Oh boy, where to start? First of all, Congratulations to Mohun Bagan and Jose Barreto who won the match the Mariners way and beat Air India 2-1! With 8th straight win – already a record created in the last match in I-League, Barreto continued scoring goals that let the Airmen leave the ground like pigeons!!! Bimal Ghosh, after going down to Bagan in the Federation Cup promised a win at Cooperage! Alas, Barreto was enough to keep him at the bay! The first half couldn’t end any better. A brilliant Barreto scored the equaliser just before the lemon break, and Baichung jumped into him with joy. And in the 68th minute Barreto took the match away from Air India with a brilliant world class goal. Though the goal was scored by Barreto, but whole team played as a unit.
With Mohun Bagan taking a cautious approach – trying to capture the midfield, Air India were rough and tough from the beginning – and ended the match with 10-men as Uttam Singh got a marching order! Air India scored in the 20th minute from a defensive lapse. Man of the Match Jose Barreto scored his first for the day at the 43rd minute and the winning goal was scored in the 68th minute.
The match was held in good pace with both teams attacking though Mohun Bagan enjoyed supremacy over Air India for better part of the match. Within 20 seconds of start, Marcos gave a long ball towards Ishfaq in left flank who ran with the ball and his cross was cleared by Air India defence for throw, Odafe’s long throw was headed out for safety. As usual, Air India’s dangerous moves were all via long throw from Uttam Singh which today was well cleared by Bagan defence though on a couple of occasions it had created a little panic in Mohun Bagan defence but Air India players headed the ball out. Of note, in practice coach Kareem had given tips and also practiced the defenders how to deal with those deadly long throws and it seemed those worked well. In 9th minute, Marcos took a free kick which curled and went straight to Baichung who headed the ball but missed target by a whisker. In 12th minute, Odafe headed the ball away for safety but from the loose ball Subhash Singh took a right footed shot from outside box that went over crossbar. In 15th minute, Baichung got past two players and tried to take a shot but it was well intercepted by Air India defence and from rebound Dipak’s shot went wide. Against run of play, Air India scored in 20th minute. The goal came as a result of a nice move which ended in Subhash Singh pushing the ball past Sangram inside goal with Bagan defence caught napping. After the goal for about 10 minutes, Air India dominated the game with brisk attack. Though in between in 25th minute, Baichung gave a through pass to Barreto which was cleared for corner. Marcos’ corner went straight to Masih who was in open space but his weak left footer went out of target. Air India played quite rough game today and their main target seemed to be Barreto. Mohun Bagan got two free-kicks in quick succession but Marcos’ free kick just went over bar though goalkeeper was beaten all ends up. Kareem then made a strategic change by switching flanks of James Singh and Ishfaq and that seemed to work well for Mohun Bagan. In 35th minute, Marcos took a shot from outside box which was dipping in but was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper. Mohun Bagan equalized in 43rd minute when Barreto headed the ball in from a well directed corner from James Singh.
Air India started the 2nd half in a positive way with few good moves, Sangram was slow to react in one move but somewhat averted danger. Air India continued with their rough football and two of their players Uttam Singh and Agnelo Picardo were cautioned for foul on James and Marcos respectively. In 52nd minute, from a Odafe long throw, Barreto back headed the ball but Masih was slow to react thus missing a chance to score. In 63rd mnute, Barreto got a pass from Baichung and his left footed shot narrowly missed target. Then it was Barreto magic again when in 68th minute, Ishfaq Ahmed had snatched a ball from Air India midfield and then ran into the rival territory and slowed his pace to draw a few Air India defenders around him. Then he gave a pass towards Barreto who took the ball inside box and from almost 0 degree angle took a right footed shot which beat goalkeeper and went into goal. This was a world class goal and such kind of finish are usually seen in International matches. After the goal, Air India brought in Emmanuel and tried to create some pressure but Habibur and Odafe made two great tackles to avert danger. In 80th minute, Emmanuel’s shot hit post with Sangram having no chance whatsoever. In the next minute itself, Tulunga’s, who came as a substitute for Ishfaq, center hit a Air India defender and hit cross bar, this time luck favored Air India team. Baichung was later replaced and Lalampuia came and combined few good moves with Barreto and once his shot from outside box was well saved by goalkeeper. In injury time, Uttam Singh was given marching order when he tripped James Singh from behind, Uttam Singh will miss Air India’s next match against East Bengal. Barreto was rightly adjudged Man of the Match.
After the match, Barreto said, "This win came as a result of team work. I am a striker and my job is to score goals, I am just doing that." Baichung looked a little cautious when he said, "We have to win all the remaining matches, especially the next match agaist Sporting is very important as if we beat them we will reach top of table which will be very important for us." Ishfaq from whose pass Barreto scored the winning goal humbly said, "I just gave the pass to Barreto, it was his brillint shot that resulted in goal." Coach Kareem gave credit to team work for this joy and said, "Every player is to be given credit for all our wins. Yes, Barreto and Baichung is special and asset to every team both on and off field and I am happy to have them in my team but all the players did their job."
Bagan is now having 27 points from 13 matches and will face Sporting Clube de Goa next. A win will put Bagan at the top of the league table.
After the match we had a telephonic interview with our coach Kareem.
Q: Congrats again coach for another splendid win.
Kareem: Thanks, I hope it continues that way, also hope you supporters are proud of your team.
Q: Of course we are, sorry for disturbing you a little late in night.
Kareem: No problem, usually before and after the game, I can’t sleep irrespective of the result.
Q: Why is it so?
Kareem: Actually lot of things come into my mind and I cannot keep myself cool and get to sleep. I always think about my team and how to perform better and which combination will work best for team etc. Usually, after any match I think about both the positives and negatives from the match. I think about the negatives so as to find a way to rectify them for the next match.
Q: Are you happy about team’s performance?
Kareem: Yeah of course. This is our 8th consecutive win and second consecutive away match win. I am very happy with how team played. The most important thing is that, team is now full of confidence and we have to continue performing well in the remaining matches.
Q: Last match you gave instruction in half time to change style of play and play with short passes, did you do that today also?
Kareem: Not really, we played well today and we made quite a good moves during the match which resulted from short passes. Marcos took a brilliant shot which was well saved by their goalkeeper and there were a few other good moves during the match. In fact, we created more chances than Air India.
Q: Did you have special practice session to tackle Uttam Singh’s long throw?
Kareem: No, I usually do this before all matches. Before any match, during our practice, I instruct my second team to play like our next opponent eg. Before Air India match, I asked my reserve bench boys to play direct football like Air India do and whenever they got throw, I asked them to do it like Uttam will do. But as you know, guys like Suman or Lalramluah or others of 2nd team they cannot throw the ball like Odafe or Mohanraj, so I asked them to kick the ball from throw line instead as a situation practice to deal with Uttam Singh’s long throw.
Q: Why did you change Ishfaq after the 2nd goal?
Kareem: Actually he was complaining of a little sprain.
Q: Next sporting match.
Kareem: Yeah, right now, I am thinking match by match. Next 5 days I will think about Sporting de Goa team. We will have to continue with our winning streak.
Q: When is next practice session scheduled?
Kareem: Tomorrow we will reach Kolkata at around 10 pm, the reserve bench guys and the guys who came as a substitute like Tulunga, Lalampuia and Lalramluah will all practice at 3 pm tomorrow and full team will practice on Tuesday 3 pm. The reason for tomorrow’s practice is that, our reserve bench did not get much practice yesterday and also today, so if they go 3 days without practicising, it might cause problems with their fitness and I don’t want that. I want my full team’s fitness to be at the same level. Every player is an important member of the team.
Q: Congrats once again and thanks for talking.
Kareem: Welcome.