Harrison Eric Muranda , the Kenyan striker is all set to join Mohun Bagan this season as the 4th player of foreign origin. Harrison’s performance in the past helped Bagan officials and Chief coach to decide upon his selection.
The factors that went in favour of Harrison include his experience in playing in South East Asia, his bonding with the team, his medical tests (health and fitness).

Born on 23rd December 1986( though some registrations show his date of birth as 20th January 1982), the Kenyan player was registered with Nairobi City stars before he came down for trial. Harrison is 5’10" tall, and can play both as an attacking midfield and a withdrawal forward. He played in countries like Maldives, Vietnam as well.

Mohun Bagan played a practice match against TFA in VYBK today.Two separate teams played in two halves. In the first half the team ended in 1-0 (Odafa – penalty) while in the second half Bagan ended with 2-0 thanks to brace from Eric.

Odafa was pulled down in the 10th minute by TFA goalie that earned Bagan a penalty and Odafa made no mistake in converting the same. Eric’s first goal was from a header from a pass from Borges. He converted a pass from Kone later in the game. Kone missed two goals – each in each half – from a one-to-one situation.

Seven more players signed for Mohun Bagan today – Wahid Sali, Sandip Nandy, Arghya Chakraborty, Rowilson Rodrigues, Anthony Pereira, Adil Khan and Katsumi Yusa. Meanwhile the team will move to Durgapur for residential camp.

AIFF’s Club Licensing Committee decided that based on the reports Mohun Bagan along with other License Applicants failed to clear the Licensing Test for i-League. The decision was based on the various documents at the Club License Committee’s disposal. The Committee was chaired by Dr. Girija Shanker Mungali. Others include Dr.Shaji Prabhakaran, FIFA Development Officer for South and Central Asia, Sunando Dhar, the CEO of the I-League, Dr.Ushanath Bannerjee and Pankaj Jain (auditor). Mohun Bagan will now have to appeal or seek an exemption for the National License to participate in I-League and Federation Cup for 2013-14. The request for an exemption to compete in the National Club Competitions has to be sent to AIFF’s Club Licensing Manager, Ms. Roma Khanna by August 14, 2013.

 The criteria includes a proper Youth Development setup, beside setting up Accounts, Media, Marketing, Administration and Legal Departments. This is in addition to the earlier guidelines provided by AFC. Various club officials agreed that there is a need of improvements, but the clubs will definitely improve upon the same and will be able to meet the criteria set by the AFC and the AIFF.

Arpan Dey takes charge as the Goalkeeping coach. He trained the goalkeepers today.
Meanwhile skipper Odafa Okolie arrived Kolkata. Odafa is expected to join the current squad from tomorrow. Coach Karim Bencharifa, who earned the PRO License, is happy with the fitness of the current players. He is working closely with the officials for the Residential Camp of the players. The location, initially decided to be Durgapur, could be shifted to a town nearer to Kolkata.