Mahindra United were successful in breaking their four-match jinx against Air India at the Cooperage.
MUMBAI: Twenty-four hours after they became the first ever NFL champions from Mumbai, Mahindra United were successful in breaking their four-match jinx against Air India at the Cooperage. As midfielder Steven Dias put it, the last two days have been like a “dream come true” for the Mumbai giants.
But the NFL crown is even more special for one man - Derrick Pereira, the Mahindra coach. He happens to be the only person who has won the national title as a player as well as a coach. Pereira was a defender with the Salgaocar SC when the Goan club won their only NFL title in the 1998-99 season.
“I always believed in myself and in my job. The moment I saw this team I knew it was great. The only thing we had to do was work hard and get ourselves together, which is what we did. Mahindra winning the NFL is a great thing for Mumbai football,” said Pereira after his team posted a 2-0 win over arch-rivals Air India at the Cooperage on Tuesday.
Alan Durante, the Mahindra team boss, recounted how he followed his gut feeling, which proved to be correct. “When I first chose him, everybody told me that you have made the wrong choice since Derrick was the coach of Vasco which was relegated. But sometimes you just go by your gut feeling,” Durante said.
Pereira considered Tuesday’s win the most prized in the NFL this season. “It is difficult to motivate the players after you have won the title already but they have shown great commitment right till the end,” he says.
The management had even played a clipping of their Federation Cup winning moments and this season’s NFL to motivate the players before their match against Air India. Clearly, it worked.
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