Barreto credit Marcos for Bagan's good show!

What sets Jose Ramirez Barreto apart from the rest of the pack in the Maidan is his sense of sharp observation — both on and off the field. Under his stewardship, Mohun Bagan have been having a dream run this season, notching up seven straight victories so far in the coveted I-League. But the 32-year-old Brazilian, modest as he always is despite his outstanding individual brilliance, refuses to solely take credit for the success story of the green-and-maroons. Although Barreto has clearly emerged as the most crucial player in Mohun Bagan’s successful run this season, he doesn’t even want to admit that his combination with Baichung Bhutia has been a key factor in pulling the team out of the rut after a disappointing start. Instead, when asked to look back at the season and the successes so far, the mercurial Barreto is these days praising another Brazilian — Marcos Pereira. “September 20 was the most important day for all of us in the team,” Barreto recounts. “We had a dream run this season, getting close to the I-League title contention, reaching the second spot, just behind Sporting Clube de Goa who are on 24 points. Now, that dream run actually began after September 20 when Marcos Pereira joined the Mohun Bagan camp.” Barreto reckons that the hardworking Marcos and his ability to consistently feed the strikers has been the turning point in Bagan’s campaign. “He was relentless, has been very hardworking, and most importantly, his ability to feed the attackers with accurate throughs in turn brought out the best in us. The most important thing is, Marcos has also successfully played the role of defensive screen whenever the opposition went into counter-attack mode,” Barreto explained. The experienced Brazilian player picked out three players who he thinks made much of the difference in terms of freely moving on the field — Bhutia, Lal Kamal Bhowmick and himself. He explained: “Baichung has been scoring fantastic goals lately and in fact that’s not something that is unexpected. As for me, I am satisfied for having been able to move freely in the attacking-third. And then there is Lal Kamal, who has been quite articulate in feeding upfront with accurate passes. He has also shown that he can play in crunch situations without taking too much pressure on himself. So, if we really manage to win the I-League title, then Marcos’ name should be on top of the list.” Terming every match of the second leg of the I-League as extremely important, Barreto picked out the encounters against East Bengal and Sporting Clube de Goa as the most crucial ones. Mohun Bagan will play Sporting Clube de Goa on February 7 and the much-awaited Kolkata Maidan derby is on February 22. “All the matches from now on are important. But specially important will be our matches against Sporting Clube de Goa and East Bengal. They are the two most important hurdles we have to overcome,” he said. Source: Express India Photo: Soumyadeb Sinha

Bagan thrash Mumbai FC!

The newbie of Indian football, Mumbai FC had taken much joy in defeating the oldest club of Indian football in the first leg of the I League in a slushy Barasat stadium. The second leg of the I League saw Bagan thrashing Mumbai FC away in Mumbai by three goals from the three strikers of Bagan, Bhaichung, Barreto, Lalampuia.

Mohun Bagan in first half measured their opponent and refrained from repeating the mistake of the first leg and slowly with time settled into the match. Bagan came close to scoring the first half a couple of times but failed to capitalise. However, in the second half Bagan looked determined to get the three points from the match and extend their I League winning tally to a staggering continuous 7 matches.

In the 73rd minute, James sent in an in-swinging centre and a flying Bhaichung side volleyed the ball into the goal.

Then in the 81st minute, Marcos put the ball long for Barreto, who ran almost half the length of the field before placing in at the second post and the Mumbai FC keeper left stranded. 2-0 for Bagan.

Bagan kept up the pressure and then in the 89th minute, Lalampuia was set up again by Marcos with a defense splitting pass and the young gun made quick run and beautifully placed the ball past the keeper. What is heartening to see this season is that Lalampuia has realised scoring goals is not always about power but placement.

Bagan continue their I League winning spree and win their 7th match in a row. Next Bagan play Air India in Mumbai.

Mohun Bagan to sign 5 foreigners!

Just when the Mohun Bagan Cricket officials declared that they were intending on signing foreigners for the ongoing JC Mukherjee Trophy, CAB was quick to reject any such ideas and even Jagmohan Dalmia himself expressed his disapproval.
But only after the Bagan officials pointed out that there are no such rules regarding whether foreigners should play in the J.C. Mukherjee trophy or not, and so CAB had no immediate right to stop them and given the option, Bagan would like to play foreigners in an effort to popularize domestic cricket, and barring them from registering the foreign recruits would force Bagan to take back their name from any of the ongoing tournaments this season, CAB yielded and today has given green signal to Mohun Bagan to register their foreign recruits.

Sources say that Bagan officials are intending on signing 5 foreigners, including Chaminda Vaas and Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh captain Md. Ashraful and his countryman Ali Mortaza

Mohun Bagan cricket team registers Lankan duo!

Mohun Bagan cricket team on Monday sprang a surprise, registering high-profile Sri Lankan duo of Chaminda Vaas and Tillakaratne Dilshan for the entire season. Left arm pacer Vaas, who has been overlooked by the Sri Lankan selectors for the one-day series against Pakistan, will arrive tomorrow night to play for the ongoing JC Mukherjee Trophy Twenty20 tournament. Middle-order talented batsman Dilshan, on the other hand, will remain busy with the Pakistan tour and hence will not be available for the ongoing Twenty20 tournament. Vaas will play for Mohun Bagan from the quarterfinal of the Twenty20 tournament. Mohun Bagan's quarterfinal is on January 14 at Eastern Railway Sports Association ground. "We have registered both of them with the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) today... Having already made the quarterfinal, Mohun Bagan will have Vaas in their line-up. But, unfortuantely, Dilshan will be busy with his country committments so won't get him as of now. I spoke to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) chief Duleep Mendis who gave his consent," Mohun Bagan assistant general secretary Srinjoy Basu said. In fact, Mohun Bagan first approached Sanath Jayasuriya. "This has happened in three-four days' time. I first got in touch with Jayasuriya, who cited his unavailibilty and from him only I got the contacts of Vaas and Dilshan. They are very soft-spoken and agreed to play for us," Basu said. The duo have been signed by Mohun Bagan for the entire season and, country committments permitting, they will play club cricket, the sources said. "The two-day league, P. Sen Trophy and knock-out tournament are yet to come this season and we are hopeful of getting them provided they are free with their country committments," he added. "I am sure, their participation will revive the club cricket. If Vaas or Dilshan play here, there will be crowds and enthusiasm. Our boys will also get to learn many things playing with the experienced duo," Basu said. Mohun Bagan is skippered by Bengal batsman Manoj Tewary, while former Ranji cricketer Abdul Munayem is the coach.

Mohun Bagan face 'tall' opponents in AFC Cup!

The Federation Cup winners Mohun Bagan AC have been placed in Group D of the AFC Cup along with Syria's Al Karama, Kuwait FC and Jordan's Al Wihdat. Bagan coach Karim Benchariffa confessed that he is a bit surprised because he was hoping to draw a team or two from South East Asia. Justifie as it woul have been, because Maldives, west of India has been placed in with the South East Asian teams while, India with West Asian teams. Accodring to Fifa's current Asia football ratings, Syria is placed in 13th, Jordan 15th, Kuwait 16th while India 27th...no surprises Mohun Bagan woul be the weak-link in the group, but when it comes to Karim Bencharifa, he takes every adversity as a challenge and though accepting he is in a tough group, he promised that the team will give its best. Another concern however is that the AFC matches will be held during inbetween I league matches.

Two teams will advance from each group. Mohun Bagan will play their home matches at the Howrah Stadium.

1st Leg Schedule for Mohun Bagan

10th March> Syria Al Karama(Away)

17th March> Jordan Al Wihdat(Home)

7th April> Kuwait FC(Home)

21st April> Kuwait FC(Away)

5th May> Syria Al Karama(Home)

19th May> Jordan Al Wihdat(Away)

Bayern Munich to play at Mohun Bagan ground!

Bayern Munich is back and this time, they will play 3 exhibition matches in Kolkata, one of them being against the Police Commissioner's XI, comprised of players from Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Mohd. Sporting at the historic Mohun Bagan ground. Mohun Bagan ground has over the ages received much praise for its unmatche quality compared to the other grouns in the city and now Bayern will set foot on the Bagan turf a month after Maradona paid a visit to the National club of India. Jamsed Nasiri has been appointed as the coach of the Police Commissioner's XI.

Buchanan witness Mohun Bagan - East Bengal rivalry wrath!

Last weekend John Buchanan got a taste of Mohun Bagan- East Bengal's bitter age-old rivalry when the veteran coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, on a trip to city, witnessed a scuffle between the two sides at a CAB First Division League match.Players and officials of both the teams including Bengal players Manoj Tiwary and Ritam Kundu exchanged blows during a match at the Eden Gardens in front of Buchanan who had gone to the stadium to see performance of both sides. Buchanan is on a six-day visit to the city for the IPL team's talent search programme that starts from today. Trouble began when East Bengal&aposs Ritam Porel (20) was bowled by Bagan's Ritam Kundu in the 73rd over. Porel, taking his own time to walk out, got a mouthful from Bagan skipper Tiwary. As Porel hurled back, a mayhem followed as officials and supporters of the two teams rushed to the ground and a brawl ensued. There was pushing and shoving as the area in front of the dressing room turned into a virtual battlefield. The former Aussie coach was apparently not pleased with the happenings but refused to comment on the incident. Trying to play down the incident, CAB Joint Secretary Arun Mitra said,"I have cautioned Tiwary and Porel and the matter is being sorted out." For the on-field umpires, Aditya Mukherjee and Supriyo Sarkar, however, none of the players"did cross the limit"as they made it clear the issue will not figure in their reports. East Bengal posted 310 for six in 85 overs with Saunak Das scoring 83. Mohun Bagan on the next day posted 280 for six wickets and the match was a draw. However, the following day saw the continuation of drama as with the match drawing to a close, East Bengal officials and supporters pounced on thier Mohun Bagan counterparts. East Bengal officials and supporters entered the Bagan dressing room.

Reluctant Mohun Bagan forces organisers to postpone IFA Shield

Mohun Bagan’s reluctance to play in the IFA Shield in order to preserve their players for the second phase of I-League has led to one of the oldest football tournaments in the world to be postponed for the time being. In their executive body meeting on Tuesday, the Indian Football Association rescheduled the IFA Shield for the 2008-09 season — initially supposed to kick off on January 5 — to July. That would, in effect, mean the tournament acts as a precursor to the 2009-10 season. Though IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly claimed that uncertainty over police arrangements was the prime reason behind the decision, the fact remains that, without Mohun Bagan, the tournament would have lost a large part of its glamour. Ganguly said that playing IFA Shield matches at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan and Barasat Stadium would have been a huge problem, as the state police would be busy managing the Gangasagar pilgrimage between January 8 and 18. He, however, couldn’t come up with a satisfactory answer when asked as to why the Mohun Bagan ground and the Howrah Stadium were not chosen to host the matches instead.

In fact, the fate of the tournament had been in jeopardy ever since Mohun Bagan showed their reluctance to play. The Bagan management and coach have repeatedly said that they want their players fresh for the second phase of the I-League, and that they would like to give their players adequate time to rest and recuperate after the completion of the first phase. The IFA, though, had maintained that the green-and-maroons would change their decision and agree to play in the tournament, but that did not happen. As a result, the tournament itself had to be rescheduled. The decision to postpone the event has also meant that the IFA runs the risk of losing almost Rs 75 lakhs from TV rights. Troubled past The IFA Shield is the fourth oldest club competition in the world, begun in 1893. The tournament has been cancelled twice before — in 1980 after 16 people died during a Mohun Bagan-East Bengal league match, and then in 1992, when the tournament was cancelled after the first match as communal riots broke out in the wake of the Babri Masjid demolition. But while the previous incidents merited cancellation, the situation is completely normal this time. Which only makes the decision more questionable.