Category: News

East Bengal shootout Mohammedan to crown GTA Chairman’s Gold Cup champions

KALIMPONG: East Bengal clinched the title in the 2018 GTA Chairman’s Gold Cup beating Mohammedan Sporting Club 3-1 in a penalty shootout on Sunday at Mela Ground in Kalimpong.

Defeat was perhaps a little harsh on Mohammedan SC, who had the better of the chances in the scoreless 120 minutes that preceded the shootout.

The first-half was an evenly matched contest with the teams were watchful not to press too many men forward and as a result there were not many chances to pounce upon.

However, as the game progressed Mohammedan SC gradually gained control and created game’s first scoring opportunity when Philip Adjah controlled a ball outside the box only to fire his volley wide in the 16th minute.

East Bengal, on the other hand, did show some excellent moves in patches but find it difficult to penetrate into the rival box thanks to some brilliant defending by Prosenjit Pal.

After pushing up for a long time, Mohammedan SC created the best chance of the first-half in the 34th minute. Prosenjit Chakraborty cut in from the right and with an intelligent ball sent Pankaj Moula clear on the left. Pankaj controlled the ball and tried to volley over the keeper but he was denied by a brilliant save from the rival custodian Mirshad K.

Thereafter, both sides battled hard in the midfield, but with the game turning physical there weren’t many chances as both sides went into the breather tied at goalless.

The second-half was played at much higher intensity than the first and both sides had some close chances with Mohammedan SC going extremely close twice in the opening fifteen minutes but was denied by poor finishing.

The Black Panthers had their chances through Adjah and Seiboi Haokip, while East Bengal went close through Lalchhanhima and Jhantu Prasad but neither could get the breakthrough.

A last minute effort from substitute Firoz Ali was denied by Mirshad and proved the final action of regulation time as the match headed into extra time. The teams could not be separated after extra-time forcing the contest to be decided on penalties where East Bengal proved to be better shooters and prevailed 3-1.

Raghu Nandy refutes Mohammedan SC’s favourites tag ahead of GTA Chairman’s Gold Cup final


KALIMPONG: 
Mohammedan Sporting Club will face East Bengal in the final of 2018 GTA Chairman’s Gold Cup on Sunday December 23, 2018 at Mela Ground in Kalimpong, kick-off 2 PM.

While Black Panthers eased past Oil India Dhulijan 2-0 to book their place in the finale, East Bengal were pushed to their limits by Kalighat Milan Sangha in other semi-final and secured their spot in the final after surviving a penalty shootout with goalkeeper Mirshad K proving their hero in the shootout.

For many a fan, Mohammedan SC is the favourite to win the ultimate at the knockout competition given East Bengal squad is mostly comprised of Under-18 players with a few senior players like Surabuddin Mallick, Koushik Sarkar, Hira Mondal and Mirshad.

However, Mohammedan SC coach Raghunath Nandy is not willing give ear to that assertion and insisted that East Bengal have an equal chance of being crowned champions.

“We are not favourites,” said Nandy. “The set up for both teams is almost similar. Both teams have the equal chance of winning the competition.”

“They are very youthful and exciting; very quick coming out. They have a very experienced coach on the bench and those are the challenges we have to face. We would love to win it, but it doesn’t only come through wishes, we have to work hard for it,” he added.

Skipper Philip Adjah Tetteh has already netted four goals in the competition and the team would be surely looking at him for inspiration, but Adjah insists the occasion will not be personal as he looks to help the team further their preparations ahead of what is setting up to be an grueling Hero 2nd Division League season.

“It’s a big game, and it’s not about me but about the club, supporters and everyone behind the team,” said Adjah.

“We want to do our best, we want to see how far we can go in preparing for the 2nd Division League, and yeah it’s a big test for us but we’re looking forward to it. The team is looking sharp, and everyone is just one happy family,” he added.

Mohammedan SC sink Oil India to set up East Bengal final

KALIMPONG: It was not the prettiest of performances from an Mohammedan Sporting Club team that will start their Hero 2nd Division League campaign in less than three weeks, but they’ll be happy about progressing to the finals of the 2018 GTA Chairman’s Gold Cup final after beating Oil India by 2-0 at Mela Ground in Kalimpong on Friday.

This was the third meeting between these two teams in past two months and with both teams knowledgeable about the other, they played the better part of the first stanza with caution. Play was interchanged in the middle of the park, and both teams had the same strategy of playing in transition instead of delivering crosses in the boxes.

Nonetheless, Mohammedan SC were the first to launch attacks, as Snehasish Dutta’s dazzling overlapping runs looking dangerous during the early stages.

Mohammedan SC’s momentum was interrupted occasionally when Oil India managed to take play up into the opposition half on the break, the first of which came in the seventh when Tulya Das try to play a through ball to the on-running Jayanta Basumatary, but the latter arrived late.

As the clock wound down in the first-half, most of the play had taken place at the heart of the field and the goalkeepers had less to do, only called into action when taking goal kicks.

However, a moment of sheer brilliance by Philip Adjah and a clinical finish by Pankaj Moula opened the scoring for Mohammedan SC in the 16th minute.

Having taken the lead, Mohammedan SC got a much needed confidence boost and they increased their pressure up front dominating the game entirely. Despite creating numerous scoring opportunities it was lack of finishing that saw first-half ended 1-0.

Oil India started the second-half stronger, in the opening 10 minutes Oil India continued to impose themselves on the game without reward as Laltu Mondal, between the sticks, held out to good efforts.

The Black Panthers also got a few times close to getting the second goal and looked dangerous on the set-pieces, but the ball didn’t find the back of the net.

Meanwhile, Oil India really struggled to find their footing in the game as Mohammedan SC looked comfortable to sit back and hold onto the ball.

Mintu Boro was introduced by Oil India coach Subrata Bhattacharya (Jr.) in the closing stages of the game as the Dhulijan-based side looked to snatch a late equalizer.

Despite the momentum turning in Oil India’s favour, Mohammedan SC fought back to add a second when Pjilip Adjah slotted home from close range after rounding Oil India goalkeeper Nihal Das in the 90th minute to put the result beyond questions.

In the stoppage time Mohammedan SC’s Rakesh Karmakar and Oil India’s Tulya Das were given marching order.

The final will be played on Sunday between Mohammedan SC and East Bengal at Darjeeling.

Mohmmedan SC Line-up: Laltu Mondal, Kamran Farooque, Prosenjit Pual, Seydou Mady, Snehasish Dutta, Prosenjit Chakraborty, Pankaj Moula, Rakesh Karmakar, Gatch Arthur Diomande, Philip Adjah Tetteh, Sumit Das.

Philip Adjah: We want to win every game

DARJEELING: Ghanaian front-man Philip Adjah Tetteh admits that there is an expected pressure that comes with playing for a big club like Mohammedan Sporting Club.

The 20-year-old was signed by the Black Panthers in August during 2018/19 Calcutta Premier Division ‘A’ campaign and has made a huge impact since, bagging 16 goals and assisting a further five from 16 appearances in all competitions.

Adjah, who joined Mohammedan SC from Ghana Division Two side Bafali Sporting Club, says he enjoys playing under pressure as it gives him an edge, while it helps to improve his game.

“Big clubs are demanding‚ we want to win every game. We are not here to sit and relax‚ we are here to win.” Adjah said.

“The minute I signed for Mohammedan SC I felt the pressure; there is so much expected of the club. But it’s sometimes nice to play with the pressure, because it means you don’t relax and it helps you to become a better player.”

“I don’t remember the last time we played without pressure. If you want to play without pressure, you have to sit at home and watch it on television. There is always pressure.” He added.

2nd Division League to begin in first week of January

NEW DELHI: All India Football Federation League Committee met at the AIFF Headquarters in New Delhi today (December 7, 2018). Subrata Datta, Senior Vice President chaired the meeting while Souter Vaz, B.K. Roka and Chirag Tanna, attended the meeting. Kushal Das, General Secretary, AIFF and Sunando Dhar, CEO, I-League were also present in the meeting.

The committee reviewed submissions made by the various HERO 2nd Division League applicants under the club licensing process. After several deliberations, the committee came to the decision to confirm the participation of only the following clubs for Hero 2nd Division League 2018-19:

CLUB

Ozone Football Club

South United FC

Fateh Hyderabad AFC

New Barrackpore Rainbow FC

Mohammedan Sporting Club

Chhinga Veng FC

Lonestar Kashmir

Hindustan Football Club

ARA FC

Tiddim Road Athletic Union FC has been granted time to complete club licensing process in the next 3 days, commencing tomorrow. The committee granted the extra time considering the recent issues with the Manipur League, which the club had no control upon and also acknowledged the fact that the club had participated in last season’s Hero 2nd Division League and qualified for the Final Round.

The committee also approved the participation of the following reserve teams of Indian Super League in Hero 2nd Division League 2018-19:- ATK, Jamshedpur FC, Bengaluru FC, FC Goa, Kerala Blasters FC and Chennaiyin FC.

As per the relevant regulations of the competition, reserve teams can only participate in the preliminary round of the tournament. The Hero 2nd Division League is scheduled to start from the first week of January 2018 and go on till mid-April.

It was also unanimously decided by the committee, that teams from Hero I-League and Hero Indian Super League and Hero 2nd Division League will have to undergo the AIFF Academy Accreditation process to be eligible to participate in the Hero Youth Leagues from the season 2019-20 onwards.

The Committee also unanimously decided on the new names for all the age group LEAGUE tournaments of AIFF. Under this change, “U-13 Youth League” from now on will be known as “Hero Sub Junior League”, the “U-15 Youth League” from now on will be known as “Hero Junior League” and “U-18 Youth League” from now on will be known as “Hero Elite League”.

The Committee also decided to hold the Hero Super Cup between last week of March till mid of April 2019.

Mohammedan SC oust ASEB to reach Gold Cup final

KOKRAJHAR, BODOLAND, ASSAM: Mohammedan Sporting Club booked their place in the final of the 19th Bodoland Martyrs Gold Cup after they edged past Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) 1-0 in the semifinal played at KDSA Stadium in Bodoland, Assam on Friday.

Skipper Philip Adjah Tetteh continued his rich vein of form by scoring the winner in the 35th minute.

Going into the match coach Raghunath Nandy made a couple of changes to side by handing starts to Firoz Ali and trialist Saubhagya Majhi at the expense of Debasish Pradhan and Satyam Sharma.

The opening 10 minutes was a rather scrappy affair, with both teams unable to hold onto the ball long enough to create any decent scoring opportunities.

The first effort on goal only came in the 15th minute, when Charles Atcha met a left-sided cross from Safiul Rahman, but he headed his effort wide of the ASEB goal.

Four minutes later Adjah came bitterly close to opening the lead but his close range effort was superbly saved by the ASEB custodian Daoga Brahma.

Adjah then continued to terrorize the ASEB defense, setting up another two chances for Charles, but the Ivorian forward squandered both.

Mohammedan SC, thereafter, continued to press on, and it was no surprise when they took the lead in the 35th minute though Adjah.

It was a goal made in football heaven, involving a glorious passing movement featuring a number of players, and with classic one-touch football, they carved open the ASEB defense, leaving the Ghanaian with a simple tap-in.

From the goal onwards, Black Panthers dominated the proceedings, but poor decision-making let them down in the final third which saw Nandy’s charges went into the breather with only a solitary goal lead.

The second-half saw Mohammedan SC continue to attack with ease, but Daoga kept his side in the contest with a number of fine saves, including one to deny Adjah his brace in the 54th minute.

However, some sloppy defending from Black Panthers 15 minutes into the second-half gave ASEB the chance to equalize, but Laltu Mondal did very well as he came out to block Jwambla Brahma from close range, before Karma Narzary missed the target on the follow-up.

Mohammedan SC then took the ball up to the opposite end of the pitch and looked set to double their lead when Charles arrived unmarked in the box to get on the end of a cross, but his header was brilliantly tipped over the crossbar by Daoga.

The game remained on a knife-edge, making for riveting viewing as both teams pushed and probed for a breakthrough.

ASEB were certainly still very much in the game, and Laltu was at it again when he showed fantastic reflexes to keep out Karma’s point-blank volley in the 76th minute.

Opportunities then followed for Black Panthers to kill off the game, but Firoz Ali miscued with a back-post volley, before Adjah had a shot in the box blocked.

While the game neared the conclusion ASEB players started protesting against referee’s every decision and didn’t want to continue playing. Situation went from bad to worse when fans invaded the pitch and Mohammedan SC players had to be escorted from the field

When the game finally resumed, Mohammedan SC were able to survive the final few minutes without much threat to their goal to setup a final date with old foes Oil India on Sunday.

Bordoloi Trophy 2018: It was a satisfactory result, says Raghu Nandy

BHUBANESHWAR: Mohammedan Sporting Club coach Raghunath Nandy has expressed his immense pride in his players after they claimed the title in the 65th Bordoloi Trophy with a 3-1 victory over Oil India in the final played at the Nehru Stadium in Guwahati on Thursday.

“I am no good for words right now. I’m just really just super proud of everyone,” an emotional Raghu Nandy said.

“It was a satisfactory result and we worked very hard. I won’t take anything away from Oil India. They showed how good they are. It was tough, it was a final and you have got to grind it out.” he added.

“There’s nothing much to say.” These were the words of Oil India coach Subrata Bhattacharya (Jr.) after having watched his side’s unacceptable showing.

“Mohammedan deserved this win,” added Bhattacharya. “They showed hunger and they didn’t allow us space to play, credit to them.”

“We made a lot of errors and in such high level competitive games, if you make such errors, you will pay for the prize. It was not a bad performance from my team. I regret that we were not effective and the team was not at it’s best level,” he concluded.

Bordoloi Trophy 2018: Kamran downplays revenge factor following Mohammedan’s semifinal win over BSF

GUWAHATI: Mohammedan Sporting Club defender Kamran Farooque says gaining revenge was not Black Panthers’ primary motivation heading into their 2018 Bordoloi Trophy semifinal victory over BSF Jalandhar on Tuesday.

Mohammedan SC edged BSF 6-5 on penalties after 90 minutes of goalless football at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Guwahati.

Black Panthers set up a Final date with Oil India and eased the disappointment of their 4-3 tiebreaker loss to BSF in the Independence Day Cup final in Nagaon last month.

Kamran, who put on a Man of the Match worthy performance, said: “It wasn’t so much about revenge. It was more about getting to another cup final with a chance to win a trophy.”

Mohammedan SC were dominant in the match but they could not convert their dominance into goals.

“It was a very good game. But we should have killed the game in the first half. We didn’t finish our chances. We showed a little bit of impatience in the final third.” Kamran observes.

Bordoloi Trophy 2018: Mohammedan not interested in revenge mission against BSF Jalandhar

GUWAHATI: Mohammedan Sporting Club coach Raghunath Nandy has downplayed suggestions that his side will be out to seek revenge against BSF Jalandhar when the two sides meet in the first semifinal of 2018 Bordoloi Trophy on Tuesday at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Guwahati, kick-off 3:00 pm.

Mohammedan SC fell short 4-3 on penalties against BSF in the Independence Day Cup final in Nagaon last month, yet Nandy insists his team have gotten over that disappointment and does not want to look at what happened in past.

“There is no sense of revenge. They won in Nagaon and we can do nothing about that. If we win tomorrow against BSF, we will not win Independence Day Cup final. We have got no complaints with the result, they deserved it. That chapter is closed. This is a new game. Teams like Mohammedan SC is not motivated by grudges but are inspired by a desire to improve and do better,” Nandy said on the eve of the clash.

The two sides have experienced different paths to the semi-finals. While it wasn’t without challenges for Mohammedan SC, they became the only team to progress with the full nine available points which also makes them overwhelming favourites for the encounter.

BSF, on the other hand, had a bumpy ride to the semi-finals. After 2-0 against Oil India on the opening day, an 1-1 draw against Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) followed by 2-1 victory over Malki SC saw them out of the group stage ahead of ASEB.

Nandy, however, pointed out play-off matches are always unpredictable. “It will be a matter of who will the coolest nerves and getting into rhythm first, who will triumph.”

The former defender also conceded there is pressure on the players to bring home the goods.

“There is always pressure when you play for Mohammedan SC and players have learnt to handle it. It’s a privilege to be in this potion so we’ll take that pressure.” he explained.

Going into the semifinal, what will be key for Mohammedan SC is continuing that momentum and continuing to apply what they have learned thus far.

Mohammedan SC has a full complement to choose from, a number key players including Philip Adjah, Kamran Farooque and Prosenjit Chakraborty were rested against TRAU FC in their last group game, will be restored to the starting line up.

BSF shootout Mohammedan to crown I-Day Cup champions

NAGAON ASSAM: BSF Jalandhar clinched the title in the 70th Independence Day Cup beating Mohammedan Sporting 4-3 in a penalty shootout following a thrilling 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Mohammedan took the lead through Charles Atcha in the 20th minute before Sadam Hussain equalized for BSF in the 43rd minute.

BSF attempted to make an early mark on the match with a neat Ramakanta Hembram chip for Jitinder Rawat in the first minute signalling their intentions.

However, as the match commenced Mohammedan slowly imposed their style on the match, slowing it in the midfield and then attacking into the final third at pace.

Having missed some half chances till the 20th minute mark Mohammedan broke the deadlock through Charles who scored from Philip Adjah’s pass.

Black Panthers then took control of the match. The Kolkata outfit probably should have scored a couple more goals before the break, but their finishing let them down.

Mohammedan looked dangerous every time they pushed forward and Sumit Ghosh tried to curl the ball into the top corner but BSF goalkeeper Harpreet Singh produced a fine save to deny the attacker in the 39th minute.

While Mohammedan pushed high up BSF managed to restore the parity against the run of the play as Sadam took advantage of a defensive error to beat Mohammedan custodian Priyant Singh from close range in the 43rd minute as the both teams went into the breather with scores locked 1-1.

BSF came back into the second-half with more purpose and after a couple of changes early on they started to look more threatening out wide.

Ramakanta had the best opportunity in the opening minutes of the second-half when his free-kick was tipped over by Priyant.

Although BSF dominated possession in the second-half they struggled to get near enough to their opponents goal to really trouble them, managing just two shots in 45 minutes.

But it was hardly much better at the other end with Mohammedan restricted to just three attempts on goal themselves.

Meanwhile, Mohammedan was to deal with a blow after 74 minutes when Priyant injured himself and had to leave the field paving way to Sourav Chakraborty, who made his first appearance of the season.

Despite the best efforts of both sides it seemed goals weren’t on the agenda for the evening as they went through regulation time with scores locked 1-1 and the match headed to directly to a penalty shootout.

It was nail-biting stuff as the players went through the motions of a penalty shootout taking the crowd packed into the stands at Nurul Amin Stadium on the roller-coaster ride right alongside them.

In the end it seems experience paid off with the BSF holding their nerve to slot four goals to Mohammedan’s three.