I league 2nd Division: Banking on youth, ARA FC will be aiming to prove their worth

by Suchit Halder October 7, 2020

ARA FC, nicknamed as Alphas, will be looking to make history by qualifying for I-League main division and becoming the first team from Gujarat to do so.

ARA FC (Ahmedabad Racquet Academy), is the second youngest team in the league having played only one season before in 2018-19. The Alphas, as they have been nicknamed, will be looking to make history by qualifying for I-League main division and becoming the first team from Gujarat to do so. They became the first team from Gujarat to take part in I-League second division in 2018-19.

The team has been in great form as they have scored the most number of goals (15) in the preliminary round of the qualifiers. Having won four games out of the seven they played, drawing one and losing two, ARA topped their respective group.

The centre forwards of ARA have been in red hot form since the preliminary rounds. Syed Shoaib Ahmed and Dieye Hamidou have scored 7 and 6 goals respectively. When the teams strikers perform and score goals, the entire teams confidence levels goes up. Ahmed scored two hat-tricks in his total tally of 7 goals. These two will surely be the trump card for the Alphas in the final round. However, the Alphas will miss the service of Hamidou as he has left the club after his contract got over in September and his VISA could not be extended.

“The team has prepared well even though the quarantining is keeping us away from each other. We have conducted yoga sessions and breathing exercises for the players and staff. We came a week early to get accustomed to the weather”, said Vivek Nagul, head coach of ARA FC.

 

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Banking on youth, Vivek Nagul, head coach of ARA FC, believes his team’s early preparation to the tournament will help during the Campaign #IndianFootball #ARAFC #ileague2nddivision⚽

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“Hamidou could not extend his visa and hence had to be left out of the squad. But we have strengthened our squad by including our own youth players from the academy. Stanley Eze has also been signed who has had an experience of playing in Kolkata. Other than these players, we definitely have Shoaib who was the top scorer for us and Rajesh Pariyar to fire”, said Nagul when asked about his players.

Rajesh Pariyar is 20 year old footballer from Nepal who has impressed domestically in Nepal and also shone for the Nepal under-16 and under-19 teams. He will surely be a youngster to watch out for as suggested by his coach Nagul.

ARA goalkeeper, Protip Das, a 22 year old from West Bengal, proved to be impressive in the preliminary round after keeping 3 clean sheets and conceding only 4 goals in his 6 outings in the squad. He will be important for ARA as they will be looking for motivation from the back after their forwards have shown excellent display of goal scoring.

The Alphas start their quest for qualification on the 11^th of October when they face tournament favourites Mohammedan SC at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.

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