“We don’t care who is facing us in the semifinal Our job is to get into the final” – says Head Coach Karim Bencharifa. He adds “I want to give credit to Mahindra United and their coach. Our performance against Chirag was better though. The crowd is always with us. they have come down from Kolkata even.”. Karim seemed to be confident and his body language was not reflecting overjoy – but rather was representing self confidence as Mohun Bagan routed Mahindra United 2-0 to move into the semifinal of Federation Cup.

Mohun Bagan was leading 1-0 at the end of first half against Mahndra United in the group league match at Guwahati. In the first 20 minutes Mahindra tested Bagan defense 3 times. Sangram showed his brilliance couple of times.

 From the 21st minute onwards Bagan started controlling the game. This was the time when James Singh started showing his worth and soon Mahindra defense was exposed. Later Barreto and Chidi got some opportunities but failed to score. In the 40th minute Barreto was pushed from back by Ravanan inside the box, and the referee whistled for a penalty. Barreto converted that to a goal by placing the ball to left of Subhasish (1-0).

Chidi increased Bagan’s lead in the 49th minute as he got a Biswajit Saha cross from the left, controlled it as the ball got deflected from a Mahindra defender, and he made no mistake to push the ball to the left of Subhasish (2-0).

In the 56th minute Barreto was close to increase the lead but Sushant Mathew saved it for MU. In the next minute Masih missed the easiest chance of the day as his header went out.

Deepak Mandal and Sangram were outstanding and foiled many of Mahindra attacks.

Another player who played really well was Ishfaq Ahmed. Ishfaq was found losing his temper when Steven Dias went for a nasty tackle from behind. After the game was over, Ishfaq was asked about the incident and he mentioned that he is working on controlling his tempers.

Bagan will face the winner of Group A in the semifinal.

One must add, that for the first time in his career referee Dinesh Nair handled the incidents on the ground very well. Mohunbaganclub.com takes the chance to congratulate for officiating well.

Mohun Bagan: Sangram, Biswajit, Dipak, Azim, Surkumar, Ishfaq, Masih, Sueoka, James(Tomba 92′), Barreto (Souvik 93′) Chidi.

Picture Courtesy : AAJKAAL

Do- or- Die. Yes it is the situation for the defending Fed Cup champion to keep their hope alive in 31st Fed Cup at Guwahati. 13th time Fed Cup champion Mohun Bagan started with a grand style by beating Mohammedan Sporting 4-1. But in the next match it was a goalless draw with another Kolkata outfit Chirag. Referee Khamba Singh had shown his capability to spoil a match by deciding some horrible decisions. At last the match was become the wrestling field of the Chirag players. It may be their coach’s popular strategy.

However, it is now Mahindra on 26th December evening. The last match of Group-B and the deciding one for the semifinal. In fact, Mahindra is in the better position after getting victory against both MSC and CU. Draw is enough for them to reach in to the semifinal, which will be played the last day of the year 2009.

Mariners Coach Kareem Bencherifa is confident enough for his team about reaching in to the semifinal. He told that his boys are very much focused not only about the match against Mahindra but about the tournament also. Snehasis was offered to get back to Kolkata due to his broken left hand by chief coach, but he refused it and stayed there with the team. That is the example of team spirit of our team Mohun Bagan.

The three foreigners evergreen Barreto, Chiddi, Sueoka are the main weapons of Kareem. Apart from them wing play of James and Surkumar Singh is also proven very effective. Injured deep defender veteran Dipak Mondal may back in the team in place of Sagram Mandi. Mandi played well in the last match against Chirag United.  But the service of left half Snehasis Chakraborty will be missed heavily by the team, Isfaq will play in place of him.

On the other hand Mahindra Coach David Booth also wants to celebrate Chirstmass by reaching in to the semifinal of the Fed Cup. In this season these two teams met each other a couple of times in the IFA Shield and Durand Cup. In the Durand Cup Mariners got victory against this Mumbai outfit whereas in the IFA Shield the match was drawn. Sveto Mijin, Steven Dias,  Rafi, ex-CU player Muritala Ali are the key players for Mahindra United.

Probable line-up for Mohun Bagan : Sangram Mukherjee (C), Surkumar Singh, Sk Azim, Dipak Mondal, Biswajit Saha, James Singh, Rakesh Masih, Sueoka Ryuji, Isfaq Ahmed, Jose Ramirez Barreto, Edeh Chidi.

Reserve Bench: Shilton Pal (GK), Sagram Mandi, Zenith, Souvick Chakraborty, Subho Kumar, Mickey Fernandez, Tomba Singh,  Suraj Mondal.

Overall, relation between Fed Cup and Mohun Bagan is something different. So the supporters should hope for the best result. We wish all the very best to the team Mohun Bagan on behalf of mohunbaganclub.com. Live update will be available in this site right from the kick-off.

Picture Courtesy : Ganashakti

Khamba singh does all that it required to provide a milage to Mahindra United – depriving penalties, goal, averting cards and much more. One wonders whether AIFF takes any step against the referee. A video footage, if forwarded to FIFA or AFC, can result to severe punishment of the referee. During the first half of the game spectators spent time dissecting incidents and concluded that in all his decisions, the referee was wrong. He was soft on Chirag . It started when in the 25th minute Barreto was pulled down and referee ignored. Bagan was deprived of a penalty. In the 29th minute Referee gave wrong decisions and awarded a free kick for Chirag when Azim actually hit the ball!

 In 34th minute Snehasish was hit so hard that his elbow seem to be dislocated. He was rushed to the hospital and as expected (by that time the intension was clear) Khamba Singh ignored the foul.

Praveen Kumar made a foul worth marching order – he was not even warned. Happy with the referee’s performance, on the field (and perhaps off as well) Praveen was soon found beating Ishfaq, Snehasish’s substitute. Edmilson liked the show and joined him.

Narugopal soon followed his mates- and was found hitting James badly. Referee ignored this as well.

In the 48th minute Khamba singh denied Bagan once again. A James Singh cross was handled down by Kingshuk Debnath and referee once again ignored this incident. 2nd time in the game Bagan was deprived of a penalty.

The expectation started shifting for the fans and supports of Mohun Bagan. People started discussing that soon the referee will cancel a field goal. This became true when a Sueoka goal in the 68th minute was rejected by referee. The shot was deflected by chidi and referee felt its a hand ball.

In the 76th minute Bagan was deprived of the 3rd penalty by Khamba singh. This happened when Sueoka’s shot was handled by a Chirag player and expectedly the referee ignored.

Mohun Bagan: Sangram, Surkumar, Mandi, Azim, Biswajit, James (Tomba 61′), Rakesh, Sueoka, Snehasish (Ishfaq 37′), Barreto, Chiddi.

Chirag United: Somnath, Rahul, Kingshuk, Du, Narugopal, Tulunga, Denson, Jayanta, Gouranga Biswas (Gouranga Dutta 68′), Parveen Kumar (Safar Sardar 79′, Hardip Saini 89′) Edmilson.