Bagan made a 1-1 draw with Salgaocar in the last group league match of 35th Federation Cup. Bagan played well in the match but missed a lot of chances, that is why they couldn’t manage to get past Salgaocar.

 Odafa scored from a penalty in the 59th minute, which the is contribution of Chizoba Christopher. He was fouled at the penalty box and referee Santosh Kumar awarded penalty to Mariners and Odafa make no mistake to score the goal. But in the 79th minute Bikash Sairu from Salgaocar took the 35 yards long ranger shot and the ball kissed the net by touching the fingertips of  Shilton Paul.

However, Bagan managed to reach in the semi final quite convincingly as they got 7 points. They will meet Churchill Brothers in the Semifinal at Cochin at 4.00pm.

Bagan is the only team from Kolkata in the semifinal along with three goan team Churchill, Dempo, Sporting Clube de Goa. So, the pride of Bengal football is in the hand of Mohun Bagan.

Mariners beat Lajong FC in their their second group league match in Federation Cup at Cochin.In the last match Bagan defeated Mumbai FC by 1-0, while Shillong’s club beat the Goan outfit Salgaocar by massive 4-0. So Shillong Lajong suddenly become the toughest team to beat. But Bagan started the match where they stopped in the last match. Odafa and Christopher score 2 goals each, Katsumi and debutant Ujjal Haoladar scored 1 goal each.

 Bagan outplayed Shillong Lajong all the way. Their key player Coloner Glen was marked brilliantly by Denson and Eche. Some times in the match Glen got so frustrated that he tore his own shirt.

However, Bagan will next play against Salgaocar. If Salgaocar would loss against Mumbai FC, then Mohun Bagan will be advanced to Semi Final before the last group league match played. If Salgaocar wins against Mumbai FC then Bagan has to win or draw against Salgaocar, can’t afford loss.

Next match of Mohun Bagan against Salgaocar at Cochin on 21st January. 

Bagan had a no practice session today as they played the match yesterday. They had a swimming pool session today and all the players enjoyed a lot to keep them fresh. After derby win this team is changed a lot and they seem to have get back their confidence. Coach Karim is aware of that and that is why he already told that only one final has been played, still four finals to go to win the trophy. By this statement of the chief coach, the mental strength of a team can be understood easily. Meanwhile, experienced players like Denson Devdas and Kingshuk Debnath returned to Bagan camp after completing their office duty. Both the players did not play the last match against Mumbai FC as they returned back to Kolkata from Kerala to play for their office team Income Tax.

While asking about their next match against Shilong Lajong, Karim Bencharifa is very confident to get the success in the match and he also expressed his confidence about his team tham his defence will block well Trinidad’a player Glen of Lajong. As Odafa will play the Saturday’s match, so it has given more and more confidence to Karim and his team. This is very rare occassion in this season, when all the four foreginers will be in the first-XI for Bagan. If Bagan win Saturday’s match they will be well advanced to go to Semi-final. The match will start from 4.00pm.