Mohun Bagan beat Chirag Kerala 2-1 at Yuvabharati Krirangan, Calcutta, on Friday, October 28th, to register their second successive win in the 2011-12 i-League. This is the best start by Mohun Bagan in this premier championship for many many years. However, today’s win was hard-earned, and the overall performance was not too satisfactory for the discerning fan, though in the end, a win is a win, and six points after two matches can never be disappointing. More worrying for supporters and management alike was the fact that two of Mohun Bagan’s
best players, Odafa Okolie and Jose Barreto were carried off with injuries in the second half. One can only hope that the injuries are not serious.

After Mohun Bagan’s splendid showing in the second half of the previous game, many were expecting a whirlwind start to today’s match, but they were disappointed. In the first half there were too many mistakes from the Bagan players to really trouble the well-organised Kerala defence, and their goalkeeper was seldom troubled.

Mohun Bagan’s starting line-up showed two changes from the previous day, with Jose Barreto and Murali Joseph replacing Manish Maithani and Gouranga Dutta in midfield. The match began with a lot of midfield action from both sides, though action hardly describes the proceedings. There were plenty of missed passes all over the field, and threatening attacks were few and far between. The first of such sporadic attacks saw Rahim Nabi breaking through from the left of the defence with a fine run in the 4th minute, only to delay his pass and squander the opportunity. Then in the 8th and 10th minutes, Jewel Raja and Sunil Chhetri respectively shot wide from promising positions.

The next ten minutes saw more aimless football from both teams, though once Kerala’s Australian striker Matricciani did break through, only for Anwar Ali and Kingshuk Debnath to save the situation. Then on the 22nd minute Odafa was brought down just outside the Kerala box, but Barreto’s ensuing free-kick went straight into the wall. Two minutes later, Barreto was put through by Chhetri, but was just unable to reach the ball. At the other end, a long throw from Kerala’s left midfielder went right into the heart of Bagan’s box, but Kingshuk kept cool to head clear. At last the tempo of the match was picking up.

A superb through pass from Barreto sent Chhetri racing after the ball in the Kerala box, but the keeper charged out bravely to save the situation. On the half hour, Nabi put Barreto through, but the Brazilian failed to control the ball properly, and the danger was averted. Then Odafa got the ball from the left, sidestepped a defender and unleashed a powerful grounder, only for his shot to go inches wide. Then followed a wonderful attack – Bagan’s best move of the half – which saw Lima, Barreto, Odafa and Chhetri combine for Chhetri to break through into the left corner of the box. However, his cross was just too high for Odafa.

Then a Chirag Kerala break from their right saw a splendid low cross into the Mohun Bagan box, but Sangram Mukherjee was alert to dive and make a superb one-handed intervention to take the ball away from the Kerala strikers and for the defence to clear. Soon afterwards, the half ended goalless.

The second half started with Bagan TD Subrata Bhattacharjee bringing in Asim Biswas in place of Murali. Three minutes later a Kerala attack split open the Bagan defence and Sangram had to rush out to head the ball clear. The ball came to the Kerala right, and a low cross sent in, with Sangram trying desperately to regain position. Vineeth’s diving header went wide, to the great relief of Mohun Bagan. Then on the 5th minute of the second half the Kerala keeper made a horrible mess of collecting a routine ball, and Odafa was on hand to pounce on the ball and guided it home. (1-0). At last the deadlock was broken, and Mohun Bagan were ahead.

Bagan’s joy in getting the lead was somewhat tempered 5 minutes later, when Odafa was taken off on a stretcher with what appeared to be a painful groin injury. He limped back a few minutes later, but was taken off again soon, to be replaced by Rakesh Masih in the 60th minute. Meanwhile Bhattacharjee had already replaced Lima with Gouranga Dutta a couple of minutes earlier, so it meant that with almos a third of the match remaining, Bagan had used all three substitutes.

Bagan’s woes were increased when on the 66th minute a seemingly harmless Kerala attack saw the defenders hesitating to clear the ball, and the ball wobbled around to reach Kerala’s striker Matricciani who tried to chip it over an advancing Sangram. Sangram got a hand to the ball, but his push wasn’t firm enough, and the ball trickled into the net. (1-1). The stadium was stunned! It was a clever little chip from the striker, but Sangram should have done better, one felt. Three minutes earlier Sangram had dived bravely on the feet of a Kerala striker to make an excellent save, and all in all had a good day under the bar, but that one mistake meant that once again Mohun Bagan had conceded what seemed to be a soft goal.

Mohun Bagan tried to reorganise themselves and attacked the Kerala goal with renewed vigour, though without Odafa their task was tough. Barreto took a lot of work load in this period of the game, though blasted a shot well wide in the 73rd minute when he could have done better to pass to some better-placed team-mate. Then on the 80th minute it was Barreto again who tried to wriggle his way through the Kerala defence and was brought down just outside the box. He got up to take the resultant free-kick himself and produced a moment of magic his fans were waiting for. He got the ball over the wall, only for it to dip in the last moment and go into the Kerala net past the left post. The keeper could only watch in dismay! (2-1).

Three minutes later Barreto got injured and had to be carried away. Mohun Bagan had to play with 10 men for the remainder of the match. (Barreto was seen outside the sideline trying to re-enter the field, but TD Bhattacharjee refused to risk him, perhaps keeping in mind thelong campaign ahead.) Chirag Kerala tried hard to take advantage of the situation and attacked with intent for the last few minutes. 5 more minutes were added on, to add to the tension, but Mohun Bagan defended with great courage and a bit of luck to survive that onslaught, though once it required another splendid save from Sangram.

One last corner from Chirag Kerala came to no avail, and the referee blew the long whistle for Mohun Bagan to complete their two wins in two.

Line-up: Sangram Mukherjee (21); R Dhanrajan (6), Kingshuk Debnath (4), Anwar Ali (5), Syed Rahim Nabi (19); Jewel Raja (23), Murali Joseph (7) [Asim Biswas – 46th minute], Jose Barreto (10), Hudson Lima Silva (27) [Gouranga Dutta (30) – 57th minute]; Odafe Okolie (9) [Rakesh Masih (20) – 61st minute], Sunil Chhetri (11).

Goals: Odafe Okolie – 1, Jose Barreto – 1
Man-of-the-Match – Jose Barreto

Picture Courtesy :  Bartaman

All the Mohun Bagan fans remember the day 25th October as a golden day of their lives. On this day in 2009 East Bengal conceded 5 goals to arch rivals Mohun Bagan and Mohun Bagan got redemption after a long wait of 34 years. So, it is the day that any Mariner can hardly forget. Meanwhile, Mohun Bagan shall meet Chirag United Kerala on Friday at Yuba Bharati Krirangan from 3.30 pm onwards. Both the teams won their first round match. Mohun Bagan beat Pailan Arrows by 3-1, while CU Kerala beat HAL by 1-0. Team Mohun Bagan have to maintain the winning streak to improve their performance in I League. While Chirag United Kerala, formerly Viva Kerala is looking to draw attention of all by showing good performance.

Mohun Bagan beat Pailan Arrows 3-1 at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata on Sunday, October 23rd, in their opening i-League match of the 2011-12 season. The winning start was a welcome change for the Mariners, after either drawing or losing each of their opening two matches in the last seven seasons. The match also marked a winning start for the new coaching staff, led by Technical Director Subrata Bhattacharjee, and coach Prasanta Banerjee. After the bitterly disappointing campaign in the recently concluded Federation Cup, this win finally gave millions of Mohun Bagan fans all over the world something to celebrate. One hopes that this is only the first of many such happy evenings during the course of the marathon i-League.

The picture wasn’t bright, however, for a long time during the match on Sunday. A fairly large crowd had assembled at the huge stadium, perhaps to welcome the return of Subrata Bhattacharjee at the helm of affairs at Mohun Bagan; there was also a small but noisy section of Arrows supporters – this was, after all their “home” match! The Pailan team, comprising of talented youngsters from all over India under the tutelage of veteran coach Sukhvinder Singh, started brightly, and stunned the majority of spectators with a goal in the 7^th minute. Goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee was partly to blame for the goal, allowing a long-range effort from Lalrozama Fanai almost from the by-line to beat him in flight, ricochet off the post and off his body to roll into the net.

Mohun Bagan tried to shrug off the shocking start and made concerted efforts to attack the Arrows goal, with midfielders Manish Maithani, Jewel Raja and Hudson Lima Silva, aided by full backs Dhanrajan and Rahim Nabi making a few raids on the opposition defence. However Odafe Okolie and Sunil Chhetri – the two Bagan strikers, displayed a distinct lack of understanding at times, and the Arrows defence by and large held firm. In fact a couple of times the Arrows boys hit hard on the counter attack, and once Sangram had to come out of his box to save the situation.

There were some chances at the other end during the first half. Mohun Bagan forced a few corners, mostly taken by Lima, but to no avail. In the 16^th minute a splendid through from Maithani sent Nabi clear, but he was adjudged off-side. 5 minutes later a Lima shot troubled the Arrows keeper, but Odafe hit the rebound out. On the half hour a Lima free-kick found Maithani, but he headed wide. Two minutes later a good move put Gouranga Dutta in the clear, but he muffed the chance. Then Odafe had a couple of half-chances, but nothing much came off them. And then, on a quick break, the Arrows boys split open the Bagan defence and caused some panic, but somehow Anwar saved the situation.

The last few minutes of the half were dominated by Mohun Bagan, who seemed to be improving slowly but steadily. Maithani wasted two opportunities, once shooting out, and once shooting hard but straight into the keeper just before the breather. The half ended with Bagan still trailing by one goal.

 The second half started the way the first half had ended, with Mohun Bagan dominating possession. Jewel did well to find Maithani in the box, but his shot was just out. Then a counter attack by Arrows again caught the Bagan defence napping, but Sangram saved the day. Then Odafe barged into the box but his shot was saved. Somehow the Arrows defence were coping with all Mohun Bagan had to throw at them.

 The second half was about 5 minutes old when a roar went round the stadium – Bagan’s icon Jose Barreto – who was not fully fit, was brought in by Subrata Bhattacharjee, in place of Maithani. Immediately there was a distinct change in the tempo of game, and in the general atmosphere in the stadium. Barreto started by setting up Odafe with a splendid pass, but Odafe muffed the chance. However, the Arrows boys were visibly wary of the Barreto-Odafe-Chhetri trio, and became more and more defensive in their approach, allowing Bagan to dominate the midfield. For ten minutes the game was played mostly in and around the Pailan box, but somehow the Arrows held on.

Then came the second substitution. Ashim Biswas replaced Gouranga, who had quite a forgettable match, and immediately the Bagan attack became even more threatening; a goal seemed only a matter of time. It finally came in the 21^st minute of the second half. Nabi found Lima on the left, Lima side-stepped a couple of defenders and sent in a lofted cross and Odafe banged it in almost nonchalantly. The stadium exploded, it was finally 1-1.

5 minutes later it was Lima again who set up Jewel, but Jewel failed to control the ball. Almost immediately afterwards Ashim received a wonderful pass from Dhanjaran, moved along the right, cut in and crossed back with pin-point accuracy to find Odafe who made no mistake. The net bulged – it was 2-1. At last Mohun Bagan were ahead.

Arrows tried to hit back bravely, but the momentum was now very much with Mohun Bagan. Sangram did have to make a very good save once, but mostly it was Bagan threatening the Arrows goal. Then in the 90^th minute Odafe collected a pass from Dhanrajan in the Arrows half, beat a couple of defenders, cut in, entered the box, slipped and almost fell but recovered instantly to shoot the ball between two more defenders, past the hapless keeper. The ball hit the base of the post to the keeper’s right and entered the net. It was 3-1, and Odafe had completed a superb hat-trick. All three goals were well taken, but the third was by far the best of the evening. Saurav Chakraborty, making his Mohun Bagan debut, replaced Dhanrajan for the last three minutes or so, but by then the Arrows boys had finally run out of steam. Mohun Bagan cantered home to register a winning start to the league.

Line-up: Sangram Mukherjee (21); R Dhanrajan (6) [Saurav Chakraborty (3) 91^st minute], Kingshuk Debnath (4), Anwar Ali (5), Syed Rahim Nabi (19); Gouranga Dutta (30) [Ashim Biswas (12) 63^rd minute], Jewel Raja (23), Manish Maithani (24) [Jose Barreto (10) 51^st minute], Hudson Lima Silva (27); Odafe Okolie (9), Sunil Chhetri (11).

Goals: Odafe Okolie – 3

 Man-of-the-Match – Odafe Okolie.

Picture Courtesy: Bartaman