New Delhi, Nov 14: With most of the teams having prepared well with a clutch of foreign recruitments, defending champions Mohun Bagan will find their task cut out when the seventh national football league kicks off in Goa tomorrow. The seventh edition of the high profile league, India's prestigious semi-professional event, will begin with the four Goan sides in the fray taking on each other and run till end of March next year.
In the inaugural matches tomorrow, last season's runner-up Churchill brothers will take on Salgaokar S C while Vasco F C will play Dempo S C, which was promoted from the second division. The other team which returns to the NFL is Chennai outfit Indian Bank, the two teams taking the place of relegated sides F C Kochin and Punjab Police.
The main challenge to Bagan would come from arch-rivals East Bengal, who after winning the fifth edition finished fifth last time, Churchill and Mumbai's Mahindra United who has roped in three of Bagan's star players R C Prakash, James Singh and R P Singh.
On Nov 17, Mahindra United will begin their campaign in Mumbai against Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore. The southern outfit, promoted to the big league last season, impressed one and all with their superb performance and finished eighth ahead of fancied teams like JCT mills, Tollygunge Agragami and F C Kochin. Bureau Report