Will AIFF have an eye on the referees ?

Mohun Bagan will play another away game this Sunday. Incidentally the fans observed that a particular team has been getting a lot of blessings from the referees this year as well. This started happening from the very first game when a player was pulled down inside the box and no penalty was given. A team gets penalty for slightest infringement and other teams are deprived of penalties for open fouls.

Last year Mohun Bagan suffered poor refereeing from a similar match – Bagan players were fouled and referee continuously ignored. There has been no improvement in refereeing this year – and one can expect that the referee might not be neutral in the upcoming game as well.

And this is where the question is for AIFF. Can AIFF take this matter seriously, or have the right intention at least to take the matter seriously? In world football refereeing has been shamed from time to time, ILeague is not an exception. Can AIFF ensure the referees are neutral? Can AIFF publish officially what calls referees who will conduct the match, get in the last 7 days (before the game), and ensure the referees are not found in close vicinity of some club officials of any team as well ? Can AIFF officially publish the income of the referees who will participate in the game and ensure there is no discrepancy in the earning of the referees?

Or AIFF will remain mum ?

Mohun Bagan moves to 2nd Round

Mohun Bagan gets past Colombo FC in the home match by 2-1. Sony and Duffy scored for Bagan. Balwant missed a penalty. Bagan defense continued to make faux pas, and conceded a goal in the dying minutes of the game.

Bagan played safe and the purpose is not to burn out. Bagan was successful on that. However there were at least two occasions when defense mistakes could have been costly. Shilton Paul expectedly conceded a goal as well.

Mohun Bagan will play Valencia in 2nd Qualifying round on 21st February (away) and 28th February (home)

Squad- Shilton, Souvik Ghosh, Anas, Balwant (Jr), Souvik C, Sony(Balwant), Pronay, Bikramjit (Sr), Yusa(Azhar), Jeje, Duffy(Raynier)

3 Goals and Several Questions.. MB 3-2 Aizawal FC

Score line reads 3-2 for Bagan. Makes it sound like a thrilling encounter. Thrilling though it was, with the score line tilting balance frequently, it did send down a few chills down the Bagan spine, and left a lot of questions to be answered for.

Bagan started off in style, with Katsumi running down the left and serving a precise cross for Duffy to score with an immaculate header as early as the 2nd minute. Both the skipper and Duffy seemed to be calming down the celebrations of their teammates after the goal, almost as if they knew what was to come.

Complacency perhaps did creep in, and the Bagan defensive line was caught at fault several times, with the 3 defenders caught in a straight line on multiple occasions when the Aizwal wingers attacked from the flanks.

Aizwal’s Jayesh Rane equalized from a such attempt, and the Bagan defenders were clearly at fault with the school boy error of everyone falling in the same line.

Aizwal continued to attack in the 2nd time with a few attempts at goal. While the Bagan wings seemed to be active with both Prabir Das and Katsumi running down the side, it was the 63rd minute when Man of the Match Prabir Das was finally able to nicely place one for Jeje to tap the 2nd goal in.

Joy was shortlived, whith Asutosh Mehta making it 2-2 in the 69th minute off a header. The defenders as well as the keeper Debjit could and should have done better.

Tempers and cards flashed, with players from both sides picking up a few cards.

Souvik came in around the 80th minute for Bikramjit, and almost immediately after fed a ball with accuracy for Katsumi, who ran down the left to be felled by the same Asutosh who had scored for Aizawal.

Penalty it was, and the Scottish marksman Duffy kept his calm to convert the penalty to finish the game 3-2 for Bagan.

Some signs didnt augur well for Bagan. The defenders lacked cohesion and are perhaps not talking to each other. Else, the defense line wouldnt have looked so disarrayed so many times. Defenders need to talk to Debjit as well. Debjit made a few bad judgment calls on few of his outings leaving the goal mouth wide open.

Bagan are now 2nd in the table, right after East Bengal, whom they meet on Feb 12th after the AFC Cup home game with Colombo FC on the 7th.

Sanjay Sen has a lot of work to do to bring the team back to what it deserves to be. Other teams may not fail to capitalize on the mistakes that the Bagan defenders made today..

Of course, we still have the 500 rupee note question – when is Sony Norde coming back?

 

Mohun Bagan wins AFC away match

Mohun Bagan wins the away game against Colombo FC without any difficulty. Bagan,without the service of key players, played well. Colombo FC kicked off the ball.

Bagan got the first chance in the 5th minute but Prabir cross was foiled and Bagan got a corner. Yusa corner got Souvik Ghosh whose cross went to Kean and Duffy but they failed to score from 4 yards.

Bagan almost conceded a goal as a Colombo weak shot got past Shilton, but fortunately there were no Colombo players to convert the opportunity into a goal.

Soon Bagan scores. Duffy got hold of a ball in Bagan midfield region in 16th minute, he moved from right flank while Prabir moved into Colombo box. Duffy through found Prabir who lofted the ball towards far post and Kean made no mistake in converting that into a goal (1-0).

In the 27th Colombo almost scored from a corner but the ball went out.

Soon, Souvik tried to push a ball for Kean, the ball was intercepted by Colombo player, who gave it to their Nigerian midfielder in 30th minute , whose solo run had beaten Bikramjit junior, and his shot towards far post expectedly beaten Shilton (1-1). Yes Debjit was rested.

In 36th minute Kean was injured. He was later substituted by Jeje.

Both the teams got few opportunities. In the 68th minute Bikramjit had unnecessary foul and good booking.

In68th minute, Yusa was fouled, Sehnaz took the freekick – ball was cleared but then Bagan kept pressing hard and then Sehnaz got a ball when Colombo defence tried to save an Anas attempt. Sehnaz power shot made it 2-1.

The teams will face again in Kolkata on 7th February.

Mohun Bagan pips Chennai

(Image Courtesy: Hindustan Times)

Mohun Bagan managed to secure three points today after they defeated Chennai City FC by 2-1. Jeje and Sony scored for Mohun Bagan today.
However, Bagan did miss Anas’sservice today. Edoardo’s weaknesses were exposed as he failed to manage Marcos. Marcos almost scored twice in the first half, and actually scored past Edu in the second half. Edu was found crawling in a failed attempt to stop Marcos.

Three players had positive runs for Bagan today, Sony, Shubhasish and Debjit. Pronay and Pritam still managed to create some opportunities, but Souvik and Yusa were way off the match. Sony missed a penalty today, and a Jeje goal was cancelled as the assistant referee felt he was offside. Howevwr Sony helped Jeje scored the equaliser, and later scored the winning goal on individual attempt. Prabir , who came as a sub , failed to score from 4 yards. Bagan missed many more opportunity to score.

Coach keeps on saying that he needs performers to.make it to the playing XI, it will be interesting to see how he uses Yusa, who performed well three years back.

Performance improved. Duffy, Jeje score a brace against Minerva

Mohun Bagan secured three vital points after the team got past Minerva Punjab FC by 4-0. Duffy and Jeje scored two goals each. Both of them missed few chances and failed to get the first hattrick of the tournament.

Bagan started with Jeje and Duffy upfront, Sony from left, Yusa from right and central midfield with Souvik and Pronay.

Subhasish was back in the team after a match suspension. Edu donned the Bagan jersey for the first time. Anas and Pritam were there along with Debjit.

Sony, Pritam and Edu had some misses , one of Sony’s shots hit the bar, Pritam shot went wide, Balwant who later came in place of Duffy had few misses as well.

However the coach will have to work upon the positions and overlapping of Edu. There were two instances where Edu’s mistakes could have been costly.

However, Subhasish, Anas and Pritam did well today. Pronay has improved a lot and did not commit unnecessary fouls today. Souvik needs to play as per his ability now. It will be interesting to see what instructions coach gives to Yusa to make him lethal like Sony, Yusa so far has failed to become lethal and sharp and has been easily stopped by opponents. His passes also were stopped comfortably.

Bagan will be going to Chennai to play the next game on 21st January.

(Image Courtesy: OneIndia)

Duffy back in action

Mohun Bagan wins the second game of the iLeague after Darryl Duffy scored one goal each in each half to become Hero of the Match. Duffy’s goals were apt and showed his attitude within the box. He also played well on the right side and made quite a few moves.

Bagan had a new defense today and Souvik Ghosh came back to starting XI after a long gap. However Kingshuk and Anas did well to ensure Lajong does not find goals. Debjit also saved two goals. Pritam did well to overlap and come down and defend.

Sehnaz led the midfield well, Souvik also made the midfield compact , but he missed few opportunities. Raynier played for Bagan for the first time and was quite impressive.

Balwant and Duffy created some panic in the box, and for the second goal Duffy scored when Balwant was blocked.

However, Yusa still has opportunities of improvements.

However, Rowan continues to show the worth of Indian referees. Duffy once was fouled inside the box, which any “good and able” referee will mark as a penalty, but Rowan gave foul against Duffy. Once a clear throw in was given against Bagan. Yusa and Duffy were fouled many times and Rowan ignored.

The only decision where Rowan was right was perhaps booking Pronay after Pronay fouled a Lajong player unnecessarily.

Rowan , like most other Indian referees was filled with lots of errors, however it was not sure if the errors were intentional or Rowan was really not a quality referee, like most other Indian referees.

Refereeing unchanged

Government of India’s demonetisation drive has no impact on Indian refereeing. This was seen in the first iLeague game in Barasat stadium when referee denied Aizawl FC clear penalty and even did not warn a player after he hit Aizawl player after scoring an equalizer.

Indian refereeing  remain unchanged in the second iLEague game in Barasat stadium. Duffy fouled on the edge of the box- no foul; Yusa in scoring position – given offside, Subhashish got marching order for a foul not even worth a booking… the saga continues.

However referee failed to stop Bagan from securing vital 3 points. Bagan won 1-0. Balwant scored the all important goal, and Indian football’s farce saw a Churchill Brothers player getting a player of the match award.

Bagan could have increased the margin but Duffy, Yusa and Souvik missed from 6 yards each. However Kingshuk and Pritam’s understanding needs to be improved.

Players who stole hearts of the spectators include Souvik, Anas, Prabir Das.

Yusa, Kean , Sehnaj played well, however will have to improve in future. Duffy played as withdrawal forward and needs to improve as well. It was a pleasure to see Balwant back in action.

Overall a good match inspite of extremely poor refereeing.

 

 

Mohun Bagan wins Federation Cup

Mohun Bagan wins Federation Cup for the record 14th time. Mohun Bagan beat Aizawl FC 5-0 in the Federation Cup final. All 5 goals were scored in the second half.
Scorers – Sony, Dhanachandra, Jeje(2), Bikramjit

Jeje was adjudged Man of the match.

Pic courtesy – Mohunbagan Gorbo