Guwahati: Lajong FC will be banking on crowd support when they take on I-League champions Churchill Brothers in the first semi-final of the 31st Hero Honda Federation Cup at the Nehru Stadium, here on Wednesday.
While Churchill Brothers will be high on morale having won the Durand Cup and IFA Shield titles, Lajong will enjoy the support of a partisan crowd, which will be bolstered by a large number of fans from Shillong.
There will be some cheering for Churchill’s Northeast players like Gourmangi Singh and R Vashum but surely the main backing will be for Stanley Rozario’s boys.
On the face of it, Churchill are firm favourites and when you have someone as prolific a scorer as Okolie Odafe, that’s quite obvious. Odafe has been in rousing form and the Lajong back-four will have to work overtime to thwart the Nigerian’s threat.
The Lajong defence has not been that impressive in the group league matches. They tend to press the panic button when under pressure and it remains to be seen how they react when Odafe makes one of his trademark marauding runs.
It’s not only Odafe, Lajong should be wary of. Khan Thang Paite is also in good form and will surely want to be in the scoresheet. The conductor of the Churchill orchestra is Ogba Kalu and much will depend on how he performs on the day. Odafe may run away with most of the headlines but Kalu has always been the barometer of this Churchill line-up.
Lajong will hope that their frontline duo of Seikhohao Tuboi and Nepal recruit Anil Gurung deliver on Wednesday.
They will be up against the likes of Gourmangi Singh and Rowlison Rodrigues and it will be interesting to see how the Tuboi-Gurung combination play. Lajong’s Nigerian recruit Daniel Bedemi has also been in good form.
Churchill had a smooth run to the last-four stage. They defeated HAL 3-0, edged past Mumbai FC 1-0 before blanking Sporting Clube de Goa 2-0.
Lajong were also impressive in the group league matches. They held Air India 2-2 draw, stunned the mighty Dempo SC 2-1 and then settled for a 1-1 draw with Pune FC.
Both Stanley and Churchill coach Carlos Perreira showed restrain on the eve of the semi-final clash. There was no one-upmanship and both said they will give respect to the rivals.
While the Lajong coach credited his team’s hard work and discipline for booking the semi-final berth, Perreira was in no mood to take the greenhorns lightly.
All said and done, a keen tussle is on the cards and who knows may be we will have a surprise in store.
