Fight For Pride And Cup Glory

Connoisseurs of the beautiful game in England often speak of ‘the magic of the Cup’, a mythical entity which allows for even the rankest of outsiders to dream of sneaking one past their more illustrious opponents. As India’s premier club cup kicks off in Kerala later this week, one can only hope for a touch of magic to help revive the flailing competition.

The story of the 35th edition of the Federation Cup began much before the cup itself. First announced as a hastily-convened precursor to IMG-Reliance’s IPL-style tournament, the Cup was to have matches played on a home-and-away basis. A detailed draw then took place, which threw up such exciting ties as newly formed Bengaluru FC taking on defending I-League champs Churchill and multiple-time champion Mohun Bagan going head-to-head with Pune FC.

Then one fine day, everything changed. The new format was deemed too drastic a measure and was thrown out. Mumbai Tigers were excluded while Langsing FC pulled out. And a big shadow was temporarily lifted when IMG-Reliance decided to postpone their tournament.

Last year’s edition, hosted jointly by Jamshedpur and Siliguri, was widely derided as a farce, with a last minute change of venues and inadequate facilities. The build-up to this tournament has left none convinced that this year will be any better. East Bengal secretary Kalyan Majumdar certainly is not one of the optimists.

“This Cup is looking like it’ll be worse than last year. We had to wait a long time to receive our prize money for winning in 2012. There has been inadequate promotion of the tournament and few matches are scheduled to be televised. And there are no AFC places up for grabs for winning the cup.”

However, AIFF vice-president and president of the hosts Kerala Football Association KMI Mather says that the national body does indeed have a long-term vision for the Cup. “Indian football is currently entering an age of professionalism and there are bound to be a few hiccups at the start. Once these initial issues are sorted out, the Federation Cup will only grow in importance.”

On the field though, things are much more encouraging. The groups, two each, will be played out in Manjeri and Kochi, are delicately poised. This year’s tournament even has a proverbial group of death with defending champions East Bengal, I-League leaders Bengaluru FC and second-placed Sporting Goa all cooped together in Group D along with fellow topflight team Rangdajied United.

“There’s no denying that it is a very tough group. But the manner we have been playing in the I-League makes me confident. I believe we can do it. On a given day in a competition like this, any team can beat any team,” says Rangdajied coach Santosh Kashyap.

The Cup will also be an opportunity for teams out of the reckoning in the I-League to salvage something from their season. Mohun Bagan, who are already 12 points off the pace in the league, will be looking for a good run, as will be Arthur Papas’ Dempo FC, who are languishing in the 10th place. Defending I-League champions Churchill, who now stare relegation in the face, will also be hoping to turn their season around.

And finally there are the so-called minnows.

The last time a team came out of nowhere to win the Federation Cup was way back in 1990, when a Kerala Police side featuring IM Vijayan scripted the first of their two consecutive Cup wins, so the likes of Bhawanipore FC, United Sikkim and Eagles FC will be going in with realistic expectations.

But with the I-League second division looming they will know that a good cup run might just be what they need to give wings to their topflight dreams.