Mohun Bagan team will fly off to Mumbai tomorrow in the evening after having a practice session in the morning.Rakesh Masih is back in the team after serving suspension and having missed the last match against Mumbai FC. Lalkamal and Mohanraj has been left out of the team due to minor injury. Rino Anto has replaced Mohanraj. The 18-member team consists of: Sangram, Shilton, Deepak, Habibur, Rino Anto, Rahul Kumar, Odafe, Manju, Rakesh Masih, Tulunga, Jr. James, Sr. James, Ishfaq, Marcos, Lalramluah, Barreto, Baichung and Lalampuia.

Cooperage, Mumbai: Guilty of some misses and miss passes in the first half , Jose Barreto did exactly what he does well – scored a goal and helped Baichung score another one. Baichung, nursing injuries, was brilliant in converting a James Singh cross into a goal and was going down to help the midfield as and when required. Couple of his deadly passes for Ishfaq could have been lethal as well.

Bagan’s exubarent balanced side, with Masih sitting out, were under firm pressure in the iLeague’s mid-day kick-off against Mumbai FC, but a superb attack-minded performance proved to churn out a wonderful result for Bencharifa and his men after stemming Mumbai FC’s wealth of attacking talent.

Bagan were the better team to start with as the Yellow brigade, who won 2-1 in the first leg,  looked nervous in the initial stages. But Barreto, Baichung, Ishfaq, Marcos, Manju, Odafe, Lalkamal shots either went just wide or were defended well by Mumbai FC defenders. Mumbai FC fielded goalkeeper Amit played well to make sure Bagan doen’t get an early lead in the match.

Mohun Bagan could have gone ahead within 2 minutes when from Ishfaq’s right footed center from left side Baichung could not head the ball properly. Within 5 minutes, Marcos’ free kick found Barreto’s head who misheaded the ball and Baichung tried a bicycle kick which went straight to goalkeeper. Mumbai FC then got two corners but in both cases Sangram averted danger by punching the ball out of danger. In 13th minute, again Marcos took a floating free kick from midfield which goalkeeper missed flight and Ishfaq took a shot which deflected off defender for a corner. In 17th minute, Lalkamal took a corner which went over goalkeeper to Odafe who instead of heading directly towards goal tried to give a pass to Manju but Mumbai FC defenders cleared the ball for safety. In 27th minute, Habibur missed an easy chance when Baichung gave a pass in open towards Habibur who ran with the ball but shot wide from close distance. In 38th minute, due to a mistake by James, Subhash Chakraborty got a loose ball in left flank and crossed the ball towards Hammond whose side volley went straight to Sangram. In first half, Mariners mainly relied on long balls for their attack.

                                     

After lemon break, Kareem changed the style of play and instructed his boys to play the ball more along the ground. Mumbai FC though started the half positively when in 50th minute, Felix took a shot from right which was saved by Sangram diving to the left. In 57th minute, Ishfaq got the ball past Sanjay Parte and passed the ball to Barreto, Barreto took a shot from outside the box but Amit was alert. Few minutes later, Marcos took a direct free kick which curled and just went away from far post. In 73rd minute, Mohun Bagan went ahead by a brilliant Baichung goal. Barreto got a ball in right flank and he gave a pass towards James Singh from whose center Baichung took a side volley which went into goal with Amit having no chance whatsoever. This is one of the best goals of this year’s I league. In 81st minute, Marcos snatched a ball from MFC player, lobbed the ball over his head and then gave a brilliant through pass towards Barreto who made a solo run from center circle and pushed the ball inside goal past goalkeeper making it 2-0. Kareem then made two changes in quick succession bringing on Lalampuia and Tulunga in place of Baichung and James respectively. In 90th minute, Lalampuia scored the 3rd goal for Mariners. Marcos again gave a nice forward pass towards Lalampuia and the latter’s first touch was brilliant as he took the ball inside box and placed the ball past goalkeeper making it 3-0 in favor of Mohun Bagan. Mohun Bagan now has 24 points from 12 matches. They next play against Air India on February 1.

                  

PICTURE COURTESY: TIMES OF INDIA

After the match Kareem said, "I am very pleased with the result. I have equaled my personal record of seven straight wins which was back in 2001 in Malta. I have never repeated that record and now I am looking for an eighth win." Bencherifa had high words of praise for his striking trio of Bhaichung, Jose Barreto and Lalwampuia. "All the three strikers scored including Lalwampuia, who wasn’t in the best fitness level after the break. He has lost around 5 kg in the last three weeks." The coach also mentioned that it is difficult for visiting teams to create many chances at Cooperage Stadium. "No team coming to Cooperage can create many chances. You must know how to capitalize on your chances which we did." Baichung said, "This is one of the best goals of my career." Baichung even gave his prize money to coach Kareem but Kareem gave it back to him saying that Baichung deserves it. Barreto said, "We did not play to our expectation in first half, coach asked us not to play long balls in half time and we changed our game plan and this worked in 2nd half."

Team : Sangram, Habibur, Odafe, Manju, Deepak, James (Tulunga), Lalkamal, Marcos, Ishfaq, Baichung (Lalampuia), Barreto (Lalramluaha)

 

Mohun Bagan has been placed in Group D, along with Syria’s Al Karama, who were the AFC Champions League runners-up in 2006 and another former ACL side Kuwait SC of Kuwait, and Jordan’s Al Wihdat. The group stage kicks off on March 10 and culminates on May 19. The Round of 16 will be played on May 26 for the teams from the West, while the teams from the East will clash on June 23. The two-legged quarter-finals take place on September 15 and September 30. The semi-finals will be held on October 15 and 21, followed by the finals on October 27 and November 3.

Following are the schedules of Mohun Bagan matches:

10th March> Al Karama, Syria (Away)
17th March> Al Wihdat, Jordan (Home)
7th April> Kuwait SC (Home)
21st April> Kuwait SC (Away)
5th May> Al Karama, Syria (Home)
19th May> Al Wihdat, Jordan (Away)

Mohun Bagan will play its home matches in Howrah Stadium