Mohun Bagan beat Oil India 2-1 in their first match of Federation Cup. Barreto scored both goals for Mohun Bagan. Mohun Bagan will next play against Vasco on 14th at 5:30 pm.

Mohun Bagan played brilliant football in 2nd half to beat Oil India 2-1 in a Group D match held in Barasat Krirangan today. Mohun Bagan started the match in 4-4-2 formation with Baichung Barreto upfront and Vashan and Dipak Mandal in stopper in absence of Odafe and Manju and Mohanraj played as left back. In the 1st minute itself, Mariners combined well. Marcos lobbed the ball towards Mohanraj who gave a pass to Barreto who in turn gave the ball to Lalkamal in left flank but unfortunately Lalkamal’s center was well intercepted by Oil India defence and Mariners got a corner. In 4th minute, Durga Boro, who was impressive throughout the match, ran past Habibur and took a shot which was saved by Sangram. Mohun Bagan went ahead in 9th minute. Marcos took a direct free kick which goalkeeper failed to collect and Baichung pounced on the ball and gave a back pass to Lalkamal who sent a high cross that Barreto leaped high and headed the ball into goal. In 13th minute, a Baichung-Mohanraj combination resulted in a pass to Barreto inside box but he fumbled a little with ball and missed a chance. Being a debutant team, Oil India surprised all by their good performance, especially in 1st half. After conceding an early goal, they came back strongly and caused panic time and again in Bagan defence. In 16th minute, Jyotish took a shot after going past Habibur but Dipak timely cleared the ball for safety. In 27th minute, a Habibur center almost resulted in an own goal off Biplab’s foot. In 32nd minute, Mohanraj received yellow card for a dangerous tackle. Oil India equalized in 37th minute when Durga Boro capitalized on a misunderstanding between Habibur and Sangram and lobbed the ball inside goal. In 43rd minute, from a Lalkamal pass, Barreto’s shot was saved by onrushing keeper. In first half, Oil India got 6 corners and Mariners got 2 corners.

Coach Kareem made double substitution after lemon break bringing on Ishfaq and Lalampuia in place of Lalkamal and Tulunga respectively. Tulunga should have been replaced much earlier. Mohun Bagan went from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 with Lalampuia added as extra forward. This change of strategy worked wonders as Mariners played inspiring football in 2nd half. In 51st minute, from a Habibur long throw, Ishfaq took a shot and off deflection, Baichung got a loose ball in box but his shot was slightly out of target but Oil India defence failed to clear the ball properly and Marcos got the ball with only goalkeeper to beat but his shot went straight to goalkeeper. In 55th minute, Barreto scored the winning goal for Mohun Bagan. Baichung took a back volley from Marcos corner which hit hand of Jyotish in goalline and off rebound Barreto pushed the ball in goal but referee instead of playing advantage and allowing the goal gave penalty in favor of Mohun Bagan. However, Barreto, as cool as a cucumber, scored from the penalty. In 59th minute, from a Marcos corner, Baichung back headed the ball which Masih took a head but it went straight to goalkeeper. In 63rd minute, Mariners again combined well when Baichung passed the ball to Lalampuia in left flank, Lalam ran down the flank and from his center, Barreto chest passed the ball to Baichung but his shot was well intercepted by Oil India defence. In 71st minute, Baichung missed the easiest chance of the match when from a Ishfaq through pass he could not push the ball inside goal with only goalkeeper to beat. In 77th minute, Marcos lobbed the ball towards Lalam who again ran past Oil India defence and gave a nice pass to Barreto who positioned himself nicely and took a shot from outside box which narrowly missed target. In 81st minute, it was Lalam in action again when he gave a cross to Baichung but he fumbled with the ball and Oil India defence cleared the ball. Minutes before the end of match, Vashan got injured. It is not certain whether he will be able to play in the next match or not. Mohun Bagan thus won the match 2-1 and got 3 points. In another match of the group, Air India defeated Vasco 1-0.

It is now to be seen which strategy Kareem will prefer in the next match, 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. Kareem has to be given credit as it has been proved again that his match reading is good and he changes strategy nicely according to the requirement of the team. Mohun Bagan will next play against Vasco on 14th at 5.30 pm.

TEAM: Sangram, Habibur, Vashan, Dipak, Mohanraj, Lalkamal (Ishfaq 46), Masih, Marcos, Tulunga (Lalampuia 46), Baichung, Barreto

YELLOW CARD: Mohanraj

Mohun Bagan has registered its 20 players for Federation Cup. Manju has been left out due to injury. Marcos and Barreto has been selected as the two foreigners for Fed Cup. The team for the Fed Cup is as follows: Sangram, Shilton, Chirodeep, Mohanraj, Habibur, Dipak Mandal, Anand Vashan, Karan Atwal, Rahul Kumar, James Singh Jr., James Singh Sr., Lalkamal, Ishfaq, Marcos, Rakesh Masih, Tulunga, Kartick Kisku, Barreto, Baichung, Lalampuia.

Mohun Bagan will play the first match on 12th December against Oil India, Assam to be played at 5:45 pm. They will play the other two matche on 14th and 16th against Vasco and Air India, both matches will start at 5:45 pm.

A goal each from Jose Barreto and Baichung Bhutia helped Mohun Bagan to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Chirag United in the i-League at Yuva Bharati Krirangan on Saturday evening. Both the goals were scored in the first half to ensure an emphatic finish for the Kolkata Premier League champions.

 Mohun Bagan secured an emphatic victory over Chirag United today by 2-0 in an I league match held in Kolkata. Displaying sheer dominance right from the start, the Karim Bencherfia boys never gave any chance to United SC and made it a no-contest, banging in both the goals by 30 minutes at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan (YBK) at Salt Lake here today. The old magic of Barreto and Bhaichung Bhutia did honours for Mohun Bagan who thus registered six wins the trot, with their first one coming against reigning champions Dempo SC, which the Brazilian had termed as the "turning point" in their I-League turnaround.

A short corner from Marcos Pereira set up Mohun Bagan’s first goal in 14th minute, as Malswamtluanga floated the ball into the box and a lurking Barreto leapt high and did not have to produce a powerful header but deftly he put it across the opponent’s goalkeeper for Mohun Bagan to go 1-0 up.

 

 

In 30th minute, Baichung scored the 2nd goal, one of the best goals of this edition of I league. Tulunga got hold off the ball in the midfield and passed it to Lalkamal whose through pass was brilliantly chested down by Barreto. Barreto lobbed the ball decieving one defender and came up with a fine and well-calculated back header which was found by Bhutia. From the side volley, Mohun Bagan captain produced a sharp right footer which was enough to deceive United SC custodian Gopal Das. A brilliant goal resulting from the Baichung-Barreto combination.

 

 

In the first 45 minutes, the mariners negated their opponents’ left flank, rendering winger Snehashish Chakraborty useless. Right-back Habibur Rehman man-marked Snehashish, leaving the winger with no room to operate. Chirag coach Subrata Bhattacharya was forced to effect a couple of changes in his side as early as in the 33rd minute — R. Dhanrajan for Subhashish Roy Chowdhury and Shankar Oraon for skipper Lalmalswama Hamar after Mariners went ahead by 2 goals.

The second-half was just a regulation play for Mohun Bagan who dropped in the intensity, already assured of three points from their good work in the first 45 minutes.  As expected, Chirag started playing rough football, and Barreto and Rakesh Masih were injured. Later Barreto, Masih and Marcos were booked by the referee. Rakesh Masih will miss the next match against Mumbai FC when I league starts after break on January 23rd, the match will be played in Mumbai.

Striker Shankar Oraon squandered two relatively easy opportunities towards the end of the match. First, he shot straight to keeper Shilton Paul just three yards from the target off a Gouranga Dutta corner. Moments later, Gouranga again set it up from the right and on this occasion too, Oraon headed wide. Mohun Bagan got a easy chance on injury time of 2nd half when Marcos positioned nicely with the ball outside Chirag box but his shot went over bar post.

Barreto was adjudged Man of the Match. With today’s victory, the Green-and-Maroon brigade retain second spot of the table with Sporting Clube de Goa at the top and now has 18 points from 11 matches.

Meanwhile, the Salt Lake Stadium will host only the two semifinals and final of the Federation Cup. According to an All India Football Federation release, the minor changes in the fixtures of the December 4-21 tournament were necessitated due to non-availability of the stadium before the semifinals, slated for December 18. The final will be held on December 21. All group matches will now be hosted by Barasat. Mohun Bagan will play their matches on December 12, 14 and 16 against Oil India, Vasco and Air India respectively.

SHILTON, HABIBUR, ODAFE, VASHAN, MOHANRAJ, TULUNGA, RAKESH, MARCOS, LALKAMAL (ISHFAQ 72), BAICHUNG (LALAM 81), BARRETO (JUNIOR JAMES 88) 

PICTURE COURTESY: BARTAMAN PATRIKA, TRIDIP, SOUMYADEB SINHA