Bagan boys on Zidane date

Mohun Bagan juniors set up a date with soccer legend Zinedine Zidane in Paris in September when they won the inaugural Yakult Danone Nations Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium on Saturday. On a pitch where their seniors had won 15 Durand Cup titles, the Under-12 Mohun Bagan boys, coached by Amiyo Ghosh, defeated Sikkim Football Academy 3-2 via the tie-breaker. The 20 minutes of stipulated time ended 1-1 after the Calcutta side was pushed to a corner by their rivals. As per the tournament rules, the champions of the Indian leg will travel to the French capital in September to play in the world finals. Zidane, the brand ambassador of the tournament, will be present during the finals. Mohun Bagan juniors, who were last-minute entrants after Mumbai FC withdrew from the tournament, dazzled throughout the meet except the final. In the semi-final, they outplayed Delhi’s Hindustan Football Academy 4-0 with goals from Subhrojit Das (2), Subhendu Narain Das and Anubrata Maity. While all the matches were of 15 minutes duration, the final was of 20 minutes, separated by a five-minute break. Bagan took the lead through Anubrata Maity before Bibek Bhutia equalised for the Sikkim side. The hero of the day, however, was goalkeeper Saikat Das. A great fan of Oliver Khan, the custodian from Kalyani made three spectacular saves in the shootout to give Mohun Bagan the title. In the tie-breaker, Maity, Subhendu Narain Das and Tarun Sarkar scored for the winners while Sonam Lepcha and Karma Dorji Lepcha struck for Sikkim. “It is a great win,” said coach Ghosh later. “We had only three days to practice before coming here. Yet we outplayed all the teams.” The players will be felicitated at a function in Calcutta on July 29, said a senior Bagan official.