Bagan looses yet another final to Churchill Brothers. Mohun Bagan looses the 2nd Final of the year, the 114th Durand Cup also goes to Goa. The Mariners drew first blood in the 95th minute. A swerving freekick by Subhojit was headed home by Eddeh Chiddi.

From the beginning Churchill was dominating, whereas Bagan midfield failed to make any impact on the game. Their supply to the forward line was erratic and infrequent. This resulted in immense, pressure on Bagan defence, but they held out and Dipak led from the back and it must also be mentioned here that the Captain Sangram also led by example as he kept all Churchill attack out. Between that there were some counter attacks of Bagan but all were fruitless.

In the 11th minute of the match Odafa created a panic in Mariners defense while Masih cleared the ball. Snehasis saved a sure goal from goal line which was headed in by Kalu from 2nd corner in 38th minute.  Dipak in Mohun Bagan defense has shown some kind of solidarity, while Barreto in forward line was totally off-colour, it was evident that Barreto is not yet fully fit. In the 2nd half both teams got some chances to score but none got success.

 After end of regulation 90 minutes in Extra time Chiddi opened the account for Bagan at 95th minute of the match. The inswinging floater taken by Subhojit Majumder from direct free kick found Chiddi’s head and Chiddi made no mistake at all.

 The next 10 minutes saw a flurry of activity from Churchill, resulting in a brace from Odafa. That itself put the Mariners in a big enough hole. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the central midfield position was not well controlled by them. Mickey was looking like a boy in the woods in his role of an attacking midfielder, while Kuluthungan was an abject failure in the role of a holding medio, he was out dribbled, out run and out smarted everytime.

 However, Karim saw it fit to persist with him, and instead took off Mohanraj to insert Branco. This given the fact that we were playing against the most lethal striker playing in India, the inevitable happened a few minutes later and the match was sealed by Odafa in the 109th minute with his hattrick. It is difficult to figure out the reason of persisting with Kulu especially when he wasn’t able to achieve much.

 It may also be said here that this midfield cannot hold out much hope for us in the oncoming I-League. This is the umpteenth time this year when we had taken the lead only to concede the match, a perfect example of flattering to deceive. Are we bringing the I-League home?

Teams:

Churchill Brothers SC
29-Arindam Bhattacharya, 8-Thokchom Naoba Singh (84′ 6-Sudhakaran Naveen Kumar), 4-Rowilson Rodrigues, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 17-Robert Lalthalma, 27-Charan Rai, 15-Nacimento Silveira (90′ 24-Lenny Rodrigues), 9-Ogba Kalu Nnanna, 11-Khanthang Paite (82′ 22-Jaison Vales), 10-Odafe Onyeka Okolie [C], 12-Reisangmei Vashum

Unused Substitutes:
31-Lalit Thapa, 5-L. Dhanachandra Singh, 30-Yumnam Jugeshor Singh, 37-Ashley Fernandes

Mohun Bagan AC
1-Sangram Mukherjee [C], 13-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 4-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 20-Rakesh Masih, 27-Nallappan Mohanraj (106′ 12-Branco Vincent Cardozo), 16-James Lukram Singh (85′ 32-Subhodeep Majumdar), 26-Micky Fernandes, 17-Kalia Perumal Kulothungan, 25-Snehashis Chakraborty (67′ 7-Santha Kumar), 10-Jose Marcio Ramirez Barreto, 9-Chidi Edeh

Unused Substitutes:
31-Shilton Pal, 8-Subho Kumar, 19-Mashangva Genius Zenith, 28-Manish Mathani, 34-Sangram Mandi

Yellow Cards: Nacimento Silveira (42′, Churchill Brothers SC); Micky Fernandes (2′, Mohun Bagan AC)

Referee: P.K. Bose (Madhya Pradesh)

 

Mohun Bagan produced a scintillating display, sweeping Mahindra United off the pitch, reassuring them a place in the back to back final in the season. Should it be a repeat of IFA Shield final or a Trophy winning final against Churchill Brothers will be determined on Tuesday, September 22. Karim Bencharifa’s side were well on top after taking the lead through Chiddi Edeh’s superb strike in the first half. But Mahindra United were handed a lifeline soon after half-time when Bagan needlessly conceded a goal that Md. Rafi converted.

 It got worse for Mahindra as Chiddi headed a James Singh corner-kick into Mahindra net eight minutes later to give Mohun Bagan their third win in a row.

Both the teams played open football today, created lots of opportunities and both the goalkeepers saved some brilliant shots. For Mahindra, it was Stephen Dias who was taking all the loads, while Jems Singh was at his best today. Each and every Jems shot found Jose Barreto, excepting for twice – first when his corner found Chiddi and then a direct freekick was saved by Subhasish.

Bagan will now play Churchill Borthers – second time in the season. Last time they played, Bagan went down 0-2. Bagan supporters surely hope that the elite Durand Trophy will now arrive at the club tent this year.

 

Teams:

Mohun Bagan AC

1-Sangram Mukherjee [C], 13-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 4-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 20-Rakesh Masih, 27-Nallappan Mohanraj, 16-James Lukram Singh (90+4′ 19-Mashangva Genius Zenith), 26-Micky Fernandes, 8-Subho Kumar, 25-Snehashis Chakraborty (82′ 7-Santha Kumar), 10-Jose Marcio Ramirez Barreto (90+4′ 17Kulothungan), 9-Chidi Edeh

Unused Substitutes:

31-Shilton Pal, 12-Branco Vincent Cardozo, 28-Manish Mathani, 34-Sangram Mandi

Mahindra United

1-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 12-Denzil Franco, 14-Dharmaraj Ravanan, 6-Lamine Tamba, 25-Debabrata Roy, 23-Steven Benedic Dias, 2-Nadumparambil Pappachan Pradeep [C] (61′ 10-Svetozmar Mijin), 7-Sushanth Mathew, 20-Paresh Shivalkar (66′ 4-Krishnan Nair Ajayan), 28-Sushil Kumar Singh (82′ 15- Khangembam Thoi Singh), 11-Madambillath Mohammed Rafi

Unused Substitutes:

22-Subhodeep Mukherjee, 8-Bhola Prasad, 9-Surajit Bose,  18-Nisthar Kazih Alaudeen

IFA Shied runners Mohun Bagan will face the Mahindra United at Ambedkar Stadium on Sunday evening in the 114th Durand Cup Semifinal. Mohun Bagan will be looking to build on their unconvincing victory against ONGC and JCT successively in group matches at Ambedkar Stadium on Sunday, and will be hoping that the side begins to click in the traditional Mohun Bagan fashion to chalk up their name in the Final to play against Churchill Brothers. Churchill defeated Dempo by 2-1 in the first semi final on Saturday evening.

Mahindra United on the other hand will be looking to take revenge of the IFA Shield where they drew with the mariners and get out of IFA Shield after displayed some good football in second half. Here in Durand Cup they have beaten another Kolkata outfit Kingfisher East Bengal and earlier drawn with new club in Indian Football Lyajon FC, Shillong in the group matches.

The talismanic striker of  Bagan Jose Ramirez Barreto was injured during the last group match against JCT and replced by Branco after his double strike on the early minutes of the match. It is the main concern for the Coach Kareem Bencherifa to make the Brazilian 100 % fit as early as possible. Another foreigner Chiddi has also shown his form by scoring goals in important moment. Mohun Bagan defence has shown great solidarity under veteran Dipak Mondal, who himself declared that he is in the form of his life. Late recruit right back Surkumar Singh has shown some goal scoring ability as well. However, it has been seen absence of Marcos make the mariners’ mid-field little weaker, whereas the others are not in their best of form. But against the team like Mahindra they have to perform at their best to help their team to reach to the final. Goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee also is in the good form and as the captain of the team, he is leading from the front.

So there will be a interesting game of football between the two giants of Kolkata and Mumbai on 20th September, Sunday evening at Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi. Match will be on and from 5.30pm (IST). The live update will be available on mohunbaganclub.com

Probable Line-Up for Mohun Bagan AC:

Sangram, Mohanraj, Masih, Deepak, Surkumar, Snehasish, Kulothungan, Mickey, James, Chiddi, Barreto