Chirag United Kerala named former Sir Lanka defender Pakir Ali as the new coach ahead of its I-League campaign, which starts later this month.
Ali replaces K.P. Kunhikrishan, who quit after the team's disastrous outing in the Federation Cup. Kunhikrishnan, who helped the present team's previous identity — Viva Kerala — finish ninth in the I-League last season, had fallen foul of the players because of his abusive behaviour forcing the team management to replace him, according to the United Kerala manager K. Prasanthan.
Pakir Ali, who earned a fair bit of success coaching top division clubs in Bangladesh, has an AFC ‘A' licence and is “very result oriented,” it was said.
The team, which is funded by the city-based Chirag Group, has already started its preparations for the I-League. It is also looking to add a new foreigner in place of Brazilian forward Brazilian forward Alex Barbarosa, who is leaving the side.
The team is trying out a host of local talents some of whom will be inducted to give balance to the team before the major league, said the manager.
Prayag to miss Lalkamal
Prayag United SC left the city to participate in the Durand Cup without its captain Lalkamal Bhowmik, who sustained an injury in the team's fairly good outing in the recent Federation Cup.
United SC, which has Brazilian Joshimar Da Silva as captain, is seeded in the quarterfinal group league along side I-League and Federation Cup champion Salgaocar and a qualifier from the preliminary rounds.
The squad: Goalkeepers: Abhijit Mondal, Somnath Khanra, Jagroop Singh; Defenders: Arnab Mondal, Bello Rasaq, Deepak Mondal, Sukhen Dey, Chinta Chandrasekhar, Justine Stephen; Midfielders: Denson Devadas, Mohammad Rafiq, Crispin Chetri, Snehasish Dutta, Gouranga Biswas, Soumik Chakraborty, S. Malswatluanga, James Singh; Forwards: Yusif Yakubu, Joshimar Da Silva (capt.), Kayne Vincent, Shankar Oraon.
