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30th AIFF Federation Cup - 2008 : Match Reports Mariners knocks out Colaco’s outfit to lift the Fed Cup title 21.12.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya :: Mohun Bagan wins the 30th Federation Cup by beating Armando Colaco’s Dempo courtesy a solitary goal from their star striker Jose Ramirez Baretto today in YBK,Salt Lake Stadium. The Mariners won their 13th Fed Cup title today and automatically earned a spot in next year’s AFC CUP. The game started with both the teams in an attacking mode.The Mariners dominated the game from the very first minute.Lalkamal Bhowmick earned the first yellow card of the match after challenging Dempo’s skipper Climax Lawrence. The match had many heated moments which was contrasting to today’s cold & chilly weather.In the 8th minute of the match Tulunga’s pass from the right flank was picked up by Baretto and he passed it to Ishfaq Ahmed who was not able to control the ball and missed an early chance of scoring.Mohun Bagan again came close of scoring in the 16th minute when Bagan’s playmaker Marcos Perreira’s free kick found Baretto who headed the ball towards Lalampuia and this time an easy chance went into vain.Credit must be given to Bagan’s new signing Marcos Perreira,the former JCT midfielder is just couple of months old in Karim Bencherifa’s outfit but has created a lot of difference in Bagan’s playing style. Dempo lacked the sting and that costed them dearly.Clifford Miranda was the first one to take a chance but his effort went over the crossbar.Joaquim Abranches kept on switching his positions from one flank to another but they were missing their finishing touch.Lot was expected from Ranty Martins who was ruled out of the final couple of days back after he was left unconscious in the first semi-final due to an on-field collsion with Churchill’s Ogba Kalu.Ranty not only failed to deliver but his team’s moral was all crushed when he made an hard tackle on Marcos Perriera and was given marching orders by the refree after being shown the second yellow card of the match.Ranty had a chance of scoring in the 46th minute of the game but not only Sangram Mukherjee did well to clear it away but it was also called an offside. The next half saw Bagan kept on piling up pressure on the Goan outfit.Ishfaq and Tulunga had a great game.Ishfaq played his heart out today and his magical move down the left flank gave the home team to capitilize but Baretto’s header was well cleared away by Dempo’s custodian Satish Kumar. The deadlock was broken in the 68th minute of the game when Lal Kamal Bhowmick’s corner kick was parried away by Satish Kumar but found Bagan’s Habibur Rehman Mondal inside the box who headed it to Baretto’s feet and the Brazilian kept it perfectly inside the net giving his team the winning goal and the title.Dempo had many through balls from where they could have scored but Bagan defenders Rakesh Masih, Deepak Mondal did their duty perfectly and in the end Colaco’s mens were knocked out by the magical pace of Mohun Bagan & Co. Barreto scored 4 goals in 30th Fed Cup. M.Mohun Bagan : 1-Sangram Mukherjee, 4-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 5-Habibur Rahman, 20-Rakesh Masih,27- Mohanraj,, 19-Tulunga (90'+4' 25 - Jr.James Singh), 37-Lal Kamal Bhowmick , 30-Marcos Pereira, 11-Ishfaq Ahmed, 10- Barreto ,9 - Lalam Puia (90' 16-Sr.James), Dempo S.C : 21-VP Satish Kumar, 23-Dominic Noronha, 28-Mahesh Gawli, 18-Valeriano Rebello, 4-Cressan Antao,15-Clifford Miranda (77' 12-Jerry Zirsanga), 14-Anthony Pereira, 8-Climax Lawrence (90'+1' 6-Peter Carvalho), 11-Beto, 17-Joaquim Abranches, 9-Ranty Martins Mohun Bagan lift the title of 30th Federation Cup 21.12.2008 : Live Updates from 4.15 PM: 90'+4': Match end.. Mohun Bagan win the Federation cup for 13th Times and qualifies for Next AFC Cup 2009... 90'+1' Climax Lawrence out and Peter Carvalho in for Dempo 90': Tulunga out and jr. James Singh in the field.. Referee added 4 minutes 88': Dempo captain injured ..Lalam out And Sr.James Singh In.. 85': Mohun Bagan is leading 1 - 0.. 5 minutes to go to clinch Fed cup for 13th time..Marcos is playing well ..Just cleared a Dempo movement in the MB box by a throw. 83': Dempo missed a chance from a corner.. Cresson shot goes above the cross bar 82': Beto shown yellow card ... 80': Marcos injured by a clash with Ranty.. Referee shown RED CARD to Ranty who also previously booked in 1st minutes of the match..Ranty fired against referee and pushed a cameraman in the subway of YBK . 75': Ranty's shot went above the cross bar..Dempo is trying to score through Ranty but MB defence is plyed well to stop their movements 71':Dempo tried to move through Anthony.. 68' : Barreto scored for Bagan from Lalkamal's corner..Satish kumar tried to stopped the ball but goes to habibur who pushed to unmarked Barreto. ..Goooooal.... 66': lalkamal pasased to lalam whose shot hitted the out post.. 65': dempo defence cleared isfaq's movement.. 63':Still the result is 0 - 0..Isfaq offside.. 61':Brilliant move by Bagan from the right flank ends up in a poor show as Lalawm fail to get near the ball crossed by Mama..Barrto crossed from right flank but no Mohunbagan player there 59': Isfaq shot go so far from post after getting the ball from lalam 58': Mohonraj fouled Anthony pereira ..Dempo get free kick 54':Barreto centered ,Isfaq's head cleared by satish by a corner 52': Bagan with a throw-in... . ball takes a deflection by Rebello... over the bar... 50': Mohonraj throw in into the box..,Dempo defence failed to clear the ball... Tulunga tries to shot..headed by isfaq and dengeriously cleared by vallereano.. 47': Ranty offside after receiving a ball from mid field. Foul against Ranty for pushing Habibur inside Bagan box 46': 2nd half starts... 45': Referee declared the half time 44': Good movement by james from right but lalkamal misused his center 42': Cliffords corner cleared by Deepak through head.. No Goal yet 41': Valeriano's shot goes directy to Sangram 'shand 39' : Deepak cleared a Ranty movement by a corner..Miranda took the corner.. no chance to score 36': Isfaq's fastest move from right flank,, pushed to james who lobbed the ball into the dempo box but cleared by defenders.. 34' : Valeriano booked for nasty tackle on Lalkamal. Bagan earns free kick - Marcos takes the shot - cleared by Dempo defense 32': Dempo attceked through Valleriano.. he pushed to Ranty but Sangram saved it well.. 31': Beto tackled marcos and fouled badly.. 30': What a save by Sathish. A brilliant Ishfaq move finds Barreto and Sathish manages to save the goal. 25': Puia pushed by Dominic Noronha - fee kick taken by Marcos- but fail to get past Dempo defense - counter attack by Dempo ends in a goal kick for Bagan 22': Dempo attacked from right flank but failed to brake MB defence 20': Habibur thrown in to the dempo penalty box but MB got no chance to score..Sathish and Barreto were fight for the ball on the edge of the penalty box -Ishfaq failed to hit the ball on target -and Marcos shot went over the cross bar 19': Joaquim attacked good but no dempo man in the box to receive the ball... 17': Barreto tried to head the pass of james but not touched the ball properly 13': Climax was off the field for a minute after tackled by Lalkamal. 10': Mahesh blocked a Mama attack inside the box. Corner taken by Marcos- opportunity wasted 08': A brilliant through from Barreto for Ishfaq - but too long for Ishfaq 07': Lalkamal booked for an infringement on Climax 05': Couple of minuses - from Mohanraj and Ishfaq from left flank, fail to get past Dempo defense 01': Drama in the first min. Bagan earns a corner - but Beto challenges the referee Pradeep Kumar . MB:Sangram,Habibur,Mohonraj,Deepak,Marcos,Masih,Isfaq,Lalkamal, Lalam ( James 88'),Tulanga,Barreto DEM::  Satish, Climax( P.Carvalho 90'),Ranty, Beto,Anthony,Miranda(Jerry 75'),Joaquim,Noronha,Mahesh,Valeriano OVERVEW :: 30th FEDERATION CUP FINAL - 2008       20.12.2008 :Rana Bose :The Federation Cup is India’s first major competition involving the clubs. The All India Football Federation instituted it in 1977. Over the years, there has been a change in format of the tournament. But it became India’s prominent football tournament in the eighties and even in the early nineties. After NFL (or the I-League as it is known nowadays), it is India’s most popular and prestigious tournament and involves all the major NFL teams. This year 2008, it is being played in a league cum knockout basis. The teams were divided into four groups and the teams were so arranged that in all probability the final match would be a Kolkata team vs a Goa team derby. In the first of the two semi-finals two Goan teams clashed to decide the finalist amongst them. Dempo Sports Club and Churchill Brothers fought it out and Dempo earned the right to be in the final. Similarly, two local giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal clashed immediately afterwards and Mohun Bagan came out victorious via the tie-breaker. The other teams who were serious title contenders, Mahindra United, Air India from Mumbai, Sporting Clube de Goa from Goa and JCT from Punjab all succumbed at the league stage. It will be pertinent to mention that Mohun Bagan Club, Kolkata possess a very enviable record in the Federation Cup. They have won this tournament the maximum number of times, 12 in all and twice-joint winners with their arch rival, East Bengal. They have been runners-up on 4 occasions in the past. (1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2006 Winners and 1977, 1983,1985 and 2004-05 Runners Up) . Dempo Sports Club on the other hand have won the Cup only once and have been runners-up twice. (2004-2005 Winners and 1996 and 2001 Runners Up) However, winning or losing in football is not dependent on past performance or statistics. Both teams have equal opportunity to lift the trophy as both have plenty of arsenal to bring things to the logical conclusion. Dempo is mostly dependent on Climax Lawrence, Clifford Miranda, Ranty Martins and Beto to do the scoring and Mahesh Gawli and Sameer Naik manning the defence. Mohun Bagan fresh from their nerve raking semifinal against their arch-rival East Bengal will be oozing with confidence on their home turf with Barreto, Ishfaque, Lalampuia and Marcos as the potential strike force. However, Mohun Bagan is slightly disadvantaged by the absence of their iconic striker Bhaichung Bhutia and a suspect back-four with Dipak Mondal being the lone exception. The only silver lining to this is the excellent form of their goalkeeper, Sangram Mukherjee who is comparatively more dependable than Satish Kumar, the Dempo custodian. The final slated on Sunday, 21st December’08 will be a test on the nerves of the supporters, the team coaches and the players. Mohun Bagan can take solace from the fact that they have beaten Dempo a few days back with just 10 men at Goa in the I-League. Karim Bencherifa surely will be putting his inputs (from his Goan stint earlier) across to the boys for containing the Dempo side. Similarly, Armando Colaco, the Dempo coach will like to win this trophy and dedicate it to the late Brazilian striker Junior who died from a clash with Subrata Pal, the then Mohun Bagan custodian in a Federation Cup match between the two teams. Out of 11 encounters so far between the two, M.Mohun Bagan won 7 times. Dempo won 2 times and the rest were drawn. Like all high voltage finals, the initial stages will see both sides testing each other out, highly tactical with neither side inclined to go all out leaving huge gaps. Not many chances will be created. However, the side that makes best use of the chances will come out victorious. Winners Prize Money - Rs 12 Lakhs ::::: Runners Prize Money - Rs. 7 Lakhs DEMPO S.C - GOA :: WAY TO THE FINAL 04.12.2008 :(Gr.A) : Dempo S.C 3 - 0 SBT DEMPO :Clifford Miranda 12', C.Gonsalvez 14', Anthony Periera 47' 07.12.2008 :(Gr.A) : Dempo S.C 5 - 0 Chirag United DEM : Joaquim Abranches 23', R.Martins 33', 77' (P), Beto 58', 92' 09.12.2008 :(Gr.A) :Dempo S.C 1 - 1 Mumbai F.C DEM : Anas 21' ( o,g ) :: MFC : Alex Ambroze 38' Semi Finals :: 18.12.2008 : Dempo S.C 2 - 0 Churchill Brothers DEMPO : Ranty Martin 12' (Pen), Clifford Miranda 58' Goal Ratio - 11 : 1 KEY PLAYERS :: Beto, Clifford Miranda, Ranty Martins, Anthony Pereira,Climax Lawrence M.MOHUN BAGAN - KOLKATA :: WAY TO THE FINAL 12.12.2008 :(Gr.D) : M.Mohun Bagan 2 - 1 Oil India MMB : Barreto 9', 56' ( P ) :: OIL : Durga Boro 37' 14.12.2008 : (Gr.D) :Vasco S.C 1 - 0 M.Mohun Bagan VAS : Angelo colaco 80' 16.12.2008 :(Gr.D) :M.Mohun Bagan 2 - 1 Air India MMB : Lalkamal Bhowmick 53', Marcos Pereira 60' :: AI : Soccor Vehlo 26' Semi Final ::18.12.2008 : KF East Bengal 1(3) - 1 (5 ) M. Mohun Bagan KEB : Sanju Pradhan 63', (TIE BREAKER): Parveen Kr, Mehtaab Hossain, Jayanta Sen MMB : Barreto 66', (TIE BREAKER): Barreto, Marcos, Lalkamal, Lalampuia, James Singh Goal Ratio - 5 : 3 KEY PLAYERS :: Barreto, Marcos Pereira, Isfaq Ahmed, Lalkamal Bhowmick, Deepak Mondol Mohun Bagan beat Arch rival East Bengal in a thrilling encounter to reach in the Final 18.12.2008 :S.Mitra :In front of more than 65,000 spectators Mohun Bagan defeated defending champions East Bengal 5-3 in tie breakers in 2nd semi final held today at Salt Lake stadium and reached the Final of 30th Federation Cup. The full time score was 1 - 1. The match was a keenly contested one and the best match of this year's Federation Cup which was full of drama. East Bengal played well in 1st half and Sangram played well and made few saves whereas Subrata had tough time and East Bengal was lucky not to concede two goals when Marcos' free kick curled and hit post and later Ishfaq's head again hit post. Sangram made two brilliant saves in this half, once when he came out of charge and saved a Sunil shot and the second time he dived and saved a Sunil header. In 10th minute, Vashan of Bagan got injured and he was replaced by Lalkamal, Rakesh went to stopper position with Marcos falling back as defensive medio. In 2nd half, Musah got injured and Alvito replaced him. East Bengal went ahead in 61st minute when from a Alvito's free kick, Masih headed the ball out but it went straight to Sonju who took a right footed shot that beat Sangram and went into goal. Mohun Bagan equalized within 8 minutes. Marcos took a free kick from center of the field that curled and went to Barreto who headed the ball in, Subrata had absolutely no chance to save the ball. In 72nd minute, it was third time unlucky for Bagan when Ishfaq's shot hit crossbar for the third time in this match after Baichung's effort was saved by Subrata Pal. If first half belonged to East Bengal, Mohun Bagan came back strongly in 2nd half with Marcos marshalling the midfield. Score after 90 minutes was 1-1. Both teams appealed for penalty twice, in 5th minute, Yakubu's shot hit Vashan's hand inside box and in 2nd half Mehraj tripped Ishfaq inside box. For East Bengal, Sonju Pradhan, Yakubu and Sunil Chetry had a great match and kept Bagan defenders busy. While for Mohun Bagan, it was mainly due to efforts by Marcos, Barreto that Mohun Bagan came back strongly in the match. In defence, Dipak was outstanding. In first half of extra time, East Bengal got one golden chance when Sunil's shot came off post. In 2nd half, from a Tulunga header, Barreto took a right footer which was blocked by Soumik, a lucky save for East Bengal. Just a minute before final whistle, from a James center from left, Lalampuia missed an easy header which sailed over crossbar. In tie breaker, for Mohun Bagan, Barreto, Marcos, Lalkamal, Lalampuia and James Singh scored and for East Bengal Praveen KUmar, Mehtab, and Jayanta scored while Sunil Chetry's shot was saved by Sangram Mukherjee. The final between Mohun Bagan and Dempo will be played on Sunday, December 21st. East BengalL: 24-Subrata Pal, 3-Nirmal Chetri, 26-Mehrajunnin, 4-Suley Musah (54' 9-Alvito), 29-Saumik Dey (118' 25-Praveen Kumar), 22-Sanju Pradhan (113' 20-Poibang Poshna), 7-Jayanta Sen, 14-Mehtab Hussain, 19- Rahim Nabi; 12-Yakubu , 11-Sunil Chetri Mohun Bagan: 1-Sangram Mukherjee, 5-Habibur Rehman , 4-Deepak Mondal, 29- Anandavasan (9' 37-Lal Kamal Bhowmick), 27-N. Mohanraj, 16-James Singh, 20-Rakesh Masih, 30-Marcos Pereira, 11-Ishfaq Ahmed (109' 19-Tulunga); 15-Baichung Bhutia (101' 9-Pachau Lalam Puia), 10-Barreto SEE ALL TIME ALL ENCOUNTER DEMPO REACH FEDERATION CUP FINAL 18.12.2008 :S.Mitra :Dempo convincingly beat Churchill Brothers 2-0 in the first semi final held today at Salt Lake stadium. Dempo dominated the match and were the deserved winners. Odafe tried a lot for Churchill but he was well marked by Mahesh Gawli and in the 90 minutes Odafe got only 2 chances to score, he also lacked support. In 4th minute, Odafe dribbled the ball past two players and passed the ball to Balan but before he could take a shot, Dempo defence was alert and danger was averted. In the next minute, from Valerino center, Joaquim miscued a shot and Ranty took a left footer which was saved by Arindam. Dempo scored the first goal in 12th minute. Anthony Perreira crossed the ball from left side which hit Kalu's hand and referee gave penalty, Ranty scored from spot kick. There was slight doubt regarding the decision as it was not clear whether Kalu handle the ball intentionally or not. In 26th minute, from Robert's center, Gourmangi headed the ball towards Odafe who took a shot from edge of box that went over barpost. Just before half time, Beto from a counter attack made some free space for himself and accelerated with the ball and gave a pass to Clifford whose left footer was not well directed. Churchill tried to press after break and Odafe got a ball on the left but shot straight to Arindam. In 5th minute, Clifford lobbed the ball nicely towards Ranty but his first touch was very poor and wasted the opportunity. In 58th minute, Clifford made it 2-0 in favor of Dempo when his head found back of the net from a Joaquim center. In 62nd minute, from Kalu's pass Odafe missed a chance when he shot wide from close range. In 72nd minute, match was stopped for 8 minutes when Kalu and Ranty clashed heads, both players lay unconscious for few minutes, later danger was averted after ambulance came and took the player away to near by Apollo Hospital, Salt Lake. After match resumed, in 85th minute, Anthony's center hit crossbar. Referee gave 10 minutes injury time but score remained 2-0 in favor of Dempo. Churchill Captain Odafa Okolie scored 7 goals in this Tournament. Abhishek Bhattacharyya added:It was an incident packed match that saw the Nigerian duo of Ranty Martins and Ogba Kalu falling unconscious briefly while attempting a header. Today’s incident brought back the dark memories of Brazilian Striker Cristiano Junior collapsing to death during Dempo's 2004 Federation Cup final against Mohun Bagan . The striker met with a tragic on-field death on that day after scoring two winning goals for his team.He collapsed and died seconds after scoring his teams' second goal following a collision with tthen Mohun Bagan's goalkeeper Subrata Pal. But Doctor's told according to their report that,Junior died of heart attack following over-exertion and excitement. Ranty and Churchill defender Kalu rose for a header following a corner kick from Robert Lalthalma in the 73rd minute and their heads collided in the air.They fell to the ground unconscious. Play was stopped for about eight minutes. Last year I-League Champion Dempo who was the semifinalist of AFC Cup 2008, will be played against an UAE Club Team Al Sharjah in the AFC Champions League 2009 qualifiers play off match on February 25, 2009 at Sharjah Stadium, UAE. Dempo S.C: 21-VP Satish Kumar, 28-Mahesh Gawli, 23-Dominic Noronha,4-Cressan Antao,18-Valeriano Rebello, 14-Anthony Pereira, 8-Climax Lawrence , 11-Beto, 15-Clifford Miranda, 9-Ranty Martins (6-Peter Carvalho) 17-Joaquim Abranches (29-Clifton Gonsalves), Churchill Brothers:: 29-Arindam Bhattacharya, 19- Gouramangi Singh, 6-M Govin Singh, 17-Robert Lalthalma, 22-Jaison Vales, 3-Warundeep Singh ( 26- Raju Mangang), 9-Ogba Kalu (5-oseph Daniel), 15- Chandam Singh, 11-Khemtang Paite (14-Nicholas Rodrigues), 10-Odafa Okolie ,35- Bineesh Balan, MOHUN BAGAN REACHES SEMI FINALS FROM GROUP D 16.12.2008 :S.Mitra :Vasco and Mohun Bagan won their respective matches today in Group D of Federation Cup but Mohun Bagan qualified for semi finals having scored more goals. Vasco beat Oil India 1-0 and Mohun Bagan got past Air India 2-1 and after today's match Vasco and Mohun Bagan's goal difference were 2-1 and 4-3 respectively. Since Mohun Bagan has scored more goals than Vasco, they reached semi finals. In first match, Oil India played inspiring football but missed many chances and lost to Vasco who scored the winning goal in 70th minute of the match when Teshabaev headed the ball in from a Colaco corner. Earlier in 42nd minute of first half, Oil India had got penalty when Elvino had tackled Durga from behind; however, No. 26 shot straight to goalkeeper and missed the chance to score. In the second match of the day, Mohun Bagan played inspiring football in 2nd half to beat Air India 2-1. Lalkamal and Marcos scored the goals for Mohun Bagan while Soccor Velho scored the only goal for India. In first half, Air India played better football and went ahead in 27th minute when Soccor Velho followed up a Surojit Roy through pass and his right footer went into far corner of net beating Sangram. Mohun Bagan came back strongly in 2nd half with Lalkamal replacing Tulunga. Lalkamal scored the equalizing goal in 53rd minute via 25 yard shot. Mohun Bagan got a number of chances in 2nd half with Barreto and Baichung missing chances. In 60th minute, Mohun Bagan got free kick just outside box when Barreto was fouled. Marcos took the direct free kick which went into goal beating goalkeeper Arup Debnath. In 75th minute, Air India got penalty when Anand Vashan had handled the ball. Ravinder took the shot that went it but referee asked to take the shot again as few Air India players had moved inside the box before the shot could be taken. Ravinder took the shot again but this time Sangram made a brilliant save diving to the right side. Mohun Bagan will play against East Bengal in the second semi final on 18th December at 6.30 pm while the first semi final will be played between Churchill and Dempo at 3.15 pm on the same day, both matches will be played in Salt Lake Stadium. M.Mohun Bagan :: 1-Sangram Mukherjee, 4-Deepak Mondal, 5-Habibur Rehman , 27-N Mohonraj, 29- Anandavasan, 30-Marcos Pereira, 11-Ishfaq Ahmed (16-James Singh ), 19-Tulunga (37-Lal Kamal Bhowmick), 20-Rakesh Masih, 10- Barreto, 15-Baichung Bhutia (25-James Singh) Air India : 24-Arup Debnath, 2- Napoleon Singh (11-Hringsolal Thomte), 29-Chukwuma Udofia, 3-Ravinder Singh,6-L. Uttam Singh,6-L. Uttam Singh, 14-Gouranga Biswas, 28-Michael Tayo, 18-Vijith Shetty, 22-Surojit Roy (12-S. Subash Singh), 10-Soccor Velho, 8-Kumar Samson Singh ( 23-Kailash Patil) Vasco beat Oil India in last match Goa’s Vasco Sports Club beat a spirited Oil India of Assam in their last match in Fed Cup held at Barasat Stadium today .Foreigner Ravshan scored the only goal in the 2nd half of the match. Oil India missed a penalty which was given after their striker Durga Boro was brought down by Vasco’s Elvino Fernandes inside the box. But Nigerian recruit Okwuelum Ezekiel missed the golden chance with a weak shot that went straight to goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani. After a goalless first session, Vasco got the all-important goal when Agnelo Colaco floated a measured corner from the right and Uzbek striker Ravshan pushed in from top of the box to head home in the 71st minutes. JCT WINS AND EAST BENGAL REACHES FED CUP SEMI 15.12.2008 :S.Mitra : Today In the Federation Cup 2nd match of group 'C' , East Bengal beat Sporting de Goa 1 - 0 at Barasat Vidyasagar Kringan. The match was an evenly fought one and this was perhaps Sporting's best match of this edition of Fed Cup. Within 4 minutes, Fredi missed an easy chance from Freeman's pass and shot wide from close distance. In 9th minute, Steven lobbed the ball from right side and the ball was dipping in but East Bengal goalkeeper Abhra made a timely save. In 14th minute, from Steven's free kick Rojen took a back volley which was saved by Abhra. East Bengal made the first fruitful attack in 21st minute when Sonju ran down right flank and from his center Sunil headed the ball straight to goalkeeper. In 36th minute, Nabi overlapped and took a right footed shot which narrowly missed target. The 2nd half saw a different East Bengal with Sonju and Nabi attacking down both flanks and Yakubu played from deep. Mehtab today played as defensive medio and played quite well. Mehraj has got himself adapted in stopper position nicely. Even Stanley today used Poibiang as right back and he also played well. In 52nd minute, from Yakubu through pass, Nabi hurriedly took a shot and missed a chance, he could have left the ball for Sunil who was in a better position for taking the shot. In the next minute, Steven's shot beat Abhra and hit post, a lucky save for East Bengal. In 61st minute, Micy took a shot from outside box which again went past Abhra who was completely beaten but unluckily for Sporting, the ball did not go inside goal. In 66th minute, Yakubu missed the easiest chance of the match when from a Nabi pass Yakubu failed to push the ball past goalkeeper. In 70th minute, Nabi this time missed a chance when from a Yakubu pass he took the ball inside box but shot straight to goalkeeper. For Sporting, Samanada Singh played brilliant football in stopper and denied Yakubu or Sunil any space but in Sonju Pradhan scored the winning goal for East Bengal, Yakubu-Sunil-Sonju combination resulted in the goal. Alvito came as a replacement just 10 minutes before match and he missed a chance when from a Sonju center his shot just went wide. Earlier in first match of the day, JCT defeated New Delhi Heroes 1 - 0. Jaspal Singh scored the winning goal in 15th minute via penalty. JCT got penalty when Barister Rymbat handled the ball inside box. Just before lemon break, Baldeep Saini missed a golden chance after he dribbled the ball past two players and failed to push the ball past goalkeeper. In 2nd half, Edu could have easily got his hattrick but missed at least three easy chances to score within a 10 minutes span. KF East Bengal : 1-Abhra Mondal, 26-Mehrajuddin 3-Nirmal Chetri, 29-Saumik Dey, 20-Poibang Poshna, 22-Sanju Pradhan, 7-Jayanta Sen, 14-Mehtab Hussain (28- Malswamkima), 19- Rahim Nabi, 11-Sunil Chetri (9-Alvito D'Cunha), 12-Yakubu (23-Mumtaj Akhtar), Sporting Goa : 31-Gerald D'Mello, 3-Mathew Gonsalves; 15-Mauricio Peixoto (14-Wilton Gomes), 23-Bibiano Fernandes (7-Harmanjot Khabra), 28-S. Rojen Singh, 24-N Samananda Singh, 26-Micky Fernandes, 9-Freddy Mascarenhas (22-Joseph Pereira), 29-T. Joychandra Singh,19-Steven Fernandes, 27-L. Bisheshwor Singh, Vasco upset Mohun Bagan 14.12.2008 : Rana Bose   :Vasco Sports Club, Goa the bottom placed I-League side rose like a Phoenix and snatched a surprising 1-0 victory over the star-studded Mohun Bagan side at Barasat, in the Federation Cup Group D match. On pen and paper, Mohun Bagan looked a better side and no one gave Vasco much of a chance against the Kolkata premier league winners, but they emerged with two point from a game in which both teams struggled to carve clear scoring chances. Mohun Bagan dominated possession, especially in the first half and midway in the second half, and Lalampuia, Ishfaque, Bhaichung, Kartik Kisku, Marcos and Barretto all came close to scoring. It did not take much to get the vociferous home support going. Mohun Bagan rested Barreto and started off with Lalampuia and Bhaichung upfront with Masih, Ishfaque, James (Sr.) and Marcos in midfield. Karim chose to play the 4-4-2 formation. Mohun Bagan created a few chances in the initial stages and dominated possession. Bhutia netted home at the stroke of the 20th minute which was turned down because of off-side. Five minutes after, Marcos Periera punched a long ranger, which was kept out by VSC custodian Kuttimani. A few minutes later Ishfaque’s punch beat the goal-keeper but was slightly off target. Early second half saw a change in formation and Mohun Bagan retracted to the 4-3-3 with the introduction of Barreto for Puia and Kartik Kisku in place of James Sr. Bagan were playing mostly in the air whereas VSC chose to play more on the ground. The goal came in the 79th minute as VSC defender Agnelo Colaco took a classy shot from outside the box which swerved and beat Sangram who was ball watching standing in the no-man’s land. Thereafter it was Bagan but the die was cast. Habibur, standing on the goal line chose to foot a goal-bound header of Bhaichung and was ruled off-side. Now the situation is that,Mohun Bagan in their last match against Air India, not only will they have to defeat Air India but also will have to hope that Vasco does not beat Oil India by more goals. Mohun Bagan's goal average now stands at 2 - 2 while Vasco's at 1 - 1, so if Vasco wins the match by 2 goals, then Mariners will also have to win the match by 2 goals and then they will reach semi finals having scored more goals. Vasco S.C:: 20-Laxmikant Kattimani, 4-Sunil Kumar Thakur,18-Elvino Fernandes, 30-Vincent Pires (28-Lalnun Puia), 5-Covan Lawrence ,17-Agnelo D'Souza (34-Prajot Naik), 19-Menino Fernandes, 16-Jose Colaco (15-Agnelo Colaco), 29-Ravshan Teshabaev, 32-Sherzod Nazarov,24-Fulganco Cardozo, M.Mohun Bagan :: 1-Sangram Mukherjee, 4-Deepak Mondal, 5-Habibur Rehman , 27-N Mohonraj,29- Anandavasan, 16-James Singh ( 22-Karthik Kisku),30-Marcos Pereira, 11-Ishfaq Ahmed (37-Lal Kamal Bhowmick), 20-Rakesh Masih, 9-Pachau Lalam Puia ( 10- Barreto), 15-Baichung Bhutia Air India hold Oil India 14.12.2008 :   : Air India saved themselves from Oil India with a late strike of foreigner Michel Tayo to finish 1 - 1 at Barasat Vidyasagar Kringan. After a barren first half, Oil India put pressure into the box of Air India from the starting of the second half. The Assam team went into the lead in the 64th minute through a spectacular strike from Raju Konwar.Nigerian Okwuelum Ezekiel failed to convert through a cross from the left, but Raju Konwar followed the ball very cleverly and punched a 25-yard bullet shot which entered into the goal. Air india foreigner Michael Tayo kept Air India’s hopes alive in the tournament by 88th minute before the final whistle by following a quick pass from Subhas Singh. Chettri strikes again to 2nd win of East Bengal 13.12.2008 : S.Mitra  : Sunil Chettri scored and helped Defending Champion East Bengal to register their 2nd win in Fed cup and assured themselves a chance of a semi-final berth in the 30th Federation Cup at Barasat Vidyasagar Krirangan today while beating JCT 1 - 0. Actually East Bengal takes a sweet revenge against JCT, who lost in I-League few days ago. With a good strats from the starting of the match Stanley Rozario boys first shot on target in the 11th minute when Yusif Yakubu shoot from just outside the box but JCT custodian Karanjit Singh saved it.East Bengal's Striking Duo Yusif Yakubu and Sunil displayed a fine coordination while Jayanta Sen and Mehtab Hossain controlled well in the Mid field.JCT's Brazilian striker Eduardo Da Silva’s have got a chance to score while a floater from a set-piece movement from team mate Jagpreet Singh. East Bengal Custodian Abhra Mondal gave his best under the goalpost and made couple of splendid saves from JCT's efforts. Yakubu almost looked to score in the 30th minute .First half ended goalless. After lemon break, East Bengal put more pressure to defence of JCT, Sunil and Yakubu combined brilliantly to bring out the winner in 47th minutes .A mid-field move was picked up by Sunil who passed it on to Yakubu who waited for the ball and again played an wall pass to sunil whoc scored with left footer which easily deceived JCT goalkeeper Karanjit Singh. With the respective wins, East Bengal climbed to the top of Group C standings with 6 points, while JCT and New Delhi Heroes have 3 each . The win for the Kolkata side means that they only need a draw in their final game against Sporting Clube De Goa. JCT and New Delhi Heroes both teams would look to win their game and have an outside chance of qualifying into the semi-finals. East Bengal:: 1-Abhra Mondal, 26-Mehrajuddin, 4-Suley Musah (19- Rahim Nabi), 3-Nirmal Chetri, 29-Saumik Dey, 7-Jayanta Sen (25-Praveen Kumar), 14-Mehtab Hussain,22-Sanju Pradhan, 8-Renedy Singh (9-Alvito D'Cunha), 11-Sunil Chetri, 12-Yusif Yakubu , JCT: 1-Karanjit Singh 4-Julius Akpele, 12-Daljit Singh, 2-Jaspal Singh, 24-Gurwinder Singh, 25-Sakatar Singh (17-Amandeep Singh), 27-Baldeep Singh Jr, 6-Baljit Singh Sahni,7-Jagpreet Singh (19-Randeep Singh), 10-Eduardo Escobar (33-Balraj Singh), 9-Balwant Singh, New Delhi Heroes upset Sporting Club De Goa 13.12.2008 :   : ND Heroes defeated the reigning I League front runner Sporting Club de Goa by 1-0 in the ongoing 30th Federation Cup at the Barasat Stadium, Kolkata on Saturday. In the first half of the match Delhi outfit and goan outfit got clear chances to score. But N D Heroes drew the first blood in the 30th minute when Romeo got a cross from Itaeu and the former had no problems in scoring it to give his team a 1-0 lead. On the other hand the Goan outfit failed to capitalize the chances they made. N D Heroes doggedly blocked every move of Sporting Club de Goa and the second half changes made by Chima Okorie of Marlangki Suting and Bhuvan Chandra Joshi strengthened the mid-field more. Stanley came out as an attacker in first half and after taking the lead Chima made a tactical change by bringing Stanley as a defender. Air India beat Vasco by a last minute goal 11.12.2008 : S.Mitra - Kolkata   : Air India beat Vasco 1-0 in an I league match of group D held in Barasat Stadium today. The first half of the match saw hardly any chance created by both teams except for 2 attempts by Nazarov which was off target but in 2nd half Air India played much better football and completely dominated the game. Air India scored the only goal of the match in 87th minute when Soccor scored from a Tony header. Barreto brace helps Mohun Bagan to win against Oil India Mohun Bagan played brilliant football in 2nd half to beat Oil India 2-1 in a Group D match held in Barasat Vidyasagar Krirangan today. Mohun Bagan went ahead in 9th minute. Marcos took a direct free kick which goalkeeper failed to collect and Baichung pounced on the ball and gave a back pass to Lalkamal Bhowmick who sent a high cross that Barreto leaped high and headed the ball into goal. Being a debutant team, Oil India surprised all by their good performance, especially in 1st half. After conceding an early goal, they came back strongly and caused panic time and again in Bagan defence. Oil India equalized in 37th minute when Durga Boro capitalized on a misunderstanding between Habibur and Sangram and lobbed the ball inside the goal. Barreto scored the winning goal for Mohun Bagan in 56th minutes from a penalty. Baichung took a back volley from Marcos corner which hit hand of Jyotish in goalline and off rebound Barreto pushed the ball in goal but referee Arjunan instead of playing advantage and allowing the goal gave penalty in favor of Mohun Bagan. However, Barreto, scored from the penalty again. Baichung missed the easiest chance of the match when from a Ishfaq through pass he could not push the ball inside goal with only goalkeeper to beat. In 77th minute, Marcos lobbed the ball towards Lalam who again ran past Oil India defence and gave a nice pass to Barreto who positioned himself nicely and took a shot from outside box which narrowly missed target. In 81st minute, it was Lalam in action again when he gave a cross to Baichung but he fumbled with the ball and Oil India defence cleared the ball. M.Mohun Bagan : 1-Sangram Mukherjee,4-Deepak Mondal, 29- Anandavasan, 5-Habibur Rehman, 27-N. Mohanraj, 19-Tulunga (9- Lalam Puia), 20-Rakesh Masih, 30-Marcos Pereira, 37-Lal Kamal Bhowmick (11-Ishfaq Ahmed), 15-Baichung Bhutia ,10- Barreto Oil India Ltd:: 1-Pradip Datta, 25-Jyotish Basumatary, 13-Dhanjoy Boro, 12-Raju Konwar, 19-Biplab Sonowal , 18-Jaidin Mawia Hmar, 16-Jayanta Basumatary, 10-Durga Boro, 26-Okwuelum Ezekiel, 11-Mintu Boro, 15-F Wary ( 8-HL Rauta), EAST BENGAL BACK TO WINNING TRACK AFTER 3 MATCHES 11.12.2008 : S.Mitra - Kolkata   :  East Bengal beat New Delhi Heroes 2 - 0 in Fed Cup Group 'C' match which held in Barasat Stadium today. Like the first match of the day, where JCT dominated the match throughout, this one was also a one-sided affair with East Bengal dominating proceedings. New Delhi Heroes were lucky that they conceded goal in 2nd half and did not concede in 1st half itself. East Bengal could not score more goals due to missed chances. In 4th minute, Yakubu made a solo run which Santosh Singh made a timely tackle at the edge of the box. In 13th minute, from a Rennedy center from left flank, both Sunil and Yakubu failed to connect the ball. In 23rd minute, Renedy gave a pass to Sunil and he took a shot from outside the box which was saved by Rajat. In 36th minute, Mehtab gave a cross from right flank which Renedy tried to shot but off deflection Kima got the ball in an advantageous position but he took a poor shot thus wasting a chance to score. In 37th minute, Oliveiro got the first chance for ND Heroes but his shot went straight to Abhra. East Bengal played much better football than ND Heroes and Renedy and Mehtab were in good form with their run down the flanks. Mehraj also played well in stopper position, it seems that Mehraj plays better in stopper than as a defensive medio. Kima was in poor form today and he was replaced by Alvito in 42nd minute. In the next minute, Yakubu's head after taking a drop in front of the goal leaped up and was going inside goal but Rajat made a brilliant save and in the process got injured when his head struck the post. In injury time, Sunil missed a sitter when off a Renedy center, his head went to goalkeeper. Renedy initially played in left half but after Alvito came in, he went to right half with Alvito in left half. Within a minute after lemon break, East Bengal went ahead by a Sunil goal off a Yakubu pass. In 52nd minute, from a Rennedy center, Sunil received the ball nicely but took a very poor shot and wasted an easy chance. In the next minute, Jayanta lobbed the ball towards Yakubu who got the ball in open but his shot from inside box went over post. In 58th minute, Oliveiro got a loose ball but his shot lacked direction and went out. In 80th minute, Jayanta missed the easiest chance of the match when he could not push the ball past goalkeeper with no defender with him, his shot went straight to goalkeeper. In 85th minute, Alvito made it 2-0 for East Bengal when he pushed the ball inside empty goal off a Sunil pass. In 87th minute, substitute Praveen Kumar took a shot from right side which was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper and off rebound Sunil took a side volley which hits post and goes out. Four players of New Delhi Heroes was shown yellow card for rough play. In 92nd minute, Santosh Singh was sent off after he received his second yellow card of the match. Coach Stanley looked satisfied and said, "I am happy that East Bengal won after 3 defeats in I league. Yes, initial 20 minutes we were not being able to play well but slowly we came back strongly in the match. We have to win the next 2 matches also." New Delhi Heros coach Chima looked a little dissapointed when he said, "Our team has the capability of playing much better football, but the players were very nervous as they had to play against a strong team. Wing play is the main gateway of our play but our wingers could not play well. My strategy was that the two side halfs will move up and give support to Oliveiro who was the lone striker but they could not do that. East Bengal played better football and won the match." When asked which team he fancies will move to semi final, he said, "Judging by the first match, it looks contest will be between JCT and East Bengal, both teams really played well today." East Bengal :: 1-Abhra Mondal, 4-Suley Musah, 3-Nirmal Chetri, 26-Mehrajuddin, 7-Jayanta sen, 28- Malswamkima (9-Alvito D'Cunha),29-Saumik Dey, 14-Mehtab Hussain, 8-Renedy Singh ( 22-Sanju Pradhan), 12-Yakubu (25-Praveen Kumar), 11-Sunil Chetri New Delhi Heros :: 22-Rajat Guha, 24-Manoj Joshi, 2-Santosh Singh, 19-Manish Khatri, 6-Prashant Jaggi, 27-Stanley Cyprian,7-Bhuvan Chandra Joshi, 14-Marlanki Suting ( 9-Nirmaldeep), 21-Romeo Sukhlein (20-Hamza Zaheer Abbas), 13- Oliveira Rosa ,15-Jiten Rai (11- B. Rymbat) JCT defeats Sporting Goa in their opening 11.12.2008 : S.Mitra:JCT completely dominated the match and defeated Sporting de Goa 2-0 in a C group match of Federation Cup. Harmanjit took a from 25 yards out which narrowly missed target in 22nd minute. In the very next minute, Balwant scored the first goal for JCT when he headed the ball in from a Julius shot. JCT went 2-0 up in 40th minute when from a Julius pass from left side Edu took a right footed volley which beat Sporting goalkeeper. Sporting missed the service of Junior who has been left out of Fed cup squad due to injury. In 49th minute, Edu's left footed shot was saved by Sporting goalkeeper. In 56th minute, Edu missed a golden chance when from a Julius pass his shot just went over post. In 83rd minute, Wilton Gomes of Sporting took a right footed volley from outside box which beat JCT goalkeeper but just went out. In injury time, Sporting goalkeeper fouled Balwant Singh outside the box, it was a certain red card offence, but referee showed yellow card to goalkeeper Felix. I league leaders Sporting thus lost the match 2-0 to JCT and are almost out of Fed cup, given that only one team will advance through to semi finals from each group. JCT  :  1-Karanjit Singh ,24-Gurwinder Singh, 4-Julius Akpele, 12-Daljit Singh, 25-Sakatar Singh, 27-Baldeep Singh Jr (19- Randeep Singh), 2-Jaspal Singh, 7-Jagpreet Singh, 6-Baljit Singh Sahni (17-Amandeep Singh), 10-Eduardo Escobar (33-Balraj Singh),9-Balwant Singh, Sporting Goa  :  1-Felix D'Souza,2-Rovan Pereira (24-N Samananda Singh), 18-Remus Gomes (26-Micky Fernandes), 6-Philip Gomes, 14-Wilton Gomes , 7-Harmanjot Khabra, 20-Luciano Sabrosa, 23-Bibiano Fernandes (19-Steven Fernandes), 29-Joychandra Singh,22-Joseph Pereira, 11-Nathaniel Amos Odafa Hattrick helps Churchil to reach in the semi final 10.12.2008 : S.Mitra:Churchill Brothers defeated HAL 7 - 0 and reached semi final of Fed cup where they will meet Dempo. The match completely belonged to Churchill. They went ahead in 4th minute. Raju delivered the ball from right side, which Balan placed into goal via a shot that went into top corner of net. In 17th minute, Odafe scored a brilliant goal from a right footed direct free kick, which goalkeeper had no chance whatsoever to save. In the next minute, Odafe gave a back pass to Kalu who took a right footed shot from edge of the box that went beat HAL goalkeeper and made it 3-0 in favor of Churchill, Amar Deb is to be partly blamed for this goal. HAL then replaced Amar and brought in Gumpe Rime. In 24th minute, Vijay Kumar of HAL was shown red card for pushing a Churchill player from behind , a harsh decision indeed, he should have got yellow card for this offence. The match then saw players losing tempers and Frederick of HAL and Odafe of Churchill got booked. Odafe missed two easy chances to score, first time he got the ball past one player and his shot was saved by Gumpe and in the next minute from Paite center Odafe's head went out from close range. During the lemon break, we saw Felix shouting from VIP box to Odafe asking them to play more attacking football. It seems team responded to Felix's plea and the 2nd half also saw Churchill attacking and creating chances. In 62nd minute, HAL got the only chance of the match when Frederick's shot was saved by goalkeeper and Nabeel missed a sitter from rebound. In 62nd minute, Odafe scored his 2nd goal and team's fourth when his left footed shot went into goal. In 65th minute, Balan made it 5-0 when he pushed the ball in off Odafe pass. In 77th minute, Odafe brilliantly got the ball past 2 players and his left footed shot was going into goal when Satish Kumar handled the ball, a certain red card offence but referee showed only yellow card to Satish. Odafe converted the penalty making it 6-0 in favor of Churchill and completing his hattrick. In 82nd minute, Odafe made it 7-0, HAL defence was standing when Odafe scored the goal. In 85th minute, Odafe brilliantly dribbled past 4 players but his left footed shot narrowly missed target. Churchill will now meet Dempo in semi final. Mahindra beat Mohammedan but both are out from fed cup 10.12.2008 : S.Mitra:Mahindra played inspiring football in first half but Mohammedan came back strongly in 2nd half and spoiled Mahindra's dream of playing in semi finals. Mahindra could have gone ahead in 14th minute when Chiddi's shot hit post. Mohammedan defence was weak today in the absence of Madhab and Farooq who missed the match because of receiving 2nd yellow card in their last match against HAL and added to their woes, Anit got injured and had to be replaced. Mahindra went ahead in 18th minute when Steven Dias converted from a direct free kick. This is Steven's 2nd goal from direct free kick in 2 matches. In 25th minute, Pradeep's shot hit post. Mohammedan from counter attack missed an easy chance when Lalchhuana could not convert from close range in 30th minute. Within 2 minutes, Chiddi scored from Dias center off a right footed shot, Mahindra went 2-0 up. The half time score read 2-0 in favor of Mahindra, Mahindra could have scored 4-5 more goals in this half but missed easy chances. Mohammedan played inspiring football in 2nd half but missed few easy chances to score. Mahindra got a penalty in 54th minute, it was a bad decision from referee, Rafi scored from spot kick making it 3-0 in favor of Mahindra. In 67th minute, Mahindra got another penalty, this time there was no doubt regarding the decision , Nova tackled Ajayan from behind and should have got red card for this offence. Chiddi scored from penalty making it 4-0. Mohammedan then scored 2 consolation goals, both the goals came out of individual brilliance, Shahid scored in 72nd minute and Vimal Pariyar scored in injury time off a inswing direct free kick. Mahindra could not make it to the semi finals due to goal difference. If Mahindra could have converted the chance they got in first half, they could have surely reached semi finals. Mohammedan S.C:: 22-Tharangachan Tungshang, , 6-Sheikh Azim, 13-Anit Ghosh (23-Rajib Ghosh), 30-Bijoy Das,25- Francis Nova , 17-Wasim Feroze 8-Satyajit Bose (18-Vimal Pariyar), 24-Lalhriatzuala Tezoka, 34-Lalchhuan Awma, 27-A Jyothi Kumar (35-Mohammed Shahid),26-Gautam Thakur, Mahindra United : 1-Subhasish Roy Chowdhury; 7-Sushanth Mathew, 14-D. Ravanan, 23-Steven Dias (15 K Thoi Singh), 6-Lamine Tamba, 24-Debabrata Roy, 17-Sukhwinder Singh, 2-N.P. Pradeep, 12-Manjit Singh (4-K.N. Ajayan), 10-Chidi Edeh, 11-M Mohammad Rafi, Mohammedan defeats HAL to keep alive their chance for semi 08.12.2008 : S.Mitra:After the clash of the titans in the first match today which ended 2-2, the second match between Mohammedan and HAL was the battle of the minnows in which Mohammedan defeated HAL via a last minute goal scored by Jothi Kumar. Mohammedan played inspiring football despite absence of Adebao and Mike Okero. They missed a lot of chance to score. The first half completely belonged to Mohammedan. Mohammedan used their flanks quite well today and Satyajit and Jothi Kumar had a great game though Satyajit missed few easy chances to score. Mohammedan missed a positive striker in this match. In the 3rd minute, Jothi took a center from left which went to Gautam in the box but he could not trap the ball properly. From counter attack, Vijay Kumar took a right footed shot which was saved brilliantly by Aachan. In 20th minute, Sovan got the ball in midfield and he dribbled past 2 players and took a shot which was saved by HAL goalkeeper. In 25th minute, HAL almost conceded a sameside goal when a back pass from a defender just went out. In 30th minute, Frederick missed an easy chance to score. In 35th minute, a combined move by Jothi Kumar and Satyajit resulted in Jothi's shot missing target by inches. In 43rd minute, from corner, Nova's shot was saved from goalline by HAL defender. On the verge of half time, Satyajit got a ball from Sovan and he took the ball inside box and his right footed shot was saved by HAL goalkeeper and ballooned up which Gautam Thakur could not head in an empty goal, he narrowly missed target. The half time score was 0-0. The 2nd half saw a close contest with both teams in an attacking frame of mind and missing chances. Within 2 minutes of start, from a Sumit center, Frederick's head went wide. In 53rd minute, Azim made a solo run from midfield and entered penalty box but his final pass towards Jothi was well intercepted by HAL defence. In 56th minute, Mohammedan scored the first goal of the match when Nova gave a back center from goal line which went to Tezoka whose right footed grounder from edge of the box went inside goal. HAL equalized in 62nd minute when Goutam's center from left was headed home by Dada Nabeel with Aachan having no chance whatsoever. In 66th minute, HAL got a penalty when Farouq pushed Vijay Kumar. Frederick took the penalty and his left footed shot hit post and went away, a lucky escape indeed for Mohammedan Sporting. Mohammedan coach Sabbir then made three changes in quick succession bringing Vimal Pariyar, Lalchhuana, and Rajib Ghosh. Right back Nova had hard time against Vijay Kumar, who was the best player for HAL in this match and so Sabbir brought Rajib in place of Nova. In 72nd minute, Vimal gave a pass to Jothi inside box who in turn took a left footed volley which was saved again by HAL goalkeeper. In 80th minute, Vimal missed the easiest chance of the match. Jothi had a brilliant run down the right flank and passed the ball towards Vimal who reached the ball before HAL goalkeeper who was completely out of position, but surprisingly Vimal instead of pushing the ball inside empty net volleyed the ball over bar post. In 87th minute, Vijay Kumar again caused panic in Mohammedan box when he got past Madhab and positioned himself nicely but shot wide. The winning goal came in injury time of the match when Satyajit Bose delivered a cross from right side which went straight to Jothi Kumar whose head went inside goal deflecting off a HAL defender. Thus Mohammedan won the match 2-1 and they still have a remote chance of reaching semi finals from this group provided they defeat Mahindra in their last encounter and the match between Churchill and HAL ends in a draw. If there was any Man of the Match award, Jothi Kumar would have been the deserving candidate as his run down both left and right flanks caused panic in HAL defence time and again during the match. Mahindra hold Churchill 08.12.2008 : S.Mitra:The Group B match of Mahindra and Churchill in Federation Cup ended in 2-2 draw. Mahindra had more chances to score but missed few easy chances while Churchill capitalized on the chances that they got. Mahindra went ahead in 12th minute. Chiddi got the ball inside box and his shot deflected off Gourmangi and went to Sushil who did not make any mistake, his left footed shot went inside goal making the scoreline 1-0 in favor of Mahindra. In 21st minute, Churchill equalized, Paite centered from left side which went to Odafe who back passed the ball to Balan and the latter took a right footed grounder that beat Subhashish and went into goal. In 30th minute, Sushil had to be replaced due to injury by Debabrata Roy who changed position with Rafi, who was placed as striker besides Chiddi. In 42nd minute, from a Steven free kick, Tamba’s head was saved by Churchill goalkeeper. In the very next minute, Pradip missed the easiest chance of the match when from a Steven corner, Pradip’s head went over post. In 44th minute, Churchill got a penalty when Sushant tripped Odafe inside box. Odafe scored from penalty and Churchill went ahead 2-1.Just after lemon break, Sin 48th minute, Steven scored the equalizing goal off a direct free kick when his curling free kick went straight into goal, Churchill goalkeeper tried to save the ball by punching it but it went into goal. In 68th minute, from Paite center, Balan’s head was brilliantly saved by Subhashish, saving a certain goal. In 70th minute, Steven was replaced, this was a surprising decision as he was playing quite well. In 82nd minute, Sukhwinder gets loose ball, gives pass to Chiddi who can’t push the ball inside empty goal, from return ball Chiddi passed the ball to Sukhwinder who was standing inside box, but his shot went wide. In 89th minute, Mahindra was denied a certain penalty when Churchill defender had cleared the ball off his hand. Both Mahindra and Churchill has 4 points from 2 matches with Mahindra having better goal average than Churchill. Dempo rout Chirag 5 - 0 and Mumbai F.C hold SBT 3 - 3 Mohammedan lost to 10 men Churchill 05.12.2008 :Mohammedan Sporting failed to capitalize a one-man advantage over Churchill Brothers who lost their goal-keeper Arindam Bhattacharya in the 3rd minutes of the match.Arindam was sent off the ground for foul to goal-bound Vimal Pariyar. Churchill skipper Odafa Okolie scored a brace despite being reduced to 10-men for 87 minutes. Captain Odafa led Churchill theough a penalty in the 28th minute, awarded after Mohammedan custodian Tharangachan Tungshang brought him down inside the box. Mohammedan scored the equalizer through Jyothi Kumar in the 72nd minute who utilised Satyajit Bose's cross. 3 minutes before final whitsle, Odafe Scored his 2nd goal as he collected a long clearance from the defence just outside the Mohammdean box with his magnificient grounder through his right footer to the left of substitute goalkeeper Naseem Akhtar . Churchill Brothers: 29-Arindam Bhattacharya,17-Robert Lalthalma; 8- Naoba Singh ( 31-Lalit Thapa), 9-Ogba Kalu,15-C. Chandam Singh,26-Raju Mangang, 6- Govin Singh,19-Gouramangi Singh, 22-Jaison Vales (11-Khemtang Paite), 35-T Bineesh Balan (27-Charan Rai), 10-Odafe Okolie. Mohammedan S.C : 22-Tharangachan (1-Naseem Akthar),6-Sheikh Azim, 3-Madhab Das, 19-Gurpreet Singh (8-Satyajit Bose), 13-Anit Ghosh,26-Gautam Thakur, 12-Prasanta Chakraborty (24-Lalhriatzuala Tezoka), 5- Farooq Hyder,27- Jyothi Kumar,16-Sovan Chakraborty, 18-Vimal Pariyar . Mahindra United trounced HAL through Chidi Edeh's Double 05.12.2008 : Mahindra United trounced HAL 3 - 0 with their Nigerian striker Chidi Edeh.Former Dempo Footballer scored 2 goals in the 2nd half to guide Mahindra United's Victory over HAL. The scoreline of First half was goalless. Mahindra United was better in ball possession in the first half but HAL moves better with their captain Xavier Vijay Kumar who has got a chance to score in the eight minute off a ball from R.C. Prakash but Mahindras’ Senegalese defender Lamine Tamba was in the right position to block his left footer. Chidi Edeh scored first from a Steven Dias' excellent corner in the 49th minutes and second goal was simply a gift from the Bangalore side when Mahindra Mideo Sushanth Mathew on the overlap cheaped the ball towards unmarked Edeh, who was allowed all the space to take another powerful header in the 59th minute. Substitute Bhola Prasad ( Steven Dias) added the third goal for Mahindra in 84th minutes from a counter attack. Subhasish Roy Choudhary saved a R. C. Prakash's penalty in the 63rd minute when Mahindra's Justine Stephen had handled a Xavier Vijay Kumar corner inside the box. Mumbai FC - Chirag United fed cup match ended in a bore draw 04.12.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya : The second Group-A match in Federation Cup between Chirag United and Mumbai FC ended in a draw today in Barasat Stadium.Both the teams looked evenly matched.They had the same scoreline when they last met in this year’s first round of I-League encounter. Both the teams started well and looked to break the deadlock but failed to achieve their target. In this new fixture, were only one team can qualify from each group and draw means that both these teams have to win their remaining Group league matches in order to advance to the semis. Dempo have already notched up a win and are looking pretty strong to qualify for the semis. Coming back to the match the Mumbai outfit tried its level best to slay Subrata Bhattacharyya’s men.In the 14th minute of the match Subhashis’s flying cross found Felix in Chirag’s territory but he headed it off the target.Kalia Koluthungan who have done wonders for his team in I-league came close of scoring but he could only find the side-netting. Chirag also had their chances but Shankar Oran the man who could have made a difference failed to convert those opportunities.Mumbai FC’s Abel Hammond could have made a difference in the dying minutes of the game but he headed the ball over the crossbar. Chirag United : 31-Somnath Khara; 15-Dulal Biswas, 2-Louis Nigi Ebami, 17- Bidemi Daniel,6- Dhanarajan, 27-Lalmalswama Hmar (7-Hardip Singh Sahni), 10-Ayan Chowdhury(26- M.Subhas Singh),37-Denson Devadas(28-Mrinmoy Chakrab arty),11-Snehasish Chakraborty, 25-Shankar Oraon, 35-Soumik Chakraborty, Mumbai F.C:: 1-Amit Singha Roy, 28-Kamaljeet Kumar(19-Sanjay Parte), 2-Anes Edathodika, 24-Peter Siddiqui,21-Aseem Kutty(25-Jagadish Papaiah), 29-Subash Chakraborty, 17-Kalia Kulothungan, 20-Riston Rodrigues ,10- Felix, 11-Abel Hammond,18-John Benedict, Dempo crushes SBT in the opening of Fed Cup at Barasat 04.12.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya : The 30th AIFF Federation Cup,2008 kick started with a bang today in Barasat Vidyasagar Krirangan .The opening match of the tournament saw India’s top football club Dempo defeating minnows SBT 3 - 0 in Group 'A'. Dempo was in the driver’s seat from the very first minute of the match.Dempo’s power performer Ranty Martins was unable to participate in this opening encounter as he picked up an injury before the match. But Dempo didn’t missed the services Ranty as they dominated the game and played most part of the first half in SBT’s territory.The Goan outfit went ahead in 12th minute of the match when Joaquim Abranches cross from the right flank found Clifford Miranda who scored on the second attempt after the ball came off the post. Cliffton Gonsalves,the younster was worth watching as he created mayhem and justified his selection in the team as he scored the second goal in the very next minute of the game giving a 2-0 lead to Dempo.Dempo played in all attacking mode with Beto operating superbly in the central midfield but the actual attack came from both the flanks as SBT gave the Goan side enough space to execute their plans.Climax Lawrence,Joaquim Abranches,Clifford Miranda were cream of the crop in both the flanks. Anthony Perreira like Cliffton Gonsalves made life hell for V.P.Shaji’s troop as he scored the 3rd goal for his team in 49th minute of the match.On the other hand SBT failed to execute a proper strategy as the coach seemed to be very confused and was forced to make a change in the 15th minute of the match as Johnson replaced Mohd.Harris.In all the team lacked the big match temperament.In 35th minute of the match SBT’s Rinil came close of scoring but failed to do so.Then the real chance for SBT came in the 55th minute of the match but sadly Kannan was unable to pierce Dempo custodian Satish. In last minute of the match Hakeem showed some class while creating a couple of chances especially the second chance where he came charging down through the left flank but was unable to find glory for his team.Dempo would have gone 4 -0 up in the match if Jerry wouldn’t have scrambled the chance of scoring as his shot was well saved by the SBT custodian and lastly Joaquim Abranches’s header was only able to hit the upright. Dempo S.C :: 21-VP Satish Kumar, 3-John Dias, 18-Valeriano Rebello, 28-Mahesh Gawli, 14-Anthony Pereira (12-Jerry Zirsanga),4 - Cressan Antao, 8- Climax Lawrence , 15-Clifford Miranda (30-Joe Rodrigues), 29-Clifton Gonsalves (7-Nacimento Silveira), 17-Joaquim Abranches,11-Beto, SBT: 18-PV Harshal Rehman, 3- Abdul Basheer, 4-Surjith,8-TV Mohammad Harris ( 5-Johnson N), 2-Paul Anthony, 7-Rinil CJ, 11-Martyn John, 6-Kabeer AB, 12-Sarath BT, 10-Kannan R ( 13-Aneesh),17-Abdul Hakkim , GO TO MAIN PAGE