Kolkata is going to eyewitness the most awaited
season’s first derby between Mohun Bagan & East Bengal at Salt Lake stadium
tomorrow in the 10th round encounter of I-League. This derby means a
lot for the Bengalis, heavily merged with the Bengali sentiments, known as the
eternal rivalry between the two Bengali communities “Ghoti” & “Bangal”.
This prestigious derby is almost like the mega festival of Bengali culture like
“Durga Puja”, every Bengalis wait eagerly throughout the entire season for
watching those two sides clashing against each other in the ground. Undoubtedly
this is the biggest football derby of the country, known as the Indian version
of “El Classico” & of course this is counted as one of the biggest derby of
the world also, the crazyness regarding that derby can easily be compared with
few best derbies of the world in the likes of Boca Juniors vs Riverplate,
Barcelona vs Real Madrid, Man Utd vs Man City & AC Milan vs Inter Milan
etc. FIFA has included this derby even in the list of its classic rivalries. More
than 1lakh passionate spectators will be there in the stadium to eyewitness
& shout for their sides. Regarding that match the football crazy Bengali
society completely divided into two parts, Nobody cares what the teams have
done in the season so far, everybody only want to see his team victorious at
the end of the day.
According to the current circumstance Mohun Bagan is standing far behind
than arch rival East Bengal but there is a known tradition in this derby is
which team starts from the behind always becomes victorious. Few days ago the
condition of Mohun Bagan looked like a mini hospital due to the injury of few
key players while the Red & Gold brigade is the right contender of I-League
crown just two points behind the topper Dempo & the players also are in a
superb condition to take on their arch rivals.
Meanwhile
Syed Rahim Nabi & Odafa is recovered from injury & expected will be in
the starting eleven of tomorrow, the injury of off form Eche in Mohun Bagan
defence might be proved as a disguised blessing for Karim Bencharifa.
This
is going to be the battle of two experienced foreign coaches between Moroccan
Karim Bencharifa & British James Morgan. Karim is the guy who guided Mohun
Bagan to wipe out the agony of losing 5 goals against East Bengal back to 1975
by defeating them 5-3 margin at Salt Lake stadium on 25th October
2009, one of the best glory in club’s history. Morgan managed to win all the
four derbies including one under 19 final in 2010-11 season in which year he
had taken the batton of East Bengal while in Mohun Bagan remain unbeaten since
last one year against their arch rival, managed to win twice & a match
finished in an 1 all stalemate under the supervision of Subrata Bhattacharya.
The
Green & Maroon brigade who just managed to collect 2 points from their last
3 outings will heavily depend on the Nigerian Odaga Okolie to stem the rot,
notably Odafa has a hundred percent scoring record against East Bengal in Mohun
Bagan jersey, moreover Mohun Bagan has not been lost against arch rivals during
his attachment with the club. On the other hand since last few match we have been
getting the poor condition of Mohun Bagan defence, repeatedly failed to hold
the lead, is going to be a concern for Karim Bencharifa.
While
the Red & Gold brigade is looked like an oil oiled machine since the
Federation cup, a good co-ordination between defence, midfield &
forwardline, they have conceded only one goal in this year’s I-League yet.
Morgan will also bank on the performance of three Nigerians, Okpara in central
defence, Penn Orji in the midfield & Edeh Chiddi on the forward line.
Mehtab Hossain in their midfield is doing an excellent task so according to
their current form it shouldn’t be a difficult task for them to thump their
arch rival & its compulsory for them to maintain their topper status in
league table.
In
a press meet yesterday Karim told that he has already selected his first eleven
but he didn’t confess that while Trevor Morgan might start with the same line
up he used in last few matches.
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