Eagles eye Federation Cup

 “I am here to teach you a new concept,” Stanley Rozario in his peculiar accent tells the players of Eagles FC and then turning toward his assistant Milton seeks a translation of the word ‘concept’ in Malayalam.

He then went on with a brief, but interesting talk in English, with a few key words in Mal­ayalam, Hindi and Tamil. Stan­ley was convinced that his message, though in bits and pieces, was getting conveyed. “I am new here, so are most of the players. This is a new beginning for the club and it takes time to understand each other,” says the former India assistant coach who took over as head coach a month ago.

The man having coached giants like East Bengal and Mohun Bagan has accepted a daunting task of regrouping the Kochi-based second division side. It is an assignment, he says, chal­lenging than any before.

He did a one-and-a-half hour session on positioning, closing down and pressing and told his boys to report in another six hours for a set-piece training. Time is precious little, as in less than a fortnight they play the Federation Cup.

“The Fed Cup has come quicker. We practically had no pre-sea­son and match practice, but to try our system against I-League sides is a great opportunity even if we have little time to prepare for it,” says Stanley with a smile.

The 53-year-old has had relative success in the Fed Cup with Shillong, but prefers to be realistic and hopes the preparations are yet to hit full throttle any positive from championship will be a real bonus.

“Our priority is clearly the I-League second division and I can assure you that whatever plans we have for now will be in place by the second half of the year,” says Stanley about the November kick-off.

Sanal Mather, manager of Eagles, says they are happy with the coach’s understanding of the situation and that they share the view that winning the I-League second division this season is the club’s priority.

“The ground is not perfect, but good and private. The coach understood and when we told him it would be bettered next season he was perfectly ok with it,” said Sanal.

As Eagles, the lone representative from hosts Kerala, go into the Federation Cup on January 14, the best that can be done is to watch them after all every fresh beginning deserves to be cheered.

DC