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Farooq wins it for Real Kashmir in opener

KALYANI (WB):Real Kashmir FC overcame the mental turmoil arising out of uncertain situations back home as they beat Chennai City FC 1-0 through a last-minute goal in the 129th Durand Cup fixture here today.

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Kalyani (WB), August 7

Real Kashmir FC overcame the mental turmoil arising out of uncertain situations back home as they beat Chennai City FC 1-0 through a last-minute goal in the 129th Durand Cup fixture here today.

A long-range strike from Danish Farooq in the 90th minute gave the ‘Snow Leopards’ a solitary goal win over the Chennai side.

With a lockdown in force in Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of the scrapping of Article 370, Real Kashmir assembled for the first time this season here late Monday night only to realise they’re cut off from family members back home. But it did not show in their performance as the David Robertson-coached side dominated against the reigning I-League champions who fielded a reserve side full of local players.

The inexperience of Chennai City showed when goalkeeper Kabir T handled the ball outside the penalty box to be sent off in the 76th minute.

Seizing on the numerical advantage over the Chennai side, Real Kashmir stepped up the attack and in the 90th minute their star player Farooq sent a powerful right footer from a long range, which beat substitute goalkeeper Prateek Singh all ends up.

“We play professional football. You have to be professional. These sort of things keep happening. Tomorrow something else may happen. Football teaches you how to tackle these situations and play well despite the odds,” Farooq said, reflecting on the situation back home.

Showering praise on their Scottish coach, he said it’s Robertson’s job to keep the players in good mood despite all odds.

“Our team atmosphere is like this only, all thanks to our coach. He keeps everyone in good mood and never let us bog down by any pressure. He plays a big role. He keeps motivating us. Don’t keep anything in mind just focus on the game,” said Farooq.  “It’s our first match of the season. We never knew what would be our result and we assembled after a long time. So I’m sure this win will boost our confidence. There’s a positive atmosphere in the team,” he added. In their debut I-League season, Real Kashmir were in the title race at one stage before finishing third behind Chennai City and East Bengal. — PTI


Real Kashmir’s pre-season training may move out of Valley

Kalyani: Srinagar-based I-League club Real Kashmir FC may hold its pre-season training at either Jamshedpur or Mumbai in the wake of tense situation in the state, said the team’s co-owner and chairman Sandeep Chattoo. “We will love to go back to Srinagar. But if for any unfortunate reasons, we don’t go back then we have options. We can take the team anywhere and do the pre-season,” Chattoo said. “We will just wait till the Durand Cup is over. By that time we will decide whether it will be feasible for us to go back and do the pre-season there before the I-League.” He further revealed that Real Kashmir had preliminary talks with the Jamshedpur’s Tata Football Academy officials but nothing is official. “We can go to Mumbai, we can go to Jamshedpur. There was an informal kind of discussion with them and the Tatas have been gracious enough to extend an invitation if required. Nothing official as of now,” Chattoo said.  With the Valley completely locked down following the move, the team members are totally cut off from the region.  “We have absolutely no news about Srinagar as of today. We don’t know what’s happening sthere because we have no means to communicate with anybody there,” Chattoo said. — PTI

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