Month: March 2010

PRESS RELEASE – Biswajit confirmed as the Head coach

Mohun Bagan has today announced the name of the Head coach for the Football team. Biswajit bhattacharya has joined back as head coach of team Mohun Bagan. A physio, Mr. Dipesh Bhattacharjee has been appointed for the rest of the season.

Following is the Press Release from the Hon. General Secretary –

 PRESS RELEASE

Mr. Satyajit Chatterjee who was the Chief Coach of McDowell Mohun Bagan Team does not wish to continue and has intimated his decision to the Club Management, in spite of our requests to carry on till the end of the 2009-2010 football season.

 So the Club has decided to appoint Mr. Biswajit Bhattacharjee as the Chief Coach of McDowell Mohun Bagan for the remaining period of the 2009-2010 football season. After discussion with the new Chief Coach, the Club has also decided to appoint Mr. Dipesh Bhattacharjee as the Physical Trainer of the Team. Mr. Hemanta Dora will be the Goalkeeper Coach as before.

It has also been decided that the Team will practice tomorrow morning at the Club Ground at 8:30 am and the newly appointed Chief Coach and Physical Trainer will be introduced to the players.

 We wish them success in their endeavour.

 Anjan Kumar Mitra

 Hony. General Secretary

 Mohun Bagan Athletic Club

 

Mohun Bagan manages to hold Railways FC 2-2, Satyajit resigns

Satyajit Chatterjee resigned as the chief coach of Mohun Bagan. After poor run in I league matches and today’s CFL match Satyajit declared it in a press meet today evening. In spite of several requests of the higher officials of the club Satyajit remained firm to this decision and explained his disability to recover the present situation. In this connection there will be a press meet at Mohun Bagan tent tomorrow at 4pm. Mohun Bagan’s poor show continues as Railways FC upset Bagan’s game plan.

Mohun Bagan came out with chances early and nearly scored in the 4th minute. A cross was sent in the box by Sueoka and headed off target by Barreto that kept it scoreless. Possession in the first 10 minutes was dominated by mohun Bagan as Railways FC didn’t have any chances. Around the 10 minute mark,Sueoka  was fouled by Rail defender and bagan earned a free kick. Snehasish’s shot went way off target.

From the 11th minute onwards Rail started to get some possession and created great chance in the 13th minute. Dinesh Swar got a cross from Barua and placed it well. Bagan defense was caught napping during the goal.

In the 14th minute a long ball was played into the box where Sueoka  failed to get past Rail custodian Sudipta Banerjee.

Later in the 23rd minute, Bagan earned a corner when Sueoka was fouled by Sudipta inside the box. Sudipta was booked.

Barreto scored from penalty in the 24th minute.

Immediately after the goal, Ramlalluaha was replaced by Tomba singh.

In the 29th minute Bagan earned a free kick. mohanraj power shot had beaten sudipta but went out.

Barreto created some opportunities just before the lemon break but failed to score.

In the 47th minute Barreto had a wide open header that was saved by sudipta. 


The pace of the match slowed down a lot in the next five minutes as Mohun Bagan made a substitution as Snehasish was replaced by Ishfaq. 

The momentum with clearly with Railways instead of Bagan as Zenith handled the ball inside the box in the 57th minute and Railways was awarded with a Penalty.  Barua made no mistake and the score line read 2-1 in favour of the Railways.

In the 60th minute Suraj Mandal replaced Kulothungan.

Bagan continued to get space in the final third when attacking and the Railways defense showed signs of cracking. In the 70th minute Sueoka equalised for Bagan. Bagan earned a corner and Tomba shot found Barreto whose header found Sueoka and the Jap did well to equalise.

After scoring the goal, Bagan became more aggressive. Bagan had most of the possession in the second half. 

Bagan controlled to dominate play in the second half and would take the lead with another goal  but Barreto unbelievably missed some opportunities to score the winner. In two of these cases he was in a one-to-one position with Sudipta.

Bagan continues to remain on the top of the table, but has lost the focus as Bagan failed to win in last 5 matches.
 
 

Football is a young man’s game

Rana Bose, Guest columnist, mohunbaganclub.com analyses performance of the teams of Indian Football.




Football is a young man’s game. There is no place for grandfathers taking the field donning our Club team colors. If the players of a team get outpaced on numerous occasions then serious questions are raised about the quality, effectiveness and the need to have these so-called stars in the team.

We were outclassed and shocked by the last placed team Sporting Goa on 20th Mar’10. Again the following Saturday (yesterday) we were totally annihilated by Lajong FC. Both teams came and challenged us in our den and came out victors and left us wounded.

Whatever I read and surmised from the two English dailies (Telegraph and ToI), the fit Meghalaya boys from Lajong beat us in every department of the game. They showed more speed, stamina, ball sense and character throughout.


It is useless to ponder as to the chances our team had of scoring. Bottom line is, if our players cannot guide the ball into the net it is to their own undoing. Surkumar Singh did everything correct and his pile-driver went in for the reducer. The others perhaps had left their shooting boots in the dressing room. Simply saying that luck and the referee were not in our side or that X, Y and Z of our team missed chances galore is poor solace and mental consolation and an attempt to run away from the naked truth.


The back-to-back defeats against the league laggards should serve as a wake-up call for the officials. Looking at the performance of the team in the recent matches the time has come to forget any hopes of performing well this year and start planning for a revamp. Superannuated players, who at best now qualify to rest on the easy chair, should be excluded from next year’s team building process and that includes, Barreto, Marcos, Seouka. Mediocre quality players like Lalramluaha, Ishfaq, Kulothungan, Mickey can also be left out from the list. Manju, Mohanraj, Masih, Surkumar, James Singh, Dipak etc., will in any case have to be released for national duties. In short no player should be selected to play for the Club whose quality is mediocre and is there to swell the numbers and expects a piggy-back ride on the others.

 

If we still continue to believe that Barreto is fit enough to contribute for our Club’s cause in the I-League then either we have gone bonkers or our expectation level has degraded to rock-bottom level. Rationality demanded that we had said good-bye to him a couple of years earlier.


Therefore, it is vital that starting next year we should pack the team with promising youngsters who have the ability to run for the whole of 90 minutes. Let the Club have a water-tight 3- year contract with each of these players. At least they will come cheaper than these so called stars.  Also, they will not consciously exhibit below-par performance as the so called star studded line-up has been doing of late.


Finally, the job of coaching should be entrusted to somebody who has enough character and experience in the big league. If we are to perform creditably at the national scenario then coaching cannot be left in the hands of incompetent apprentices. Babloo Bhattacharjee despite his big-mouth is the fittest local man available to take over the coaching responsibilities of this Club. Otherwise, if the officials are in the mood to entrust the job to a foreigner then the ex-Churchill Serbian coach Zoran who is now with the Bangladesh National team could be offered the job.


Foreigners (I believe the cap is still 3 in a team with 1 PIO and an Asian for the next year) should be selected judiciously. The three foreigners preferably should be from one country to maintain good relationship and team-work. This has been proved to be a success, Eduardu –  Joshimar – Edmilson for Chirag, Felix – Kalu- Odafa for Churchill.

 

Running a glamour club of Mohun Bagan’s stature is like running a corporate business house. Part-timers with no long term goals and vision are the worst choice that can befall to this Club.

 

Also, a very pertinent point that needs to be noted, and a worst-case scenario at that, is the continued non-performance by the two big clubs of Kolkata at the national level, This may prompt the UB Group to maintain their exposure to the bare minimum, if not NIL. Even if they do not quit, there will not be any increase in the annual budget. This may prompt promising players to sign for the various cash rich Goan clubs (which are an extension of the family business houses). MMB and KEB will consequently be left with the morsels to fight for and the gradual degradation may cause the following vicious cycle to set in, if not already….Football is a young man’s game. There is no place for grandfathers taking the field donning our Club team colors. If the players of a team get outpaced on numerous occasions then serious questions are raised about the quality, effectiveness and the need to have these so-called stars in the team.


We were outclassed and shocked by the last placed team Sporting Goa on 20th Mar’10. Again the following Saturday (yesterday) we were totally annihilated by Lajong FC. Both teams came and challenged us in our den and came out victors and left us wounded.


Whatever I read and surmised from the two English dailies (Telegraph and ToI), the fit Meghalaya boys from Lajong beat us in every department of the game. They showed more speed, stamina, ball sense and character throughout.


It is useless to ponder as to the chances our team had of scoring. Bottom line is, if our players cannot guide the ball into the net it is to their own undoing. Surkumar Singh did everything correct and his pile-driver went in for the reducer. The others perhaps had left their shooting boots in the dressing room. Simply saying that luck and the referee were not in our side or that X, Y and Z of our team missed chances galore is poor solace and mental consolation and an attempt to run away from the naked truth.


The back-to-back defeats against the league laggards should serve as a wake-up call for the officials. Looking at the performance of the team in the recent matches the time has come to forget any hopes of performing well this year and start planning for a revamp. Superannuated players, who at best now qualify to rest on the easy chair, should be excluded from next year’s team building process and that includes, Barreto, Marcos, Seouka. Mediocre quality players like Lalramluaha, Ishfaq, Kulothungan, Mickey can also be left out from the list. Manju, Mohanraj, Masih, Surkumar, James Singh, Dipak etc., will in any case have to be released for national duties. In short no player should be selected to play for the Club whose quality is mediocre and is there to swell the numbers and expects a piggy-back ride on the others.

 

If we still continue to believe that Barreto is fit enough to contribute for our Club’s cause in the I-League then either we have gone bonkers or our expectation level has degraded to rock-bottom level. Rationality demanded that we had said good-bye to him a couple of years earlier.


Therefore, it is vital that starting next year we should pack the team with promising youngsters who have the ability to run for the whole of 90 minutes. Let the Club have a water-tight 3- year contract with each of these players. At least they will come cheaper than these so called stars.  Also, they will not consciously exhibit below-par performance as the so called star studded line-up has been doing of late.


Finally, the job of coaching should be entrusted to somebody who has enough character and experience in the big league. If we are to perform creditably at the national scenario then coaching cannot be left in the hands of incompetent apprentices. Babloo Bhattacharjee despite his big-mouth is the fittest local man available to take over the coaching responsibilities of this Club. Otherwise, if the officials are in the mood to entrust the job to a foreigner then the ex-Churchill Serbian coach Zoran who is now with the Bangladesh National team could be offered the job.


Foreigners (I believe the cap is still 3 in a team with 1 PIO and an Asian for the next year) should be selected judiciously. The three foreigners preferably should be from one country to maintain good relationship and team-work. This has been proved to be a success, Eduardu –  Joshimar – Edmilson for Chirag, Felix – Kalu- Odafa for Churchill.

 

Running a glamour club of Mohun Bagan’s stature is like running a corporate business house. Part-timers with no long term goals and vision are the worst choice that can befall to this Club.

 

Also, a very pertinent point that needs to be noted, and a worst-case scenario at that, is the continued non-performance by the two big clubs of Kolkata at the national level, This may prompt the UB Group to maintain their exposure to the bare minimum, if not NIL. Even if they do not quit, there will not be any increase in the annual budget. This may prompt promising players to sign for the various cash rich Goan clubs (which are an extension of the family business houses). MMB and KEB will consequently be left with the morsels to fight for and the gradual degradation may cause the following vicious cycle to set in, if not already….

 

POOR BAGAN BEATEN BY LAJONG 1-4

Mohun Bagan’s poor show in iLeague continues. 5 rounds back Bagan was a title contender – and now one wonders if Bagan can finish in top 6! Bagan was studden by Sporting Clube de Goa in the last match – and now Lajong FC poured in 4 goals as the scoreline read 4-1!

 Satyajit Chatterjee was forced to change the defense yet again. This time Sk Azim came in lieu of Rakesh Masih and the midfield was once again was deprived of a central attacking midfielder with both Sueoka and James finding their position in First XI.

A team with average age of 30+ was no where near Lajong FC in the match. 

Lacking quality, momentum and passion, the Green and Maroon brigade never looked like creating many chances in front of goal except for a brief period in the first half in which Surkumar help reducing the margin in the 37 minutes. Bagan was down by 2 goals at that time.


Lajong meanwhile continues scoring  in11th minute, 24th minute, 92nd minute and 94th minute!

Bagan keen to get victory

Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan will face Shillong Lajong FC in a vital match of ONGC I –League of round 18 at Yuba Bharati Krirangan Saturday, March 27, 2010. Mohun Bagan defeated Lajong at the First leg of the league just after the historical five goal match in Shillong. They got victory by 2-1 in that match.











But in last three matches Mariners got 2 points only. They faced the team like Pune FC, JCT, Sporting Clube de Goa, yet managed two points only. Above all they faced shocking defeat against Sporting Clube de Goa by 1-2 at home ground.

Sk. Azim may play in this match in the place of Rakesh Masih. Masih is suffering from shoulder injury, James will be in the first team in the right flank.

Both Barreto and Chiddi are very much confident that they will win this match and sailing the boat of their club to the ultimate goal. Chiddi is very much confident to get back his form. Chiddi was in devastating form in the 1st leg of the I league. And even first match of return leg against Chirag Utd. Barreto scored hat-trick and Chiddi scored a couple.

Match will start from 04.30 pm(IST).





 

Sporting stun Mariners

Mohun Bagan faced a shocking defeat against bottom placed Sporting Clube de Goa by 1-2 in a match of ONGC I-League round 17 at Yuba Bharati Krirangan. Full strength Bagan team brought the taste of first victory to the Goan outfit this year while themselves moved too far from the championship.

Earlier Bagan took the lead at the 12th minute of the match when Barreto’s angular flick of a low Snehasish Chakraborty centre found the net. (1-0). What a superb goal it was!! But that was the end for Bagan. After that they lost control of the match and three foreign recruits of Sporting started disturbing the Bagan defence line.







In the 32nd minute of the match Sporting equalized the score when Junior headed the ball for Adil Khan and he volleyed the ball in to the net, although the angle was bit acute still it beat Sangram Mukherjee. (1-1).







In the lemon break all the Bagan fans might hope for a big margin victory against the bottom liner as their team strength is one of the best in the country. But in the 67th minute everyone in the stadium get shocked when in a counter attack Amos’s low centre from the right flank find Junior and he didn’t make any mistake to dip home (1-2). It was all over for Bagan.

The Mariners did everything at the Sporting end in the last twenty minutes except the goal.

Sporting remain rock bottom but their first win of the campaign will give them much needed confidence for the rest of the season while Bagan’s dream of I-League seems to be moving away as they are now seven points behind from the fore runner Dempo. Dempo won the goan derby by 4-2 against Churchill Brothers today.

Mohun Bagan: Sangram Mukherjee, NS Manju, Deepak Mondal, Rakesh Masih (Branco Cardozo, 85th), Surkumar Singh, Snehasish Chakraborty, Ryuji Sueoka, Marcos Perreira, Ishfaq Ahmed (James Singh, 46th), Edeh Chidi, Jose Ramirez Barreto.

Sporting Clube de Goa: Felix D’Souza, Chandrasekhar Chinta, Kengi Arai, Felip Gomes, Joseph Perreira, A. Khan, Nicholas Rodrigues (Bisheshwor Singh, 56th), Bibiano Fernandes, Rovan Perreira, Junior Elijah (Elvino Fernandes, 90th), Nathaniel Amos.

Referee: PK Bose.

MoM: Kengi Arai.

 Picture Courtesy: Bartaman

 


Still on the run

2 points in last 2 matches is really pushing out Mohun Bagan little far from the run of championship in the ONGC I-League this year. In the last two matches where they expected maximum points against team like Pune FC and JCT, actually they have managed to draw only in the both matches with score line remain same 0-0.




But Mariners’ livewire Brazilian Jose Barreto is still very much hopeful about their run for championship in the tournament. Even though he missed the penalty in the JCT match at Ludhiana, still he thinks that is not the end, a long way to go. Against Sporting Clube de Goa Mohun Bagan will play their next match at home turf. And as many as seven players of Mariners are already shown yellow card in earlier matches. The players are- Sangram, Shilton, Barreto, Marcos, Deepak, Azim, Masih, so coach Satyajit Chatterjee cautioned all those players to play cautiously, so that they must not miss the next match on 27th of March i.e. against Fed Cup runners Shillong Lajong. Isfaq Ahmed will be missed the match due to double booking. Moreover these two matches will be played at Kolkata and Mariners must get full points from these two matches otherwise their dream of hope of I –League may fall in to river Ganga. Coach Satyajit or veteran Barreto as well as the team believe the league is still open very much so no more point loss, only to go forward with full advantage. Eventually Mariners got the golden chance to go at least at the second spot of the table after Mahindra’s draw and Dempo’s loss in the last round but Mariners could not take the opportunity to go ahead.


Mohun Bagan-SCG match will be played at Yuba Bharati Krirangan from 4.30pm on Saturday, 20th of March.

 

Another draw for Bagan

Penalty miss by Barreto and a lot of missed chances cost Mariners 2 vital points in ONGC I League against JCT at round 16. Mohun Bagan still on the 4th spot of the table. They are in 25 points from 16 matches. Mohun Bagan had a good chance to go up of the table. Specially after draw of Mahindra against KEB and loss of Dempo aginst Salgaokar, Bagan was eyeing the top spot. They could manage up to go the third spot by winning against JCT. But lot of missed chances by the Bagan players could not help them to earn three vital away points.

Team:

Mohun Bagan- Sangram, Surkumar, Dipak, Masih, Manju, Sueoka, Marcos, Ishaq, Snehasis (James), Barreto, Chiddi      

Pune FC hold Mohun Bagan

An important clash between Mohun Bagan and Pune FC in the 15th round of ONGC I-League ended in a goalless draw.

Mohun Bagan got ample chances to score specially in the 2nd half but no attack has been converted into a goal. In the 1st half Pune FC was the better side in comparison to the home side. Subrata Paul was adjudged as Man of the match. But referee P.K. Bose was not up to the mark. He canceled the genuine goal of Deepak Mondal in the 63rd minute of the match due to some unkown reason. When all the players, supporters thought thats the sure goal, only he thought Sueoka fouled earlier a Pune player. Absolutely strange decision. The gallery of the Howrah Stadium was overcrowded by the mariners but their hope to see the victory of the home team didn’t come alive after all. Marcos, Snehasis both missed some chances from which they can score. Subrata Paul  and Sangram Mukherjee both the goalkeepers  were outstanding under the post. Specially Paul who was adjudged Man of the Match saved few of the sure shot attacks from Bagan and saved his team. Barreto tried a lot but Chiddi was missed heavily. Satyajit Chatterjee had started with Sueoka in the upfront with Barreto but it was not the effective at all. Then Marcos and Sueoka exhanged their position. Substitution of Isfaq should come much earlier, because after his replacement and Snehasis inclusion there were few good positive attacks from Bagan left flank which could help to go ahead to the visiting team. One more to say that after a brilliant hattrick in the last match of KPL Branco deserved the 1st eleven from the starting of the match, but unfortunaltely he was in the field on the 80th minute.

 

Team

Mohun Bagan: Sangram, Surkumar, Dipak, Masih, Manju, James (Branco), Lalramluaha, Marcos, Isfaq (Snehasis), Barreto, Sueoka.

Mohun Bagan trounce Port Trust 6-0

Mohun Bagan produced an imperious performance against a beleaguered Port Trust to retain top of the Kolkata Premier League on Sunday, Branco heading up a thumping 6-0 victory with his first hat-trick for the Green and Maroon.

Astonishingly, Bagan’s goals came in both-half blitz – 3 each in each half. Snehashish (2) and Kulothungan also got in on the act in a game the Green and Maroon brigade dominated from start to finish. Remarkably, it could have been even more convincing. Clear-cut opportunities ran comfortably into double figures, and so too could the scoreline.

In the 8th minute the flood gate was opened as Branco scored from a Snehashish free kick.

Branco had to wait for 4 more minutes to score his second and by the 15th minute he got his hattrick.

Then in the second half three more goals were scored. First it was Kulothungan – who scored in the 66th minute. In 79th minute Snehashish scored his first from a solo run. The 82nd minute goal was a repeat of his first one.

Snehashish was awarded Man of the Match.

 

Mohun Bagan: Sangram,Zenith,Azim,Biswajit,Rakesh,Branco (Suraj),Snehasish, Seuoka (Kulo),Ramlalluaha,Subho Kumar (Tomba) ,Souvik.

 Picture Courtesy: AAJKAAL