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News in detail |
MARINERS BEAT MAHINDRA IN COOPERAGE WITHOUT 7 KEY PLAYERS
Kolkata ,
21-Jan, 2010 : Mohun Bagan beat Mahindra United today 2-1 in an away match in I league. After today's win, Mohun Bagan reached 2nd position in the league table with 20 points. Mahindra, who also has 20 points, remains in the top position due to better goal difference. This was Mohun Bagan's 3rd successive win against Mahindra United this year.
Mohun Bagan kept their unbeaten record in the away matches while for Mahindra this was the first loss in this year's I league.
This was an outstanding win for Mariners, keeping in mind that they did not get the service of 7 key players. Before the match, Debasish Dutta had jokingly said, "Out of the 6 crore team, players worth 4 crore are injured and right now we are playing with only 2 crore team."
However, Karim Bencharifa, had got his reserve bench ready and he has kept all the 35 players in the squad match fit, and that is why every player is performing. Another important thing is that coach has prepared his players position wise, there are almost 2-3 players ready in each position with few players who can play in multiple positions like Sueoka. After using him tactically in right half position in Churchill match, Karim used him in striker position along with Barreto in the two matches in Mumbai.
To sum up the game, Mahindra played well for first 30 minutes, after that it was one way traffic with Mohun Bagan getting chances, missing few and ultimately scoring 2 to get full 3 points.
Coach made one change in his starting lineup from the last match, bringing on Tomba in place of James who got injured in the last match and was not fit enough to last 90 minutes today.
Mohun Bagan got a free kick in the 2nd minute but Marcos' shot went straight to Subhasish. However, Mahindra took the lead in 9th minute when from Steven's cross from right flank, Rafi headed the ball in.
Mohun Bagan had a lucky escape in 15th minute. Steven's free kick from right side saw Muritala's header hit upper portion of crossbar and went out.
Mohun Bagan played cautious football in 1st half and got their first chance in 32nd minute when Ishfaq sent in a brilliant cross to unmarked Barreto whose shot went straight to Subhashish, with the goalkeeper at his mercy.
Barreto, however, attempted two great shots from outside the box around the 40th minute mark, but once the ball narrowly missed target and in the next attempt it got deflected off a defender.
In injury time of the first half, Barreto's shot from Sueoka pass went sailing over crossbar.
One change from Karim Bencharifa changed the complexion of the game in 52nd minute when he replaced Tomba Singh with James Singh. Mohun Bagan dominated the game from then on. Within minutes of the substitution, Mariners earned two back-to-back corners but Mahindra defence was alert enough to clear the ball.
Ultimately it was Barreto who paved the way for the equalizing goal in 58th minute. Ishfaq sent a neat cross from the flanks to Barreto who unleashed a stinging right footed shot towards goal from outside box which was saved by Subhasish diving to his right, Marcos nicely followed the ball to push it inside empty goal making the scoreline 1-1.
Mohun Bagan could have scored their 2nd goal in 64th minute, but this time Marcos was unlucky to miss an absolute sitter of a goal. James crossed from right which Sueoka leaped up nicely to head the ball, it was going in, but Subhashish made a good save, the loose ball went to Kuluthungan in left flank, who from there sent in a delightful cross to unmarked Marcos, who totally miscued the ball.
Other than the miss, Marcos had a brilliant game today. Kuluthungan was a little shaky in first half but played well after the break. Ishfaq continued with his good performance in the left flank and he did not allow Steven much free space during the game.
Though Barreto missed one chance, but he played really well and created few good moves and also took at least 4-5 shots towards goal. Sueoka paired nicely with Barreto and scored the winning goal for Mariners.
Mohun Bagan took the lead in 76th minute when Biswajit delivered a perfect cross from left side, Sueoka made an absolutely stunning spot jump to meet the ball with his head. Subhasish attempted to save the ball, but it went to the back of the net after hitting his hand.
Mahindra put some pressure in the last 10 minutes and Shilton made a very good save in 85th minute. From Steven's free kick, Ravanan headed the ball which Shilton saved by his outstretched hands.
Mandi, Azim, Biswajit and Surkumar were rock solid in defence today and it seems that in the absence of the 3 national team players, Karim has nicely prepared his defence lineup which consists of 3 young players, 2 of whom are playing their first I league, and the way they are performing, Dipak, Manju and Mohanraj will find it hard to find their place in the starting XI.
Ryuji Sueoka who was the best player for Mohun Bagan was rightly adjudged Man of the Match. It could have gone to Barreto or Marcos also.
Surkumar was shown yellow card today and will miss the next match against Salgaokar.
Mohun Bagan will return to Kolkata tomorrow and will again leave for Goa on 26th to play their next away match against Salgaokar on 28th January. The players who played in both matches in Mumbai will have rest day on Saturday and Sunday and will join practice at 10.30 p.m. on Monday. The other players will have practice session at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning with Sunday being off. On Monday, there is a practice match at 9 a.m. for them and they will report to practice at 8.30 a.m. The practice match will be held mainly to assess the match fitness of the injured players like Manju, Manish etc.
After the match, we had a talk with Karim. He said, "It is a very satisfying win for us. Mahindra played well for initial part of the match, after that we completely dominated the proceedings and our performance even got better in 2nd half. The defenders are really performing well and Sueoka was outstanding today. Actually it was a great team performance by the boys. Remember that we did not have 7-8 key players of our team."
We had a chat with Ishfaq over the phone.
Congrats Ishfaq on winning Mahindra match. You are back to form from Federation Cup.
Ishfaq: Actually, you see, I don't think I was out of form. I was playing behind striker in few matches, and I found it a little hard to adjust in that position, but then when coach asked me to play in the left half again, I started performing well. Of course, ultimately it is the decision of coach where he will use me, and I try my level best to perform in all positions.
Did coach assign you some extra role today to stop the runs of Steven Dias?
Ishfaq: Yes, coach gave me some extra responsibility today which I think I did nicely. Only in the first half, Steven delivered 2 good crosses and one of them was converted to a goal. I should have done better in this case to stop Steven from crossing the ball. In 2nd half, Steven could not play his natural game.
You also provided few good passes to strikers.
Ishfaq: Yeah, it is my job to give passes from left half. That is my natural game and I try to do that perfectly. In first half, unluckily Barreto missed one chance from my pass, and then the equalizing goal came from my cross to Barreto.
Do you think Mohun Bagan are back in the run to be Champions.
Ishfaq: I don't think Mohun Bagan was out of the race. This is a marathon league and still lot of matches need to be played. We have to continue performing well.
Best of luck for the next match Ishfaq.
Thanks a lot.
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| Match Highlights |
| Result - Mohun Bagan :
2 - 1 : Mahindra |
| Team |
Shilton Paul,
Marcos Alexandro de Carvalho Pereira,
Kuluthungan,
Tomba Singh,
Ishfaq Ahmed (CAPTAIN),
Ryuji Sueoka,
Surkumar Singh,
Biswajit Saha,
Sagram Mandi,
Seikh Azim,
Jose Ramirez Barreto,
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| Replacements |
Tomba Singh
, ( out - 52),
Lukram James Singh
, ( in - 52), |
| MB Goals |
Marcos Alexandro de Carvalho Pereira ( 58 min ), Ryuji Sueoka ( 76 min ), |
| Opp Goals |
Md. Rafi ( 9 min ), |
| MB Cards |
Surkumar Singh ( 72 min - Booked) , |
| MB MoM |
Ryuji Sueoka |
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