Mohun Bagan got past Dempo by 2-1 margin in their crucial I-League tie.

Mohun Bagan has won their I-League encounter against Dempo by 2-1 margin. Rahim Nabi scored the first goal in the 6^th minute of the game, Odafa extended the lead in the 47^th minute,

Peter Carvalho for Dempo minimized the deficit just after 3 minutes.

         Following their last match against Lajong FC which was ended in a 2 all stalemate this became a do or die battle for Mohun Bagan, 3 points were compulsory for them to survive from relegation on the other hand defending champion Dempo have been going through a rough patch, they had lost their last match against Pune FC by 2-0 margin.

         The visitors had missed few of their first eleven players due to injury concern in the likes of experienced pro Mahesh Gawli, Ryouji Sueka & Subhasish Raichoudary under their goal.

            While Karim Bencharifa got a full fit line up, started with 4-3-3 formation, keeping Odafa, Tolgay & Sabeeth in the

upfront from the beginning.

          However it took only 6 minutes for Mohun Bagan to take the crucial lead. Tolgay received a ball from Odafa in the left side, passed it to Sabeeth who lobbed the ball into the centre on Nabi’s head who guided the ball into the net.

          Odafa could have doubled the lead in the 16^th minute after getting a free ball from Sabeeth, taken a shot which gone over the post.

        Manish Maithani failed to get rid of Dempo custodian Kuttimani alone from a one is to one position in the 27^th minute.

        Just after that Anthony Perera of Dempo got their first positive chance to score from the ride side of the box, failed to find the net.

         Both the sides had their chances in the remaining first half but both of them failed to utilize, Mohun Bagan ended the first half with 1-0 lead.

      Mohun Bagan got their second goal just after the restart of the game, as Nabi ran through the centre, released the ball to

Odafa who didn’t make any mess to guide it inside the net getting past a Dempo defender who failed to intercept the ball.

         When it looked all over for Dempo then Antony Pereira gave them a lifeline by scoring the solitary goal for Dempo in the 50th minute of the game.

        In later Karim brought Quinton Jacobs in the place of Tolgay, which became actually a valuable change for Mohun Bagan, Quinton has taken the entire control of the midfield which didn’t allow Dempo to get rid of. He sent few beautiful goal bound passes to Odafa & Sabeeth but they failed to utilize all those or else the scoreline could have been different.

         On the other hand the visitors also had couple of missed opportunities.

         From this victory Mohun Bagan has reached to 13 points with 8 games in their hand yet while Dempo remained 35 points after 22 round.

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Prayag United won the 117th IFA Shield riding on Ranti Martins' shoulder.

         Prayag United has won the 117^th edition of IFA Shield beating, another Kolkata giant East Bengal in the final of the tournament by a solitary goal margin at Salt Lake stadium yesterday evening. Ranti Martins scored the decider in the 78^th minute of the game. Ranti Martins is nominated the “man of the match” for his excellent performance.

        This is the maiden IFA Shield victory for Prayag United in the history of IFA Shield on the other hand East Bengal kept their tradition intact of losing in the final by beating arch-rival Mohun Bagan in the semifinal & after 1971 anytime apart from Mohun Bagan & East Bengal from Kolkata became the victorious.

       These same two sides met in the last year’s IFA Shield final where East Bengal became the victorious by beating Prayag by tie-breaker shoot-out. Eventually these two sides met in the group league encounter of this tournament even where East Bengal easily managed to win against the same opponents by 2-0 margin.

        Due to the injury of Chhidi, Trevor James Morgan started with Andrew Borisich from the beginning. In the other hand Prayag also had few injury problems, missed two of their key players CK Vineeth & Dhancahandra Singh.

         Battle became equivalent in the first half, though both the sides had their chances failed to convert opportunities. Neither side could found the net in first half, match ended in a goalless stalemate.

         We got a different Prayag United side after restart of the game while East Bengal started to lost their control from the match.

         Carlos Hernandez was brilliant during the entire second half, tested several times East Bengal custodian Gurpree Singh Sandhu from long rangers. It was only Gurpreet who saved the agony for red & gold brigade or else the purple brigade could have scored few more.

           However the decider came in the 78^th minute of the game while substituted Malswama Tluanga delivered a long ball to Ranti Martins from midfield & Ranti didn’t make any mess to guide past the ball upcoming Gurpreet to net.

        In later Morgan had brought injured Chiddi & Bhasum, they also created a good chance but only due to Belo Rasaq & Dipak Mondal in Prayag defence they failed to do anything more.

        Belo Rasaq & Dipak Mondal remained instrumental in the Prayag Defence throughout the match alongwith Carlos Hernandez in their midfield.

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East Bengal sailed into the final of IFA Shield beating mighty rival Mohun Bagan.

 Safehands of East Bengal custodian Gurprees Singh Sandhu guided East Bengal into the final of IFA Shield by beating arch rivals Mohun Bagan in semifinal by tie-breaker 4-2 margin  following an 1 all stalemate in scheduled 90 minutes & followed by extended extra time in a tremendously contested match where both the teams have played their part.

         CS Sabeeth put Mohun Bagan ahead in the 46^th minute, substituted Andrew Borisich leveled it for East Bengal only 2 minutes to remain, none of them manage to make a mark in added extra time which guided the match towards tie-breaker shoot out where East Bengal netted 4 while Mohun Bagan managed only 2.

         The match started in an electrifying atmosphere under floodlight, almost 70,000 people attended in the ground to cheer for their side. A 5 minutes drizzle just before the kick off reduced the humidity also, made environment suitable for good football.

        Both the team started in cautious fashion, started to measure each other, in between East Bengal got two clear chances within 10 minutes of the game, Mehtab & Ralte had taken the control of the midfield, Chhidi created couple of chances which they failed to convert.

              Mohun Bagan also started to counter after 30 minutes courtesy Odafa who placed a million dollar pass for CS Sabeeth in the dying moments of the first half which Sabeeth failed to convert form one is to one, first half ended in a goalless stalemate.

           Mohun Bagan got their goal in the very first minute just after the kick off of second half, Nirmal Chhetri released a long ball to Odafa who trapped it in his chest & guided to unmarked Sabeeth who didn’t have any way apart from placing that ball inside the opponent net which put Mohun Bagan 1-0 ahead.

          It looked Mohun Bagan side complete got inspired by that goal, started to play a different kind of football by vanishing the opponents out from the pitch, that time East Bengal lost entire control of the match, but only due to the lack of scoring abilities of Sabeeth, Mohun Bagan failed to score few more goals on that time.  

          James Morgan of East Bengal introduced newly recruited Australian, Andrew Borisich in the place of Penn Orji & Bhasum in the place of Robin Singh in the 70^th minute of the game which actually became the gamechanger move by East Bengal.

           In the other hand Karim Bencharifa had introduced Manish Bhargab & Tolgay in the place of Denson Devdas & Quinton Jacobs which actually shut the co-ordination between midfield & forwardline of Mohun Bagan.

         East Bengal had utilized the entire advantage courtesy Andrew Borisich who restored the parity for the red & gold side by firing the ball inside the net from top of the box following an excellent pass from right side by Sanju Pradhan only 2 minutes to remain in the scheduled time. The game ended in 1 all stalemate after 90 minutes.

           Most of the parts of extra time was dominated by East Bengal but failed to seal the deal while East Bengal custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made an excellent full stretched diving save of a free-kick taken by Odafa from 45 yards away which guided the match into the tie-breaker.

            Chiddi scored the first for East Bengal while Odafa only found the safe hands of the East Bengal custodian Gurpreet which actually demoralized the followers. Barisich netted the second also for East Bengal while Nirmal Chhetri ballooned away the ball only for Mohun Bagan which almost secured the destiny on East Bengal’s behalf. Sanju & Baljit also scored while Naoba made a mess for East Bengal. On the other hand Jewel & Aibor converted their stroke into the net for Mohun Bagan.

          Now East Bengal will face another Kolkata giant Prayag United in the final of IFA Shield at the same ground on 19^th March.

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Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal, A Mouthful Of Clash In The Historical IFA Shield Semifinal.

Kolkata peoples are going to have an extra bonanza on Saturday while the two Kolkata giants will clash with eachother in the second semifinal of historical IFA Shield on Sunday evening at Salt Lake stadium Kolkata.

         If our country becomes a symbolic example of unity in diversity then of course Kolkata derby should be explained as a catalyst of diversity in unity which breaks entire Bengali families into two parts.

         Eventually this is going to be their third meeting in this football season but last two meetings were in I-League where win or lose was not compulsory but this time its knock out so one team has to be eliminated at the end of the game.

          First time since 2010 Federation Cup final these two sides are clashing in any kind of knock out stage, lasttime in 2010 East Bengal became the victorious by a solitary goal margin scored by Bhasum, few controversies were raised due to a rejection of Asim Biswas’ goal by referee. In 2011 these two sides met in an Under 19 tournament final where East Bengal also crowned the winner by tie-breaker following a 3 all stalemate.

           The IFA Shield might have lost its entire glamour but it has a historical past bonding with Mohun Bagan club, in IFA Shield’s history Mohun Bagan is the first Indian club to win it by beating any foreign club. Mohun Bagan club is bearer of the glorious past while they had beaten the British side East York Regiment in the final of 1911 IFA Shield which is actually counted the first win against the British empire during the British dominated pre independence period, it is also counted as the turning point during British era which actually lit & evoked the spirit amongst Indian freedom fighters that they can also beat the British.

            We have seen first encounter of this season ended in an ugly note, violence erupted inside the ground due to a needless red card shown to Mohun Bagan captain Odafa Okolie by referee Bishnu Chouhan, the match was abandoned while the Green & Maroon brigade refused to restart the match after half time regarding the heavy fan fury of Kolkata crowd.  In later East Bengal declared 3-0 winner on that abandoned derby & awarded entire 3 points for that match.

         The second derby of this season ended in a goalless stalemate.

         So following last two results there is a huge interest regarding this derby has grown up inside the Kolkata crowd.

        East Bengal side looking heavily balanced before this derby, they are currently in the run of I-League silverware. They have just made a goalless draw in their AFC Cup group league away outing against Vietnam side Sai Gon Xuan Thanh FC.

       The entire red & gold brigade is in a very good condition in the stewardship of Trevor James Morgan who has guided the side in the Federation Cup victory in the beginning of the season & sailing towards the most valuable crown of the country I-League.

         On the other hand since last two years Mohun Bagan didn’t have any success, they failed to win any crown in any kind of competition so they are desperately preparing themselves for having that trophy atleast.

They have very good record under the newly appointed  Karim Bencharifa also, prior to their defeat to Costa Rican side Deportivo Sapprisa in IFA Shield they were in a sting of 10 match unbeaten in all kind of competitions under the supervision of Karim.

        It’s going to be the battle between the prolific forwradline of Mohun Bagan comprises of Odafa, Tolgay & Sabeeth & the well composed defenceline of East Bengal comprises of Okpara, Gurwinder & Raju Gaekwad.

           Meanwhile Mehtab Mondal who is returning after playing his office game will lead  the midfield of East Bengal with the support of Penn Orji & Lalrindika Ralte while Robin Singh & Edeh Chiddih will lead their attacks in the upfront.

         Whether Mohun Bagan team is concern Mehraj, Aibar & Nirmal Chhetri will start in defence, Jewel, Denson & Manish Mathani alongwith Quinton Jacobs will start in midfield while Odafa & Sabeeth will lead the upfront, Tolgay can be introduced later as a substitute.

        Both the sides are going to miss few key players due to injury problem, Mohun Bagan will miss Snehasih & Rahim Nabi due to injury while East Bengal will also miss Arnab Mondal in their defence.

          Santosh Kumar of kerela is going to be tipped with the whistle blower for tomorrow’s match. Kick off time is 5-30pm IST.

                The winners of this match will clash with Prayag United in the final on 20^th March.

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