Snehasish Chakraborty signed for Mohun Bagan today. After he has made an appeal to IFA yesterday, they decided to reduce his fine and Snehasish had to pay Rs. 50,000 as fine. Along with Snehasish, Tomba, Barreto, Habibur and Chiddi also signed for Mohun Bagan today.

The Union sports ministry has invited former India captain Samar (Badru) Banerjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 29 for the awards function on National Sports Day. The invitation has been personally sent by sports minister MS Gill. Meanwhile, Indian football took a big leap towards the future at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Monday.

The completion of the country’s first artificial pitch in a stadium — also a first amongst SAARC nations –was marked by the presence of some stalwarts from Indian football’s ‘golden era’. Sailen Manna, PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, Samar (Badru) Banerjee and Tulsidas Balaram lent a different pitch to a celebratory mood that echoed through the prancing boots of a hundred kids.

In fact, it was the presence of the past greats that lightened up the media conference called by new sports minister Kanti Ganguly to mark the completion of the work. 

 “This is a big thing for Indian football and we should all be proud,” said Manna in his now feeble voice, his strong message reverberating across the stadium. 

Even more ecstatic was Tulsidas Balaram, who was quick to quash all apprehensions over the safety of players on the artificial turf, or the viability of organizing the IFA Shield matches before the Fifa certification comes in. 

“The other grounds we have in Kolkata are no heaven for footballers. Such a pitch was the need of the moment and we should go ahead without worrying to much about the teething problems. We should start playing from today,” he thundered. 

Balaram, a member of the Chuni Goswami-led team that won gold at the 1962 Asian Games, was also not ready to buy the adaptability problems that the teams in the Shield may face after playing on the other grounds in and around the city, saying adjustment is the name of the game. 

Utpal Ganguly, the IFA secretary, would still be taking the opinion of a few experts before the semi of the Shield to be convinced that safety of players in not compromised. He also plans to provide teams a few training sessions in addition to a practice match. 

PK Banerjee, another member of that 1962 team, suggested the area beyond the synthetic track be covered so that no slush is carried onto the field.

COURTESY: TIMES OF INDIA

 

Today Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee announced that Maidan station will be renamed in the name of Goshto Pal. Mohun Bagan won practice match 4-0 against Southern Samity.Mohun Bagan Under-13 team and MBSFA team were present along with General Secretary Anjan Mitra, coach Amiya Ghosh, Chuni Goswami, Shibaji Banerjee in Netaji Indoor Stadium and payed homage to late Sports Minister Subhash Chakraborty.

Sunday will be an offday for team and from Monday there will be 4 days of camp where team will stay in Hotel Landmark and practice in club ground. Mohun Bagan’s first match in IFA Shield is expected to be scheduled on September 3rd.

Mohun Bagan today won their practice match against Southern Samity by 4-0. Chiddi scored 2 goals and Marcos and Kartick scored 1 goal each.

In today’s match, first team comprised of Sangram, Biswajit Saha, Vashan, Karan Atwal, Mandi, Snehasish, Kulu, Marcos, Tomba, Branco and Chiddi. Mariners started in 4-4-2 formation and within 2 minutes scored their first goal, Vashan gave a long ball to Chiddi, who nicely dribbled past 1 player and placed the ball past goalkeeper in goal to make it 1-0. Mohun Bagan dominated the match throughout but could not increase their margin further before half time. Tomba and Chiddi played very well today. Tomba looked very agile during both attack and also while falling back and helping the defenders. Mandi played as right back, he was otherwise okay but sometimes was not in his position and coach was giving instruction "Mandi get back to position." Biswajit made few errors, he looked slighly off form today and once he reacted late and Southern almost scored a goal; however, Biswajit is a very good player and so far he has performed very well in all the practice matches so far. Karan Atwal who is improving on his performance made 2 errors today, once when Mohun Bagan defenders went up to lay offside trap for opponent, he was not in line with his defenders and almost evoked danger. In another occasion, in second half, he missed a golden chance to score. In midfield, Kulu was a little disappointing in first half but in second half he came back strongly and played really well.

     

In 2nd half, Karim made few changes and brought in Shilton, Habibur, Santa Kumar, Subho Kumar, and Kartick. After match, Karim said, "I changed my formation and went to 4-2-3-1 in 2nd half. This is the formation which Liverpool plays nowadays in many matches. This means there are 2 holding midfielders and the remaining 3 will go up to support the lone striker. By this particular formation, team becomes more attacking. I might use this few times this year when required. I might also think about the option of pushing Marcos up sometimes behind Chiddi. I am overall happy with team’s performance."

Chiddi scored the 2nd goal by heading the ball in from Santa’s well measured cross in 2nd half. Habibur who came as replacement in 2nd half also had quite a good match running down the right flank, and from one of his center Chiddi’s header narrowly missed target. Marcos-Chiddi combination resulted in the 3rd goal for Mariners. Marcos gave a through pass to Chiddi whose shot was blocked by goalkeeper, and Marcos in turn pushed the ball inside empty goal to make it 3-0. In another attack, from Santa’s cross, Subho Kumar’s head hit cross bar and went to Karan Atwal who failed to score from a hand shaking distance with goalkeeper out of position. 10 minutes before final whistle, Karim brought in Ramluah, Manish and Rino Anto. Kartick Kisku who played as right half scored the 4th goal from Kulu’s pass. Before the goal, one of his effort hit barpost.

PHOTOGRAPH: TRIDIP SHEET

 

 

 

Mohun Bagan has been placed in Group C of IFA Shield along with George Telegraph and Mahindra United while in Durand Cup they are in Group 2 along with JCT and Qualifier B. Detailed fixture of IFA Shield will be declared tomorrow. Mohun Bagan will likely play their matches on September 3rd and 6th. In Durand Cup their matches are on September 16th and 18th. Detailed fixture see https://www.mohunbaganclub.com/points_view.php?fid=MTQ= and https://www.mohunbaganclub.com/points_view.php?fid=MTM=

Today Goshto Pal’s birth anniversary was commemorated by Maidan Welfare Association. Mohun Bagan club payed homage to the Chinese Wall. On the occasion, Sailen Manna, Chuni Goswami, Shyamal Sen was also present.

 

  

 

 

 

 

Mohun Bagan won 3-0 in an exhibition match held in Burdwan today. Mohun Bagan so far has scored 13 goals without conceding any in their 4 practice matches so far. Back in 1889, Mohun Bagan was established on August 15th when the first meeting of club was held in Balaram Ghosh Street. On its birthday, Mohun Bagan today participated in an exhibition match in Burdwan where Mariners won 3-0, Chiddi scored 2 goals and Suraj Mandal 1 goal. Tomorrow is off day, team will resume practice on Monday. Earlier in the three practice match, Mohun Bagan won the matches 5-0, 2-0 and 3-0. So far Suraj Mandal has scored 4 and Chiddi 3 goals.

Mohun Bagan today beat a local team of Burdwan 3-0 in an exhibition match. Chiddi scored 2 goals and Suraj Mandal 1 goal. The first team comprised of Sangram,  Karan Atwal, Vashan, Mandi, Rino Anto, Snehasish, Subho Kumar, Lalramluah, Subhojit, Suraj Mandal, Kartick Kisku. In 1st half, Kartick missed two easy chances to score. Kartick is trying hard to score in all the practice matches that Mohun Bagan has played and giving lot of effort, but is missing very few easy chances, he needs to keep his head cool in front of opponent goal.

Suraj scored the first goal from Snehasish free kick, when the former scored of his left foot. Snehasish had a great half when his run down left flank caused panic in opponent team. Subhojit also played very well in right half. Later in the half, coach interchanged position of Snehasish and Subhojit. Subho Kumar had a good game with his ball distribution. In all the practice matches we are seeing that coach is doing permutation and combination with the players and their position so as to get the best possible squad for the coming tournaments and in this way coach can also assess which player is adapting himself to which position, this will help to get a good bench strength position wise which is very important for a team to succeed in the long season ahead.

The half time score was 1-0. In 2nd half, Mariners made 6 changes bringing in Shilton, Mickey, Ishfaq, Chiddi, Marcos, and Kuluthungan. This was the first match for Kulu and Mickey for Mariners. Mickey in particular had a good game.

Chiddi scored the 2nd goal for Mohun Bagan when he headed the ball in from a Marcos corner. Within 5 minutes, Chiddi scored his second and Mariners’ 3rd goal, when Ishfaq overlapping from his left back position gave a pass to Chiddi, who nicely flicked the ball inside goal past goalkeeper.

15 minutes before end of match, coach brought in Santa Kumar and Tomba Singh. Tomba made some nice moves but Mohun Bagan could not score any more goal. The final scoreline was 3-0 in favor of Mariners.

 

Mohun Bagan today won 2-0 against Customs in a practice match held in club ground. Mariners resumed their practice today after two days of rest, coming back from their first preseason conditioning camp held in Kalimpong. Snehasish and Biswajit scored the goals for Mohun Bagan. The first team comprised of Shilton, Biswajit, Karan, Mandi, Rino, Snehasish, Subho Kumar, Ramluah, James, Ishfaq, Chiddi.

Later on Sangram, Kartick, Santa Kumar, Manish, Subhojit etc. came as substitute.

The first goal came in first half via a James long pass which Snehasish placed past the goalkeeper inside goal. Later on in this half, Customs got one chance due to a mistake in right side of Mohun Bagan defence but the shot went wide.

In 2nd half, Mohun Bagan missed few easy chances to score with Kartick missing at least 3 easy chances though his effort was indeed praiseworthy. Santa Kumar and Subhojit played quite well and delivered few good crosses down both flanks. Subhojit’s performance in particular was quite good with his run down the flanks and then floating the ball nicely inside box.

Biswajit, Subho Kumar, Snehasish, also played well. In the middle of second half, from a Santa Kumar cross, Kartick took a prompt side volley which was going inside goal but unfortunately hit Chiddi and went wide.

The 2nd goal came soon after when Lalramluah snatched the ball nicely near center circle and passed it towards Biswajit who overlapped and made a down the middle run down the left flank and then played a one-to-one pass with Chiddi, whose final pass was a brilliant sliding pass and Biswajit nicely lobbed the ball over goalkeeper’s head to score the second goal for Mariners.

Chiddi played quite well today and his distribution was brilliant today, but finish could have been better by his fellow strikers.

 

James Singh played major part of the match in right back position, but unfortunately minutes before final whistle he got slightly injured and had to be replaced by Ishfaq who continued as right back though he started the match in striker postion in first half. This showed that Karim is keeping all options open regarding his team selection and so is trying few players in multiple positions.

Habibur joined practice today after he produced his doctor’s certificate yesterday.

Mohun Bagan’s next practice match is against Army XI on Thursday at 3 pm.

  

Mohun Bagan today beat Kalimpong XI 5-0 in an exhibition match. Ishfaq, Branco, Santa Kumar scored one goal each while Suraj Mandal scored twice for Mariners. General Secretary Anjan Mitra said before match that the fund collected from sale of tickets will be used in development of football in Kalimpong and for producing good footballers from the area. The match was played in rather poor condition. PICTURE COURTESY: SANGBAD PRATIDIN

Coach Karim Bencharifa said, "The condition was quite bad when the match was going on, there was rainfall and lot of cloud. But the most positive thing is that this condition did not dampen the spirit of the players of Mohun Bagan. Other than Marcos, Kulunthungan (who are slightly injured, nothing much to worry about that) and Shilton and Sangram, every player present in the camp got a chance to play and really all of them fought hard and played well. I wanted to see the fitness of the players and I am quite satisfied with it. Although this first preconditional camp was basically on improving endurance and fitness in general and there was no tactical discussion, which I will start next week in Kolkata, during the match the players still showed good understanding."

PICTURE COURTESY: Sangbad Pratidin

On resting Sangram, Shilton he said, "We will have few more practice matches, there Shilton and Sangram will get to play, today I wanted to see Chirodeep and Pralay’s performance in match." 

The match was divided into 30 minutes with 2 breaks. In first half, the team comprised of Chirodeep as goalkeeper, Biswajit Saha as left back, Zenith as right back, Vashan and Azim as the stopper duo. In midfield, I had Snehasish in left half, Tomba as right half, Mickey and Lalramluah in central position. The forward line comprised of Ishfaq and Kartick Kisku. Mohun Bagan played in 4-4-2 formation in first half.

In 2nd half, the team played in 4-3-3 with Chirodeep as goalkeeper, Zenith as right back, Ishfaq as left back, Karan Atwal and Azim as central defenders. In midfield, it was James and Lalramluah as side halves with Subhokumar as holding medio. The forward line had Suraj and Kartick as two wingers and Chiddi as striker.

In the last half of the match, Mohun Bagan went back to 4-4-2 formation with Pralay Dutta as goalkeeper, James as right back, Rino Anto as left back, and Karan and Mandi in central defence. Santa Kumar was left half and Subhojit Majumdar right half, in central medio it was Subho Kumar and Manish. The forward line had Branco and Suraj Mandal.

"Apart from checking fitness level, I also used few players in different position like James, Lalramluah and Ishfaq. Ishfaq played one half as striker and the next in left back. Similarly James played as right back and side half," coach said. When asked about Zenith’s position, Karim compared him with Essien of Chelsea. "You know, when I was in Churchill, I used him in central medio in holding position and also in right back and left back. When I did not have Nauba or Robert, I put Zenith in their position. He is a very utility player like Essien, coach Jose Mourinho used Essein in multiple positions."

"Today every player played well, I can’t single out 1-2 players", was his reaction when asked to name today’s best player.

The first goal was scored by Ishfaq. At that moment, there was  so much cloud that even the players could not see whom they are passing the ball to. Amidst this weather, from Snehasish’s brilliant center from left, Ishfaq headed the ball in to score the first goal. This goal was the only goal in the first half. In second half, no goal was scored. In 1st minute of the final half, Santa Kumar increased the margin. Branco scored few minutes later. Suraj Mandal scored the last two goals, first one from Branco pass and the last one he dribbled past goalkeeper and made a cool finish.

Tomorrow, there will be one session of ice bath and swimming pool.

 

 

Jose Ramirez Barreto who got injured in his calf muscle while in Brazil is all set to return to Kolkata today to consult doctor and take rest. It is most unfortunate that Barreto will not be able to participate for the remaining days in the preseason residential camp in Kalimpong. He said, “There is no use of sitting here. It will be better if I go to Kolkata and consult doctor. I will also be able to do gym and cycling there.” Coach Karim might rest him in IFA shield in which Mohun Bagan’s first match is likely on September 1st.

Today 3 ex-olympians Nikhil Nandy, Badru Banerjee and Balaram held a press conference in Calcutta Sports Journalist Club on behalf of the 9 players whom AIFF has send a grant of Rs. 25000 each. On 23rd February, Indian Sports Minister M.S. Gill felicitated 9 surviving members of 1956 Melbourne Olympics team, which finished fourth, in New Delhi. The players were Badru Banerjee, S. S. Narayan, Salam, Ahmed Hussain, Nikhil Nandy, P. K. Banerjee, Keshto Pal, Balaram and Julfikar.

The next day, i.e. on 24th February, the players met with AIFF Secretary Alberto Colaco in Football House, New Delhi. The ex-players put up a proposal of pension scheme and railway gold pass for ex-olympians and ex-indian international players similar to what BCCI does for ex-Indian cricket players.

On 26th February, the ex-players got a letter from Colaco where it was written that their proposal has been passed on to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Sports Joint Secretary Srinivasan, but after that time passed and even though Badru Banerjee contacted Colaco repeatedly, there was no step taken. Suddenly few days back on July 28th, all of them got a cheque of Rs. 25,000 as grant each from Football Federation.

The ex-players were very hurt and today they organized a press conference in Calcutta Sports Journalist club. Captain of 1956 Olympic team and recently awarded Mohun Bagan Ratna Badru Banerjee said, "We asked for a pension scheme and railway pass and we are insulted by the cheque which has been sent to us. We did not beg any money from them." Tulsidas Balaram said, "We are not beggars that we will accept this cheque. We are returning back the cheque to Federation. We will see how the AIFF reacts after hearing this from media and then, if needed, we will approach the Union sports ministry."