Legends Cup: Mumbai and Bangalore camp in buoyant mood ahead of National finals

Legends Cup winners get to travel to the UK for a Premier League game

The Delhi leg of the Legends Cup will kick start on the 7th of November at the Plaza Farms in Chhatarpur with 42 teams participating in the two-day event. The winners of this leg will battle it out with the Mavericks (winners from Bangalore) and Willis (winners from Mumbai) for a chance to be crowned the National champions of the Legends Cup and further getting a chance to visit the United Kingdom to catch a Premier League game of their choice.

Speaking to Sportskeeda ahead of their trip to the capital, Akash Jain, captain of team Willis and Maheshwar, captain of team Maverick Solutions shared their thoughts on the entire competition in general and how they are preparing for the big occasion on Sunday.

Q: What encouraged you to participate in such a competition?

Akash- We have been playing corporate level tournaments for the last 4-5 years, so when we got to know about the Legends Cup, it came across as an interesting tournament and we decided to give it a try. We are all football fans here and it is the passion for the game that makes us look out for tournaments of these sorts.

We participate in as many tournaments as we can in a year because it helps us in making a name for our ourselves and our company.

Maheshwar- It was the format of the tournament. We have played in tournaments before as well but the Legends Cup was a completely different tournament with a new format. It lasted for a good duration and since we are all football fans, we got an opportunity to express our love for the game on the field.

Q: Working in such a tough corporate job, how difficult is it for you guys to train and prepare for such events?

Akash- It takes a lot of time and dedication. We don't have particular timings because there are no shifts in our office. Some come in the morning while others come in the evening. It is a difficult task. We love playing football so that was one thing that brought us all together on the field. We have now created a good team over the past two years.

Maheshwar- We have to work from 9-5 some people work till 8 pm. So it is difficult to call all the players at the same time but we have created a schedule now. We practise on Tuesday and Friday every week. It's not easy to collect all the players but keeping specific days and timings that match everyone’s convenience has helped us.

Q: So how did you find the right players to make a winning team?

Akash- We conduct a trial before any tournament. Being a big company we practise a lot. We keep sessions and we inform other teams for friendlies. We look out for good players during training sessions. When new employees join, we have sessions with them as well. So it gets easier in finding the right players who can help the team and co-ordinate with us.

Maheshwar- I joined the company in June. I was interested in football from the start. We found these players who played regularly so we decided to go to this competition.We have won five competitions in a row before taking part in the Legends Cup. We found foreign employees who want to play football and added them to our squad as well.

Q: What are you looking forward to ahead of the finals?

Akash- We have done a research on Bangalore team. It will be a huge challenge for us. We are practising a lot. Bangalore are a good team because they have foreign players in the squad who give them an extra edge. They are the team to look out for in the finals.

Maheshwar- We will have a tough game in Delhi. All the winners will be taking part so the level will be quite high. We are following each and every aspect carefully. All the matches are tough and we will have to be at our best.