Baichung Bhutia has been named AIFF player of the year. Sponsor McDowell organized a Futsol tournament in Mohun Bagan ground today. Mohun Bagan celebrated its 13th Federation Cup win after they beat Dempo SC , Goa 1-0 in Finals. See pictures in https://www.mohunbaganclub.com/gallery.php. This is a record by itself as the Green and Maroon brigade were forced to play 5 games in 9 days while rivals Dempo played only 2 games in 12 days. Barreto scored the only goal of the match in 68th minute. This is second consecutive win for Bagan against Dempo.

The team from Cochin won the McDowell Futsol tournament by winning the finals 1-0. In an exhibition match played later on, Mohun Bagan beat Cochin 3-1, Jr. James scored 2 goals and Lalramluah scored 1 goal. Pictures www.mohunbaganclub.com/gallery.php. Pictures taken by Soumyadeb Sinha. This was a 5 sided match. Mohun Bagan team consisted of Rino Anto, Suman, James Jr., Henry, Lalramluah, Tapan and Nabin Kumar.

Celebration pictures in Mohun Bagan ground, www.mohunbaganclub.com/gallery.php.  President, Tutu Bose announced that 5 lakh rupees will be distributed amongst all players of team. Tomorrow in Mohun Bagan ground, McDowell will organize a Futsol tournament that will start at 4 pm. One team will reach final who will play against Mohun Bagan, the final is scheduled to start at 6.20 pm. The pictures have been taken by Tridip Sheet.

FEDERATION CUP MATCH REPORT

Mariners totally outplayed Dempo Sports Club, Goa to win the 30th Federation Cup title for the 13th time and qualified to play for AFC Cup. Mohun Bagan completely dominated the match to such an extent that Sangram had to make just one save during the match and Dempo got only one easy chance to score, that too at the fag end of the match. This was one of the best tactical games won by Mohun Bagan this year, Kareem also agreed with this opinion. He said, "This is one of the best matches we played this year and we won a tactical game. I give full credit to Dempo whose defenders did a good job and made our task tougher. We may have slight domination but Dempo also played well but yes after we scored the goal, the match came completely in our grip. We could have scored few more goals." Credit definitely goes to coach Kareem who marshaled the tactics. Dempo mainly relies on Beto and Clifford in their midfield which Kareem did not allow to function properly. It was due to Habibur that Clifford Miranda could not deliver his crosses from left side. Marcos totally controlled the midfield from start of the match and ensured that he did not allow Beto to move freely and also he covered Beto nicely with his brilliant anticipation and tackling. When asked to comment about Marcos, Kareem said "Usually I don’t name players but about Man of the Tournament, the first name that comes to my mind is Marcos, he was absolutely brilliant and today did not allow any free space to Beto. Before the match, it was our tactical decision to stop their attacks from wing and to mark Beto properly and the boys did their job brilliantly."  It seems the number 68 is very lucky to Kareem, the winning goal came in 68th minute and he was born in 1968, he pointed out to us.

        

Lalkamal was brilliant as an attacking medio and it seems Lalkamal is back in his supreme form from Air India match. Tulunga and Ishfaq troubled Dempo defence with their brilliant runs down the flank. It has been proved again that combination of Tulunga and Habibur creates magic in right wing. After match Habibur said, "With due respect to all players, I enjoy playing with Tulunga. We have good understanding. Whenever I overlap down the right flank, he takes my position and makes sure that opponent team doesn’t start overlapping from that side. Of course, it is the final decision of the coach whom he selects in first XI." Dipak was brilliant in stopper position and did not allow Ranty to take any shot towards goal. Dipak was well supported by Masih in defence. About Dipak Kareem said, "Credit goes to him because when playing in stopper position, he being not so tall, have to win aerial battles with some tall strikers like Ranty. Usually when he plays in side back that is not a problem. He has extremely good sense and good anticipation. He is one of the best stoppers in India." Last but not least, Jose Ramirez Barreto, the best foreigner of all time to have played in Kolkata. Critics sometimes raise questions about his fitness, about his agility, but the man goes on performing. As Veronica laughed about this after match, "Barreto and we don’t care about who says what, his job is to perform and he tries to deliver in field." Kareem said, "With Barreto in our team, we always have an extra captain, who is leading the players from front without an arm band." Lalampuia gave good support to Barreto in the match. Kareem dedicated the Fed Cup to his wife, his son and to all the fans of Mohun Bagan. It is a nice gesture indeed on part of Kareem who said, "I know how the fans are feeling. We feel happy to bring smile to their face." When asked whether this is an answer to the critics, Kareem said, "No, I have no grudge against anybody. In fact, I don’t feel reporters didn’t criticize our team that much, they were just pushing us and pointing out our mistakes. You people played like good defenders and didn’t commit fully (laughing)." However, Kareem is happy about the team spirit, he said, " “I have no doubt now that we are the best team in the country when it comes to team spirit and solidarity. Look at (NS) Manju. He didn’t play in the tournament but he was celebrating more than those who played today. That’s a good sign. That’s how we have started living like a family. Federation cup and I league are the two most important tournaments of India and our target now is I league and I am happy that team has qualified for AFC Cup." On their team’s participation in IFA Shield, coach said, "We had to pay a heavy price at the initial stages of the I-League for players getting injured in the local league. My focus is on the I-league and I don’t want my boys to go through the grime of another one so soon. I have called for practice on 5th January and the boys need this well-earned vacation." It is to be noted that IFA Shield starts on January 5th. Debasish Dutta said, "This victory is an answer to the critics who only finds fault of our team and criticized when we signed Marcos and continuously wrote against our team, Barreto, Baichung, Kareem." Regarding IFA Shield, he wittily said, "Our practice starts from January 5th and our next match is on January 23rd against Mumbai FC."        

Coming back to the match, Mohun Bagan controlled the match from the beginning. The most impressive part of Mohun Bagan’s play was their short passes and did not rely only on long balls. In 9th minute, Barreto gave a brilliant through pass to Ishfaq who failed to control the ball and missed an easy chance. In 16th minute, Marcos took a free kick from right side which Barreto headed towards Lalampuia who could not take a shot, wasting yet another chance for Mariners. Dempo got one good chance when a long ball from midfield went to Joaquim, Habibur failed to anticipate the ball properly and Masih made a brilliant tackle to avert danger for Mariners. Satish made a brilliant save to keep the scoreline same, Ishfaq had sent a cross from left side and Barreto’s header was saved brilliantly by Dempo custodian. During the last 5 minutes of the half, Dempo managed to press forward and got few corners but Sangram was alert.

In 49th minute, Joaquim made a solo run and took a right-footed shot that went over crossbar. Mohun Bagan then started dominating and in 55th minute, Marcos missed an easy chance when he lobbed the ball over bar with goalkeeper out of position. In 68th minute, Mariners scored the winning goal of the match. Lalkamal took the corner from left side by his right foot which went over Satish Kumar and straight to Habibur but he miscued the header and ball went straight to Barreto who did not waste any time and his shot went inside goal making it 1-0 in favor of Mohun Bagan. Ranty Martin then was shown red card after he got his second yellow card in 80th minute. While going out, Ranty hit the camera of Zee sports. Action should be taken against him by AIFF for this kind of reaction. Dempo missed an easy chance to score off flag kick just before final whistle when Creson Antao volleyed the ball over bar. The chaotic scenario at the end of the match was the spoiler of the day. With Police personnel donning the role of mere spectators, the rampaging crowd broke the Federation Cup banner and it wouldn’t have been surprising if the trophy itself suffered the same fate today. However, this kind of reaction is not surprising from Mohun Bagan crowd as they were overjoyed by team’s 13th Fed Cup victory.

 

Tragedy struck when an accident cost a Mohun Bagan supporter’s life at the Salt Lake stadium. Mr Sanjeeb Jana, aged 28, fell from the ramps of the stadium before the commencement of the match. Later, he was admitted immediately to a city hospital where he was declared dead today morning.

TEAM: Sangram Mukherjee, Habibur Rehman Mondal, N. Mohanraj, Deepak Mondal, S. Malsawmtluanga (S. James Singh 90+3), Marcos Pereira, Rakesh Masih, Ishfaq Ahmed, Lalkamal Bhowmick, Jose Ramirez Barreto, P.C. Lalawmpuiya (L. James Singh 89).

MOHUN BAGAN HAS TILL NOW WON FEDERATION CUP 13 TIMES AND REACHED FINAL 17 TIMES OUT OF 30 EDITIONS.

YEAR     CHAMPION                     VERSUS                      RESULT

1978          JOINT                           EAST BENGAL             0-0, 0-0
1980          JOINT                           EAST BENGAL             1-1
1981         CHAMPION                  MOHAMMEDAN           2-0
1982         CHAMPION                  MAFATLAL                    1-0
1986         CHAMPION                  EAST BENGAL             0-0 (5-4)
1987         CHAMPION                  SALGAOKAR                2-0
1992         CHAMPION                  EAST BENGAL             2-0
1993         CHAMPION                  MAHINDRA UNITED     1-0
1994         CHAMPION                  SALGAOKAR                 0-0 (3-0)
1998         CHAMPION                  EAST BENGAL              2-1
2001         CHAMPION                  DEMPO                           2-0
2006         CHAMPION                  SPORTING CLUBE       1-1 (3-1)
2008         CHAMPION                  DEMPO                           1-0

COMPARED TO MOHUN BAGAN WHO WON FED CUP 13 TIMES, EAST BENGAL HAS WON THE TROPHY 5 TIMES, SALGAOKAR 3 TIMES, MOHAMMEDAN, MAHINDRA, JCT, KERALA POLICE WON IT 2 TIMES EACH AND DEMPO, BSF AND ITI WON ONCE EACH.
      
                

PICTURE: Tridip Sheet and Soumyadeb Sinha

Mohun Bagan beat Air India 2-1 to reach semi finals of Federation Cup. Lalkamal and Marcos scored the goals for Mohun Bagan. In semi finals, Mohun Bagan will play against East Bengal on December 18th, the match will be played at 6:30 pm.

Mohun Bagan played like champions in 2nd half of the match and beat Air India 2-1 to reach semi finals of Federation Cup. After today’s match goal difference of Mohun Bagan and Vasco was same but Mohun Bagan qualified having scored more goals (4) than Vasco (2). There was a half an hour delay for the match to start as Air India reached the stadium just 15 minutes before start of match due to traffic congestion.

In 2nd minute itself Tulunga gave a pass to Barreto who centered from right side that was a little long and went to Ishfaq in left side from whose pass Mohanraj floated a cross into the box which Baichung headed but it went over cross bar. Thereafter it was Air India who more or less dominated the first half. Mohun Bagan mainly relied on long ball from midfield towards Baichung and Barreto in first half and those were easily cleared by Air India defence. Air India on the other hand with their speed caused problems for Bagan defence. Air India got many throw-ins from which Uttam Singh took long throws which Mariners found difficult to handle. From one such long throw, Sangram completely misjudged the ball and luckily for Mohun Bagan the ball went straight to their defender who cleared the ball for safety. In 26th minute, Air India went ahead. Michael Tayo gave the ball to Surojit Roy at half line and he ran with the ball past Mohanraj and gave it to Soccor Velho inside box who cut the ball in past Vashan and took a right footer than found back of the net, Sangram dived but could not save the goal. In 32nd minute, Samson took a direct free kick which came off post, a lucky save indeed for Mariners. Most of the Air India’s attacks were via Bagan’s left side. To repair damage, Kareem changed the position of Tulunga and Ishfaq and Mariners immediately got two chances. Baichung back headed a ball for Tulunga, who took a swinging right footed volley that went over bar post. In the next minute, from a Habibur cross, Baichung tried a bicycle kick but was timely intercepted by Air India defence.

In 2nd half, Kareem brought in Lalkamal in place of Tulunga and this move changed the complexion of the game and we saw a different Mohun Bagan in 2nd half and they started playing with short passes and played the ball mostly in ground and not long balls. In 51st minute, Lalkamal gave a pass to Baichung inside box who turned nicely and took a shot that Arup Debnath got his fingers to it and the ball hit post. Within 2 minutes, Mariners scored the equalizing goal. Marcos gave a pass to Lalkamal in front of penalty box and the latter took a shot from almost 24 yards out that beat Arup and bounced and went inside goal. Mohun Bagan were combining brilliantly at this moment. Barreto missed a easy chance when from a Lalkamal’s center, Barreto nicely chested down the ball but his left footed shot went away. In 60th minute, Napoleon Singh committed a foul on Barreto on top of the box. Marcos Perreira did bend it like Beckham like last match but this time it did not hit post but found back of the net. Marcos had a poor first half but in second half he came back strongly and controlled the midfield. Air India coach then went to 3-5-2 formation by bringing on Kailash and Subhash Singh. They launched a series of attacks causing danger time and again in the Bagan defence, but seasoned campaigner Dipak Mandal put up a fine show to thwart the raids. Air India got a spot kick when Vashan handled the ball in 74th minute. Ravinder scored but referee disallowed the goal and asked to take the penalty again as few Air India players had moved inside the box before the penalty was even taken. Ravinder took the spot kick again but this time Sangram made a brilliant diving save. Just before end of match, Mohun Bagan missed two chances to score. First time Baichung completely miscued a shot from an advantageous position inside box and second time Baichung took a shot from edge of the box which Arup saved and from return ball Barreto headed the ball that hit the post and went out, a lucky escape for Air India again. Though Barreto and Baichung missed few easy chances, but their dedication and the extra effort shown today is commendable and worth a special mention. Mohun Bagan will play against East Bengal in 2nd semi finals at 6.30 pm on December 18th while in the first semi on that same day, Churchill will meet Dempo at 3.15 pm.

TEAM: Sangram, Mohanraj, Dipak, Vashan, Habibur, Ishfaq (James Singh Jr. 90), Marcos, Masih, Tulunga (Lalkamal 46), Baichung (James Singh Jr. 92), Barreto.

Bagan qualifies for the 30th Federation Cup final. This is the record 17th time Mohun Bagan has qualified for the finals. 12 times champions will meet Dempo SC in the final. Bagan won against City rivals, and Premier League ranking 3rd Kingfisher East Bengal in Penalty Shootouts. In the 61st minute Sanju Pradhan scored for KEB. Barreto scored the equaliser in 65th minute. In tie breakers Bagan won 5-3.

Mohun Bagan defeated East Bengal 5-3 in tie breakers in 2nd semi final. The scoreline was 1-1 after 120 minutes. Mohun Bagan is unbeaten in the last 9 matches played in Salt Lake. The scores of the last nine matches are 2-1, 4-3, 2-0, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 1-1, 1-1, 5-3 (1-1). Bagan’s unbeaten run over East Bengal for 691 days, marching towards 1000, a record which all the Mariners will be proud of. The match was a keenly contested one and the best match of this year’s Federation Cup which was full of drama. Mohun Bagan started with Ishfaq in left half and James Singh on the other flank. East Bengal played well in this half and kept Sangram busy throughout. Vashan had to be replaced by Lalkamal in 10th minute due to injury and Rakesh Masih went to stopper with Marcos falling back as defensive medio. This put some pressure in Bagan defence. East Bengal had appealed for penalty in 5th minute when Yakubu’s shot hit Vashan’s hand but it was completely unintentional and referee rightly gave the decision in favor of Mohun Bagan. Mariners were thrice unlucky in this half when Marcos’ curling free kick and Ishfaq’s head hit post from James corner. In 20th minute, Subrata Pal had fumbled with the ball but Ishfaq failed to push the ball inside goal. East Bengal also came close to scoring few times but Sangram was up to the mark and made two brilliant saves in the first half, once when he came out of charge and saved a Sunil shot and the second time he dived to his right and made a spectacular save. In 40th minute, Soumik missed from close range when he lobbed the ball over cross bar whereas in the very next minute, Ishfaq took a left footer from outside box which grazed the post and went out for a goal kick.

In 2nd half, Mohun Bagan came back strongly in the match with midfield marshalled by Marcos. However, East Bengal scored the first goal in 61st minute, when from a Alvito’s free kick, Masih headed the ball out but it went straight to Sanju who took a right footed shot that beat Sangram and went into goal. Mohun Bagan equalized within 4 minutes. Marcos took a free kick from center of the field that curled and went to Barreto who followed the ball nicely and headed the ball home, Subrata had absolutely no chance to save the ball. In the 70th minute, Ishfaq Ahmed was tackled from behind by Mehraj, a clear case of penalty but seems that the referee did not see the incident. From the very next attack, from James center, Baichung failed to make a connection with the ball missing a very easy chance. In 73rd minute, it was third time unlucky for Bagan when Ishfaq’s shot ricocheted off crossbar for the third time in this match after Baichung’s effort was saved by Subrata Pal. Minutes before final whistle, Marcos took a free kick from outside box which narrowly missed target. The match went to extra time with scoreline reading 1-1.

In 1st minute of extra time, Barreto headed James Singh cross over the crossbar. East Bengal got one golden chance when Sunil’s shot came off post. Baichung got injured and Kareem brought Lalampuia in his place. In 2nd half, Lalampuia’s cross from the left saw Tulunga, who came in for Ishfaq Ahmed minutes earlier, headed it back for Barreto whose shot was well blocked by Saumik Dey. Seeing Sangram out of goalline, Yakubu lobbed the ball which just went over crossbar. Just a minute before final whistle, James center from left saw Lalampuia miss an easy header which sailed over crossbar.

In tie breaker, for Mohun Bagan, Barreto, Marcos, Lalkamal, Lalampuia and James Singh scored while for East Bengal Praveen KUmar, Mehtab, and Jayanta scored while Sunil Chetry’s shot, which was East Bengal’s third shot, was saved by Sangram Mukherjee.

For Mohun Bagan, Sangram, Dipak, Marcos and Barreto had an outstanding game.

The final between Mohun Bagan and Dempo will be played on Sunday, December 21st.

TEAM: Sangram, Mohanraj, Dipak, Vashan (Lalkamal 10), Habibur, Ishfaq (Tulunga 109), Masih, Marcos, James Singh Sr., Baichung (Lalampuia 98), Barreto.

YELLOW CARDS: Barreto (Mohun Bagan). Musah, Jayanta, Nirmal, Sunil (East Bengal)

TIE BREAKER:

Barreto 1-0, right bottom corner, goalkeeper dived same direction but brilliantly executed shot

Parveen Kumar 1-1, left bottom corner, goalkeeper dived same direction but fails to save

Marcos 2-1, left corner, goalkeeper dived same direction but fails to save

Mehtab 2-2, left corner, goalkeeper dived opposite direction

Lalkamal 3-2, right corner, goalkeeper dived opposite side, best shot of the tie breaker

Sunil saved by Sangram diving to his left

Lalampuia 4-2 left, goalkeeper dives same direction but fails to get a touch

Jayanta 4-3, left, comfortable height for goalkeeper to save who touches the ball but ball goes in

James Singh 5-3, same as last shot, goalkeeper touches but ball goes in to put Bagan in finals