Air India hold Mohun Bagan at their home match at Kolhapur today. The home team took the lead earlier in the 44th minute while the visitors scored through their talismanic striker Jose Barreto in the 60th minute of the match. Jayanta Sen was awarded Man of the Match trophy for his excellence in the game. It was no Diamonstar in the defence and Chidi, Muritala were also not in the first eleven. Sagram Mandi got chance in the first eleven after his long suffered injury. Ishfaq was also in reserve bench while Snehasis got the chance. T.D. Subhas Bhowmick tried to look for his team’s reserve bench condition as well. Chidi and Muritala both were booked in the earlier matches so they were taken out from the first eleven because the next match is against Kingfisher East Bengal.

Air India stared the match with attacking mode while Bagan defence was so busy at this time. Bagan got the first corner in the 16^th minute. But no damage has been done by this set-piece. In the 26^th minute of the match Snehasis was shown yellow card due to foul on opponent player just outside of the penalty box. In the 27^th minute Eric of Air India missed the chance narrowly. His header just missed the target. Few minutes later Snehasis ran through the left flank and passed the ball Jayanta but the shot of Jayanta was well saved by Air India goalkeeper. After that attack of Air India became increased and as a result of that Air India got the chance to score a goal and they did it. In the 43^rd minute of the match a long throw from Dhanachanda went to Manjit and Manjit made no mistake to score the goal for his team (0-1). That is the most valuable goal so far for the team like Air India, who are now on the second last spot of the league table. In the first half Air India was the better side between the two sides.

In the second half Ashim and Barreto both tried hard but couldn’t find the goal. In the 53^rd minute Chidi came in the place of Gouranga Dutta. In the 57^th minute Dhanrajan’s cross from the right found the head of Chidi, but Chidi’s header went out narrowly after beating goalkeeper as well. After couple of minutes again Dhanrajan ran down the right flank and crossed the ball for Barreto and Barreto this time scored a brilliant goal (1-1) for the Mariners.

After that both side started to attack but Bagan had to be cautious because they are playing the away match and one point also not bad for them. In the 80^th minute Snehasis was replaced by in form Ishfaq Ahmed. In the last minute Air India goalkeeper saved a shot from Chidi, which could have been the decider but the score line remain same till the last minute.

Mohun Bagan Technical Director Subhas Bhowmick told to the press that few decisions of referee from Kerala had gone against them, which had become very costly for Mohun Bagan.

Mohun Bagan now got 18 points from 12 matches, while Air India got 9 points from the same number of matches. Mohun Bagan will play the next match against Kingfisher East Bengal on next Sunday, 6^th February, 2011.

Mohun Bagan : Shilton, Dhanarajan, Kingshuk, Sagram, Mohonraj, Gouranga(Chidi), Jayanta, Manish, Snehasish (Isfaq), Barreto, Ashim.

While the Bagan scorline reads 2-0 against AIFF XI, it could easily have been up by a few nothces had Muri converted half of what he wasted today! Chidi scored in the 10th and 80th minute for the Mariners while Muritala wasted a chance every ten minutes throughout the game!
We shall eagerly wait to see if Muritala can make it up in the next match (or the one after that)

It was a home match for the mariners after two consecutive away matches. T.D. Subhas Bhowmick has set their target to win the match only. There is no other way left for the marines against AIFF-XI. Barreto was in the rest as per instruction of Technical Director. So there is Muritala from the begining. But it is very pity to see that Muritala was missing a lot. It could have been more goals at least 4/5 goals if Muritala could convert half of his chances.

In the meantime Chidi Edeh is continuing to show brilliance in the field. He scored two goals each in the three matches successively he played including this match as well. Ishfaq Ahmed, the captain played brilliantly today also like previous matches.

In the 8th minute of the match Chidi got the brilliant through from Souvick but Chidi couldn’t score from this attack. But two minutes later Ishfaq sent a through for Chidi and Chidi’s brilliance made it 1-0 up for Bagan.

In the 30th minute Souvick was injured badly and Jayant has to come in his place. After that couple attacks initiated by AIFF-XI but due to lac of experience they couldn’t capitalize their chances. Shilton this time have shown some fumble as well.

At the starting of 2nd half Muritala got a deadly through from midfield area but he was unable to finish it as a goal. It was the easiest chance of the day so far. Except that  numbers of attack  were initiated by Mariners for Muritala but due to his poor form he couldn’t manage to score a single.

Picture: Bartaman

In the 48th minute and 70th minute Satish Kumar and Diamondstar were replaced by Gouranga Dutta and Karan Atwal.

In the 80th minute Chidi made the lead double by scoring another goal like previous one (2-0). This time he got through from Manish and did a solo run, lobbed the ball above the goalkeeper’s head inside the net. But Chidi was booked due to his shirtless victory celebration. Chidi was adjudged man of the match.

There were around 50 numbers of Muslim supporters of Mohun Bagan from Gujarat in the VIP stand. They were looking bit frustrated not to see Jose Barreto in the match but at the end of the match they were happy to see Chidi’s goals and victory of their favourite team. There were also two stars of the film EGARO in the VVIP stand. They were Hirak Das (played the role of Shibdas Bhaduri) and Uday Pratap Singh (Played the role of Bhuti Sukul). 

Mohun Bagan is now moved up to 5th spot of the table ahead of Dempo and Chirag. They will play next match against Air India at Kolhapur, Maharashtra on Saturday, 29th of January. Today in another match at Kolhapur Air India stunned the visiting team Dempo beating them by 4-0.

Mohun Bagan: Shilton, Nazimuddin, Mohonraj, Kingshuk, Diamondstar (Karan), Satish (Gouranga), Souvik (Jayanta), Manish, Isfaq, Chidi, Muritala

Team Mohun Bagan watched the movie EGARO at Nandan. Much awaited film, Egaro, released yesterday and the entire Mohun Bagan squad along with coaches and officials watched the movie in the first show at Nandan on Friday evening.Team Mohun Bagan reached Nandan after the practice session along with the coaching staff. The film EGARO based on the 1911 IFA Shield victory of Mohun Bagan over East Yorkshire Regiment, and as a consequence the pride of British Football was
given a major jolt, while Indian National pride received a huge impetus.

Mohun Bagan players have watched the movie and was feeling very proud of beeing a part of the glorious legacy of their current club. They told that they are playing in such a club, which is not only a club but an institution which had so much of contribution to the freedom of India. Jayanta, Chidi, Souvick,  Ashim, Azim, Muritala and others players were looking very excited and delighted after watching the movie and T.D. Subhas Bhowmick had to go out before end of the movie due to some personal commitment. Coach Sujit Chakraborty is the another person who will come again to see the movie with his family. T.D. Subhas Bhowmick told that if a movie like Lagan can be a superhit, why not this film? This film is based on real incident while Lagan is totally fictitious.

The Nandan ambient was something that city never used to be accustomed with especially for a movie just going to be released. “I have never seen before, such an enthusiastic crowd, colourfull all around. It hasn’t been the case with other so called stardom movies” was the quote from a mid aged lady who spent most of her life covering cultural activities for a Bengali daily. “It’s great to be a part of this specially for people like me who is currently playing for Mohun Bagan” said Ishfaq Ahmed, the captain of Mohun Bagan for 2010-11.

 Although the movie has been picturised on the historic victory of Mohun Bagan, people may have done injustice to their own by calling the movie meant for Mohun Bagan merely. The movie is all about pure passion; passion towards our country and that passion can be entitled in the name of patriotism. "All the members of The Immortal XI should be awarded as Bharat Ratna" was the vocal of Prasun Banerjee, former Indian international who used to mesmerize people with his football skill while playing for Mohun Bagan.  

The indoor atmosphere of Nandan was also erupted as soon as the Mohun Bagan players came, not in reality on the screen. The viewers applauded every bit of scripts that contained Mohun Bagan. One such incidence was a scene where it was showing mass coming to see the match by a boat; the boat was crowded with fanatic supporters coming from different parts of Bengal and even from Dhaka, Khulna and they were carrying green and maroon flag with them. Crowd cheered this particular scene heavily standing on their feet. The moment Abhilas Ghosh scored the winner the entire Nandan exploded “GOAAAAAAL”.

 At the end of the movie when Aamader Surjyo Maroon was playing, crowd took it for a chorus and started singing inside the hall.

It was really an unknown Nandan, knowing every pulse of the crowd and remaining unknown to its own.                 

Egaro is showing in following cinema halls and multiplexes:

Nandan-1 (6.30PM), Priya (1PM), Metro (12.30PM), Manoka (4.30PM), Star (1PM), Ajanta (3.45 PM/ 8.10PM), Ashoka (4PM), Inox (City Centre-3.40PM, Swabhumi-3.20PM, Rajarhat 6.45PM, Durgapur-3.15PM, Burdwan-4PM, Shiliguri 4PM), Fame (Highland Park-1.45PM, South City-7.30PM), Bioscope (Rajarhat 12.45PM, 8PM), Jayanti (Barrackpore-1.30PM, 6PM), Bijoya (Barasat 1PM, 7PM), Lok Sanskriti Mancho Burdwan, Chitra (Bolepur)

 

Picture Courtesy : Sangbad Pratidin

Year 2011 is surely going to be a year to remember for Indian football fans and especially for the fans of the National Club of India. Apart from the qualification of Indian football team to the finals after 27 years in AFC Championship, currently being held at Doha, Qatar; this is the centenary year of winning the first ever IFA Shield by Mohun Bagan Club, first ever by any Indian football club. Apart from year long programs organized by the Club and by various fan groups and societies closely associated to Mohun Bagan Club, the fans are excited with the news releasing a Bengali film, ‘Egaro’ (The Eleven), whose story line is based on the historic moment of winning first ever IFA shield in 1911 defeating East Yorkshire Regiment in the final by 2–1.

The film will be officially released in various movie halls on 21st January,2011. A gala film premier took place yesterday at Ajanta Cinema where eminent personalities from the field of sports to silver screen were present to commemorate the  auspicious occasion and to pay tribute to those brave ‘Immortal XI’ who created the history and paved the path of
supremacy for green and maroon brigade in Indian football.
We, on behalf of mohunbaganclub.com, express our sincere gratitude to entire production unit of film ‘Egaro’, who have made commendable effort to make it possible. We hope the film will surely help to promote football awareness amongst the younger generations and to make every Indian proud realizing the true patriotism of those eleven Mariners.

A Write-up by Prasun Banerjee as published in Sangbad Pratidin (http://epratidin.in/Details.aspx?id=6567&boxid=25157531)

 

McDowell Mohun Bagan will face ONGC in the round 10 of i-League on Tuesday, 18th January. It is away encounter of Mohun Bagan and the match will be held at Kolhapur. After beating team like Salgaocar by 1-3 in the Goa, team Mohun Bagan is looking for the best possible result i.e. three points against new comer ONGC. As Mariners got Sujit Chakraborty as their coach, who is the ex-coach of ONGC too. So there must be some added advantage for Bagan in this match. But sad news is the death of Chidi’s mother on Saturday, but Chidi wished to play for his team the next match against ONGC. We must salute Chidi Edeh for his contribution for the team.

ONGC- Way to the i-league 1^st Division

Total 21 teams were contesting to get the ticket of entrance into the 1^st division of i-league. The teams were divided into 3 groups and top 2 teams from each group would go into the final round. ONGC was placed in the Group B along with SESA Football Academy, Hindustan FC, Amity United, New Delhi Heroes, Simla Youngs and Indian National FC. ONGC came second in the group league matches having earned 13 points from 6 matches.

 The final round of the 2^nd division i-league witnessed 6 teams long with 2 relegated teams from previous years 1^st division i-league encounters i.e. Mohammedan Sporting Club and Vasco Sports Club.

Mohun Bagan defeated Salgaocar by 3-1 at the soil of Goa. It was the second time when Mariners meet Salgaocar in the season after Federation Cup and again Salgaocar faced a big defeat against Mariners. It is the big win for Mohun Bagan in the I-league so far. Mohun Bagan is not playing so good in the i-League but today’s win at Goa against Salgaocar will be moral boost for Bagan to excel in the later stage in the i-League.

Bhowmick made few changes in his first-xi for today’s match. Jayanta and Rahul have not played the match due to yellow card suspension. While Mohanraj played in the right back position and Dhanrajan in the left back. The two central defenders were Kingshuk and Diamondstar. In the midfield Isfaq got back his left half position and Manish, Souvick in the central midfield. Satis Kumar (Jr.) played as  right half. Chidi and Barreto were in the up front.

In the 8th minute of the match Isfaq got a ball from Satish Kumar in the left flank near central midefield and made a superb run with the ball and pushed him inside to take a curling shot to direct goal. (1-0). What a brilliant goal that is been by Mohun Bagan skipper.

By this goal the lock gate of Salgaocar defence has unlocked and Edeh Chidi took the chance of that socred his first goal and second goal for his team just 4 minutes later of the first goal. (2-0). Chidi scored the goal via header from a Mohanraj throw.

In the 18th minute of the match Chidi scored his second and third for his team. Chidi tapped the ball to beat the goal keeper from a Isfaq cross. (3-0).

After that few numbers of Salgaocar attacks went in vain when  defensive third of Mohun Bagan have played well to stop those attack.

In the second hald Shilton made couple of good save but in the 88th minute Salgaocar got a penalty and Sueoka made no mistake to score a goal. (3-1). Chidi Edeh was agjudged Man of the Match.

It is the very important three away points for mariners. They are now having 11 points from 9 matches. They will play against ONGC at Kohlapur Tuesday,  18th January.

Mohun Bagan: Shilton, Dhanrajan, Kingshuk, Diamondstar, Mohonraj, Satish( Gouranga), Manish, Souvik, Isfaq, Barreto ( Muritala), Chidi.
Salgaocar: Karanjit, Jaspal, Rino, Luciano, Barbosa( Marcus), Lamare, Farid, Tomba, Gilbart( Francis), Seuoka, Yakubu.

McDowell Mohun Bagan will meet Salgaocar Sports Club on 15th January. This will be an away match for the green and maroon brigade; the match is scheduled to be kicked off at 3.45 PM local time. After conceding two back to back defeats, McDowell Mohun Bagan, the Kolkata glamour has slightly push themselves at the back of the proceedings. Firstly it was against Viva Keral and then Chirag United Sports Club who denied the mariners from taking the dream to reality. At the current situation, McDowell Mohun Bagan is having 8 points after playing 8 matches. They are at the 9th position of the points table.

Salgaocar Sports Club on the other hand, had a decent start to their i-league campaign. Having won 4 games at a trot at the very initial phase of this i-league, they managed to secure them at the second top most position of the current league table. The last match was probably the best game for Salgaocar SC when they stunned the mighty Churchill Brothers to register a 4:3 victory. Ryuji Sueoka, the ex-Mohun Bagan recruit was the instrumental behind the victory. He is also the top scorer for Salgaocar SC with 7 strikes with his boot. They are at the second position of the league table having earned 18 points from 8 games.   

We are going to provide a detailed season wise match summaries between these two teams starting from season 1997-98. Due to lack of proper data we are unable to provide the overall records involving these teams. 

 

Some of the notable facts:

 Since 1997-98 these two teams have met 31 times. Out of these 31 games, Mohun Bagan managed to win 11 games; Salgaocar on the other hand, had the smile for 10 occasions while 9 encounters saw the score line equally shared by both the teams after schedule time.

However 1 out of these 9 ties had been broken via penalty shootout. It was in the semifinal match of Durand Cup played at Delhi.

Only once the match was adjudged through a golden goal. Alvito D’Cunha in Super Cup final scored the golden goal and this has been the only golden goal scored invloving these two teams.

 In i-league encountesr only one hat trick was made and that was by Felix Chimaokwu of Salgaocar SC. Unfortunately Salgaocar lost that match by 5 goals to 4.

In the last 14 years only one match had saw two players scoring hat tricks in a single match. It was in the group league encounter of the 32^nd edition of Federation Cup held at Cuttack last year. Mohun Bagan came with a 6:1 victory. Jose Ramirez Barreto and Muritala Ali scored those two hat tricks.

Barreto is currently leading in scorers run with 14 goals to his name.     

 

 

NFL Tour for These Two Teams

During the early era of National Football League (presently termed as i-league) these two teams showed excellent skill of football game. Within first 6 editions of NFL, these two teams combined together to have 4 titles on their way. Out of these 4 occasions, Mohun Bagan won the championship 3 times where as Salgaocar SC had 1. The reader should remember Mohun Bagan was not there in the Super League stage of the very first edition of NFL in 1996-97. In the very next year they came back strongly and won the title. Salgaocar SC on the other side won the title in 1998-99. But recently both the teams are not up to their marks. Salgaocar SC got relegated twice during the course of time. Firstly they had got relegated in the year 2005-06 and then again in 2007-08 which shows that they came back 2006-07 to get relegated once more.

Mohun Bagan after having won the NFL title for the 3^rd time in 2001-2002 had lost their way in the next few editions of NFL. 2003-04 & 2004-05 was proved to be a nightmare for the supporters of Mohun Bagan when they finished at the 9^th and 8^th position of the league table respectively. Although Mohun Bagan came very close to win the title in 2008-09, finally they had to satisfy with the status of being second best team.   

 

NFL Tour for These Two Teams

During the early era of National Football League (presently termed as i-league) these two teams showed excellent skill of football game.  Within first 6 editions of NFL, these two teams combined together to have 4 titles on their way. Out of these 4 occasions, Mohun Bagan won the championship 3 times where as Salgaocar SC had 1. The reader should remember Mohun Bagan was not there in the Super League stage of the very first edition of NFL in 1996-97. In the very next year they came back strongly and won the title. Salgaocar SC on the other side won the title in 1998-99. But recently both the teams are not up to their marks. Salgaocar SC got relegated twice during the course of time. Firstly they had got relegated in the year 2005-06 and then again in 2007-08 which shows that they came back 2006-07 to get relegated once more.

Mohun Bagan after having won the NFL title for the 3rd time in 2001-2002 had lost their way in the next few editions of NFL. 2003-04 & 2004-05 was proved to be a nightmare for the supporters of Mohun Bagan when they finished at the 9th and 8th position of the league table respectively.  Although Mohun Bagan came very close to win the title in 2008-09, finally they had to satisfy with the status of being second best team.

 

 

 The Relative Positions in the last 14 NFL/i-leagues

 

 

Current Status in the i-league

 

Bagan went down 0-1. In Kolkata in the round 8 encounter Bagan face another defeat against local outfit Chirag United. Joshimer strikes for Chirag from a counter attack in the 81st minute of the match. Rahul Kumar and Jayanta Sen were booked. Diamondstar played in the first and nothing was remarkable about him. Barreto came to field in the 2nd half but nothing changed the fortune of Bagan. Man of the match was adjudged Ex-mariners Lal Kamal Bhowmick.

It took us almost a day to think how to describe yesterday’s outcome. We have been following Facebook to Twitter, Orkut to yahoogroup mail. More we browse more we get frustrated. It’s just not a bad day in office, just not a bad luck and neither a moment to blame TD and coach. Rather it’s the time to admit that the squad, as a whole, is to at par with most of the participating teams in iLeague this year. Till a few weeks back, our main worries were our defensive combination. Now our striking force is also exposed. The green and maroon brigade is fading fast. Unfortunate but let’s acknowledge the reality first. What’s going wrong with the team which has managed to reach final of this year’s Federation Cup and to finish as second best in Kolkata Premier League? Or is it just a syndrome like Chelsea or Liverpool that has been gripping our team?
The answer is not known to the supporters and fans. Neither the newly appointed TD nor coach has any clue for an antidote. What about the Club Officials and Players’ Recruitment Panel of the Club? We don’t have the access to get any feedback from them. Let’s only hope that the sponsors would definitely think about the return on their investment and would make appropriate judgment on their own term.

Mohun Bagan will take on Viva Kerala in their 7th encounter of the ONGC i-league at Kannur. Just before the day of play www.mohunbaganclub.com is presenting some statistical facts regarding these two teams performance. Viva Keral taking their first verge towards Indian football fraternity, started with much hope in the 2007-08 season though they got relegated after finding themselves at the bottom of the league table with only 12 points.

 In the very next second division of i-league they came back strongly and got themselves in the first division. So far they have played total 50 matches in the i-league out of which they managed to win 10.

Here we mainly focus on our oppositions and try to analyze their track records. We don’t want to show our past record here; rather it will be our challenge to accept the challenges of our oppositions. Playing against Viva Keral in an away match will not be an easy task for our boys. Just have a look to know how the Keral boys go in a home-away basis. 

	i-league 2007-08		i-league 2009-10		i-league 2010-11
	Home	Away	Home	Away	Home	Away	Total
Wins	2	1	5	2	0	0	10
Draws	1	2	4	5	2	2	16
Losses	6	6	4	6	1	1	24
Total	9	9	13	13	3	3	50

	Wins	Draws	Losses	Total
Home	7	7	11	25
Away	3	9	13	25
Total	10	16	24	50

SCORING MINUTES IN THE i-LEAGUE 2010-11

	Mohun Bagan in i-league 2010-11		Viva Keral in i-league 2010-11
Minutes	Percentage of goals	Number of goals	Percentage of goals	Number of goals
0-10	14.29%	1	25.00%	1
10-20	0.00%	0	25.00%	1
20-30	0.00%	0	0.00%	0
30-40	28.57%	2	0.00%	0
40-50	14.29%	1	0.00%	0
50-60	0.00%	0	25.00%	1
60-70	14.29%	1	0.00%	0
70-80	14.29%	1	25.00%	1
80-90	14.29%	1	0.00%	0
Total goals scored		7		4