Report & Photos: Sporting B lose to Académica, Sunil plays 45 minutes

The 'B' team of Sporting Clube de Portugal continued their pre-season with a 1-2 defeat against Académica de Coimbra, who play in the Portuguese top tier Primeira Ligain Rio Maior on Thursday night. Indian striker Sunil Chhetri came on in the second session along with Luís Ribeiro, Iuri Medeiros, Zezinho, Patinho, Turan, Rafael Veloso, João Gonçalves, Chula and Luís Almeida.

SCP 'B' coach Oceano Andrade da Cruz once more used most of his squad to see as many players as possible in match action. Sporting took a 12th minute lead through a Bruma strike, but second half goals from former Sporting striker Carlos Soleiro and a late Edinho penalty sealed the match for Académica.

It was another good performance by Sunil Chhetri on the field though like in earlier matches he couldn't score. Still Sunil is said to be improving with every passing game.

Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Sunil Chhetri's pre-season at Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B' Team along with further news on what the other Indian footballers and Players of Indian origin are doing across Europe!

India Camp for Nehru Cup shifted to Bangalore

The Indian national team camp for the Platinum Jubilee Nehru Cup never kicked-off at the Jaypee Greens Atlantis - The Club in Greater Noida as planned. The players did gather in Noida on Wednesday, but today they shifted to Bangalore due to the wet conditions and also further power problems in the north of India.

The AIFF had considered Bangalore as an alternative camp destination, but the artificial turf at the Bangalore Football Stadium was not to the liking of new national coach Wim Koevermans and the costs involved of flying the whole contingent to Bangalore and back to New Delhi were all considered as surplus and unnecessary. Left with no alternatives the AIFF is now forced to spend even more due to the last minute chances which have been forced on them.


The 2012 Nehru Cup is set for an August 22 kick-off with the final slated to be held on September 2.


INDIA Probables

Goalkeepers
Arindam Bhattacharya (Mohun Bagan AC), Subrata Pal (Prayag United SC), Subhasish Roy Chowdhury (Dempo SC), Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar SC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (East Bengal Club)

Defenders
Nirmal Chettri (Mohun Bagan AC), Nicolau Colaco (Salgaocar SC), Denzil Franco (Churchill Brothers SC), Raju Eknath Gaikwad (East Bengal Club), Souvik Ghosh (Pailan Arrows), Nallappan Mohanraj (Pune FC), Syed Rahim Nabi (Mohun Bagan AC), Rowilson Rodrigues (Dempo SC), Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (Prayag United SC), Gurjinder Kumar Singh (Pune FC), Gurwinder Singh (East Bengal Club), Irungbam Khelemba Singh (Mohun Bagan AC)

Midfielders
Joaquim Abranches (Dempo SC), Denson Devadas (Mohun Bagan AC), Francis Fernandes (Salgaocar SC), Alwyn George (Pailan Arrows), Mehtab Hossain (East Bengal Club), Adil Ahmed Khan (Sporting Clube de Goa), Rocus Lamare (Salgaocar SC), Clifford Miranda (Dempo SC), Gilbert Oliviera (Salgaocar SC), Anthony Pereira (Dempo SC), Sanju Pradhan (East Bengal Club), Jewel Raja Sheikh (Mohun Bagan AC), Lalrindika Ralte (East Bengal Club), Baldeep Singh (Prayag United SC), Ongnam Milan Singh (Pailan Arrows),

Forwards
Sunil Chhetri (Sporting Clube de Portugal 'B'), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Pune FC), Manandeep Singh (East Bengal Club), Robin Singh (East Bengal Club), Sushil Kumar Singh (Shillong Lajong FC)

Officials
Wim Koevermans (Head Coach), Savio Medeira (Assistant Coach), Marcus Pacheco (Goalkeeper Coach)

Photos: Subrata Pal in training with RB Leipzig

Since yesterday I am with my friend and colleague Chris Punnakkattu Daniel in Leipzig to watch Subrata Pal in action at his trial-cum-training with RB Leipzig here in Germany. Here some photos...

The two week trial-cum-training trip to Germany has been made possible by the Indian division of Red Bull, who are the owners of RB Leipzig and who have signed a one year deal with Subrata Pal to help develop the goalkeeper further with his career.


Please LIKE www.facebook.com/arunfoot & follow @Arunfoot on Twitter to get further updates on Subrata Pal's trial in Germany along with further news on what the other Indian footballers and Players of Indian origin are doing in Europe!

Airtel Rising Stars - Goa: Set for August 18/19 trials

The Airtel Rising Stars programme, a nationwide under-16 soccer talent hunt, will hold its Goan-leg over the weekend of August 18/19 at the Poriat Ground in Calangute.

Interested children born on or after 1st January, 1996 can register through the official Facebook Fanpage www.facebook.come/airtelsoccer . Forms can also be collected from the Goa Football Association at GFA office, 5th Floor, Atmaram Commercial Complex, Opp Nova Goa Hotel, Panaji, Goa 403 001.

Also local Goans schools have been invited to send their top 12 footballers in the same age group to the open trials. The schools have been asked to send in their list of participants to the above address by sending a written letter to the GFA office address listed above by August 10.

Out of all applicants who appear on the first day, 120 boys will be short listed and called back on Day two (August 19) for further individual screening, while at the end of the second day there will be three finalists from Goa, who would then participate in the national finals.

The Airtel Rising Stars programme is spread over three months with the talent hunt being conducted in 16 Indian cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Panaji, Kolkata, Bangalore, Calicut, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Shillong, Pune, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Chennai, Hyderabad and Jaipur, all with the support of the respective State and District Football Associations.

Launched in association with Manchester United, 'Airtel Rising Stars' is a rigorous scouting programme that will cover 16 cities across India and choose 12 talented footballers who will get the chance-of-a-lifetime to attend a week long training camp with Manchester United in Old Trafford, England.

The best three players from each of the 16 cities will be picked to attend a final six-day camp-cum-selection trial conducted by coaches from Manchester United. These 48 players will be divided into four teams of 12 each and will be tested on all parameters (including physical attributes, individual skills, match situations and their performances in actual matches) before 12 of the best players are chosen to travel to Manchester United for a week and to train alongside the Manchester United Academy team.

East Bengal Club celebrate Foundation Day

Kolkata giants East Bengal Club today celebrated their 93rd Foundation Day on their Maidan club premises, the day on which the red-and-gold had been founded in 1920. The days celebration had been launched in the morning by legendary footballer Ahmed Khan.

The evening program was opened by West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan with lighting of the lamp along with West Bengal ministers Partha Chatterjee, Madan Mitra and Bratya Basu along with the Mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee.

During the program the legendary footballer Ahmed Khan was presented the 'Bharat Gourav' Award from Governor M.K. Narayanan. Former red & gold stars Prasanta Sinha and Santo Mitra were given the 'Life Time Achievement' awards, while former club captain Ilyas Pasha was handed a cheque of Rs 500,000 (5 lakhs).

Current East Bengal midfielder Penn Ikechukwu Orji from Nigeria was given the 'Golden Boot' Award for his stellar performances in the 2011/12 season.

Former referees Sumanta Ghosh and Sagar Sen along with noted Sports journalists Shibaji Dasgupta and Rupak Saha were also felicitated at the function.

Besides the presentation of awards for outstanding services to the club there was a cultural function in which singers Indrani Sen and Saikat Mitra performed.

5th Standard Chartered Indoor Corporate Soccer Championship in Mumbai

Standard Chartered Bank is sponsoring the 5th Standard Chartered Indoor Corporate Soccer Championship 2012, an inter-corporate tournament to be played at the Central Railway Multipurpose Complex, Parel in Mumbai on Saturday/Sunday, August 4/5, 2012. The tournament, for men and women, will bring together Mumbai's leading corporate houses with over 60 teams battling it out for glory.

The venue is being converted into a virtual soccer arena to ensure that some exciting, fast-paced format of soccer is in store for the enthusiastic corporate executives.

The event is being played indoors and special rules are being structured to ensure that the matches though competitive are fun. There shall be no goalkeepers or offside and the ball shall always be in play with the players taking the help of the sideboards to make play. The men's team shall comprise of four players and the ladies team shall comprise of five players. Matches shall be played on a league-cum-knockout basis.

The Standard Chartered Indoor Corporate Soccer Championship 2012 is sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank and co-sponsored by Vodafone. The Associate Sponsors are Cadbury Bournville and Budweiser, while the event is managed by Saran Sports.

This Championship is registered in the Limca Book of Records as the largest and longest running corporate soccer event in India for corporate executives. The tournament has been getting bigger every year, and this year's participation comprises of 60 teams.

Photos - Orissa 1st Division Football League

The Football Association of Odisha organised 1st Division Football League at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack is running since July 22. Here are photos from some of the recent matches.

Here earlier - Photos - Orissa 1st Division Football League