In its maiden season in the I-League, TRAU has hit headlines regularly, for reasons right and wrong.
Last Sunday, within 24 hours of the Manipur club posting its fourth win, it sacked its coach Dimitris Dimitriou – for the second time inside three months. It would indeed be interesting to find out how the players of TRAU cope up with such a situation when they take on Gokulam Kerala at the Corporation Stadium on Sunday.
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The host will be determined to put an end to the remarkable winning streak of TRAU, which has defeated Neroca 2-1, Indian Arrows 2-0, Churchill Brothers 2-1 and Aizawl 2-1 in its last four matches. Gokulam was blowing hot and cold around that period, having lost to Chennai 2-3, beaten by East Bengal 3-1, losing to Punjab 1-3 but beating Churchill 1-0.
The home team though is well-placed in the competition, which is nearing the half-way mark. It is fourth, with 13 points from eight matches. TRAU is third with 14, and has played a game less than Gokulam.
There is not much that separates the teams even otherwise. So it should be an interesting match for the city's passionate fans, who have been coming in large numbers right through the season.
Tough contest
They would be looking forward to watching the host's dangerous duo upfront: captain Marcus Joseph and Henry Kisekka, who have scored nine of their team's 13 goals so far.
It has been a team effort from the Manipur club. The team's technical director L. Nandakumar Singh said even one point from the match would suffice.
“But we will try for three points,” he said. “Gokulam is a very good team.”
Gokulam's coach admitted it would be a tough match. “We will try to dominate the game and win as we did against Churchill,” said Fernando Santiago Varela.
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