Goalkeeper Subhashish Roy Chowdhary: First-timers Namdhari FC will take on former champions Churchill Brothers in a league match of the I-League 2023-24 in this Punjab town on Tuesday.Though Namdhari XI are first-timers in I-League 2023-24, they have the backing of a family enterprise, just like Churchill Brother, who too are promoted by old money. Thus the two teams share a rivalry, even though they are meeting for the first time.
A person who understands the rivalry —and even more keenly the prestige of a Punjab club in the I-League — is Namdhari FC head coach Harpreet Singh, a former JCT and Mahindra United star.
“It’s a matter of great pride for the players as well as everyone in the state that Punjab will have an I-League club again,” Singh says. “Obviously it’s a big challenge for me personally, to be at the helm of this young club as we take on one of the stalwarts of the league. But the boys are ready, we have been training hard and now it’s time to go,” he told aiff.com.
Namdhari will go into the match without much expectation. Despite boasting several experienced players — which includes Akashdeep Singh, Harmanjot Singh and Sukhandeep Singh — they have a young squad and moreover are a club that will in essence be building an aeroplane while it’s in the air.
However, the Churchill Brothers will be expected to win the match, even though the club has not won the I=League for 10 seasons so far. The last time they won the I-League, Sunil Chhetri started as their striker. The India legend shipped off to Bengaluru soon after and the rest, as they say, is history.
While other clubs have pursued and made high-profile signings over the past few months to bolster their ranks, Churchill have, for the most part, gone under the radar. Their biggest coup is probably their signing of Argentine head coach Edgardo Malvestiti, a man who coached in the top tier in four Latin American countries before making his way to Goa.
The club has retained the services of Uruguayan Martin Chaves, whose injury-curtailed run at the end of last season gave hope for more fireworks this time around. Goalkeeper Subhashish Roy Chowdhary, winger Faisal Ali, and Rahul Raju are among the other eye-catching summer arrivals in a squad that will no doubt be heavy on local talent.
“We know that Churchill is a big team and everyone will view us like that,” Malvestiti said. “We have only one objective, to win the league and get a promotion.
“Opening matches can be tricky, whether we are home or away. It’s tougher when you are away definitely. But I have confidence in my team. The short-term objective is to develop good coordination within the team and the first game gives an opportunity to do that well.”