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News in detail |
A BRACE FROM BARRETO HELPS MARINERS BLANK OUT AIR INDIA 4-0
Kolkata ,
17-Apr, 2010 :
Mohun Bagan beat Air India 4-0 in an I league match held in Salt Lake Stadium today. Barreto scored a brace while Marcos and Sueoka netted one each for Mariners. Of note, in the first league match, Mohun Bagan defeated Air India 5-0, Barreto scored 4 goals in that match.
In the last couple of weeks, there was a lot of criticism towards Barreto from a section of media and supporters. They do not realize the basic fact that in any sports it is not possible to perform on a consistent basis. There may be few matches where nothing goes right for a player, this has happened to many great players in the past. A player like Beckham had blasted a penalty way over the crossbar which is perhaps considered the worst penalty taken by any player ever. Even strikers like Ronaldo, Messi has failed to convert easy opportunities.
However, the officials of Mohun Bagan club stood besides him and gave him strong support. The club’s executive committee, which met on Friday, rallied behind Barreto and insisted that they want to retain him in the next season also. They also sent a letter to Barreto regarding this.
Finance Secretary, Debasish Dutta, went to Barreto's house yesterday and spent 3 hours there. Mr. Dutta said to us today, "There is no question regarding the ability of Barreto. We gave him full support yesterday to give him confidence before today's match. Every player can pass through a bad phase and see how Barreto scored today. He was playing well in the other matches, but just was not able to score goals."
Even a fan club of Mohun Bagan, Sabuj Maroon Swapno, came forward and organized a signature campaign and asked members and supporters to sign to show trust in Barreto. They got overwhelming response and handed over the petition to the Brazilian after yesterday's practice session. This surely has motivated Barreto after he got full support from officials and most of the members and supporters of the club.
Barreto today said after the match, "Nothing was going right for me in the last few matches though I was trying hard to score. The ball was just not going inside the goal, either goalkeeper was making a good save or some defender was clearing the ball from goalline. I have absolutely no problem with my fitness. Majority of the supporters were with me, I thank them for giving me good support. It gave me good confidence to perform even better. I knew that I was passing through a temporary bad phase."
Coming back to today's match, Biswajit Bhattacharjee made few changes in the starting lineup. He brought in Shilton, Zenith, Dipak, Manish in place of Sangram, Surkumar, Rakesh and Micky in the first XI.
Mohun Bagan right from the start were fluent in attack and dominated the proceedings throughout the match. In the very first minute, Sueoka made a good run and from his cross, goalkeeper fisted the ball out before Chidi could get his head to the ball. In the 4th minute, Manish gave a through pass towards Barreto, who made a superb run but his placement went across the face of the goal.
Sueoka opened the scoreline in the 6th minute. He made a stupendous down-the-middle run, went past one player and unleashed a shot from outside the box that beat Arnab and went to back of the net. After scoring the goal, Sueoka pointed to his jersey and showed it towards the media box. There was an allegation made again by a section of stupid media that since he was brought by ex coach Karim Bencharifa to Mohun Bagan club, that after the latter's exit, the Japanese player was not performing well. Sueoka proved them wrong by not only scoring a gem of a goal but also performed very well, first as right half and then in attacking medio position. Like Chidi, Sueoka also has scored and given a tight slap on the face of the critics.
Barreto made two great runs down the left, dodged past players in both occasions, but from his cross, first time Sueoka tried to dribble past the last man but the ball got cleared and in the second move Arnab made a stunning save when he fisted Chidi's head out for corner.
Air India made their first positive attack in the 15th minute. A forward pass meant for Opara was brilliantly cleared by Shilton coming out of charge. The clearance had such power that the ball went directly to Chidi near Air India box, who carried the ball to the box and passed it to Barreto, but defence made a timely interception.
In the 21st minute, Mohun Bagan got a direct free kick when Chidi was fouled outside the box. Marcos repeated his act of the Lajong match, as he curled the ball inside goal, with Arnab stranded in the goalline.
Manish also performed well today along with Marcos and helped to stabilize the midfield. From Sueoka's pass, Manish took a shot from about 15 yards out, but the ball just went out.
Also, coach Biswajit opted for a very interesting strategy. He asked the side backs not to overlap much and this certainly helped to strengthen the defence. Also this was one of the very few matches when Mohun Bagan coach got the option of using the pair of Dipak and Manju in stopper position, and they were rock solid in defence today. However, against run of play in the 35th minute, from Kailash's cross, Opara made a flying head but the ball went out, it was a narrow escape for Mohun Bagan goal.
Barreto continued with his good form when he took a left footed shot after going past 2 players, but the ball deflected out for corner. Just at the stroke of half time, Barreto was again in the thick of action as from his backheel pass, Sueoka delivered a cross from right side but Chidi's head went over the target.
Just after the lemon break, Mariners made an identical move, only this time Ishfaq sent a cross from Barreto's pass, but Chidi's head once again just went over.
In the 60th minute, Chidi paved the way for the 3rd goal. He made a solo run from left side, entered the box and as he was falling down while losing balance, sent a gem of a pass towards unmarked Barreto, who put the ball inside goal without any mistake via his left foot.
Chidi played his heart out but somehow could not put his name in the scoring sheet today. He took quite a few shots but either they got deflected out for corner or narrowly missed the target.
Coach Biswajit made the first change in the 65th minute bringing on Snehasish in place of Ishfaq. In the next minute, from Chidi's pass, Manish's grounder went out.
Barreto scored his 2nd and team's 4th goal of the match in the 69th minute. Getting the ball from Sueoka, Barreto took a shot from outside box that took a turn in the air and went to back of the net, Arnab had absolutely no chance to save the ball. This was surely the best goal of the match.
In the 71st minute, Shilton made a very good save by coming out of charge and made no mistake to gather the ball by leaping up in the air.
Mariners brought in James in place of Manish in the 76th minute. James went to right half while Sueoka changed position and played in central
medio.
Air India tried to press towards the closing stages of the game with more focus but Mohun Bagan defence played well and foiled all the moves. Suresh and Henry took long ranger shots but both went over the barpost.
Barreto was unlucky twice to miss his hattrick towards the fag end of the match. Firstly, he entered the box from right side, but while he tried to dribble past goalkeeper, the ball got cleared. In the next minute, he got a through from midfield, got past 1 defender and even brilliantly went past goalkeeper, but Uttam made a goalline save and denied Barreto from scoring.
Barreto was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant performance today. Mohun Bagan right now has 29 points from 20 matches.
After the match, Biswajit said, "We were playing well, but somehow was not able to win matches, today everything went right in our favour and we won by a comprehensive margin. We will have to continue with this performance."
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| Match Highlights |
| Result - Mohun Bagan :
4 - 0 : Air India |
| Team |
Shilton Paul,
Ryuji Sueoka,
Manish Maithani,
Marcos Alexandro de Carvalho Pereira,
Ishfaq Ahmed (CAPTAIN),
Biswajit Saha,
Zenith Mashangva,
N. S. Manju,
Deepak Mondal,
Chidi Edeh,
Jose Ramirez Barreto,
|
| Replacements |
Ishfaq Ahmed (CAPTAIN)
, ( out - 65),
Manish Maithani
, ( out - 76),
Snehasish Chakraborty
, ( in - 65),
Lukram James Singh
, ( in - 76), |
| MB Goals |
Ryuji Sueoka ( 6 min ), Marcos Alexandro de Carvalho Pereira ( 21 min ), Jose Ramirez Barreto ( 60 min ), Jose Ramirez Barreto ( 69 min ), |
| Opp Goals |
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| MB Cards |
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| MB MoM |
Jose Ramirez Barreto |
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