KOCHI: Struggling to move up the table in the ONGC I-League, Viva Kerala are reorganising their resources welcoming the current break in the gruelling schedule of the country’s premier football competition.
Having failed to get full value from their foreign recruits, except Nigerian defender Bello Rasaq, the club has decided to release a couple of them. Thailand’s Wisoot Bunpeng, signed in desperation to add firepower to their frontline, and the England-based Patrick Raman Sisupalan, brought in as the Player of Indian Origin, have been asked to leave next week.
Both players, beset with injuries, have been below par in the few matches that they have played in Viva colours.
“Wisoot (Bunpeng) and Sisupalan are unable to give their best because of injuries, so we have decided to release them,” the club’s secretary V M Liaquat Ali told TNIE.
Medical tests conducted on the players revealed that both were plagued by fitness problems even before their arrival in the Viva camp. “Bunpeng was suffering from muscle problems in his leg and Sisupalan too was not fully fit when he arrived,” said Liaquat.
Having joined Viva in the pre-season training camp, the slow moving Sisupalan failed to get into the first eleven regularly and when he did get opportunities, he looked lost in central midfield leaving captain M P Sakeer with a heavy workload.
Striker Bunpeng was drafted into the squad after the losing efforts in the first three matches which exposed Viva’s chinks upfront. The Thai player, who scored once against Mahindra United in Mumbai, started in three games but had to be substituted each time. In the last match before the ILeague break against Dempo in Goa, a limping Bunpeng himself requested to be substituted.
The Viva secretary clarified that the club did not intend to recruit any more players from abroad. “We will go ahead with local talent and hopefully, we will stay in the Ileague,” he said. “There are 19 more matches to go.” Meanwhile, the team, currently training at the FACT ground in Eloor, will play in the Navy Week invitational football tournament beginning at Fort Kochi on Saturday.
Viva are drawn to meet Malabar United in their first match on November 24.
