Calcutta: The 2023-24 Indian football season begins on Thursday with the Durand Cup getting underway at the Salt Lake Stadium.
For the last two seasons, the Durand Cup, which once was the national capital’s most followed tournament but is now held in and around Calcutta and other venues in the Northeast, is being billed as the curtain-raiser for the new season.
Strangely though, some of the teams prefer to bring their reserves, an euphemism for second-rung players.
For example, defending champions Bengaluru FC will not be in town with their first-team players.
Instead, reserves team coach Bibiano Fernandes will bring a clutch of youngsters. The senior team is doing the pre-season at the Inspire Institute of Sport in Bellary, Karnataka. Super Cup winners Odisha FC also will be fielding a reserve team.
Among the ISL clubs, Mohun Bagan Super Giant, Emami East Bengal, FC Goa, Mumbai City, Hyderabad FC and RoundGlass Punjab FC will field strong teams. A maximum of 30 can be registered and a team can draft in players in the middle of the tournament.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant will be playing the tournament opener against the Bangladesh Army team on Wednesday. Bagan will field a mixture of main and reserve team players. Brandon Hamill and Hugo Boumous could be the two foreigners in the starting eleven.
Bagan assistant coach Bastab Roy will be in the dug-out instead of head coach Juan Ferrando. “It’s a group of death,” Roy said on Wednesday. East Bengal and RoundGlass Punjab FC are the other teams in Group A.
The focus will be on Bagan’s young striker Suhail Bhat who has impressed one and all with his goal-scoring prowess in the ongoing CFL Premier Division. The Srinagar-born player is a discovery of Mohammedan Sporting coach Mehrajuddin Wadoo. But scoring goals in the local league and Durand are different. How Bhat handles the pressure remains to be seen.
East Bengal play their first match on Saturday, while Mohammedan Sporting begin a day earlier, against pre-tournament favourites Mumbai City. “It will be a difficult game for us,” Mohammedan Sporting coach Wadoo said on Wednesday.
