Bordoloi Trophy: An Engrossing Final on the Cards Today

Our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI: Mohammedan SC of Kolkata will take on OILFC of Duliajan in the final of the 65th Bordoloi Trophy soccer final which would be held at the Nehru stadium here on Thursday evening.

Both the teams registered hard fought victory in the semi finals which were held yesterday. In the first semi final, Mohammedan SC defeated BSF, Jalandhar via sudden death 6-5. The schedule time ended 0-0. On the other hand, OILFC beat TRAU, Manipur 3-2 in the second semi-final.

It will be the 10th occasions when Mohammedan will appear in the final of the Bordoloi trophy. The side already won the cup five occasions earlier, appeared the title clash last time in 1991. On the other hand, OILFC bagged the title on three occasions and their last appearance in the final was in 2012 where they beat Assam Rifles 4-1 and won the title.

Meanwhile Mohammedan Sporting Club coach Raghunath Nandy today said, final of the Bordoloi Trophy will be tough but stressed that Black Panthers have prepared well to soar over Oil India FC.

A favourite is hard to pick as both are undefeated in the tournament and have proven themselves to be a lethal attacking force. With the likes of Philip Adjah, Prosenjit Chakraborty and Sumit Ghosh in the ranks, Mohammedan SC will always pose a goal threat but the same can be said of Oil India.

Nandy has indicated his pleasure with how the campaign has progressed thus far and remain confident that his side will go out and do the business to clinch the title.

“It has been a long and difficult road to get to the final. It is a culmination of hard work and the preparation we did getting into this tournament,” Nandy said.

“We will play our normal game but bearing in mind that the most important thing for us is not to concede. Keeping things tight at the back will be important.”

“l have been working on my team and concentrating on what we need to do to win. We have our destiny in our own hands and I believe we have what it takes to win,” he added.

On the other hand, it’s a big task for Oil India, who don’t have any foreigners in their side, but coach Subrata Bhattacharya (Jr.) believes the side has the talent and mental strength to do well.

“I think we are well prepared as we can be for this match,” Bhattacharya said. “We are facing a very tough opponent in Mohammedan SC and it will be tough for us, but hopefully we can make it a bit tough on Mohammedan SC too. I’ve been speaking to the boys about it. They have to be confident with themselves, they have to believe in themselves and they have actually shown for me a good style here. So we are very much confident to do better in the final.”

Mohammedan SC has so far scored 6 goals and conceded two in their run-up to the final, whereas Oil India scored 7 themselves and conceded four. However, neither side has impressed on a regular basis, and one wonders whether they are holding something back for this stage.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will attend the final as Chief Guest.

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