In the days gone by, Integral Coach Factory (ICF) enjoyed a stranglehold on the TFA Shield — one of the prominent fixtures in the Chennai football calendar of yesteryear until the tournament was put on the backburner in the late 90’s.

However, ICF, the powerhouse of Tamil Nadu, have not been their usual menacing self in the last couple of seasons during the annually-conducted CFA senior division league.

Now, they have an opportunity to redeem their battered reputation of ‘also favourites’ when they play Kerala Police in the final of the reinstated Aima-TFA Shield.

Emerging as the worthy finalists from their respective groups, the stage is set for a riveting final at the Nehru Stadium on Sunday.

ICF coach P. Thulasi has little doubts as to who would be holding the winners’ cheque. “We have the arsenal to go all the way.

Our team have the right mixture of experience and youth. The boys are determined to lift the trophy this time. We will continue to play attacking and entertaining football.

Every team has its ups and downs, we have had ours too. But no one will ever write us off because ICF is known to bounce back hard,” asserted Thulasi.

The experienced coach’s presumption may not be completely misplaced. ICF, for their part, have looked threatening from the start.

Playing as a cohesive unit, ICF arrived with a bang against Karnataka XI with a 6-0 pasting.

The goals haven’t dried up since then as ICF have scored 11 open play goals in comparison to Kerala Police’s seven. The latter have their task cut out to stop ICF’s surge now.

When asked the reason for his prolific right-winger S. Suresh Kumar not being given a start in the entire tournament, Thulasi said: “Suresh has been missing training sessions due to personal reasons and thus lacks match-fitness.

But he has been fantastic in whatever playing time that has been provided. Another player who has left his mark in this tournament has been left-winger L. Shanta Kumar. Striker M. David and winger Kamesh have also been rock-solid.”

However, Thulasi has not started to count his chickens just yet. “Police have had a good run so far. I have watched all their games and I have noticed that, similar to our style, they also like attacking from the flanks.

Their forwards also don’t hesitate to take long shots at the target. Our defenders, no doubt, will need to be on their toes,” said the AFC licence holder.

ICF’s opponents in the title-round — Kerala Police — also boast of quality individual players in left-winger Sadhik Ali and striker Firoz and Nazarudeen.

Senior Kerala Police member and former Indian player IM Vijayan is looking forward to a good match. “We have confident in ourselves.

The team would go all out to win this tournament,” said Vijayan who might get his boots back on against ICF
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Defence might turn out to be the weak link for the visitors and they would do well to keep ICF strikers S. Fredy (five goals) and David at bay with some watertight marking.

Another facet that Kerala Police would be the most wary of is goalkeeping. ICF’s custodian VP Sathish Kumar and his counterpart Vinshob are as different as chalk and cheese.

While Sathish has been instrumental in leading his side to the final, Vinshob’s negligence almost cost Kerala Police dearly in the semi-final against RCF Kapurthala.

It won’t be surprising to see Kerala Police’s second-choice goalie Melbin given a go ahead of Vinshob in the summit clash.
Action today: Final: ICF vs Kerala Police (3.45pm).