| Silver linings  North East United owner John Abraham after his team won the 133rd Durand Cup. (Source: NorthEast United) Following an East Bengal victory, Sachin Dev Burman had once said that he wanted to buy a tram. Another time, ill and in hospital, the legendary musician had opened his eyes on being told that East Bengal had beaten Mohun Bagan 5-0. Both stories could be apocryphal though the latter finds mention in Aniruddha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal’s book, ‘S.D. Burman The Prince Musician.’ What is not is that the Burmans, father and son, SD and Rahul Dev, were life members of East Bengal. They were not the only ones from the world of Indian cinema for whom Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting were more than a club. Uttam Kumar never hid his allegiance to Mohun Bagan, Dilip Kumar was known to be a regular at the Cooperage when Mohammedan Sporting fetched up for the Rovers Cup as were the Burmans and Manna Dey, often arriving together but leaving separately depending on how their club had fared. So, it was in keeping with tradition that John Abraham posed with silverware NorthEast United (NEUFC) won in the 133rd Durand Cup. Arms around the Simla Trophy, one of the three the champions get for winning Asia’s oldest football tournament, head resting on the silver ball, Abraham’s smile conveyed what the team’s first title meant to him. Years of hurt “Eighteen years, all forgotten in a second,” Nick Hornby wrote in ‘Fever Pitch’ after Arsenal had dramatically ended their wait for a league title in 1989. Abraham’s wait too went into double digits, NEUFC turned 10 this year. Making the wait as agonising, if not more, was that it was his money that bankrolls the club. Jason Stockwood, vice-chairman Grimsby Town, has said in a recent Guardian article that when seeking investors, football clubs can be compared to entrepreneurs. They may aim for those with similar values but end up with someone who does not bring much apart from the money. You can find both kinds in ISL but what is important here is Kerala Blasters’s director Nikhil Nimmagadda’s assertion, in capital letters, on X that “no club in the league makes money” in football in India. There were ISL semi-finals, one in the Durand too last year, that proved to be false dawns. Hardened skepticism – Hornby again – you wondered when television cameras caught Abraham at the start of the final. Not long after that, over 52,000 celebrated Mohun Bagan Super Giant being 2-0 up at half-time. But it was the actor-entrepreneur who was being thrown in the air at the end of it all. NorthEast had missed out on an ISL top-six berth by one point last year. “We are looking to be more stable this time,” coach Juan Pedro Benali said before the final. Key to that was retaining players and staff, he said. “The management worked hard to keep me.” Trusting Indian players was just as important, said the Spaniard. “We must let them make mistakes because football is about making mistakes. How would goals happen otherwise?”  This was the first trophy for NorthEast United. Source: Durand Cup Jithin MS and Parthib Gogoi are but two examples of Benali doing that. Since joining last term, Benali has rebuilt the team. “Next season is all about winning – winning and winning from now on,” Benali was quoted as saying by indiansuperleague.com. It looks like some of the coach’s confidence has rubbed off on the squad. Whether it is enough to sustain a league campaign we will know over the next few months. Northeast may still be a team that does sprints better than marathons. “Trophies and the past do not make you play better,” said Benali at the ISL media day in Kolkata. But, hopefully, the Durand Cup has given players, staff and the owner the belief and the motivation to keep working. “Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for making this fantastic team. Thank you for suffering. Thank you for crying. You know, he deserves it, he’s a gentleman who gives everything to the team, everything to the club,” Benali said of Abraham after the match.  Odisha FC qualified to the main round of the Asian Champions League. Odisha FC make history If Durand Cup is the boost the Highlanders so needed, making the main round of the first AFC Women’s Champions League would be that for Odisha FC. No Indian men’s club will go where the Odisha FC women’s team have when they play defending champions Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and Taichung Blue Whale Women’s Football (Chinese Taipei) in the group league next month. And that too at the first time of trying. Check out what that meant to the players. Like with NEUFC, it needed a stirring show in the last match of the qualifiers in Jordan. It was a must-win against a team in form and Odisha FC took in their stride the discomfort of playing on a plastic pitch and injuries to win 2-1. Odisha FC and Etihad Club had both beaten Lions City Sailors of Singapore so the winners between the two would make the main round. A brace from Jennifer Yeboah, on either side of a goal from Maysa Jbarah, ensured Odisha FC did. Reason enough for Carlos Delgado to say they would be supporting the women’s team. “This victory is only not for Odisha. Clubs like Gokulam Kerala, Kickstart, HOPS who without getting anything, they are investing so much time and money…This victory we want to dedicate to them also,” said coach Crispin Chettri. Watch interview here. The qualification came one day after Odisha FC’s fifth foundation day. It was a rebirth of sorts for the club that in an earlier life was known as Delhi Dynamos. The Odisha government under chief minister Naveen Patnaik had pulled out all stops to welcome the team. There has been a change in government in Odisha. But what better way to ensure the state is in your corner than by making history. Odisha FC have delivered. Now it is for Odisha to keep backing them. | 
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