Mohun Bagan hammered Salgaocar 3-0 margin, back into the contention of I-League.

        Mohun Bagan started with the 4-4-1-1 formation, with a lone striker Odafa in the upfront & Stanely played as a schemer role just in behind of the Odafa. The visitors also started with the same formation with Sean Rooney as a lone striker in the upfront.

        The home side got their first goal from a corner taken by Snehashish Chakroborty from the right side, Nirmal Chhetri headed the ball towards Denson Devdas who directed the ball towards net cleverly making two Salgaocar defenders completely full.

        Just after swallowing that goal entire Salgaocar side looked a bit of charged of, they started to compose & dominate the midfield, almost they could have their equalizer even but they might consider unlucky themselves, the Mariners custodian failed to grip a strong grounder taken by Sean Rooney, but it went past just kissing the goalpost.

       The Green & Maroon brigade got their second goal against the complete run of the play at the 19^th minute of the game. This time it’s Odafa’s turn who nested the ball right inside the net beating two of the away defenders pulling them almost from the 20yards distance outside the box.

        In the 61st minute home side scored the third courtesy Stanely & sealed the match on their fore. The Salgaocar defense shattered by a solo run by Rahim Nabi from the ride side of  the top box, when he passed the ball to Stanley beating opponent defence then Stanley didn’t have anything much to do apart from placing the ball into the net.

        After that goal the home side could have increased their lead easily but they failed to convert all those. Odafa himself singlehandedly created three more opportunities but these time the luck helped the visitors two way passed more miseries.

        Now the Mariners are moving like an well oiled machine under the supervision of stopgap coach Mridul Banerjee, since last four matches they are able to pick up 10 points out of 12 & with 12 points from total six matches yet puts them in the fifth position in the I-League table just in behind of East Bengal(14 points in 6 matches), Dempo (13 points from 6 matches), Churchill Brothers ( 12 points from 6 matches) & Prayag United ( 10 points from 5 matches), makes the situation smoother for the upcoming coach Karim Bencharifa also form here they look like they are once again back into the contender of I-League crown.

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Lionel Messi just breaks the most goalscoring record of Brazilian legend Pele in a single season.

     With his two goals against Real Mallorca lastnight Lionel Messi has just broken the most goalscoring record in a calendar year of Brazilian legend Pele. With these two goals Messi reaches in the second position in the list by scoring 76 goals for Barcelona & Argentina in 2012, breaking Pele’s 75 goals playing for Santos & Brazil in 1958. The German Legend Gerd Muller tops the list with his 85 goals in a season while playing for Bayern Munich & German national side in 1972.

         Overall 2012 is going to be a great year for the Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, not only he becomes the father of his first kid Thigao he is also in a touching distance of scoring most number of goals in a calendar year. He has won the FIFA Ballon Dior back to back third time in 2012. For breaking the record of Gerd Muller he has to score 10 more goals within 48 days, regarding his current form it has to be told scoring most number of goals in a single season is not far ahead of him.

         During these 76 goals Messi scored six braces & a hat trick for Barcelona in la liga while he scored a hat trick for Aregentina national side also against the mighty arch rival Brazil in a FIFA friendly match.

        Both the legends Pele & Muller guided their team to bag the World Cup crown in the same year or just after few years after scoring most number of goals in a single calendar year, Pele 1958, 1962 & 1970 while Gerd Muller 1974. It time to see if the God of football Lionel Messi can guide his national side in the victory stand of upcoming World Cup 2014 in Brazil or not ?

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Mohun Bagan convincingly won against Sporting Clube by 3-1 margin in their fourth round clash of I-League this season.

       Finally the Mariners are on their hunt for the I-League crown, by hammering Sporting Clube De Goa 3-1 margin at Salt Lake stadium today in the fourth round clash of I-League. Skipper Odafa Okeli scored a hat-trick for the homeside(14’, 42’, 55’) while Joseph Perea scored the controversial consolation goal for the visitors in the dying moments of the second half.

       Thorughout the entire game the Green & Maroon brigade ransacked the defence of Sporting Clube, they should have won this match more than a dozen goals margin but due to some kiddish misses they managed to win by 3-1 margin only. In the context of the result it might look like the match was quite contesting but in real the hosts should have won this match easily in 8-0 margin.

         Today the Mariners started with 4-5-1 formation with a lone striker Odafa in up front while the visitors started with 4-4-2 formation with Dawson & Victorino Fernandez in the up front, Kalu Ogaba started as a schemer from a bit of behind of his as usual position.

         The hosts started to go all out from the beginning, result to that they got a free kick just outside the top box due to a handball of Adil Khan at the 14^th minute of the game. Odafa bent the ball like David Beckham, the ball nested into the net beating full stretched diving Sporting custodian Ashok Singh, Mohun Bagan took the  1-0 lead. Dawson Fernandez got an opportunity to equalize just 2 minutes after that goal due to poor clearance of Mohun Bagan defence, but he failed to edge past host custodian Shilton Paul. In the 42^nd minute of the game the homeside occupied another corner, Adil Khan of Sporting gathered the ball in the legs of fiercing Odafa rather clearing it, Odafa didn’t make any mess to utilize it, put homeside 2-0 ahead. After that goal both the team had several chances, but due to some poor misses the score remain unchanged in the first half.

        From the beginning minutes of the second half the visitors started to do some salvage & restored the parity. Joseph Perera had a good chance of scoring but he founded the hands of Shilton only. It might have hurt the spirit of the hosts, they have awaken up just after this incident, started to attack randomly in the visitors defence, result Odafa completed his hat-trick following a through ball from Rahim Nabi in the 55^th minute of the game, it almost sealed the game in Mohun Bagan’s way.

         It looked like the floodgate is opened from there, the match looked one sided, Sporting defence only preventing the attacks, Odafa himself could have scored three more. Only the over confidence forced to swallow the only goal to the hosts in the dying moments of the game while Joseph Perera scored from a rebound, the question might arise if the ball crossed the goalline or not but the linesman was the best to judge it & he judged it a goal by raising his flag.

       Today the Mariners played the entire game in short passes, reminded us the style of Barcelona, Tiki Taka football. After a long gap we found Odafa in his known rhythm. The Flemingo Orange defence didn’t have any answer of the missile named Odafa Okeli, which actually blasted & exploited them thrice.

       It has to be told sacking Santosh Kashyap & giving the responsibility in the hand of soft spoken Mridul Banerjee is the right decision of the Mohun Bagan officials. It has brought the luck for the Mariners, Karim is yet to take the batton ahead, unless Karim takes we have to praise the works of Mridul, in his supervision the Mariners are moving like an well oiled machine, they look the real contender of I-League from here. Entire credit goes to Mridul for making united a scattered team. He utilized all his weapons in the right way & cracked the door of success before Karim’s arrival, makes the situation easier for Karim.

       With this win Mohun Bagan strongly bounced back in the I-League ladder with 6 points from 4 matches, it a marathon race so chances are wide open for the Mariners from here.

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East Bengal vs Dempo, fourth round clash of I-League, finished in a stalemate

        The clash between the current I-League champion Dempo Sc & the current Federation Cup champion East Bengal finished in an 1 all draw in Salt Lake stadium today in the fourth round of the I-League this year. Edeh Chidi put the homeside ahead from a penalty at the 31^st minute of the game, Peter Carvalho rescued Armando Colaso & co this time by scoring a delayed equalizer in the 82^nd minute. With this stalemate both the teams remain unbeaten in this I-League yet.

       It was almost 60,000 Red & Gold supporters were present in Salt Lake stadium today to cheer & eyewitness their victory but Peter Carvalho the only man who spoiled the party for them & restored the parity for the visitors.

       Without any argument currently two best side met today under the supervision of the two best coaches of the country right now. So it was all about tactics & strategy between two veteran mentors of two best sides. Regarding the previous trackrecords the Dempo boss Armando Colaso is staying far behind the East Bengal’s British coach Trevor James Morgan, in Morgan’s tenure these two sides met 8 times, the Red & Gold became remain victorious 5 times while the Blue side managed to win once only, two match finished in a stalemate. So it was a salvage time for Armando Colaso while Morgan tried to make his record more superior.

        Morgan kept his side unchanged, apart from the wounded custodian Abhijit Mondal, he started with the same wining eleven of Pune F.C match, only Abhijit is replaced by the 6 fit 2 inch Gurpreet Sing Sandhu.

         Everybody knows Armando always like to work with native boys, he always keep faith on them & he became the most successful coach of the country with working with those “Desi boys” having five I-League crown on his kitty. Noticeably Armando put the EPL star Rohan Ricketts & the sensational Joaquin Abranches out of his first eleven, he started with the most experienced campaigner Climax Lawrence in his midfield.

         The entire first half was dominated by the hosts, Mehtab & Pen Orji was leading all the attacks towards Dempo’s box. Manndeep got a very easy chance in the very early stages of the game but he failed to score from 1:1 situation, only managed to found the safe pair of hands of the Dempo custodian Subhasish Roychowdhury. Dempo started to play in very short passed during the entire first half.

          Finally Dempo defence yielded in front of the immense pressure of East Bengal attacks, veteran Mahesh Gawli failed to get rid of goal bound Naoba Singh, Mahesh tried to stop him by kicking off from the behind, referee Ajeet Meetai blew the whistle & pointed towards the spot, Chidi didn’t make any mess to convert it from the spot. There were few more occasions, East Bengal could have increased the lead but due to the safe hands of Subhasih the first half was ended in 1-0 situation in hometeam’s fore.

         Armando Colaso changed the entire strategy in the second half, we got a different Dempo from the beginning minutes of the second half, they started to play in long ball instead of short passes. They have taken three vital changes, introduced Rowlison, Joaqim & foreign recruit Rohan Rickets in the place of Mahesh Gawli, Clifford Miranda & Koko Sakibo which became fruitful for them.

         There was a genuine penalty when Ryuji Suoeka was brought down in the box by East Bengal defender Saumik Dey. Referee Ajeet Metai denied the visitors from a clear penalty. The Dempo players got fired, pushed & slapped referee. Ajeet Metai made another blunder by showing only an yellow card to Ryuoi Suoeka instead of few red cards.

          Naoba passed a delightful through ball for Penn inside of the Dempo box, he slipped the ball towards Robin Singh & it was really hard to swallow & understand that how did the East Bengal forward Robin Singh crawl over the ball in front of the empty goal from inside of the six yard box, its really very critical to miss from this position. If Robin scored the the match could have sealed in East Bengal’s name easily, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.

           Dempo got their equalizer in the 82^nd minute from a corner complete against the run of play, the ball swung to the far corner was headed back towards goal by Cresson Antao, before a goalmouth scramble ensued and it was Peter Carvalho who had the last touch before the ball ended in the back of the net. It was Gurpreet’s indecision to come and get the ball that cost the home side. After that goal East Begal had few more chances but they failed to convert them.

         This season East Bengal have been suffering a lot since the beginning due to lack of penetration across the opponent box, visibly most of the times during play Chidi was missing a companion in up front. I think East Bengal officials should think immediately regarding that issue.

         After four round of I-League Dempo is leading the tally with 10 points from four matches, East Bengal is following right behind with 8 points from four matches.

         My Opinion: With his due respect why did Morgan not try to seal his defenceline in the later stage of second half when East Bengal was leading in  1-0 margin ? Why did he not try to cut the pace of Joaquim in the left side ? the question will also arise regarding the inclusion of Robin Singh in the place of Mannandeep Singh in second half, I think he should bring a blocker instead of a forward for holding the 1-0 margin till the end & if a player like Robin Singh really deserves a place in a heavy weight side like East Bengal or not ? if he deserves then when will he get matured & show some adultery ? I think situation & time will give us all those answers.

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