Today Mohun Bagan resumed practice for AFC Cup after having two days rest. Today all the players were present in practice today including Sangram, Habibur, Odafe and Barreto who skipped practice session due to injury and will not be part of the team that will travel to Jordan. Coach has not yet decided on their replacement yet. Tommorow practice session will resume at 7.45 a.m. and there will be a practice match that is scheduled to start from 8.30 a.m. Team will take Saturday’s flight to go to Jordan.
Habibur has slight hamstring injury and so has been rested for this match, today during the practice he was seen exercising in the gym. Speaking exclusively to us, he said, "I am happy with the performance of Mohun Bagan this year, we have missed out on one trophy this year. I am hopeful that next year we will make it 4 out of 4. I have 2 years contract and I am very much happy in Mohun Bagan with my coach, coplayers and officials." Goalkeeper Sangram who suffered a leg injury in Kuwait said that likely he will not be able to play the last match of Mohun Bagan this year that will be held on May 19th. He is hopeful that he will be fit by 1 month.
Today in practice there were two new players, Manish, a midfielder from New Delhi and a foreigner, both of them have been recommended by Chima Okerie. Coach Karim after practice said, "Team is extremely tired after a tiring season and there are few injuries but still we will try our level best to perform well in the last 2 AFC Cup matches."
After practice, there was a group photo session held in club lawn with all the three trophies that Mohun Bagan won this year. Added to this, all the players individually posed with the three trophies. On behalf of Mohun Bagan club, all the players will be given two photographs (one group photo and his individual one) as a memento to keep with them for this year’s successful performance. This is really a unique thing which has been done by club officials and coach. Also Rs. 15000 has been given to all the players who were part of Super Cup team and Rs. 5000 has been given to the reserve players and supporting staff.
Captain Bhaichung said, "The season has been a very successful one. We just missed on the I league, perhaps we should have done better in the first few matches. Coach Karim has done a great job and you can see that the result shows how good he was."
The prospect of playing the Asian Cup two years from now lights up Baichung Bhutia’s eyes, but when it comes to discussing the future of Indian football, he hesitates and stumbles. His has been a case of been-there-done-that, but 17 years into his close association with Indian football, Baichung shudders to think that the game is actually going backwards in this country, thanks to poor infrastructure and an aimless system. Any unfulfilled dream? Baichung paused for a while before saying: “It was not possible this season. But I really want to win the I-League for Mohun Bagan.” “I don’t think we have been serious enough in improving basic needs for the game to grow. The quality has gone up with the introduction of I-League, but the worst part is that infrastructure has remained the same. We are talking about taking a forward stride, but lack of infrastructure is actually taking Indian football backwards,” the Indian captain told a gathering during CII’s Young Indians programme on Wednesday. No wonder then that he urges the national federation to have a long-term plan in place. An icon for the youth, Baichung delved into several aspects of the game and life during the interactive session. He wants the young voters to choose their candidate properly, without being driven by political ideologies. The Mohun Bagan skipper, who has just finished reading Booker Prize winner Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger, borrowed a line from the book, saying: “Most voters in the country are half-baked and there are other half-cooked ideas in their head.”