gap. I feel that the players are not serious enough for the coming match."

He added that this will be sorted out during the team meeting.

JCT, which finished fifth in the last edition of NFL, on the other hand, will be looking for a better start to their campaign this year. In the NFL opener last December at the same venue, they went down to Salgaocar by a solitary goal.

But a week later, JCT looked a totally different side when playing against Bagan in Ludhiana and humbling them 2-1.

Hardeep Sangha and Hardeep Saini were the scorers then and their form is of utmost importance to JCT - right now the only club without a single foreign recruit - when they kickoff against Mohun Bagan.

"JCT has always given us a tough fight in Delhi. Their junior players are playing well and we expect a good contest," the Mohun Bagan coach said.

Hardeep Gill is another talent in JCT's ranks who last time emerged as the team's top scorer with seven goals.

Hardeep Saini scored four and Sangha three of the 20 goals scored by JCT in 22 matches.

For JCT's National coach Sukhwinder Singh, the main concern will be defence, as their two key defenders Prabhjot Singh and Kuldeep Singh are yet to recover from injuries suffered in the Durand Cup.

Seasoned Tarsem Lal will then have to carry the defence.

If foreign recruit Igor Skhvirin emerged as Bagan's star striker last year scoring 11 goals to become the NFL's top-scorer, this year around their hopes are pinned on two similar looking Brazilian strikers Jos Santos and Jos Barretto wearing number 9 and 10 jerseys respectively.

Bagan's midfeild looks their weak link and Amauri and Basudeb Mondal will have to raise their game.

Also Suresh, Lolendra Singh and Hussain in the Bagan defence will have to exhibit the same form to keep the opportunistic JCT strikers at bay.

Bagan's record last year reads: 22 matches, 14 wins, 5 draws, 3 loss, scoring 36 goals, 17 against for a total of 47 points to win the National Football League for the second time. This year too they will be the team to beat and also the team to watch, what with two fleet footed forwards on prowl.