Cuttack: Hosts Orissa will look to break their Manipur jinx and emerge champions in the Junior National Girls’ Football Championship, when the two sides meet in the final at the Barabati Stadium here Thursday.
Orissa have a bad record against the Manipur side in all levels of national championships. However, coach Gitanjali Khuntia remained upbeat about their chances. “No doubt Manipur are strong opponents. But in football history doesn’t matter. It’s all about what happens on the match day. So we will take the field with a positive mind frame for the final,” Gitanjali said confidently.
“Our past record was also not that good against West Bengal. But a win against them in the semifinal is a huge confidence-booster for our girls and they are in a very good frame of mind for the summit clash,” she added..
Gitanjali admitted that Manipur are a better team than Orissa. “They have a better coordination than us. Their players also have better stamina (as compared to Orissa). But we have found our rhythm and I am hopeful that we will break the jinx against them this time,” she asserted.
Both the teams have been invincible en route the final. “Though we have a good run so far, yet we have learnt from our mistakes also. We have missed many scoring opportunities in last few games and won’t like to repeat them in the final,” Gitanjali stated.
“I reckon that against a strong team like Manipur the margin for error will be little. So we will play aggressive football from the very beginning and try to put pressure on Manipur by scoring early goals,” she added.
Orissa skipper Shanti Murmu had full confidence on her players. “Our strikers are junior players. But they are in very good form throughout the tournament and I just hope that they will continue their good run in the final also,” Murmu stated.
Talking about the opponents Murmu said, “They have good strikers in Rosa and Jaya. They are accomplished national level players. We will be on our feet not to give them much space in the field,” she signed off.
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