Kerala in semis (Tier II) of Junior National Football Championship

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Kerala team.
Pic Courtesy : Kerala Coach Purushothaman Thekkathara T G’s facebook profile.

Kerala has been in fine form at the ongoing Junior National Football Championship at Jharkhand. In their last match in Group D, Kerala edged Arunachal Pradesh by a solitary goal. Captain Anatha Murali scored the lone goal against Arunachal Pradesh in the 71st minute of the match. Earlier Kerala had defeated  Jammu & Kashmir and Rajsathan in Group D.

According to reports Kerala will take on Chandigarh in the semifinal of Tier I that will take place on 26th September. Chandigarh from Group B has also been in good form.  Chandigarh defeated Gujarat, Sikkim and Tripura to secure their place in semifinal.

Joaquim Abranches to become the only Indian player to have played two AFC Cup Semi finals

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Image Courtesy : http://i-league.org

Image Courtesy : http://i-league.org

Joaquim Abranches will earn the distinction of being the only Indian player to have played two AFC Cup Semi finals,  as East Bengal appears in this year’s AFC Cup semi final.

Abrnaches appeared in the semi final of AFC Cup earlier with Dempo in 2008.

Here is a nice article on how Armando Colaco who discovered Joaquim Abrnaches is excited about his protege : Colaco smiles in Abranches’ moment of glory

GCDA annuls KCA’s attempt to increase the lease period of Kochi JN stadium

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Kochi_stadiumThe overwhelmingly efficient and financially sound Kerala Cricket Association is wanting to lease major stadiums in Kerala. In a request to Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), KCA had expressed interest to least out Kochi Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for 30 years.

However, their interest to lease out the stadium for another 30 years has been annulled for the time being by the executive committee of GCDA. If reports in Malayalam media are anything to go by, there was a stiff resistance from members in the executive committee of GCDA against this move.

GCDA decided not to take the request forward and reports suggest that GCDA would review KCA’s request once the current lease tenure is over. KCA has currently leased out the stadium till 2015. They  inked a Kerala_Cricket_Association_Logodeal with GCDA in 2010, on an agreement that they will pay 10 lakhs per year for the total control of the stadium.

Reports also suggest that Kerala may host the 2014 Nehru Cup and Kochi would be the only suitable venue for the competition in Kerala. Earlier this year, when Santosh Trophy took place in Kerala, the conflict of interest between KCA and Kerala Football Association had reared its ugly head. It was amicably resolved and Santosh Trophy was held in the stadium.

Cricket Associations of other states in India have their exclusive stadiums. While in Kerala, KCA’s pursuit of a cricket only stadium has met with numerous road blocks. Earlier this year KCA had expressed interest to lease out Kozhikode Corporation stadium which resulted in a lot of opposition from other sports associations and the football crazy crowd in Kozhikode.

We at Football News India believe that no city  in Kerala should lease out stadiums to a particular sporting body as it could create monopolistic practices that would eventually be detrimental to other sports. We are hoping that GCDA would not ink a deal to lease out the stadium to KCA for 30 years.

Update : A report in Malayala Manorama dated 25th September reports that GCDA is planning to open a Facebook page and conduct a poll among the public seeking their opinion on handing over the stadium to KCA for 30 years.

Karnataka State Football Association to issue fresh passes

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250X250_20417127725180ddfa13b5eSupposedly club members affiliated to KSFA, officers of KSFA and BDFA could not enter the stadium for the last I-league match between Bengaluru FC and Mohun Bagan because of a gaffe on match-day passes.

KSFA held a meeting with JSW officials and will be issuing fresh passes to all 128 affiliated clubs to sort out the entry issue.

Read more : KSFA acts to sort out entry issue

Subroto Cup to have teams from Ukraine, Oman, Bangladesh and Afghanistan

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Image : Subroto Cup facebook page

Image : Subroto Cup facebook page

2013 edition of Subroto Cup will have teams from Ukraine, Oman, Bangladesh and Afghanistan apart from school teams from India. The 54th edition of Subroto Cup has grown bigger with 81 teams battling out for Under-14, Under-17 boys and U-17 girls accolades.

Age fraud which had marred the previous editions of the cup will be tackled harshly this time around says the organizers.

Apart from that organizers have written to all I-league clubs to help them for scouting talent during the country’s biggest inter-school tournament.

Read more : Subroto Cup organisers seek I-league club support

Kerala in fine form at the 49th Junior National Football Championship

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Image : Asianet

Image : Asianet

The 49th Junior National Football Championship is currently underway in Jharkhand. Except score update on the AIFF website, there is hardly any news coming through from the championship.

Kerala being led by Anantha Murali from Thrissur who was earlier selected to train in Germany through the Bajaj – Allianz  football camp is in fine form so far. I don’t expect to jinx Kerala’s journey  in the tournament but their form deserves to be mentioned.

In their first group match, they mauled Jammu & Kashmir 12-0, with Anantha Murali scoring five times. The second match against Rajasthan also saw a huge score line. Kerala walloped Rajasthan 10-0.

The last time i wrote about Kerala’s appearance in Junior National Football Championship was in 2010. Unlike today, Kerala was in tatters at that time.  They lost to Mizoram (4-0) and Chandigarh (6-0) in the group stages. I did not even bother to check the score line for other matches then on.

However, this time around the Kerala team looks to be in good nick. There is long way to go in the championship. Hope the winning streak continues and they win the championship.

Kerala will take on a formidable opposition in Arunachal Pradesh tomorrow and that result should give us a idea about our chances in the championship.

Results so far :

Kerala 12 -0 Jammu & Kashmir

Kerala 10 – 0 Rajasthan

Upcoming  Group D fixture : Kerala Vs Arunachal Pradesh, 24th September

Top Scorer : Anantha Murali with 7 goals so far.

Pictures from the Bengaluru FC Vs Mohun Bagan match

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We were at the Bengaluru Football stadium watching Bengaluru FC taking on Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan in their opening fixture of Airtel I-league. There was a good buzz about this match, fans turned up in good numbers and Bengaluru FC did not disappoint by putting a good performance. It was unlucky for them that the match ended up in a stalemate.

An average camera and my pathetic photography skills means the pictures aren’t that great. As the season progress, i should get better at clicking pictures. However this time around you will have to settle with this.

A personal experience of watching my first ever I-league match at a stadium + a match report will be up tomorrow. Till then enjoy the clicks.

 

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