Football team hoping to
extend winning run

An exciting final is on the cards when a new-look India take on hosts Vietnam in the final of the LG Cup football 2002 at the Thong Nhat stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Saturday.

Statisticians were busy finding out when an Indian team last entered a final or won any honours at the Asian level. The instances are few, as India had entered the final in the 1971 Pesta Sukan Cup, in Singapore, and won an Asian Games bronze in 1970, in Bangkok. The Indian junior team was joint winners with Iran in the Asian Youth Championships in 1974 in Bangkok. That's all.

After going from bad to worse over the years, the All India Football Federation recently appointed Stephen Constantine as its new coach in a bid to put up a good showing at the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea, in September-October. The LG Cup is the team's first outing under the Englishman, and, needless to say, he's got the young side into a winning stride.

In the final on Saturday, Constantine will again be hoping his star strikers Baichung Bhutia and Alex Ambrose, as also K Ajayan and Venkatesh, get their act together as they did in the semi-final against defending champions Indonesia on Thursday.

After beginning with a 2-2 draw with Singapore, which put them in danger of exiting in the first round, India came back strongly to beat Vietnam under-23, 3-1, and Indonesia, 3-0.

"The boys really played well for our 3-0 victory even though the scoreline does not justify our dominance - we could have won by a bigger margin," Constantine said after Thursday's victory.

But he also had a word of caution. "We must keep our feet on the ground and be humble in victory."

Constantine's goal is a good showing at the Busan Asian Games, where India is in the same group as China, Turkmenistan and Bangladesh.

"The LG Cup 2002 is a good warm-up tournament for the boys," he said.

It has been three weeks of mainly fitness training in Jamshedpur and from there the Indian team has come straight here for its first competitive match since Constantine took charge on July 9.

The Busan-bound team has two more friendly matches in England, against Jamaica, before embarking for Busan.

Meanwhile, Vietnam, who also scored an impressive 3-0 win over Singapore in the semi-final, are confident of tackling India with the support of the home crowd.

Coach Calisto, who was expecting a second match with Indonesia, will now have to readjust his tactics for the final.

"I was expecting to play Indonesia again and that would have been an easy match for us as we had already beaten them," he said.

"Now I will have to come up with a new set to tactics to counter the skill and power of the Indians tomorrow."

The Complete Coverage

Earlier reports:
India storm into LG Cup football final
India looking to take Petrokimia in stride
India romp into semis of LG Cup
India will go all out for a win
India's prospects brighten after Vietnam lose
India under-23 held by Singapore in LG Cup