On the last day of the year 2009 its another derby match between the two arch rival of Kolkata Football. But this time not in Kolkata, in fact in Guwahati, 2nd semifinal of Federation Cup. This is the three consecutive years when these two teams are facing each other in Federation Cup Semifinal. In last year Fed Cup in Kolkata Bagan defeated KEB in tie-breaker, while it was 1-1 in 120 minutes. These two teams already met once in the season, it was an I-League clash, where Mariners derailed their arch rival by 5-3, and made a history. Edeh Chiddi scored a brilliant hat-trick with 4 goals.

But this is a knock-out encounter, when the margin of error will be very costly for both the teams. Mohun Bagan was in the Group-B, where they played against two Kolkata giants Mohammedan Sporting and Chirag along with starred Mahindra United from Mumbai. Mariners defeated both MSC and MU in the first and last group match by 4-1 and 2-0 respectively, whereas in the second match they faced CU and the result was goalless draw. The match against Mahindra United was seemed to be the best performance for the mariners till now of the season and they have to continue this type of performance to defend the Fed Cup championship for the 14 th time.

On the other hand Kingfisher East Bengal was in the group A, the most easiest group of the tournament. In the route to Semifinal they defeated Salgaocar and JCT by one goal in each occassion, while in the first match they drew against Viva Kerala. It is very improtant for KEB that they didn’t consume any goal till now in the tournament. Baichung Bhutia, the icon may play the match as he scored the winning goal in the last match against JCT and made easy the road to enter in to the Semifinal for his team. However his foriegner partner Yusuf Yakubu is not 100% fit as him. But Philip de Rider, coach of KEB has no other option to play without them. Young Budhiram Tudu is there but against Mohun Bagan there must be severe pressure, so experience always vital for this type of match. In the defence Oga Opara the newly recurit Nigerian for the red and gold brigade is playing well and Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Mehtab Hossain also back in the form as well.

Mohun Bagan is favourite declared by the other coaches of variuos teams. Churchill Coach Carlos, Lajong FC Coach Stanley Rojario, Pune FC Coach Derek Perreira have already given upper hand to the team Mohun Bagan by seeing ther performance. But Bagan coach Kareem Bencheria is not so over-confident as he knows that the match will  not be so easy to win. But he is confident about his team as his boys are well focuced. But the 5 goal tempo should be avoided this time as this the the knock-out round and as important as Semifinal of Federation Cup, Kareem told. He also told that they will think about themselves 70% and rest 30% about the opponent. Jose Barreto, Edeh Chiddi, Sueoka, James, Deepak, Sangram are the key players for them. Isfaq also played well in the last match against Mahindra. He is playing in the place of Snehasis Chakraborty. Snehasis was injured in the match against Chirag United in the group league stage.

However, this is the derby match, and no prediction will counted there in the match, only the time will say who will party in the night of 31st December.

In another semifinal I-League champion Churchill Brothers will meet the newcomer, the surprise package Shillong Lajong FC today from 5pm.

“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