Mohun Bagan will meet Chirag tomorrow in an important I league match to be played in Barasat Stadium from 6.30 pm. Mohun Bagan has lost their last two I league matches and they are in a must win situation in their 5 remaining matches of I league. Not only will Mariners have to win the matches but will have to hope that Churchill lose points against either Air India or Mohammedan. Jose Barreto will be back in team after missing 2 AFC cup matches due to injury.

Mohun Bagan had their practice session in afternoon today. In practice the first team was as follows: Sangram, Mohanraj, Dipak, Manju, Habibur, Ishfaq, Masih, Marcos, Tulunga, Baichung and Barreto. After practice, coach Karim Bencharifa said, "We are not thinking of what other teams are doing. We will have to win the next 5 matches. This season so far has been quite successful for Mohun Bagan and has been the most successful season after 2002 and also for any Kolkata clubs after 2005." Rahul Kumar said, "Still many upsets can happen, we will have to concentrate on our game and win the next five matches, then we will see where we finish."

McDowell Mohun Bagan has had a fair share of ups and downs on the ONGC I-League 2008-09. They started off at a very depressing note with loses and draws at the initial stages and in fact were able to only muster three points from the first five games.  Then team started performing and the dream run resulted in McDowell Mohun Bagan climbing to the top spot in the league table with ten wins in a row. The press and the football pundits sat up and took notice of the dream run and marked them as potential I-League contender. Then the graph started to climb down with back-to-back defeats, first in the hands of their archrival, Kingfisher East Bengal at the YBK and then against Churchill Brothers in Panaji, Goa.

                                                   

As of date, three teams, two from Goa, Churchill Brothers (42 points from 20 matches), Sporting Clube the Goa (39 points from 20 matches) and McDowell Mohun Bagan, Kolkata (33 points from 17 matches) are in the title hunt.  As is evident, McDowell Mohun Bagan has played three matches less than the other two Goan teams because of AFC Cup commitment. Tomorrow they take on a local outfit Chirag United who are languishing in the tenth spot of the table.

Today, on March 22nd, 2008 Churchill Brothers took on another Kolkata outfit, Kingfisher East Bengal in Goa and came out victorious 3-1. This means that they have just two matches left, first an away match against Air India at Mumbai on 28th March’08 and their last a relatively “soft” home match against another Kolkata outfit, Mohammedan Sporting, who are hovering in the relegation zone, the date to be announced later by AIFF.

 

                                                   

So for McDowell Mohun Bagan to win the I-League 2008-09 two things must need to happen. First from here on, they need to win all their matches without any let-up. Secondly, at least for once, Churchill and especially, their goal-scoring machine and powerhouse Odafa Okolie needs to have a really bad day in office. At least a draw against Bimal Ghosh’s Air India would suffice. Otherwise, as things stands, they are nearly home and dry and beyond any other’s reach because of a very superior goal difference of +26 vis-à-vis Sporting Goa’s +6 and McDowell Mohun Bagan’s +6.

REPORT: RANA BOSE AND SHILADITYA MITRA
PICTURE: SOUMYADEB SINHA

 

 

We lost against the Jordanian Club team 1-2 in the AFC Cup round-robin match. Although we went ahead within 13 minute through Rakesh Masih’s goal but the joy was short lived. They equalised within 3 minute and were leading 2-1 at the break. What exactly went wrong.

 1. Many are saying that Dempo have won their AFC Cup matches and we could not. It is a matter of prioritising and the priorities of Dempo may not match up with that of Mohun Bagan. As far as DSC is concerned, I-League 2008 is over for them. They are just playing for pride and going through the motions of finishing off the I-League. Mohun Bagan on the other hand cannot afford to lose focus on their quest for the I-League at this stage as all three teams CB, SCG and MB are seperated only by goal difference (assuming we win both our two back-log matches).

2. Mohun Bagan’s coach knows his team’s potential and Group D of AFC Cup (our Group) is the toughest and is being referred to as the "Group of Death" by the knowledgeable. The quality of players that we have cannot take us far in the AFC Cup..   

3. It goes without saying that of all the top I-League teams that are playing, our bench strength is a little weak, given that most of the players are junior and not have much experience. These bench sitters walk into the First XI (sometimes), not because of their potential or the Coach’s choice but because of compulsion in fielding them necessitated by injury, card problem or fatigue to the first choice players.

4. Our routine pattern of play (because of lack of versatility amongst players) is quickly spotted by the opponent coach. For example, a throw-in deep inside the opponent’s half will always be taken by Peter Odafe from the right or Habibur/Mohanraj from the left. It will be a deep throw with the expectation that either Rakesh Masih or Marcos will flick-head it inside the danger zone for any of our player to put it inside the goal. Why does Karim not change this style for something different. The reason is, he does not have a single quality ball player in the side who can play a decisive 1-2 when it matters and essay a final pass to be shot home.

5. Another important reason for our lack of maintaining the lead is the failure of the midfield trio. For quality midfield play it is essential that there has to be a "holding midfielder" who will be the playmaker. Marcos started off this season doing just that but because of lack of support from the co-midfielders he is now playing the role of a "blocker".  A lot of expectation was on Lalkamal but somehow he could not perform to his potential. He really is a superb player and we hope that next season he stay in Mohun Bagan and perform the way he performed against Bayern Munich.

6. Both our forwards Bhaichung and Barreto are ageing and play within a limited periphery of the field. If they had been 5 years younger then the whole scenario would have changed as they would have played more box-to-box football causing numerical advantage to the side. We are taking nothing away from the effort that the two players give and this year also we have seen some amazing goals from them, they need more support from midfield which they are not getting on all the matches.

7. Another important point that has to be noted is that the maximum distance between upfront players and midfielders in the side theoritically should not be more than 10-12 yards to create panic amongst opponent players and effect movements. Unfortunately, recently I am noticing that this distance between the defenders and midfielders and midfielders to upfront players reach more than 15 yards. What is happening is that opponents get enough free space to consolidate their play. The reasons for this deficiency are (a) lack of imagination amongst the midfielders, (b) fatigue and staleness causing failure to reach to the desired point in the field and (c) lack of confidence and self-belief.

8. For (7) I cannot blame the coach for the simple reason that the players were recruited first by the Officials and then Karim Bencherifa was appointed the coach. If he is there for 2010 and if funds permit we will perhaps have quality players of his choice.

9. Football is a very simple game where the emphasis by any side is to always have numerical superiority over its opponent be it inside the opponent’s box or in their own. This is where we are being outsmarted.

Guest Columnist : RANA BOSE (MEMBER, MOHUN BAGAN ATHLETIC CLUB)

Mohun Bagan lost 1-0 to Al-Karamah after putting up a brave fight. Really this is indeed an impressive performance against a team which has played final of AFC Champions league few seasons back, the team also has 9 National team players. Unfortunately, dead ball specialist Marcos missed a penalty which proved quite costly for the team; however, this is part of the game and we know in the past, players like Maradona, Zico, Beckham had failed to convert from spot kick. Next practice session of Mohun Bagan, Saturday 8.30 am, Mohun Bagan ground.

The second half started with both teams on a positive note. However, against run of play, Mohammed Al Hamwi’s shot beats Sangram to put Al Karamah 1-0 up in 59th minute. Therefater, Al Karamah started to dominate proceedings. Mariners tries to equalise but good defending by the Syrian team prevented this. Sangram had a great day under the bar pulling off several brillinat saves in the second half. Mohanraj and Tulunga were shown yellow card during the match. The hosts continued to apply the pressure in the closing minutes with Mukherjee stopping efforts by Iyad Mando and Tamer Haj Mohamad while Al Hamwi had an effort cleared off the line by Lalramluaha. Mohanraj and Tulunga were shown yellow card during the match.

POST MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE

Mohamad Kwid’s pre-match predictions that former AFC Champions League finalists Al Karama would not breeze through the AFC Cup were proven right on Tuesday as the Kuwait League champions edged past India’s Mohun Bagan by a solitary goal.

Mohamad Al Hamwi scored on the hour mark, but only after Mohun Bagan’s Brazilian midfielder Marcos Pereira missed a penalty late in the first half.

“Mohun Bagan were an organised side and they played well. I watched their recent matches and knew that they would be dangerous,” said Kwid, who guided Al Karama to the 2006 Champions League final.

“Mohun Bagan had a golden chance to take the lead through the spot kick and things would have been harder had they scored."

“We had a lot of chances to score in the second half but the Indian goalkeeper played well.”

Mohun Bagan’s Moroccan coach Karim Bencherifa was pleased and refused to dwell on the missed penalty.

“Al Karama are a well known for their Asian experience,” he said. “We played against a good side and their fans played a big part."

“We had a chance to take the lead from a spot kick but this doesn’t mean we could have secured the win. I’m satisfied with the performance.”

Mohun Bagan: Sangram, Mohanraj, Manju, Odafe, Rahul (Dipak 82), Ishfaq (James Singh Sr. 83), Masih, Marcos (Branco 80), Tulunga, Lalramluah, Baichung.

COURTESY: Prince Rufus, Media officer of Mohun Bagan club in AFC Cup and www.the-afc.com