Mariners defeat George in a thrilling encounter. In an exciting clash today here at the Mohun Bagan grounds, the Mariners defeated George Telegraph 3-2, thanks to a last minute Peter Odafe strike. Mohun Bagan Academy graduates – Safar Sardar and Suman Dey made quite an impact donning the George colors. Bagan struck first blood in with Lalampuia scoring his 4th goal of CFL 2008. Mama was next to complete his tally of 4 in the 37th minute. Bagan went to the lemon break with the score reading 2-0. However, George was awarded a penalty seconds into the 2nd half. They got their 2nd goal in the 78th minute. Bagan salvaged pride thanks to a lovely cross from Habibur which found Odafe who intelligently netted the ball in.

Mohun Bagan started the match in a positive note with formation of 4-3-3 with Lalampuia, Tulunga and Barreto in forward and they started playing quite attacking football and at 14 minutes, Lalampuia missed a sitter with open goal in front of him and in the next minute, Lalampuia took a well-struck right footer from outside the box but unfortunately the ball went straight to goalkeeper. Mohun Bagan put George defence in continued pressure from both flanks and at 21st minute Mariners got their first goal, James Singh Sr. gave an excellent threw pass to Tulunga who ran down the right flank and his cross from the right was chested down by Barreto and he nicely passed the ball to Lalampuia who had to just place the ball in goal and he did so to perfection. After the goal, Bagan continued its supremacy and in 38th minute James Singh Sr. put the ball in box from right flank and Tulunga cleverly lobbed the ball over a surging George goalkeeper, a superb finish indeed but after the goal George came back in the match and started playing inspiring football. Nabin Kumar after his good performance in Mohammedan match was totally out of shape in today’s match and he was replaced by Habibur, it should have been done much earlier, given Nabin’s lackluster form today. In 47th minute, George got a penalty when Vashan handled the ball inside box. The decision can be questioned as when ball hit Vashan’s hand, it was totally unintentional and the ball was not goal bound, we have seen many decisions like this in European football where referee dont give penalty unless it is absolutely intentional. Francis took the penalty and Sangram saved it but unfortunately Odafa and other defenders reacted very late and nobody could clear the ball which rebounded off Sangram, instead Ikepere, the George striker pounced on the ball and pushed it inside goal making it 2-1. After this goal, Mohun Bagan did all wrong and total midfield flopped and George was in total control of the match and the whole second half George midfield lead by Subho Kumar put continuous pressure on Bagan defence and got their equalizing goal in 80th minute, the best goal of the match indeed with Francis striking from outside the box. At this time, there was absolutely no resistance from Bagan midfield and George was easily putting pressure on Bagan defence with Lalkamal and James duo totally out of form. However, a lucky finish indeed from Bagan in 90th minute when Odafe scored the winner. Lalkamal got a free kick from the right and his not so well directed free kick was going out when Habibur somehow went and pounced on the ball and just managed to keep the ball in play and passed the ball via his left foot and it went straight to Odafe who just pushed the ball via his left foot and the ball went in threw the legs of George goalkeeper. It was a huge relief for the spectators, there was a huge turn out today before the crucial derby against East Bengal. Subho Kumar got Man of the Match and Bagan spectators were very much sporting and applauded Subho on his great display. It is the 3 points that matters and Mariners managed to got that somehow today but the performance of the midfielders will be a big headache for coach Kareem before the derby match.

Barreto was as usual in superb form today with good support from Lalampuia and Tulunga, though Lalam looked a little wayward in latter stage of the game. James Jr. and Lalkamal tried a lot but they were totally out of form, the way Lalkamal is performing this year till now is completely unexpected. Lalramluah replaced James Singh Sr. in 84th minute but he also could not do much. The main problem with Bagan midfield is that there is no player who could snatch the ball from opponents foot with proper tackling and blocking and put some resistance like the way Douglas did it last  year. This seems to be a big concern for Kareem this year.

TEAM: Sangram, Naveen (Habibur 46th), Odafe (Rakesh Masih 90), Vasan, Mohanraj, Tulunga, Lalkamal, James Singh Sr. (Lal Ramluaha 84), James Singh Jr., Barreto, Lalampuiya.

PICTURE COURTESY: SANGBAD PRATIDIN

MB Day celebrated with great pomp and show It has been 119 years since the emergence of Mohn Bagan Athletic Club as an icon of supreme devotion towards the nation, Mohun Bagan glorified its own history by making achievements which not only quantize its green and maroon colour but the tri colour as a whole. Such an impeccable incident was the victory of IFA Shield on 29th July, 1911. To salute the spirit of the “immortal eleven”, the day has been celebrated as Mohun Bagan Day.

It was slightly an off coloured celebration due to the unexpected defeat over Mohammedan Sporting Club just the day before but still countless people gathered on that occasion.
The proceedings started with a felicitaion fashion of Mohun Bagan U-13 squad having an encounter with Veterans Sports Club U-13. Tough it was an exhibition match both the teams put their strengths to win it but ironically the match was ended in a one all score line.

 

 

 Later on the U-13 squad was felicitated for their victory in all India level and wished their success in upcoming Paris tour. There were two more friendly matches involving the ex-players, artist forum of Kolkata and Calcutta Sports Journalist Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally the moment came when the Mohun Bagan Ratna Award was given to M.A. Sattar. It is also to be mentioned Bhaichung Bhutia has been honored for having the Padmasri Award. On behalf of Bhachung Bhutia ,Madhuri Tipnis his better half collected the memento from Hon. Joint Secretary Mr. Anjan Mitra.

 

 

 

 

There were notable attendance of great players of past like Chuni Goswami, Sanath Seth, Sahu Mewala, P. Kannan,Shibaji Banerjee, Compton Dutta Sisir Ghosh, Krishnendu Roy, Sisir Ghosh, Subrata Bhattacharya and many more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

The teams for the friendly matches ..

Mohun Bagan today lost 3 vital points against Mohammedan Sporting. They were defeated by 2-1 in a Kolkata Premier League match held in Salt Lake Stadium. Thus far, this was the weakest display of Bagan team this year out of the 5 matches they have played so far. Sunday scored the first goal for MSC while Lalampuia equalized in 2nd half but just seconds before final whistle Mohanraj scored an unfortunate own goal. Sporting, now on a dozen points from five games, were the better team, particularly in the opening session. Sporting, now on a dozen points from five games, were the better team, particularly in the opening session.

In the first half, Mohun Bagan did not play well enough and it was Sporting team all around. Mohammedan mainly attacked via Mariners’ right flank with Habibur displaying poor form. He was later substituted in 34th minute and Navin Kumar replaced him. In 21st minute, MSc scored their first goal when from a threw pass off Prashanta, their Liberian recruit Sunday scored in 21st minute via a penalty when Odafa brought him down via a badly timed tackle. Odafa scored from penalty though the penalty was quite a poor shot, Sangram could have done better. Bagan got two half chance in this half, once Barreto took a crispy left footer which was cleared by a Sporting defender and in another chance Lalkamal took a poor shot from edge of the box. Just before lemon break, Mohammedan Sporting got a very easy chance, the easiest chance of the match, Satyajit went past Sangram and his pass just could not reach Rajib, a lucky escape for Mariners.

However, in the 2nd half, Mohun Bagan played better football and attacked more. Bagan got quite a few chance and in 56th minute Barreto gave a gem of a pass to Tulunga who passed the ball to Lalampuia who just had to push the ball in an empty net making it 1-1. Barreto really played outstanding football especially in 2nd half and he was marshalling most of the moves. It was because of him that Bagan came back into the game. He played slightly deep in 2nd half and distributed the ball well to the side halfs so as to enable wing play. On 62nd minute, from a left footed Naveen Kumar center, Barreto headed beautifully but the ball was just saved by Naseem and prevented it from going in, a great effort from Barreto indeed.  Tapan Maity replaced Lalramlua in 67th minute. In 69th minute, off another Naveen Kumar center, this time a right footed one, the ball went straight to Lalampuia whose head hit post with goalkeeper beaten all ends up. He should have definitely done much better, it was a great center from Naveen Kumar. In 79th minute from a corner, Lalampuia got an easy ball in the box with only goalkeeper to beat but he took a lot of time to shoot and the ball was cleared by defender, a very costly miss by Lalam. Bagan were continuously attacking at this time but time and again failed to score due to easy misses. Just before end of match, Lalkamal missed the easiest chance for Bagan when he could not trap the ball off a Barreto pass inside box with only goalkeeper to beat. Mohammedan Sporting, however, gave the final blow to Bagan and had the last laugh With the match having rolled into added time, Sporting’s Bimal Pariyar followed the ball closely and entered the Bagan box, but Anand Vasan got to the ball before the Sporting player and passed on to Mohan Raj. The defender failed to keep his cool and put the ball home past Sangram, an extremely poor decision by Mohan Raj to pass the ball instead of clearing the ball for corner and Sangram is also to be partially blamed as he needlessly rushed out with two defenders already with the ball. A gifted goal by Bagan defenders to Sporting team.

For Mohun Bagan, Sangram was confident throughout the match but was partially to be blamed for both goals. He could have done much better to stop the poor penalty. In defence, Vashan is quiet slow and Kareem must be waiting for Manju and Deepak to return so as to replace him. Odafa otherwise played well but made few costly errors. Habibur was in bad form today and his replacement Naveen Kumar is very fast and his overlap is very good but his defensive quality needs to be improved. Mohanraj did not play up to his standard today. Midfield could not function well today especially James Singh and Lalkamal. With the amount of chance Lalkamal is getting, it is high time that he start performing and stop making silly errors. In I league, it will be beneficial for Mariners if they recruit the 3rd foreigner as a midfielder. Bagan now needs someone like Douglas who can lead the team from behind as with Barreto upfront, Bagan will create chances and score goals but the problem is with blocking and tackling in midfield, due to the lack of which the opponent teams are so easily reaching Bagan penalty box by playing 5-6 passes, this needs to be stopped as otherwise it creates huge pressure of defence. Lalramlua could not do much and his replacement Tapan Maity seemed to playing in the wrong side. As he do not have good left foot, he was seen running down the left flank and while taking the center, it was seen that he was trying to do it with right foot thus giving time to Sporting defenders to clear the ball.  Tulunga was far from best today. Barreto was outstanding as usual and he created panic in Sporting defence time and again but with missed chances from Lalampuia and Lalkamal, Bagan could not get any points from this match. Lalampuia though scored one easy goal but missed couple of easy goals. It is high time he also use his chance with players like Branco in reserve bench. Today Ishfaq was missed the most as his run down the left flank was missed mostly by Mariners.

After the match, Kareem blamed whole team for defeat and not just only Mohanraj for scoring the own goal. He gave credit to Theo and Okero for brilliant performance and told that draw would have been good result with Mohun Bagan playing well in 2nd half but unfortunately the 2nd goal changed things. He is however confident that in the next two matches team will play well and get full points. Mohanraj was extremely upset after scoring the sameside goal. He broke into tears and told that this is the first time he has scored in this manner and it will be like a nightmare to him.

Mohun Bagan is now placed in 2nd position with 10 points from 5 matches. They next play George Telegraph on August 2 at 3.30 pm in Mohun Bagan ground.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is Mohun Bagan day, 29th July. At 2 pm, Mohun Bagan junior players will participate in an exhibition match. Then there will be a match amongst veterans. The final match of the day will be between sports journalist team and actors of Tollywood. After the matches, the under-12 team which has just won the Yakult Danone Nations Cup in Delhi and the under-13 team which have won the nursery league will be felicitated followed by Baichung Bhutia for receiving Padma Shree. Baichung’s wife will be present to receive. Mohun Bagan Ratna will be given to M. A. Sattar.  Though not well but still Sattar will come to receive the award just because it will be given by his favorite club Mohun Bagan. In the musical program following the ceremony, Nachiketa and Mita Chatterjee will perform for the supporters and members. This will be followed by the dinner.

TEAM: Sangram, Habibur (Naveen Kumar 34), Odafa, Vashan, Mohanraj, Tulunga, Lalkamal, James Singh Sr., Lalramlua (Tapan Maity 67), Barreto, Lalampuia.