Before we actually look ahead, let’s go back 3 months from now. In the beginning of October last year, the team was in a turmoil. The very much hyped coach Mr. Steve Darby had submitted his resignation and the team was without the headmaster. I League was due to start and the whole club was uncertain about our future in the 2011-12 I league. The officials appointment the supporters’ favourite, our very own, Bablu da as Technical Director along with Prashanta Banerjee as the coach. Along with euphoria, there was also a bit of scepticism of the new pair of coaches in the club. However, it is needless to say that after almost four since the two have paired, they have combined well and have been complementary to each other.

The I League started well for us with 5 victories in the first 6 matches, significant among those were the victories against Mumbai FC, Churchill Brothers and East Bengal FC. The black mark during that period was the away defeat against Dempo (However the team played without any foreigners). With 15 points in 6 matches, suddenly the supporters started smelling the I league after 10 years. Then came a slide in our performance.  We could secure only 9 points from the remaining 7 matches in the I League. We lost to Prayag United and Pune FC during this period. We lost valuable 2 points in each of the Lajong, Sporting and Salgoacar matches. We were able to win only 2 matches, against HAL and Air India, during the last 7 matches of the I league. Only if could have managed 12-13 points in these 7 matches we would have sat top of the point table right now.

At the end of 1^st Leg of the I league we are in the 4^th position at 24 points, 3 points behind the leader.

Now, let’s really Look Ahead.

–          Can we be the India Champions this year ?

–          How many points are required to become the Champion ?

–          What is needed to get those points ?

These are the three basic questions we have at this moment. We would love to  leave the technical issues with the TD and Coach at this moment. We would only try to get some reasonable answers to the three questions.

–          To start with the easy one first ;  Yes, we can be the India Champions this year. We think almost all Mohun Bagan supporters across the globe believe so. Most importantly, not only the supporters, but this time the players along with TD & Coach also believes, that this time “We Can Do It”. With only 3 points behind the leader, we are very much in the race.

–          How many points are actually required to become the Champion ? This is the most tough one actually. It is easy to answer mathematically. Even if we win all matches, and the current League leader Dempo wins all (except against us), the two teams will be tied at same points and head-to-head situation. However, realistically, Dempo again may get 25-30 points in the Second leg along with Churchill, who has an extra match to play. So it seems, Churchill or Dempo should finish the league at around 52-57 points. Going by this calculation, we need minimum 55 points and 60 points would be safe enough to be champion.  Simple calculation says, to get 60 points, we need 36 points from 13 matches, which means 12 wins and to get 55 points we need 31 points from 2^nd leg which is 7 points more than what we got in 1^st leg. 

–          Now what is needed to get 31 points in this 2 leg. Answer is again very simple here. We need to win 10 matches out of 13 and draw one.  We have to win HAL, Air India, Poilan, Lajong, Prayag, East Bengal, Pune FC, Mumbai FC and Chirag Kerala matches . Besides we are also facing Dempo in Kolkata, which we should look to win.  We need to get at least 26 points from these ten matches, if not thirty. The remaining three matches are in Goa against Churchill, Sporting and Salgoacar. We have the potential to get 9 points from these three matches, but minimum requirement would be 5 points. We should win against Sporting in the away match and expect a couple of more from the other two matches. We have very fond memory of winning against Churchill in a away match under Bablu da as coach and Barreto as a player. We hope history will be repeated this year again. So 26 points in Non Goa matches and 5 points in Goa match will give us 31 points, which we believe is a reasonable and gettable target at this point of time. For this we need a fit team and hopes the key members like Kingshuk, Anwar, Nabi, Barreto, Odafa, Lima , Surkumar and Sunil stay fit and play most of the matches in the rest of the I league. Results in a football match cannot be predicted but what we can expect that all players play more than their 100% in these 13 matches and show the same urgency as they had shown in the 7^th January Derby. If this happens, we are sure we will have a lot to cheer about at the end of the tournament.

Hence, the first two matches of the 2^nd Leg in Goa against Churchill and Sporting on the 15^th and 19^th will set the tempo for the rest of the I league. We will surely miss Sunil, but hopes Barreto is fully fit and will get 180 minutes service from him. If we can return with 4 points from Goa, then we are in the race for sure.

To sign off, assuming if this year turns out to be Barreto’s last,  it will a wonderful moment for all Mohun Baganis if Barreto, as a captain, picks up the I league trophy. This will also be an apt  home coming for our great Bablu da . Actually, can’t wait for the moment to happen….. Barreto and Bablu lifting the I League with Odafa , Nabi and other dancing around and we jumping and crying in the stands.

Joy Mohun Bagan

[From the desk of Souvik Goswami, Kuwait]

Disclaimer: Mohunbaganclub.com has nothing to do with yesterday’s shameful behaviours by some of the spectators in a Local League match, but it definitely opens up a floodgate to think about the infrastructure – particularly when top three clubs got Rupees 1 Crore each from the Government of West Bengal

Two clubs share the same ground where incidents happen yesterday – but perhaps only one was aware of the ground condition. One must remember games were stopped, matches delayed or cancelled due to drainage problem of this football ground in recent years.

A close review would indicate that the ground condition (after the rain for couple of days) was not at par with the required standard for a Kolkata League match. Players were unable to sprint – perhaps they realised there is a high possibility of injuries particularly when its just at the middle of the football season.

Mohunbaganclub.com condemns the behavours of the spectators – at the same time understands their frustrations for at times even Bagan did not meet the expectations of the fans and followers. But a bigger question the fans must ask is who decided to select such type of ground – unfit for any level of football – for a Premiere League match. The fans must also inquest how much money was spent for renovations that led to such type of grround ? It is easy to target the coach and the players – but why the football stadiums of West Bengal are not at par with the standards of cricket stadiums? Who plays with the sentiments of the supporters and careers of the players and become rich overnight.

Think sir – as it is already too late and Bengal’s football must resurrect.

Mohun Bagan beat East Bengal by 2-0 in a Sahara CFL derby match. Odafa and Manish Bhargav (u-19) scored the goals for the Mariners. Before the start of the match the local outfit Kingfisher East Bengal was well ahead than the National Club of India as per experts’ opinions. But the end of the match scoreboard made the experts eat their words. On a serious note, Sangram, the veteran goalkeeper of Mohun Bagan did not face any difficult ball from the KEB attack; this simple fact revealed clearly how the two teams performed on the day.

In the local league Mohun Bagan are well behind their arch rivals as far as the league table is concerned. But Bablu’s boys never let this bog them down in the match. In fact, the Mariners could have won by 4 goals at least, if Jewel Raja had not missed a couple of easy chances created by Odafa and Lima. However, it was the victory of Team Mohun Bagan, a result of total team effort and coach’s strategy.

There were light showers and cloudy skies in Kolkata from morning today. But Mohun Bagan’s victory brought 1000 watts light into the face of the Mohun Bagan fans. In the last round of the I-League, Mohun Bagan were beaten by Pune FC while East Bengal won the match against Air India. So Bagan were under pressure, which they overcame successfully by beating their arch rivals.

In the match TD Subrata Bhattacharjee and Coach Prasanta Banerjee depended on the newcomer u-19 from MB Academy Manish Bhargav. He scored the goal against George in the previous Sahara CFL match, on debut. Today he scored another brilliant goal – a gem of a header. We’ll request the TD and coach as the fans of Mohun Bagan to try Manish Bhargav in I League matches too. Bagan started with Mohan Raj, Kingshuk Debnath, Anwar Ali and Rahim Nabi in defence with Daniel Zelini and Rakesh Masih as defensive screen. Jewel Raja, Hudson Lima and the young Manish were in midfield, while Odafa was the lone striker.

The first ten minutes of the match was a test of temperament of sorts for both the teams; after that Bagan held the game as per their TD’s tactics, while East Bengal were gradually losing the hold on the game. In the 17th minute Jewel Raja was booked by the Uzbek referee due to a foul on Okpara. After that in 21st minute Bagan’s left back Mohonraj was injured and Dhanrajan came in place of him. Just a minute later an attack was initiated by Rahim Nabi who passed the ball to Odafa Okolie just outside of penalty box, on the right. Odafa’s deft turn took him away from 4 East Bengal defenders and his brilliant grounder was too powerful for goalkeeper Sandip Nandy to handle – he could only watch helplessly as the ball went off his hands and roll into the net. (1-0)

In the 28th minute the under-19 chap Manish Bhargav was fouled dangerously by Penn. Bagan got the free-kick from the right side of penalty box. Lima took a low, hard free-kick into the box towards the near post which was guided in by Manish Bhargav with a superb glancing header. The ball went into the net like a bullet. It was a truly brilliant goal by the young gun of McDowell Mohun Bagan. (2-0).

For the rest of the half Mohun Bagan dominated a stunned East bengal side, initiating a few more attacks through adept passing and splendid teamwork, but could not increase the lead.

In the second half KEB coach Trevor Morgan made changes after about ten minutes of further mohun Bagan domination, bringing in all three substitutes in a desperate attempt to turn the tide. Bagan TD took off Lima and brought on Snehasis Chakraborty. East Bengal tried desperately to reduce the margin, but Bagan’s defensive shape was immaculate, and Sangram was virtually idle! In the 75th minute there was a quick counter-attack and Odafa passed the ball to an unmarked Jewel. Jewel had only the goalkeeper to beat but instead of placing the ball to one corner of the net, he tried to chip the ball over the head of the advancing keeper, only to chip it well over the bar!

In conclusion everybody must admit that Mohun Bagan were by far the superior team on the field today. The strategy and tactics of the coaching staff were quite brilliant, and the team executed those instructions perfectly. Each Mohun Bagan player played at the top of his game today to help Bagan to bring a memorable victory for them. MohunBaganClub.com is congratulating the entire Mohun Bagan team for this outstanding performance. We wish them all the best for the rest of the season, specially in the I League.

Mohun Bagan: Sangram (21); Nabi (19), Kingshuk (4), Anwar (5), Mohanraj (26) [Dhanrajan (6)], Manish Bhargav (34), Zeleni (2), Masih (20), Jewel (23) [Barreto (10)], Lima (27) [Snehasis (25)], Odafa (9). 

Score: Mohun Bagan – 2  (Odafa 22′; Manish 28′)

             East Bengal – 0

 Picture Courtesy: Sangbad Pratidin