Do- or- Die. Yes it is the situation for the defending Fed Cup champion to keep their hope alive in 31st Fed Cup at Guwahati. 13th time Fed Cup champion Mohun Bagan started with a grand style by beating Mohammedan Sporting 4-1. But in the next match it was a goalless draw with another Kolkata outfit Chirag. Referee Khamba Singh had shown his capability to spoil a match by deciding some horrible decisions. At last the match was become the wrestling field of the Chirag players. It may be their coach’s popular strategy.

However, it is now Mahindra on 26th December evening. The last match of Group-B and the deciding one for the semifinal. In fact, Mahindra is in the better position after getting victory against both MSC and CU. Draw is enough for them to reach in to the semifinal, which will be played the last day of the year 2009.

Mariners Coach Kareem Bencherifa is confident enough for his team about reaching in to the semifinal. He told that his boys are very much focused not only about the match against Mahindra but about the tournament also. Snehasis was offered to get back to Kolkata due to his broken left hand by chief coach, but he refused it and stayed there with the team. That is the example of team spirit of our team Mohun Bagan.

The three foreigners evergreen Barreto, Chiddi, Sueoka are the main weapons of Kareem. Apart from them wing play of James and Surkumar Singh is also proven very effective. Injured deep defender veteran Dipak Mondal may back in the team in place of Sagram Mandi. Mandi played well in the last match against Chirag United.  But the service of left half Snehasis Chakraborty will be missed heavily by the team, Isfaq will play in place of him.

On the other hand Mahindra Coach David Booth also wants to celebrate Chirstmass by reaching in to the semifinal of the Fed Cup. In this season these two teams met each other a couple of times in the IFA Shield and Durand Cup. In the Durand Cup Mariners got victory against this Mumbai outfit whereas in the IFA Shield the match was drawn. Sveto Mijin, Steven Dias,  Rafi, ex-CU player Muritala Ali are the key players for Mahindra United.

Probable line-up for Mohun Bagan : Sangram Mukherjee (C), Surkumar Singh, Sk Azim, Dipak Mondal, Biswajit Saha, James Singh, Rakesh Masih, Sueoka Ryuji, Isfaq Ahmed, Jose Ramirez Barreto, Edeh Chidi.

Reserve Bench: Shilton Pal (GK), Sagram Mandi, Zenith, Souvick Chakraborty, Subho Kumar, Mickey Fernandez, Tomba Singh,  Suraj Mondal.

Overall, relation between Fed Cup and Mohun Bagan is something different. So the supporters should hope for the best result. We wish all the very best to the team Mohun Bagan on behalf of mohunbaganclub.com. Live update will be available in this site right from the kick-off.

Picture Courtesy : Ganashakti

Khamba singh does all that it required to provide a milage to Mahindra United – depriving penalties, goal, averting cards and much more. One wonders whether AIFF takes any step against the referee. A video footage, if forwarded to FIFA or AFC, can result to severe punishment of the referee. During the first half of the game spectators spent time dissecting incidents and concluded that in all his decisions, the referee was wrong. He was soft on Chirag . It started when in the 25th minute Barreto was pulled down and referee ignored. Bagan was deprived of a penalty. In the 29th minute Referee gave wrong decisions and awarded a free kick for Chirag when Azim actually hit the ball!

 In 34th minute Snehasish was hit so hard that his elbow seem to be dislocated. He was rushed to the hospital and as expected (by that time the intension was clear) Khamba Singh ignored the foul.

Praveen Kumar made a foul worth marching order – he was not even warned. Happy with the referee’s performance, on the field (and perhaps off as well) Praveen was soon found beating Ishfaq, Snehasish’s substitute. Edmilson liked the show and joined him.

Narugopal soon followed his mates- and was found hitting James badly. Referee ignored this as well.

In the 48th minute Khamba singh denied Bagan once again. A James Singh cross was handled down by Kingshuk Debnath and referee once again ignored this incident. 2nd time in the game Bagan was deprived of a penalty.

The expectation started shifting for the fans and supports of Mohun Bagan. People started discussing that soon the referee will cancel a field goal. This became true when a Sueoka goal in the 68th minute was rejected by referee. The shot was deflected by chidi and referee felt its a hand ball.

In the 76th minute Bagan was deprived of the 3rd penalty by Khamba singh. This happened when Sueoka’s shot was handled by a Chirag player and expectedly the referee ignored.

Mohun Bagan: Sangram, Surkumar, Mandi, Azim, Biswajit, James (Tomba 61′), Rakesh, Sueoka, Snehasish (Ishfaq 37′), Barreto, Chiddi.

Chirag United: Somnath, Rahul, Kingshuk, Du, Narugopal, Tulunga, Denson, Jayanta, Gouranga Biswas (Gouranga Dutta 68′), Parveen Kumar (Safar Sardar 79′, Hardip Saini 89′) Edmilson.

 

Mohun Bagan, the defending Fed Cup champion started their journey in Fed Cup in a grand style. In the opening match of the tournament Bagan faced another Kolkata outfit Mohammedan Sporting. Mohammedan faced a huge defeat by losing 1-4 margin. It was the come back match for Jose Barreto who scored two brilliant goals and brought a great victory for his team. Sueoka, Chiddi scored one goal each.

Jose Barreto seemed to be delighted with scoring over 200 goals in indian domestic football – the first Foreigner to achieve the feat, as Bagan win 4-1 against Mohammedan Sporting on Monday. The Brazilian international scored twice today taking his career tally to 201 goals.

The first goal happened in the 6th minute when there was a movement from the left wing. and Barreto header flicked into the goal. the balled was initiated by Seuoka from a corner and reached Biswajit who crossed the ball for Barreto who made no mistakes and Bagan was up 1-0.

in 32nd minute Jyothi Kumar equalised. He got past Surkumar and put it to Bagan’s goal (1-1). Theo took a power shot, the ball reached to Jyothi Kumar through a defelction with Sk.Azim, Jyothi was unmarked and Surkumar was little late to reach the ball and Jyothi beat Sangram.

In the 41st minute Seuoka scored for Bagan. This time the movement was from right. Barreto passed the ball to to James who crossed the ball into the box. both Seuoka and Chidi went for the ball – and Seuoka found it His header was on target(2-1).

For next 45 mins both the teams tested each other. Sangram was brilliant to foil couple of Eduardo shots. When every body was certain that the match will end in 2-1. Barreto scored for Bagan in the 90th minute from a Chidi through . He half turned and his power shot was too good for Naseem (3-1).

In the 93rd minute, Chidi got a ball from Ishfaq and his power shot made it 4-1.

Sk. Azim and Surkumar were booked today.

On a serious note, how professional AIFF is? No prize for replying that. Is the chief coach of Mohun Bagan is Karim Banerjee? Don’t fall !!! yes it was in the official team list of Mohun Bagan provided by AIFF.

Team : Sangram, Surkumar, Deepak, Azim, Biswajit, James (Tomba), Rakesh, Sueoka, Snehasish(Ishfaq) ,Chidi , Barreto(Mickey)