Mohun Bagan secured 3 points after winning against Dempo by 2-1. Bagan could have won this match by at least 6 goals but Odafa, Manish Maithani missed some easy chances while a Jacobs shot rebounded from the side bar. Dempo’s goal was from an offside position while the Assistant Referee himself was not on line. Dempo also got couple of chances to score but failed.

Mohun Bagan started the match with a positive note. Shilton was there under the bars with Aibor, Mehraj, Eche and Saha as the four defenders (Nirmal was not kept in the playing XI as he was not justifying his responsibilities in past few games) with Nabi, Maithani, Denson and Sabeeth in the midfield and Tolgay playing as withdrawal striker along with Odafa.

 

Dempo kicked off but soon Bagan started attacking from two flanks and in the 7th minute Sabeeth crossed the ball from left flank – the ball went past Tolgay and Nabi headed the ball into the goal.

for next 30 minutes Bagan wasted at least 4 opportunities to score – easiest was that of Maithani who dribbled past Dempo defense but shot the ball out of the open goal. Odafa missed two opportunities and twice Laxmikanth did well to stop him from scoring.

Dempo demanded for a penalty which was ignored by referee SreiKrishna who was very close to the ball and saw the ball hittin chest of Mehraj.

In the second half (47th min) Nabi showed his brilliance in passing a deadly ball through Dempo defense – Odafa got hold of the ball on the edge of the box and his power shot beat Laxmikant and Bagan was up 2-0.

2 mins later Dempo scored from an Anthony corss to Carvalho who headed the ball into the net in the far post. Anthony was clearly in offside position but the Assistant Referee himself was not in the right position to judge the same.

with Mehraj running out of breath, Karim made two quick changes introducing Nirmal and Jacobs together while Mehraj and tolgay were asked to take rest.

Eche did well along with Aibor who moved into the central defense and disallowed Dempo to score a second. Eche was limping and was finally replaced in the dying moments (though the referee booked him for being injured) by Fela.

Jacobs and Nabi could have increased the margin in the second half but were unlucky.

 

Bagan split points with Shillong Lajong in the I League. While both the teams are in relegation zone, so both teams were eager to win the match. The match was more vital to Bagan than any other. As they lost 12 points due to punishment, so they need the win much eagerly. But the match was ended in 2-2 draw. Bagan got lead twice but failed to hold lead in the both the occasion.

 In the hot weather of Kalyani Bagan started with Tolgey, Sabeeth and Nabi in the forward line. In the first half Bagan could not initiate anu significant execept a move by Nabi on the 6th minute of the match. In fact Lajong was much more attacking than Bagan in that phase.

In the second half, Bagan coach Bencharifa replaced Sushant Matthew by Manish Maithani. In the result of that Bagan started to attack more than they did in the first half. In the 51st minute Tolgey got the ball from a through of Sabeeth and Tolgey finished it well by a left footed gentle shot. That was a beautiful goal’ But the joy of mariners’ did not last too long, just a minute later Boithang equalized by a diagonal bullet shot from the right side of the box. Shilton was the spectator, and others were busy marking other players, but unmarked Boithang made all the difference.

In the 60th minute of the match Manish Maithani got the ball from Biswajit Saha, and volleyed the ball to the goal. It was one of the best goal. Bagan took the lead on 60th minute.

But in the 78th minute  Mahlima’s heads find the net and Lajong equalized again.

Bagan shares points with Shillong Lajong and fall in more trouble for relagation.

 

Mohun Bagan is due to meet Shillong Lajong in the next game. Lajong, with 20 points is out of the relegation zone, and have some new recruits that seem to have gone in favour of them in the last match where they hold Pune FC 2-2 in an away match. The last few iLeague matches of Lajong had following results – 2-2 (Pune FC), 0-2 (Salgaokar), 2-1 (United Sikkim) , 2-2 (Air India), 0-1 (Pailan Arrows). Edinho Júnior has been taken on loan from Blackburn Rovers and he played pretty well in the last game.

Shillong Lajong probable –

Ralte Lalthuammawia / Basant Singh
Subash Singh, Wailadmi Passah, C Lallawmzuala,
Jibon Singh, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Taisuke Matsugane (Japan),Boithang Haokip/Lalramluaha Hmar, Edinho Júnior (Portugal)
Sushil Kumar Singh, Sho Kamimura(Japan)

Ralte’s goal keeping errors allowed Pune FC to come back to the last match – so it might be interesting to see if Lajong wants to put back Basant into the playing XI or continue with Ralte.

Lajong changes positions from time to time – shitch between 3-5-2 , 4-2-2- and 4-3-3 based upon the situation of the game. Edinho Júnior takes the load and at times go up with Sushil in upfront and at times come down and control the midfield. He is expected to play in between the middle third and attacking third. A good player – Edinho Júnior tries to beat opponent in the aerial control indeed. You might not find him touching the ball much but his technical sense helps him reaching close to the ball quickly in the attacking third.

Sho meanwhile tends to operate from the wing and would perhaps would be more responsible in crosses and sitters from outside the box.

Lajong tends to move a lot from the counter attacks – hence Bagan should be careful particularly from the set peice movements. Sushil should also be guarded well – and indeed he knows a bit of play acting – hence Bagan boys should be careful in handling him inside the box.

Lajong might be a bit defensive putting 6 or 7 players in the defensive third from time to time trying to frustrate Bagan boys in that zone – and then with a very capable set of midfielders who indeed are good sprinters and particularly intend to run down the middle. This is perhaps a game where Karim would like to have a defensive blocker between the midfield  and defense.

Bagan can’t afford anything short of 3 points and hence this is a game where the bagan boys will have to slow down the game a bit

Weakness – A bit of injury for the midfielders is a bit concerning for Lajong.
 

Mohun Bagan’s U-20 team performed badly in the recently concluded U-20 final round, and finished 5th among 6 teams. Pune FC’s Academy boys did well to retain the title for the second consecutive time. Bagan boys performed badly in the final round and one should give serious thinking to have a proper youth development plan to meet the club President’s Vision 2020. The president might retire in few years – but can we expect his team to gear up and deliver something close to his vision? Will the officials at least plan to deliver and bring back the ‘Youth Development’ of the club in right tracks?

The AIFF is planning for a proper youth development and team Mohun Bagan needs to be part of the same. Indeed Mohun Bagan has been delivering well through MBSFA and its tie up with various School academies, Jalpaigury Academy, GOALZ project – but when it comes to club’s own achievements we are falling behind! The resources available must be groomed properly and various consultation are needed at this level to get Youth development into the next level – hope Bagan officials will do the needful to achieve the same.

Mohun Bagan has an excellent set up of the Development centre in MBSFA , durgapur, merely 2 hours travel from Kolkata.  The development centre is aimed at boys aged 15 years and under. MBSFA endeavour to create a fun environment within the boundaries of discipline that allows the boys to demonstrate flair and individualism without fear of criticism, and organise an annual event and a tournament where few other Academies are invited. However,  tight budget does not allow Academy boys to travel abroad and participate in various tournaments abroad or at least at the national level (excepting for iLeague matches)

The Academy definitely carries out regular training to ensure the students are up-to-date with all the processes and  procedures, but the boys really will have to improve upon the technical abilities. The academy boys are expected to join and server the senior team – but excepting a few, the boys fail to meet expectations. Even Rahul , Vasuum, Sankar Oraon, Subhojit, Dipendu, Souvik are not regulars in the playing XI – Manish Bhargav definitely have future but has a long way to go.

The recent team has some promising players but they lack the ability shown by Pune, Sesa or TFA scouts.

Let us look back and see how the U-20 team performed in iLeague final round –

16^th March 2013 – 1-1 vs Salgaokar

18^th March 2013 – 2-0 vs East Bengal

20^th March 2013 – 0-2 vs Pune FC

22^nd March 2013 – 1-2 vs Sesa Football Academy

24^th March 2013 – 2-3 vs Tata Football Academy

One can recall Bagan ended 0-0 with Sesa Football Academy in the Group C match , lost to Shillong Lajong (1-3) beside securing full points against Air India (2-0) and Churchill Brothers (1-0)

 

Bagan indeed is doing well at the regional level but will really have to improve at the national level. The officials will have to ensure more people are involved in the Youth development; the players enjoy the game as well. AIFF has proposed some changes from 2013/14 season and Bagan should plan investing AIFF resources to assist, help and advices and follow recommendations to improve players’ participation and enjoyment as well as minor changes to develop better players.

 

In spite of gifting 2 goals to Pailan Arrows Bagan manager to secure 3 points thanks to early goals scored by Aibor and Tolgay

Mohun bagan will play Pailan Arrows in the next match of iLeague. Here is a quick match preview.

Based upon the situation Pailan Arrows switch between a 3-5-2 strategy to 4-4-2 whenever needed. Shouvik Ghosh is a great prospect for Indian football and is expected to shadow Odafa, with Pritam marking Odafa or Tolgay, if Odafa is unavailable behind Shouvik.

The midfielders tend to remain close to each other and usually go for a counter attack from time to time, and tend to go for a final pass to Alwyn George inside the box.

The players been match fit and can run for 90 mins – and hence should not be taken for granted. however this is a game where Bagan can field Tolgay from the very first minute since Odafa needs some rest. Eche can be rested as well since Pailan does not have a foreigner in the team and Bagan can actually have a 3-5-2 formation with Mehraj, Nirmal and Aibor.

Expected team –

Pailan Arrows –

Soram Angamba, Vishal Kumar, Shouvik Ghosh, Pritam Kotal, Narayan Das / Avinabo Bag ,
Pronay Halder, Dhanpal Ganeshan, Ongnam Milan Singh/ Tirthankar Sarkar, Prabir Das,
Holicharan Narzary, Alwyn George

 

 

mohunbaganclub.com has learnt that Odafa Okolie has been hospitalised. Odafa had high fever on 18th March 2013. He has been reported all right. mohunbaganclub.com wishes Odafa a speedy recovery.

mohunbaganclub.com writes an open letter to Odafe Onyeka Okolie, the captain of team Mohun Bagan.

Mr. Odafe Onyeka Okolie
Captain (2012-13),
Mohun Bagan

Dear Odafa,

First – thank you for your attempt to take us through to the final of the 117th IFA Shield. You tried your best to score within the match, and your final pass for Sabeeth brought us joy, that lasted only for 40 mins though.

You went to take the first shot for Mohun Bagan in yesterday’s tie breaker and Gurpreet did well to stop you. Your shot did not have the power that was there in the first two shots of the opponent and it helped him stopping you from scoring. However, knowing yourability we are sure you will learn from the mistake and will not repeat the same in future.

Saying so- we already lost an opportunity to bag the IFA Shield as we failed to move into the final. Your miss perhaps made the team nervous – however Jewel and Aibor did well to score in spite of the situation that as against us.

This is football Odafa – and we need to learn from our mistakes- yes you made a mistake – you are cursing yourself – but the same Odafa gave us so much happiness in the past – we tend to keep this aside and move ahead.

My letter to you is not for discussing this missed opportunity – but is more than that. Recently we are observing that you are trying to score yourself while few other players are in a scoring position. If you study the videos of the recent matches, you will notice that there are always 5 to 6 players around you and you are trying to get past them. With minnows it is OK but with teams like Samprissa or East Bengal this is difficult since they have quality defenders. Odafa- can we expect you to lead the team just not by scoring but also making the team win? For the same, you might have to pass the ball to others to score (like you did to Sabeeth against Mohammedan sporting – to Tolgay or Sabeeth yesterday)

Also – we are noticing that  since you are been hit badly by opponents, and since you are not getting enough supply from the midfield – you are running out of patience and you are at times  hitting back the opponent players. This behaviour of yours is helping opponents a lot and is also helping the referees to book you easily ( a creature even went ahead and showed you a Red Card!)

Dear Odafa, you have taken the baton from Jose Barreto – and even he missed out on penalties and was nursing injuries as you are undergoing right now. Jose Barreto is considered as "God" by Mohun Bagan supporters – and we would love to have you in the  throne vacated by Jose Barreto. For that – please keep your cool and lead the team from front. You are our biggest hope Odafa – and we still dream to win matches under your leadership.

Gear up Odafa – bring us the Kolkata League and take us to a good position in the iLeague this season – we hope  because we know you can.

With love and best regards,

On behalf of millions of mohun Bagan supporters world wide-

Editor,

MohunBaganClub.com

Odafa and Nirmal’s costly tie breaker misses resulted in ouster of the team in IFA Shield. Sabeeth’s 46 min goal was equaled by Bori in 88 min. In spite of playing a good game in 2nd half, Bagan is out just because tie breaker goals were not converted. Sanju’s MOM decision is a poor decision and Gurpreet made the difference between the two teams and is the actual match winner

Referee Santosh Kumar helped DEPORTIVO win by 1-0 against Mohun Bagan as he denied corners and penalty for Bagan. He even stopped the game 2 mins before the actual time.