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Federation Cup: Shillong Lajong Is Now One Of The Best Clubs' In India - East Bengal's Nirmal Chettri
The East Bengal defender has a lot of respect for their final opponents...
02-Jan-2010 11:15:18 PM
Shillong Lajong became the first team from the north-east to
qualify for the final of the Federation Cup. Their opponents East Bengal also
have a number of north eastern players in their team and quite a few will be
playing in their first domestic cup final.
One such player, is defender Nirmal Chettri, who after winning the SAFF Cup with India Under-23 last month in Bangladesh is now aiming for glory at club level.
Speaking to Goal.com, Nirmal said, “It has been a great time for me off late. First I represented my country in the SAFF Cup and was lucky to be a part of the winning squad.
“It was disappointing to miss a penalty in the final but in the end we won and brought the trophy back to India so it was a fantastic experience.
“Now with East Bengal I have reached the final of the Federation Cup which is one of the biggest domestic competitions so we all badly want to win it.
“Personally for me it will be a very big occasion as after so many years of hard work, I will be finally playing in a big cup final so I really want to win the trophy and qualify for the AFC Cup.”
The man from Sikkim then talked about the amount of respect he and the rest of the East Bengal team has for Lajong.
“Lajong have performed well and fully deserved to be in the final. They are certainly everyone’s team in the north-east but I think now they are also one of the best in the whole country because they have beaten strong teams like Dempo and Churchill.
“They defeated us also at the Durand Cup so we know that their success is not a fluke. Therefore we have to be at our very best to beat them in the final.”
Nirmal then credited coach Phillipe De Ridder for the change in East Bengal’s fortunes and also acknowledged the contribution of Nigerian defender Okpara to their superb defensive record.
“Our coach De Ridder has done a fantastic job since his arrival. He has given the team a lot of confidence and that is a big reason why some of the players have started performing better than they did earlier in the season.
“All of us are also very happy with the way we have defended so far in the tournament. Okpara has played a very important role as he has a lot of experience and everyone else in the team has also been working really hard to keep the clean sheets.”
The former Air India player also pointed out that the 2-0 win over arch rivals Mohun Bagan in the semis wasn’t for revenge and added that he also felt a bit sorry for the Bagan players.
“It was important to win the semis because we want to win this tournament and make our fans happy. But the victory wasn’t a revenge of the I-League defeat, we would have felt the same way had we beaten some other team.
“On the field every side is our enemy but off the field we are all fellow footballers and I have many friends in the Bagan team also. I felt a bit sad for their players because they lost on New Year ’s Eve, which is not a good feeling at all but some team has to lose so we have to get on with it.”
The youngster remains optimistic about his team’s chances and admits that Lajong have nothing to lose.
“Lajong have done incredibly well to reach the final and they will also be missing a few key players. They have nothing to lose so will play without fear.
“The pressure will be on us to go out and win the game but I think we are up for the challenge and are really focused on finishing the job in the final.”
Nirmal signed off by saying that there will be a healthy competition between the two sets of fans also to outnumber each other.
“It was a pleasant surprise to see so many East Bengal fans traveling all the way to Guwahati to watch the semi-final.
“Lajong obviously have a lot of fans in this part of the country so it will be interesting to see which side gets more support,” he concluded
Amoy Ghoshal
For more onFederation Cup , please visit our Federation Cup section!
One such player, is defender Nirmal Chettri, who after winning the SAFF Cup with India Under-23 last month in Bangladesh is now aiming for glory at club level.
Speaking to Goal.com, Nirmal said, “It has been a great time for me off late. First I represented my country in the SAFF Cup and was lucky to be a part of the winning squad.
“It was disappointing to miss a penalty in the final but in the end we won and brought the trophy back to India so it was a fantastic experience.
“Now with East Bengal I have reached the final of the Federation Cup which is one of the biggest domestic competitions so we all badly want to win it.
“Personally for me it will be a very big occasion as after so many years of hard work, I will be finally playing in a big cup final so I really want to win the trophy and qualify for the AFC Cup.”
The man from Sikkim then talked about the amount of respect he and the rest of the East Bengal team has for Lajong.
“Lajong have performed well and fully deserved to be in the final. They are certainly everyone’s team in the north-east but I think now they are also one of the best in the whole country because they have beaten strong teams like Dempo and Churchill.
“They defeated us also at the Durand Cup so we know that their success is not a fluke. Therefore we have to be at our very best to beat them in the final.”
Nirmal then credited coach Phillipe De Ridder for the change in East Bengal’s fortunes and also acknowledged the contribution of Nigerian defender Okpara to their superb defensive record.
“Our coach De Ridder has done a fantastic job since his arrival. He has given the team a lot of confidence and that is a big reason why some of the players have started performing better than they did earlier in the season.
“All of us are also very happy with the way we have defended so far in the tournament. Okpara has played a very important role as he has a lot of experience and everyone else in the team has also been working really hard to keep the clean sheets.”
The former Air India player also pointed out that the 2-0 win over arch rivals Mohun Bagan in the semis wasn’t for revenge and added that he also felt a bit sorry for the Bagan players.
“It was important to win the semis because we want to win this tournament and make our fans happy. But the victory wasn’t a revenge of the I-League defeat, we would have felt the same way had we beaten some other team.
“On the field every side is our enemy but off the field we are all fellow footballers and I have many friends in the Bagan team also. I felt a bit sad for their players because they lost on New Year ’s Eve, which is not a good feeling at all but some team has to lose so we have to get on with it.”
The youngster remains optimistic about his team’s chances and admits that Lajong have nothing to lose.
“Lajong have done incredibly well to reach the final and they will also be missing a few key players. They have nothing to lose so will play without fear.
“The pressure will be on us to go out and win the game but I think we are up for the challenge and are really focused on finishing the job in the final.”
Nirmal signed off by saying that there will be a healthy competition between the two sets of fans also to outnumber each other.
“It was a pleasant surprise to see so many East Bengal fans traveling all the way to Guwahati to watch the semi-final.
“Lajong obviously have a lot of fans in this part of the country so it will be interesting to see which side gets more support,” he concluded
Amoy Ghoshal
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