By IANS
New Delhi : The main round of the 120th Durand Cup, minus the three Kolkata giants, starts here Tuesday with a double header at the Ambedkar Stadium.
In the first match of the day, Goa’s Churchill Brothers will face Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) while in the evening Jamshedpur’s Tata Football Academy (TFA) will take on Punjab Police.
The four teams will have to show their class in this knock out-tournament. In the Federation Cup in Ludhiana last month, Churchill Brothers and HAL failed to impress. Both the clubs were once regular in the top flight of the league but due to the paucity of funds and unavailability of players both the clubs have lost out in the race.
For TFA, it is a different story as good performance in the second division national league earned them a berth in the Professional League. But TFA declined to graduate citing lack of professional set-up and preferred to do what it does best – churning out talent.
Four teams – Osian’s New Delhi Heroes, Indian Air Fore (IAF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Assam Rifles – made it to the final round of this tournament.
The tournament has been stripped of much of its shine due to the absence of three Kolkata giants – East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting. The three cubs decided to miss the century-old tournament due to their commitment to the Kolkata League, which has to get over before the last month of November, by when the inaugural Professional League will start.
The national players, who are in Goa for the home match of the first round qualifier for the 2010 World Cup against Lebanon Tuesday, will join their respective teams in due course of the Durand tournament.
The players were supposed to join the clubs before the start of the main round. But the World Cup qualifier, which was to be held Sunday in Chennai, was called off due to heavy rains and has been shifted to Goa.
Fixture (main round):
Oct 30: HAL vs. Churchill Brothers; TFA vs, Punjab Police
Oct 31: JCT vs. Qualifier III (Assam Rifes); Salgaocar vs. Viva Kerala
Nov 1: Dempo vs. Qualifier IV (IAF); Air India vs. Qualifier I (New Delhi Heroes)
Nov 2: Sporting Clube de Goa vs. Army XI; Mahindra United vs. Qualifier II (Assam Rifles)
Nov 3: Quarterfinal I; Quarterfinal II
Nov 4: Quarterfinal III; Quarterfinal IV
Nov 5: Semi-final I; Semi-final II
Nov 7: Final