Viva Kerala will open its 2008/2009 2nd Division campaign tomorrow against Titanium XI. An exciting match is on the cards!

 

Even though Viva has been touted as favourites to advance from group C (along with Salgaocar SC), the task for this very young and ambitious team will be cut out.

The Viva Kerala team nowadays is entirely different from the one which gained promotion two years back and the rivals have significantly improved their ranks. Take the example of Viva's first opponent Titanium, which signed an overseas player from Africa to help the institutional club's cause.

 

Prior to the opening match, we give you a status update on the team. 

Coach Sreedharan will either field Anoop or Shahinlal as goalkeeper. If the young U-19 goalie is match-fit, he will definitely get the nod. In any other case, Anoop will step in.

The formation of the defense seems to be clear: While Bello Rasaq and K. Noushad are the stopper-backs, the defensive flanks would be manned by P. Sajesh and Sathish Kumar respectively. 

In midfield, the coach has plenty to chose from. But recent performances taken into account, it may well be that Siraj, Saleel, Lalu and Sakeer will provide the necessary creativity. However, there are also very able back-ups in Manoharan and Rahul.

The bottle-neck however might be the attacking department: we have learnt that Devadasan has left Viva to join Indian Navy in Mumbai. This is - put mildly - very unfortunate as the team was short of capable strikers anyway and Devadasan was performing quite well in the Cochin Premier League. Adding to these woes, C.S. Sabeeth still recovers from his bruised gluteus and he might not be fit for the first matches. It remains to be seen if Nigerian Baba Tunde can fulfil his role as the main striker.

 

Despite some recent setbacks, Viva Kerala has the capacity to upset the other teams in Cochin. This young team has to believe in its abilities, then sky might be limit. On the other hand, more experienced teams might have a psychological advantage in certain conditions.

 

Nevertheless, we will cheer for Viva Kerala and hope that you will, too! 

 

 

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