East Bengal edge past Salgaocar by 1-0 margin, remain on the top of the table.

             Kolkata giant East Bengal beat Salgaocar 1-0 margin in their 8^th round clash of I-League at Salt Lake stadium today, secure their place on the top of the table. Edeh Chiddi scored the priceless solitary goal for the home side on the 66th minute of the match.

         This was a battle of two experienced coaches Trevor Morgan & David Booth, belong to a same nation England. Win was necessary for the both the sides, East Bengal needed it for retaining their position on the top while Salgaocar needed it for coming out of the relegation zone.

         Morgan & Booth started with the same line up they used in their previous matches. East Bengal with Chiddi & Manandeep in up front while Salgaocar started with a lone striker formation with Sean Rooney only in the up front.

          Both the sides had their chances in the first half. East Bengal seeking of home advantage started to dominate the game from the beginning, they could have a very early lead if Arnab Mondal could nest the ball from Mehtab’s corner. Sean Rooney of Salagaocar also failed to convert in front of the six yard box. Mannandeep also spoilted the chances in few occasions, Penn Orji also made a blunder from the inside of the box.

           In the second half the Red & Gold brigade became desperate to score, Penn Orji started to dominate the midfield, following a through ball from Penn, Chiddi tried to test visitor’s custodian Karanjit by a volley from the left side of the box, Karnajit exactly predicted & dived towards the right direction of that volley but unfortunately his own teammate Rocas Lemere guided the ball by a poor clearance attempt deflection towards the other direction to past inside the net, Karanjit remained a silent visitor.

         After that goal both the sides had few more chances, they failed to convert, of course the visitors had a golden opportunity to equalize in the death while their captain Luciano Sabrosa headed the ball in the hand of East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Sing Sandhu following a corner from Francis Fernandez.

         Now East Bengal are leading the table with 20 points from 8 matches while Salgaocar is standing on 11^th position with 6 points from the equal number of matches. East Bengal is the only side to swallow only a single goal in eight matches of this year’s I-League yet.

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Mano Menezes sacked by Brazil Football Association, Pep Guardiola likely to take over the responsibility.

         Brazil Football Confederation sacked current coach Mano Menezes barely before 18 months of the mega event World Cup 2014 they are going to host due to his failure in the Olympic final in London last summer when Brazil fell to Mexico by a clear 0-2 margin & following a defeat to Argentina in the second leg of the final of Superclassico De America where they still managed to win ultimately in the penalty shoot out also the quick elimination from the quarter stage of the Copa America brought anger amongst all. He is completely unable to deliver consistently deliver convincing performance.

            Menezes is the right successor of Dunga, he took the responsibility when Dunga fell to cross the hurdle of the quarter stage of the World Cup 2010 against Netherlands & when first choice Muricy Ramalho rejected to take the national duty due to his contract with Flumienese.

           During his tenure he is never liked the by the legends of the country like Pele, Romario & few other greats. He is also disputed by the current Brazil FA president Jose Maria Marin who also cleared his intension by saying he will appoint coach he trusts at the expense of those appointed by his predecessor. He is not at all popular amongst the fan of Brazil football worldwide too.

          After taking responsibility from Dunga he started with 4-2-3-1 formation which actually doesn’t suit with Brazil’s offensive dynamic playing style rather it reminds us the European style. Afterall Brazil is never known for their defensive excellencies so it was quite idiotic job to change a complete formation of a team like Brazil.

          He coached Brazil for 33 matches, leading it to 21 victories, six losses and six draws. The main complaint against Menezes was that his team struggled in games against top teams and only beat the weaker sides. In his tenure Brazil was beaten by Argentina, Germany, France & Mexico, hardly managed to win against the minnows like South Africa by 1-0 margin at home in last September.

          The Brazil football association is yet to announce anything regarding their new recruitment but the rumor is everywhere going on that retired Barcelona boss Pep Guardilloa is ready to take over the duty of the five times world champions soon, news published by an insider & close mate of Guradiola.

          Director of Brazil football Confederation Andres Sanchez cleared that he would be complete against hiring a foreign coach & the decision would be taken on the upcoming new year. Whoever is going to be appointed wiln’t have muchmore time to settle the side before the Confederation cup 2014 in home soil, only six months away from now.

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Mohun Bagan failed to overcome the barrier of Mumbai.F.C. match ended in an 1 all stalemate.

         Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan failed to secure 3 points against the back bencher of I-League ladder Mumbai. F. C, match ended in an 1 all stalemate in the sevent round encounter of I-League at Balewadi Sports Complex ground, Pune today. Odafa puts the visitors ahead from an excellent free-kick on the 21^st minute of the game but they failed to hold that, veteran Abhishek Yadab scored the equalizer for the hosts in the minute of the game.

        Mohun Bagan reached Pune today to play their first game under the supervision of newly recruited coach Karim Bencharifa, lots of expectations were mounting between the Green & Maroon supporters. He has taken the batton from the hand of Mridul Banerjee, who has guided Mariners towards two convincing victories against Sporting Clube & Salgaocar at home & a goalless draw against ONGC in the away match. So it has to be told that from somewhere it seems that Mridul is the better eligible to handle the critical situation, afterall he took the responsibility when the side lost two of their starting matches in the I-League campaign.

         No midfield, no defence, no blocking, poor goalkeeping, wrong strategy of Karim Bencharifa, one man army Mohun Bagan fortunate enough to have 1 point atleast from their away match today, only Odafa remains as a glittering star in between all those failures.

       Odafa scored the goal from an excellent free-kick at the 21^st minute from the left side of the box, the hosts custodian failed to get rid of that swerving shot.

         Syed Rahim Nabi left the ground due to an injury in the very early moments of the game, after that it was very hard to find out any co-ordination between defence, midfield & forwardline. Due to the injury of two key defenders Eche & Mehrajuddin, Karim started Nirmal Chhetri & Aibar in the deep defence, but during the match both of them looked like the living being of different planet, completely mismatched with their duty.

        Veteran Yusif Yakubu was leading all the attacks for the hosts in the Mohun Bagan defence, the attacks were coming like a tide on the visitors defence, sometimes safehands of Shilton Pal rescued visitors but one major fault of that same Shilton graced the hosts to equalize.

        Abhishek Yadav followed a long ball & headed right into the Mohun Bagan net at the 62^nd minute of the game. Entire Mariners defence looked like a silent viewer during that goal, poor outing of the custodian Shilton made the situation easier to let the ball go inside the net.

Currently Mohun Bagan is standing on the 5^th position of the I-League table with 11 points from7 matches while Mumbai F.C is on the 8^th position with 7 points from 7 matches.

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East Bengal ransacked ONGC by a clear 5-0 margin & retain their position in the top.

         East Bengal ransacked ONGC by a clear 5-0 margin at Salt Lake stadium Kolkata today in the seventh round clash of I-League, retain themselves top of the I-League ladder. Chiddi opened the lockgate for the hosts at 26^th minute, Penn (51’), Mannandep(66’), Lalrindika (78’) & Robin Singh (83’) serially put their stings upon the visitors. Chiddi’s goal is the 500^th goal for East Bengal in I-League where they took 345 matches to reach that milestone & East Bengal remain unbeaten in their last 31 outings in Morgan’s tenure.

          East Bengal started with the same combination they used in their last few matches while the visitors had to make few changes in their first eleven due to the injury of key players, Subrata Bhattacharya(junior) introduced Rajib Bodo in the up front.

          Expectations were mounting in this match due to the performance of ONGC since last two matches, they held Mohun Bagan in their home & beaten mighty Dempo by a comprehensive 3-1 margin in their last two home matches. Whether the overall record is concern East Bengal failed to overcome the barrier of ONGC since their last seven meetings, which made the situation wary for Morgan.

         In the beginning few minutes of the first half it looked like somewhere that ONGC is here to prove their giant killer image, whether the Red & Gold Brigade started their campaign in a bit of cautious mood while the visitors were also doing the counters well throughout the entire first half.

         East Bengal had to wait till 26^th minute to get their first goal while Chiddi scored the first following a header from Isfaq from the right side of the box, eventually that becomes the 500^th goal for East Bengal in I-League. The visitors defended well during the rest of the time of the first half, trailing only 0-1 margin.

          East Bengal started second half with an innovative fashion, due to that they got their second in the 51^st minute of the game courtesy Penn Orji following a header from Chiddi.

        Just after that incident the central defender of ONGC, Sandeep Sangha got a marching order firstly for ruthlessly tackling Mannadeep & secondly for involving a brawl with referee, it opened the floodgate for the hosts.

           Mannandeep scored the third for the homeside in the 66^th minute of the game. Morgan took few changes during the match, the substitutes became quite handy & put their names in the scoresheet also.

       Substituted Lalrindika scored the fourth for East Bengal in the 78^th minute, another substitute Robin Singh also found the net in the death made the scoreline 5-0 in their fore.

       Currently East Begnal tops the table with 17 points from 7 matches while the ONGC is in the relegation zone with only 5 points from 7 matches.

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Brazil won the Super El Classico of America trophy, beating arch rival Argentina in a tie breaker.

         Brazil won the Super El Classico of America trophy, beating arch rival Argentina in a tie breaker shootout by 4-3 margin at Alberto Jasindo Armando stadium in Buenos Airs. Argentina lead the game in 2-1 margin after scheduled 90 minutes but the previous encounter was won by the mighty yellow jersey holders in their home in the same margin so the aggregate becomes 3 all after the match, according to tournament’s rule the match has directly gone towards the penalty shoot out where Brazil managed to held their nerves & became the victorious in Argentina’s soil.

            Both the sides were missing few heavy weights due to their club duties, while Argentina was missing the service of sensational Lionel Messi, Sergei Agueroa, Brazil also have missed Hulk, ALexandro Pato etc.

           The match is a delayed thriller. In the first half both the sides have good chance in few occasions but they failed to convert those. Experienced Argentine coach made a tactical move in the 69^th minute, introducing Ignacio Scocco in the place of Hernan Bercos which almost became fruitful for his side.

           The first goal came into the 82^nd minute of the match while the Chilean referee Enrique Ossed gifted the home side a penalty, actually the foul was done inches outside the box, but the referee failed to read that whatever the substituted Ignacio Scocco did not make any mess to pass it away  the diving Brazilian custodian Diego Cavalieri.

            Just after 2 minutes of that goal the visitors equalized courtesy Fred following a pass from right flank. Scocco scored once again in the death for the homeside which made the aggregate 3 all & guided the match towards the penalty shootout.

           The visitors scored first two from the spot while the home side missed first two, third penalty missed by Brazil, the hosts converted that, Brazil scored the fourth, this time its Argentine custodian Agustin Ignacio Orion’s turn who leveled the game for the hosts. Brazilian sensation Neymar has come to take the decisive shot, beat the rival custodian & makes his team victorious.

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