United Sikkim's ongoing preparations

I have been regularly going to the training sessions of new professional outfit United Sikkim FC at the SAI Eastern Centre in Kolkata over the last few weeks. And one can surely see the progress in the teams preparations under coach Stanley Rozario and his assistant Satyabrata Bhowmick.

But the question remains if a team put together from stratch and in training for six to eight weeks can challenge some much more experienced outfits in the 2.Division I-League. Surely United Sikkim will have international players like N.S. Manju and Renedy Singh in their line-up, maybe even India captain Baichung Bhutia; but a lot depends on how well the team is able to gel and coach Stanley getting the best out of the players.

The coach has been focusing on the basics - passing, combinations, set pieces and seeing which players fit which positions. The team is a mixture of experienced players who have come in through Baichung's network plus some new one's from Sikkim and other parts of the Northeast. And there is some raw talent in there, if they can shine in a few weeks or if it is too early will have to be seen.

The two foreigners I have seen in action - Brazilian holding midfielder Beto (another one, not Roberto Mendes Silva from Dempo SC) and attacking player Johnny from Liberia look solid and skillful, while the Japanese defender is also said to be good, just I haven't seen him in action. A striker is also set to be signed. Only how fast they will adopt to Indian conditions will have to be seen.

United Sikkim had hoped to be part of the upcoming 115th IFA Shield, but in the end there was no place for the Northeastern outfit. The aim was to use those IFA Shield matches as competitive preparation for the 2.Division I-League. Now the club will have to look for opponents for friendly matches. Ideally to start with, easy sides to get some wins.