McDwell Mohun Bagan will meet McDwell (actually Aircel is the principal sponsor) Shillong Lajong in the 8th Round of iLeague. Mohun Bagan has secured 9 points from 7 games this season while Shillong Lajong, who’s at number 6, one above Mohun Bagan , has 12 points from 8 games. Shillong Lajong officials have done a wonderful job this season – they have roped in Aircel, Kingfisher, McDwell as the sponsors, and Adidas is the kit sponsor. For online ticketing one can visit Kyazoonga.com

Lajong’s Brazilian striker Uilliams Silva is playing well and is creating panic in opponent boxes. His speed and power shots. Besides Lajong tends to get penalty shots in vital moments of the game – so Bagan, with defenders having track records of conceding penalty kicks , must be careful.

This is also a game of Thangboi Singto and Birendra Thapa – they will definitely try to prove their worth in this game- hence a tactical game is expected, particularly when Bagan is missing the services of Odafa and Eric.

Both Ralte and Vinay are doing well under the bar, and Sabeeth and Shankar will have to get past their abilities to score against Lajong. The Korean Minchol would have the responsibility to mark Katsumi – and Passan, Jibon will be assisting him. For Fanai – it is a challege as well – he definitely would like to get past his ex-club.

Haokip and Lalramluaha definitely would try to control the midfield along with the Jap Taisuke – and would get assistance from Milon , Ralte or JAcob.

Silva is expected to be there in the field along with Tuboi or Subhash – and if the coaching staff plans to rest Minchol, Silva can have Glen beside him instead.

Bagan midfield really need to work hard against Lajong since the opponent has not only the advantage of the altitude, but also have one of the most young and talented players with good sprint and fitness and the average age is around 26.

For Bagan – to be there in top 5, it is important to secure 3 points from this game – and the team is expected to play a counter attack based football against Lajong.

Bagan earned a hard fought 1 point against the mighty Dempo Sports Club at Goa in the I League encounter. A lot of speculation were passing for the team selection of Karim Bencharifa as two of the foreigners Yusa Katsumi ar Eric Muranda were not fully fit. But both the foreigners were in the first eleven and played well, specially Katsumi. Bagan played the tactical game but also got few chances, although the chances were not utilised by the Mariners. Dempo also got good chances but the defence of Bagan lead by Shilton Paul, the goalkeeper has really played well to earn the vital 1 point in this tough match. Bagan will now play in the next match against Shillong Lajong at Shillong.

Mohun Bagan will meet Panjim based Dempo SC in the 7th round of the current iLeague season. Dempo has a very good track record in Indian football in last 10 years, while Bagan off late does not have enough success at the National Level. This does not stop this game to be something less that rivalry when it comes to domestic football.
While most of the Mohun Bagan supporters still consider East Bengal to be their biggest rivals, the truth is, when its a game at the National level -Dempo is Mohun Bagan’s biggest rival since 2004 Federation Cup final.

Dempo has been working on a makeover, and have removed most of the elderly players and given the responsibility on the shoulders of Arther Papas. The youngest coach of iLeague, Papas did a wonderful job against the title contender East Bengal when his side won against Falopa’s troops by 3-1 in Kolkata. Beto showed his worth in the game. But this was followed by a poor performance as Dempo went down 1-3 against Bengaluru FC. Debabrata Roy and the aussi Simon Colosimo were not upto the mark against Bengaluru. It will be interesting to see if Bagan – with players worth Zakeer, Manish and Ram can take some moves from right.

Dempo will largely depend upon veterans Clifford Miranda and Beto beside the Japanese Shinnosuke Honda. Dempo’s strength is definitely on central midfield and this is where Karim might need to work hard. With Adil in search of his form, somebody worth both defensive and attacking skills need to be there to stop Dempo attack from the central midfield. Karim is getting Denson back – and it would be interesting to see how he utilises Denson.

Shilton had a good game – but again Karim needs to decide if Shilton is the best option against Dempo with the experienced Sandeep sitting on the bench in this vital match.

Mohun Bagan would definitely look for Harrison Eric Muranda service against Dempo with Sankar Oraon unavailable due to a  marching order received at the last moment of the game. One is yet to learn whether the ex- Academy boy will be warned for the unnecessary conduct that led to some troubles aganst Mumbai FC.