Pune FC, Salgaocar refuse to release players
Marcus Mergulhao (Times of India)
PANAJI: India coach Armando Colaco may have to travel to the Caribbean with a severely-depleted squad after Pune FC and Salgaocar Sports Club followed in the footsteps of the Kolkata clubs and refused to release their players for the five-match series.
Pune FC players Subrata Paul and Jeje Lalpekhlua are central to Colaco's plan and both are automatic starters in the starting eleven. But the latest development puts a huge question mark over the genuineness of the team, if not the tour itself.
"We have just found out that the tour matches will not add to India's points (in the ranking system). It's just a friendly tour and makes no sense to release players right in the middle of pre-season. We have conveyed our decision to the AIFF in writing," said Chirag Tanna, Pune FC director of operations.
According to Tanna, Jeje, their star striker, has been playing non-stop for the past 18 months and needs rest more than anything else at this hour, while goalkeeper Paul needs to recover from a niggle that he has been carrying for some time now. He denied his club's decision was a result of Mohun Bagan and East Bengal's steadfast refusal to release players, or at least some of them, but didn't see anything wrong in the Kolkata clubs' line of thinking.
In Goa, Salgaocar Sports Club released two of their players from the original list for the Caribbean tour without batting an eyelid. But while Rocus Lamare and Karanjit Singh are now already in New Delhi, two late additions sought by coach Colaco - Anthony Barboza and Gilbert D'Mello - haven't as yet got the nod from the club management.
"We all want Indian football to grow and the national team to become stronger, but in my opinion this tour has come in the middle of pre-season. Despite all of that, we collaborated but the latest development (of clubs refusing to release players) is unfair," said Salgaocar coach Karim Bencherifa. "The AIFF has to make sure that the same standards are applied to all clubs. If some clubs are allowed to keep players, for whatever reason, we must also be allowed to do the same and prepare in a similar manner for the fast-approaching Federation Cup."
The friendly tour of the Caribbean starting August 10 involves five matches against Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Barbados and a select President's XI.
