Mariners in Durand Cup after 2 years

Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan will appear in Durand Cup after a gap of two years as the qualifiers for the more-than-a-century-old football tournament starting from September 2 at the Ambedkar Stadium. The main round of the tournament, which starts from September 11, will see participation of nine I-League sides. Besides Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Dempo, Churchill Brothers, Sporting Clube-De-Goa, Mahindra United, JCT, Air India and Shillong Lajong. Army XI is the tenth team directly seeded into the quarter-final round. The 122nd edition of the tournament, the third oldest in the world and oldest in Asia, will be conducted in two stages — qualifying knock out and quarterfinal league rounds.

Meanwhile Mohun Bagan team arrived Delhi by Rajdhani Express on Monday morning. Barreto and Chiddi will play together for the very first time. The striking force was the main concern for Mariners in IFA Shield. So it will be a big boost when the two foreigner will play together for Bagan. Branco is also in the team. Sk Azim & Isfaq Ahmed will miss the tournament due to their injury.  

Bagan is in the group B of the tournament along with JCT and ONGC. Bagan will meet ONGC in their first match on 16th September. JCT already defeated ONGC and got two valuable points. So the matches of Bagan against both the teams are crucial to reach to the Semi-Final.