Historical Maracana is going to open on 2nd June 2013 after a complete refurbishment.

View of Maracana after renovation

         The largest stadium of the world Maracana is going to open on 2^nd June after renovation for the upcoming mega tournaments Confederation cup 2013 & World Cup 2014.

        Brazil will take on England in a friendly on 2^nd June in the inaugural match after refurbishment of the stadium.

Inside view of Maracana

        By this demolition and reconstruction of the lower seats, the stadium’s capacity will be reduced by a large number of seats. In 1950, the stadium supported a huge capacity of 150,000 and after renovation it will be able to accommodate 83,400 spectators. There would be few other changes according to FIFA’s guideline there would be several exit passages which will evacuate this giant stadium within 8 minutes only which used to take a catwalk of 40 minutes before.

        The Rio de Janeiro Tourism, Sports and Leisure Department decided to paint the stadium back to its original color, gray. They are trying to bring back its original look of 1950.

         According to FIFA’s guideline its necessary to have a larger parking spaces which can accommodate parking space of a single car for six spectators. That’s why stadium authority are constructing a huge space of parking by demolishing Julio Delamare and Celio de Barros sports complexes.

Internal view of Maracana stadium.

         The original name of the Maracana stadium is Estadio Journalista Mario Filho situated in the heart of Rio-de-Janeiro, Brazil. It was founded in 1950 for hosting the World Cup in Brazil then it had the capacity of more than 1,50,000 peoples. The official paid attendance of spectators during 1950 FIFA World Cup final between Brazil & Uruguay at Maracana is 1,99,854 which is the all time record in the history of any kind of football match.

         Maracana is the colossus of modern architecture which has noticed so many historical moments in the history of world football. The stadium was renovated in 2006 once.

         This historical stadium is the pride & glory of Brazil which has eyewitnessed so many memorable histories. After a gap of two back to editions of 1942 & 1946 due to second world war the FIFA World Cup has once again started its mega journey here in 1950 while it hosted the inaugural match of 1950.

       There are some sad memories are involved with this stadium also. As a host nation Brazil lost in the Jule Rimet trophy final which currently known as FIFA World Cup against Uruguay by 1-2 margin in the deciding match of the four-team final group (this was the only tournament not decided by a one-match final).

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Churchill Brothers continue their dream run by derailing East Bengal.

        Churchill Brothers continue their dream run hammering East Bengal by a clear 3-0 margin at Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata today. Hendry Antchouet scored a brace in the 32^nd & the added injury time of the first half while Akram Mograbi scored the third in the 83^rd minute of the match.

          All eyes were set towards this high voltage encounter of this I-League.

           It was the battle between the two best teams of this I-League according to two different perspectives, prior to this match Churchill Brothers scored the most number of goals by scoring 37^th in this I-League so far while East Bengal is the side who has conceded the less number of goals only six so far.

            It was also the battle between two masterminds East Bengal coach James Morgan & technical director of Churchill Brothers Subhas Bhowmik. Regarding this season’s performance Morgan started a bit of ahead against his counterpart while Morgan won both two occasions in their previous meetings first in Federation cup semifinal & second in the first leg encounter of this I-League.

         Morgan started with 4-4-2 formation, he tried to go allout from the beginning by introducing Robert instead of Saumik Dey & Larindika Ralte instead of Naoba Singh in his starting line up.

           While  Subhas Bhowmik started with a 3-5-2 formation surprisingly keeping his main weapon Lebanon’s striker Akram Mograbi out of the starting line up, instead of Akram he introduced Hendri in his first eleven which strategy became quiet fruitful for him later.

           It was East Bengal who started to attack while Lalrindika Ralte's shot just rebounded of the wall and when the ball is played back in the offside flag went up by assistant referee in the 12^th minute of the game.

             In the 16th minute Arnab Mondal made a clear handball while trying to clear a corner taken by Steven Dias, the visitors started to appeal for the penalty but referee denied them this time.

            In the 34^th minute Hendri scored the first goal for the visitors following a free-kick taken by Steven Dias which was initially saved by the East Bengal custodian Abhijeet Mondal.

In the injury time of the first half Hendri scored the second following a great through ball from Leni Rodriguez from right side.

            East Bengal started to counter from the beginning of the second half but repeatedly blocked by Raju Yumnam, Bilal & Sandip Nandy in the opponent defence. Sometimes they looked lack of penetration in their attacking third.

           In the 79^th minute of the game Subhas Bhowmik introduced Akram in the place of Hendri which once again worked in his fore.

           Akram scored the third for his side & sealed the match following a skimming free-kick from the right taken by Beto himself, during that goal East Bengal defence remain standstill rather blocking it out.

            Throughout the match if we go through we will get that during his two goals Hendri never tried to fire sitters instead of that he brilliantly just tried to direction of the ball swiftly towards the net.

           The visitors custodian Sandeep Nandy has show his efficiency against his former teammates, he remain unbeaten throughout the game, worked like a fortress in the last line of defence, whatever went towards his side blocked by his safehands, he didn’t allow a single ball to get pass him in any kind of circumstance during the match today.

           Subahs Bhowmik alongwith the entire Churchill Brothers side have taken the sweet revenge with interest keep reminding their first leg home defeat against the same opponents in the same margin. Eventually it’s Churchill Brothers straight ninth win in a row in this I-League.

           From here we can say that East Bengal is clearly derailed from this I-League track. They remain 33 points after 17^th round while Churchill reached to 37 points from 15 matches which puts them one step ahead to this I-League crown.

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Suspension of Mohun Bagan has been removed by AIFF

           Suspension of Mohun Bagan has been removed on the expense of a huge amount of rupees 2 crore fine  by AIFF in a executive committee meeting chaired by the honorable  AIFF president Mr. Prafulla Patel at Udyog Bhawan today.

             East Bengal declared 3-0 winner on that abandoned derby & awarded entire 3 points for that match. All the points obtained by Mohun Bagan till 9^th December are taken away by AIFF it means after 10^th round Mohun Bagan has to start without a single point having in their hand. Apart from that no officials of Mohun Bagan club can attend any kind of AIFF meeting & AIFF certified tournament with club.

              The AIFF will schedule the new fixture of Mohun Bagan soon & the green & maroon side has to pay the compensation before the kick off of  their next match in new schedule.

           Mr. Prafulla Patel told in a press conference that they reduced the quantum of the penalty viewing the long tradition of the club only & he warned this will never happen in case with any other side in any kind of circumstance, every participant clubs has to abide by the rules of AIFF recommended tournaments strictly.

           Twelfth participant clubs apart from the Federation’s own side Pailan Arrows & East Bengal submitted a petition against this suspension to AIFF lead by Pune FC’s owner  Mr. Chirag Tanna.

             Almost 20000 odd Mohun Bagan supporters lead by the member of Rajya Sabha & CEO of Channel 10 Mr. Kunal Ghosh signed another appeal to AIFF for rescuing their club from this major suspension. The Football Players Association of India alongwith lots of former India players also made a huge appeal to save this national glory.

           Finally all of them guided AIFF to flexible from their previous standing which is a good sign for Bengal football. From here Mohun Bagan will get 16 matches in hand to save their relegation.

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