“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the fighting spirit to continue that counts” – perhaps that was the motto of Team Mohun Bagan when they took on Dempo Sports Club today in the semi final of Federation Cup. Amidst much of media attention and general interest to an age old national issue, a determined effort was expected from both the teams and the result was a nail biting finish after 120 minutes of battle followed by the penalty shoot out where Mohun Bagan emerged as the winner!! Kudos to the great game of football and hats off to the players, officials and fans, who fought it out till their last blood!!

If you believe in the proverb ‘morning shows the day’ then today is the day when you are wrong again as Ranty Martin of Dempo found the net within 2 minutes of the opening half before Mohun Bagan defense could consolidate and settle down. This was, indeed, a waking call for the team and the battle started there off. The same eleven, who were in the starting line up in the historic win against Salgaokar SC, came up with vengeance and started putting pressure on Dempo’s defense. However, Bagan failed to take complete control in the mid-field as Diamondstar and Ishfaq were somewhat off-colored today. As a result the ace strikers were not able to crack the defense of Dempo. A change in strategy was inevitable and  Bagan’s coach responded with two changes – Snehasis came in place on Ishfaq (36 mts) and then Chidi came in place of Diamondstar (51 mts). And the ailing patient suddenly got fresh oxygen as Chiddi found the net on 65th minute (1-1). Direct free kick was taken by Chidi from edge of the penalty box and goalkeeper was spectator only as he saw the ball kissed the net.

As the score got leveled, suddenly the body contact game became more physical as the players became more desperate to break the jinx, which resulted couple of warnings for both the teams. As the game progresses, the battle of nerves intensified and Shilton showed his class by saving his team on number of occasions.

Two of India’s best quality teams battled it out till 120 minutes before it went for the match in tie breaker. Just before end of the first half Sangram Mukherjee the tie-breaker specialist came in the field in the place of classic Shilton Pal. Shilton Pal, who was literally "wall of china" under the goal post in the match till 117th minute and saved his team from sure slaughter. Shilton was looked really upset that time and he left the field having a standing ovation from the crowd of Barabati. 

And in the Tie-Breaker Barreto, Chiddi, Gouranga, Snehasis and Muritala scored for Bagan while Ranty Beto and Godwin Franco scored for Dempo but Kalu’s shot was saved by Sangram Mukherjee. Bagan reached to the final of 32nd Federation Cup and will face arch rival Kingfisher East Bengal on Saturday, 2nd October. No doubt that the excellence of two goal keepers lift Bagan to the 32nd Federation Cup Final.

TEAMS

Mohun Bagan: Shilton Paul (Sangram Mukherjee, 119th), Kingshuk Debnath, Sangram Mandi, Sk Azim, R Dhanarajan, Ishfaq Ahmed (Snehasish Chakraborty 35th), Gauranga Dutta, Manish Maithani, Diamondstar (Edeh Chidi, 52nd), Jose Ramirez Barreto, Subair Murithala Ali.

Dempo: Laxmikant Kattimani, Ualeriano Rebello, Debabrata Roy, Dominic Roronha, John Dias,Peter Carualho (Joe Rodrigues, 72nd), Nicolau Borges (Godwin Franco, 92nd), Joaquim Abranches, Ranty Martins, Beto, Ogba Kalu.

Referee: Mohammed Kamil (Delhi).

Today’s Match – Fact Sheet At A Glance
Opponent team	Dempo Sports Club
Date	30-Sep-10
Stage	Semi final
Venue	Cuttack
Kick off time	6:00 PM
No. of goal Mohun Bagan scored	6 ( 1 + 5)
Opponent scored	4 (1 + 3)
Number of yellow card shown to MB Players	2 (Shilton, Gouranga)
Number of red cards shown to MB players	0
Average age of 1st 11	25.6 yrs
Average age of the squad (registered for Fed cup)	24.9 yrs
1st half Score	0 – 1
Style of formation	4 – 4 – 2
Substitutions
1	Snehasis in place of Ishfaq (36 mt)
2	Chiddi in place of Diamondstar (51 mt)
3	Sangram in place of Shilton (118 mt)

A convincing victory against Salgaocar SC has transformed the entire ambiance. From a tensed and gloomy weekend has suddenly transformed into a bright yet focused weekdays for the team Mohun Bagan – no wonder why the dressing room is now looking like a very happy family.
‘Do-or-die’- has become the motto of the last match in group league stage for Team Mohun Bagan for last three years. Every time they got success in that stage and this year is no exception as they outplayed Salgaocar in the last match by 6-1 to reach to the semifinal of 32nd Federation Cup.

Team Mohun Bagan had a swimming session today at Cuttack Swimming Club. The players have enjoyed every moment of the session in the blue water of swimming pool. Stanley Rozario told that a very good team never been failed for so long and Mohun Bagan got the much needed momentum in the last match and thrashed Salgaocar, despite a lot of criticism from media and opponent coach Kareem Bencherifa.

Another practice session has been scheduled tomorrow and going by the early indication, Edeh Chidi might not be in first-XI once again. Diamondstar will be played as defensive medio. Infact in the last match he was really impressive in that position. However the final strategy will be uncovered only on 30^th Sept afternoon. Bagan is very much cofident to face I League champion Dempo. This will be clash of Titans. In 2008, Mohun Bagan lifted Federation Cup by beating Dempo by 1-0, socred by Barreto.

Will the history repeat once again?

A win could have helped Bagan gain the top spot of the group.
But a goal less draw now makes it absolutely necessary to win the last match against Salgaokar FC – scheduled this Sunday 26th September.

An excellent game in the Federation Cup this year. No goals, but tremendous entertainment and some interesting tactical elements too.

Bagan lined up with three stoppers, one side back, one side half, one central  midfielder and four strikers against Mumbai Fc here today.

Stanley Rosario opted for Ishfaq Ahmed in a position he is not familier with, while Gouranga Dutta, the genuine right half had to wait for 70 minutes to get into the ground.

Sagram Mandi was at the left back position while Biswajit Saha – the regular in the Kolkata League was there in the bench.

Diamondstar – the team’s think tank yet to know his actual playing position replaced Jose Barreto with less than 5 minutes reamining for the game while Jayanta Sen missed out!

The key to the game was all about who could control the tempo. The two sides had completely different approaches – Bagan played quick balls to the wingers who looked to run at the Mumbai FC full-backs, and they played at an incredibly high tempo as they dominated the opening period.

Bagan had a host of efforts on goal in the first 15 minutes but found Peter Siddique in excellent form – he made multiple outstanding saves to deny Bagan.

Mumbai Fc struggled to maintain possession of the ball early on, despite their three central midfielders, and therefore were unable to slow the pace of the game. Henry hit a couple of hopeless long balls too easy for Shilton.

Mumbai FC were defending with two solid banks of four, but Bagan rarely looked to get their midfielders or full-backs into attacking positions early on, so they were often faced with a 3 v 8 situation when trying to break down the Mumbai FC defence.

Eventually Bagan had to drop the pressure slightly after their frantic opening to the game, and Mumbai Fc gradually grew into the contest – the more they had possession, the more their shape had an interesting look to it.

Mohun Bagan : Shilton Pal, Sagram Mandi, Karan Atwal, Sk. Azim, Dhanarajan R, Ishfaq Ahmed (Gouranga Dutta 72), Manish Maithani , Barreto (Diamondstar 86), Snehasish Chakrabarty (Ashim Biswas 90), Chidi Edeh , Muritala Ali.

Mumbai FC: Ishant Debnath, Evans Quao, Peter Siddiqui, Goutam Debnath, Nishant Mehra, Bungo Singh (Noel Wilson, 51st), Dene Pereira, Pradeep Mohanraj (PC Lalwmpuia, 92nd), Hiralal Chetri (C Malasawm Kima, 75th), Nicolas Rodrigues, Nna Ezeh Henry.

Referee: C R Srikrishna (Tamil Nadu)

 

Today’s Match – Fact Sheet At A Glance
Opponent  team	Mumbai FC
Date	24-Sep-10
Stage	Group
Venue	Cuttack
Kick off time	6:45 PM
No. of goal Mohun Bagan scored	0
Opponent scored	0
Number of yellow card shown to MB Players	1(Dhanarajan)
Number of red cards shown to MB players	0
Average age of 1st 11	24.8yrs
Average age of the squad (registered for Fed cup)	24.9 yrs
1st half Score	0 – 0
Style of formation	4 – 4 – 2
Substitutions
1	Gauranga in place of Isfaq (72 mt)
2	Diamondstar in place of Barreto (88 mt)
3	Ashim in place of Snehasis (89 mt)