Both the teams were on fire from the very first minute of the match.Dempo have been the better team and had more ball possession.In 7th minute of the match Anthony Perreira’s pass was headed off the target by Ranty Martins.East Bengal also came close but Yusif Yakubu’s shot was well parried away by Dempo custodian Satish Kumar.Dempo kept on attacking but East Bengal custodian Subrata Paul’s performance showed why he is Bob Houghton’s first choice.

The deadlock was broken in 78th minute of the game when Beto and Martins assisted Climax Lawrence to find the net.With this win Dempo moved upto 4th place after 10 matches with 17 points.They are tied with Churchill Brothers in points table but are separated by goal difference.On other hand Stanley Rozario’s troops are languishing in mid table(7th place) with 12 points.Climax Lawrence has been awarded Man of the Match today for his excellent performance.

In the other match that was played between Mumbai FC & JCT in Cooperage today.The home team came back from a couple of goals down to win the match 3 - 2 against JCT.The newly promoted Mumbai outfit continues their dream run and seems to be strong contender for winning this years I-League.

Chief minister's XI

Nirmal Chettri,Saumik Dey,Jayanta Sen,Sunil Chettri,Parveen Kumar( All East Bengal).

Sangram Mukherjee,Habibur Rahaman Mondol,Deepak Mondol,Anand Vasan ( All Mohun Bagan).

Tharangachan -( GK ),Madhab Das,Mir Farooq Haider,Sovan Chakrabarty,Goutam Thakur ( All Mohammedan S.C).

Dulal Biswas (Captain),Arindam Ghosh,Snehasish Chakrabarty,Sankar Oraw ( All Chirag United).

Dipendu Biswas( George Telegraph)

Coach:Shabbir Ali(Mohammedan S.C ) and Subrata Bhatacharyya(Chirag United)

Manager : Swapan Ball ( East Bengal)

External Affair's Minister XI

Subrata Paul(GK),Mehtab Hossain,Sanju Prodhan, Saheb Ali Ghorami( All East Bengal)

N.S.Manju,Lalkamal Bhowmick, Lalam puia,Baichung Bhutia(Captain),Rakesh Masih ( All Mohun Bagan)

Rajib Ghosh,SK.Azim,Aneet Ghosh,Basudeb Mondol( All Mohammedan S.C)

Sukhen Dey,Kingshuk Debnath,Gouranga Dutta ( All Chirag United)

Biswajit Saha,Swarup Das(GK),Subho Kumar (All George Telegraph)

Rakesh Prasad - GK ( Port Trust)

Coach:Karim Bencherifa(Mohun Bagan), Stanley Rozario ( East Bengal)

Manager : Debasish Dutta ( Mohun Bagan)

Chirag Player Dulal Biswas was shown red card in the 17th minute for a rough tackle on Vasco striker Robson but Chirag played well and led 3 - 0 before conceding a goal in the dying minutes of the match while the first half score was 1 - 0 for Chirag.

In the added time of first half when Vasco defender Fulganco Cordozo, trying to clear Chirag midfielder Snehashish Chakraborty's shot, put the ball into his own goal.

Chirag led 2 - 0 through their Striker Muritala Ali who scored in 88th minute .

Vasco striker Sherzod Nazarov reduced the margin in 89th minute of the match.Chirag Mideo Snehasish Chakrabarty was awarded Man of the Match.

Chirag United :23-Gopal Das, 15-Dulal Biswas, 6- Dhanarajan, 30-Gouranga Datta, 27- Lalmalswama Hmar(14-Basudeb Mondal), 7-Hardip Singh Saini, 4-Kingshuk Debnath, 25-Shankar Oraon (18-Sukhen Dey), 17- Bidemi Daniel,11-Snehasish Chakraborty, 9 - Muritala Ali Vasco S.C : 1-Milagrio Medeira, 5-Covan Lawrence , 24-Fulganco Cardozo (9-Abhishek Yadav); 16-Jose Colaco, 18-Elvino Fernandes, 4-Sunil Kumar Thakur, 31-Yorkin Nazarov ( 30-Vincent Pires),28-Lalnun Puia, 29-Ravshan Teshabaev, 19-Menino Fernandes, 17-Agnelo D'Souza

Indian "Lev Yasin" Peter Thangaraj passes away

25.11.2008: Peter Thangaraj, the Legendary Goal keeper of Indian 1962 Asian Games Gold Winner Team,who was famous for supplying ball to his team's forward during goalkeeping, passed away following a massive heart attack at Bokaro last night. He was 72. Thangaraj was a contemporary of India's soccer greats Chuni Goswami, P K Banerjee and Tulsidas Balaram. His best performance in international arena during 1960 Rome Olympic is still remembered with fascination by his team mates. His long stint for East Bengal also produced some memorable moments.For the stunning victory against Pas club of Iran in the Final of IFA Shield 1970,East Bengal certainly owed a much to him. International Federation for Football History and Statistics correctly bestowed on him the title" Indian best custodian in 20th century and selcted him as Asia's fifth best goal keeper in last century. Thangaraj initially started playing as a centre forward for the Madras Regimental Centre, but took to goalkeeping subsequently with great success. He was presented the Arjuna Award in 1967, was member of the Asian All-Star team twice in the 1967. After retirement form football , Thangaraj worked as coach of the Aligarh Muslim University and famous Goan club Vasco S C in the early 1970s.He worked as Sports Officer in the Bokaro Steel Plant and also was appointed as an Advisor to the Football Academy set up by the Bokaro Steel Plant. Peter Thangaraj Born: 1936, Andhra Pradesh Position: Goalkeeper Major Teams: Madras Regimental Centre ( ? - 1960) Mohammedan Sporting Club :: (1961 - 1962 ) Mohun Bagan ::: 1963 - 1964 ) East Bengal :: (1965 - 1971 ) Some Achievements in his Career Santosh Trophy : Services( 1960 ) :: Bengal (1962 - 1964 ) Asian Games : 1954, 1958, 1962 ( Won Gold Medal ), 1966 Olympic :: 1956 (Melbourne) ,1960 (Rome)

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MOHUN BAGAN BEATS MAHINDRA AND REACHES 2ND SPOT

24.11.2008 : S. Mitra :Mohun Bagan defeated Mahindra United 1-0 today in an I league match held in Salt Lake Stadium. Baichung scored the winning goal in 46th minute of the match. The match was very exciting and a fast paced one with Mohun Bagan dominating proceedings. Mahindra started the match in a positive note and first 10 minutes completely belonged to them. In 2nd minute, Pradeep got the ball inside Mohun Bagan's 6 yard box but his shot went wide. In 8th minute, Mohun Bagan made their first positive attack when Baichung gave the ball to Tulunga in right flank but the latter could not pass the ball back to Baichung who was waiting inside box. Mohun Bagan then slowly started controlling the game and in 12th minute from a Odafe long throw, Tulunga took a shot which deflected off Mahindra defence and went to Barreto whose shot was cleared for corner. In 15th minute, Sangram made a costly error when he missed flight and Sushil took a shot which was saved from goalline by Odafe. In 18th minute, Barreto after a solo run took a dipping shot from about 20 yards out but the ball just went over goalpost. In 32nd minute, from a Steven Dias free kick, a misunderstanding took place between Odafe and Manju, Sushil got the loose ball and took a shot which was saved by Sangram. In 40th minute, from a Marcos corner, Tulunga gave a pass to Barreto who missed an easy chance to score with goalkeeper at his mercy. Just before lemon break, Masih chest trapped the ball nicely and it went to Baichung who took a shot but it was very well defended by Pradeep and cleared for safety. Mohun Bagan went ahead in very 1st minute of the 2nd half. Marcos got the ball in midfield and gave a pass to Tulunga in right flank who took a low center that went to Lalkamal in left who took a shot that went towards Baichung inside box. Mahindra defenders could not clear the ball properly and Baichung who was standing with his back towards his goal brilliantly turned and took a low left footer which went into far corner of the post with goalkeeper having absolutely no chance to save the ball, a brilliant execution indeed from the captain. Mahindra coach then made 2 changes in quick succession bringing Chiddi and Paresh. In 58th minute, Mohun Bagan was denied a penalty when Barreto was clearly tripped inside box by Debabrata Roy but referee completely ignored the incident. In 62nd minute, from a Tulunga center, Baichung back headed the ball towards Barreto who shot wide from close distance. Soon after, Steven had a great run down right flank and his center was tantalizingly close as Habibur just managed to clear the ball for corner. In the next minute, Sushil missed the easiest chance of the match but Sangram narrowed the angle and saved a certain goal. In 77th minute, Dipak dribbled the ball beautifully and dissected into Mahindra's defence and gave a pass towards Barreto but he just could not reach and Subhashish made a timely save. Derek Perreira then brought in Rafi in place of Sushil Singh but Mohun Bagan defence played well and denied Mahindra to score the equalizer. For Mohun Bagan, Dipak Mandal and Sangram was shown yellow card and will miss their next match against Chirag United. Referee also gave caution to Sushant Matthew and Debabrata Roy of Mahindra United. Mohun Bagan now has 18 points from 10 matches and are now in 2nd position in the league table with Mahindra only 9 points and placed in 9th position. Mohun Bagan will next play against Chirag on Saturday. Derek Perreira said, "We are playing well but due to poor finish we are placed in the bottom half of the table. Today I thought of using Chiddi as a replacement in 2nd half but the plan did not work. I have to go on trying so that strikers start converting the chances they are getting into goals. I am really disappointed." He refused to comment on refereeing. Karim looked elated and said, "I am very happy with the way the boys are fighting. We have developed a great team spirit and this is an important factor for our 5th back to back win." Marcos Pereira of Mohun Bagan has been selected Man of the Match today

M.Mohun Bagan : 1-Sangram Mukherjee, 4-Deepak Mondal, 3-N.S.Manju, 5-Habibur Rahaman, 14-Peter Odafe, 19-Tulunga, 37-Lal Kamal Bhowmick (17-Rahul Kumar), 20-Rakesh Masih, 10- Barreto (22-Kartick Kisku), 30-Marcos Pereira,15-Baichung Bhutia (9-Pachau Lalam Puia) Mahindra United: 1-Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, 25-Debabrata Roy, 17-Sukhwinder Singh (10-Chidi Edeh), 6-Lamine Tamba, 16-Sunil Kumar (8-Paresh Shivalkar) ,7-Sushanth Mathew, 2-N.P.Pradeep, 5-Harpreet Singh, 23-Steven Dias , 29-Djidjia Douhou , 28-Sushil Kumar Singh (11-Mohammad Rafi)

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Odafa top in goal scoring while Sporting in Table

23.11.2008 : Odafa Okolie strikes again and scored his 111th Goals for Churchill out of 102 matches while they beat Mohammedan Sporting in I-League 10th Round match held at Salt Lake Stadium today. After 4 matches Churchill wins and now they have 17 points in league Table. while Mohammedan Sporting remained in the relegation zone with 9 points. In the first half Mommedan played better than Churchill and lost so many chances to score throrugh their striking duo Mike Okoro and a knee-strapped Theo. But it was misses galore for Mohammedan Sporting in the first half due to Churchill's custodian Arindam Bhattacharyya's excellent playing. Churchill Brothers put pressure from their wing play and long passes from midfield to Mohammedan's penalty area in the 2nd half and picked the win in the 70 th minutes when their midfielder Bineesh Balan's shot came off the side post and Odafa was quick to place on to the rebound ball to the net through a half turn by the side of his markar Madhab Das and also scored his 11th goal in 10 matches as a top scorer. In the last minute substitute Vimal Pariyar of Mohammedan who replaced injured Theo in the 79th minute, came close to equaliser but failed. Veteran Anit Ghosh of Mohammedan S.C was adjudged Man of the Match today.

Mohammedan S.C: 1-Naseem Akthar, 3-Madhab Das,5- Farooq Hyder, 6-Sheikh Azim,19-Gurpreet Singh ( 12-Prasanta Chakraborty), 16-Sovan Chakraborty, 13-Anit Ghosh, 26-Gautam Thakur ( 27- Jyothi Kumar),20-Adebayo Adewusi, 10-Mike Okoro , 11-Theo(18-Vimal Pariyar) Churchill Brothers : 29-Arindam Bhattacharya,9-Ogba Kalu, 19- Gouramangi Singh, 17-Robert Lalthalma, 35-T Bineesh , 11-Khemtang Paite (22-Jaison Vales), 15- Chandam Singh(3-Warundeep Singh), 26- Raju Mangang, 6-Govin Singh, 7-Felix , 10-Odafe Okolie

In the other match at goa Sporting Goa register a 2-1 victory over Chellenger Air India to maintain the top spot in the ONGC I-League at Nehru stadium. In the 2nd minutes of the match Subhas Singh gave Air India an early lead when Michael Tayo took a punch at the goal which keeper Gerard Dmello managed to block but the deflection went to Subhas, who made no mistake to push the ball into the net. Sporting found the equaliser in the 21st minute through Joseph Pereira. Nathaniel Amos then scored the winner in the 41st minute to help Sporting Cube De Goa remain at the top of the table with 22 points from 10 matches. Bibiano Fernandes of Sporting has been awarded Man of the Match

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30th AIFF Federation Cup Final Fixture released today

22.11.2008 : the Final Round of 30th Federation Cup Football Tournament has been released today by All India Football Federation .The matches will be held at Salt Lake And Barasat Stadium respectively from 4th - 22 nd December this year. Date and time already mentioned in the fixture except the venue. It will be decided later. GROUP A : Dempo ,Chirag United , Mumbai F.C, Q1 GROUP B : Mahindra United, Churchill Brothers, Mohammedan S.C,Q2 GROUP C : KF East Bengal, JCT, Sporting Goa,Q3 GROUP D : M.Mohun Bagan,Vasco S.C,Air India , Q 4 GROUP A 4.12.2008 : Dempo S.C  VS   Q1 3.00 p.m 4.12.2008 : Chirag United   VS  Mumbai F.C 5.30 p.m 6.12.2008 : Dempo S.C   VS  Chirag United3.00 p.m 6.12.2008 : Mumbai F.C   VS   Q1 5.30 p.m 8.12.2008 : Chirag United   VS   Q1 8.12.2008 : Dempo S.C   VS   Mumbai F.C GROUP B 5.12.2008 : Mahindra United   VS   Q2 3.00 p.m 5.12.2008 : Churchill Brothers   VS   Mohammedan S.C 5.30 p.m 7.12.2008 : Mahindra United   VS   Churchill Brothers 3.00 p.m 7.12.2008 : Mohammedan S.C   VS   Q2 5.30 p.m 9.12.2008 : Churchill Brothers   VS   Q2 9.12.2008 : Mohammedan S.C   VS  Mahindra United GROUP C 10.12.2008 : JCT   VS   Sporting Goa 3.00 p.m 10.12.2008 : KF East Bengal   VS   Q3 5.30 p.m 12.12.2008 : Sporting Goa   VS   Q3 3.00 p.m i 12.12.2008 : KF East Bengal   VS   JCT 5.30 p.m i 14.12.2008 : JCT   VS  Q3 Sun 14.12.2008 : KF East Bengal   VS   Sporting Goa GROUP D 11.12.2008 : Air India   VS  Vasco S.C 3.00 p.m 11.12.2008 :M.Mohun Bagan  VS   Q4 5.30 p.m 13.12.2008 :Air India   VS   Q4 3.00 p.m Sat 13.12.2008 : Vasco S.C   VS  M.Mohun Bagan 5.30 p.m 15.12.2008 : Vasco S.C   VS   Q4 15.12.2008 : M.Mohun Bagan  VS  Air India Semi Finals 17.12.2008 : Winner A   VS  Winner B 4.30 p.m X 18.12.2008 : Winner C   VS  Winner D 4.30 p.m Y Finals (Sunday) 21.12.2008 : Winner of X V/s Winner Y

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MISSED CHANCES DENIES CHIRAG FULL 3 POINTS AGAINST MUMBAI F.C

21.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Mumbai FC hold Chirag United to a 1-1 draw in an I league match played in Salt Lake Stadium today. Chirag dominated the match and Muritala and Sankar Oraon missed quite a few chances. In 12th minute, Chirag scored the first goal of the match. Snehasish ran down the left flank and his center was deflected off a defender and went to Denson whose shot went straight to Kalyan Chowbe who fisted the ball but could not do it properly and the ball ballooned up and went straight to unmarked Sankar Oraon who did not make any mistake in pushing the ball in an empty goal giving Chirag the lead. In 18th minute, Mumbai FC could have equalized but Abhishek could not head properly inside Chirag box and off rebound Hammond took a poor shot which was saved from goalline by Chirag defenders. In 2nd half, Mumbai FC made two changes bringing on Felix and Peter Siddiqui and pushed more man forward and tried to attack more. Chirag defended well and relied on counter attack. Muritala missed two easy chances when he could not shot from inside box, both times his shot went wide. In 60th minute, Riston equalized for Mumbai FC when his shot deflected off Daniel and went into goal keeping custodian Gopal Das stranded in goalline. In 62nd minute, Muritala gave a pass to Sankar Oraon in box and the latter missed the easiest chance of the match when he shot wide with only goalkeeper to beat. In 64th minute, Anees took the ball inside box down right flank but shot wide. Chirag got few more chances but Sankar Oran could not capitalize on the chances that he got. Chirag appealed for penalty on one occasion when Sankar fell in the box after a clash with Kalyan Chowbe, but replay suggested that the offense was not a grave one to be awarded a penalty. Snehasish was adjudged Man of the Match. Before match, Saurav Ganguly went to Chirag's dressing room to motivate the players for better performance. Indeed Chirag had a great match today but due to poor finish could not get the 3 full points. Later in a Television discussion Chirag's Managing Director Mr. Kaustuv Roy has told that there is a possibility that Team India Former Cricket Captain Saurav Ganguly might play for Chirag against Mohun Bagan on the 2nd leg for a few minutes . After match, Mumbai FC coach, David Booth told, "We were lucky to get 1 point today, we did not deserve to win today, we played really bad, but Chirag did not have the class to beat us." Subrata Bhattacharya said, "I think there is some conspiracy going on against Chirag, may be some people want us to be relegated. In every match, we are being victims of poor refereeing, today also we did not get one penalty, but yes our strikers are also to be blamed, they missed quite a few easy chances to score."

CHIRAG UNITED : 23-Gopal Das, 2-Louis Nigi Ebami, 6-R Dhanarajan (15-Dulal Biswas), 30-Gouranga Datta, 37-Denson Devadas, 17- Bidemi Daniel,18-Sukhen Dey, 11-Snehasish Chakraborty, 9- Muritala Ali,25-Sankar Oraw, 27-Malswama Hmar(14- Basudev Mondol) MUMBAI FC : 13-Kalyan Chaubey; 14-Anthony Fernandes, 5-Selwyn Fernandes, 2-Anes Edathodika; 19-Sanjay Parte(Peter Siddique),17-Kalia Kulothungan, 11-Abel Hammond (-Felix), 9-Abhishek Yadav,20- Riston Rodrigues,27-Anees Kutty (-Nisat Mehta), 29-Subhash Chakrabarty

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The event of the century for Bengali football fans :Kausik Bandyopadhyay

21.11.2008 : Diego Maradona is coming to Kolkata. This is probably going to be the event of the century for Bengali football fans. But before Maradona arrives here to bewitch your senses, have a look at the man with a divine touch from his own autobiography. Kausik Bandyopadhyay casts an eye on the man, his career and his enigmatic personality using El Diego: the autobiography of the world’s greatest footballer (London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2004) as a lens. Diego Armando Maradona thrives on controversy. Despite being one of two greatest global footballing icons along with Pele, he remained a controversial figure through out his footballing career. And he remains a bone of controversy even after his retirement. A man of exceptional footballing genius Diego decided to use his famous hand of god albeit in a different way once he had kept off his shoes in 1997. This time the hand produced an emotionally charged confessional tale – a hitherto unknown Maradona known to him only. As Diego himself states: “Sometimes I think that my whole life is on film, that my whole life is in print. But it’s not like that, it’s not like that at all, there are things which are only in my heart – that no one knows. At last I have decided to tell everything.” Thus he tells the story of his extraordinarily enigmatic life from his poverty-stricken origins to his greatest glories, from the pinnacle of his footballing feats to the status of a fallen star with ‘astonishing frankness and brilliant footballing insight’. In fact, as one goes through it, one realizes that Maradona’s enthusiasm for self-revelation is no less interesting than his enthusiasm for football. A poor boy from the shanty town of Buenos Aires Maradona was an addict to football from his childhood. The reason, as he admits, was: “playing football gave me unique peace.” Diego considered himself to be a professional footballer from the start, as he always preferred to play for the team that had picked him first. His parents, brothers and sisters – all became a source of sustenance and energy for him to play the game in true spirit from the very beginning. Watching him play for Los Cebollitas as a boy, experts and spectators could easily understand what was in the making! As the first ever newspaper report on him said that a boy had appeared “with the demeanour and class of a star”. That’s why he was asked to do tricks with the ball on a most popular TV programme in Argentina when he was only eleven. However, it was while playing for Los Cebollitas as a boy that Maradona “scored a forerunner of the other goal, the hand of God.” And when another hand goal was disallowed by a referee a few years later he thanked him and admitted that he “couldn’t promise anything” on such occasions in future. Diego’s debut with Argentinos Juniors in 1976 was the first break of his career as he began to be noticed and highlighted in national media with rapid pace. At this point he had to grow too fast as both expectation and envy urged him to grow up quickly. Come 1977, Maradona wore the national shirts for the first time in a friendly against Hungary. And the same year he found his life partner La Claudia. A coincidence for a lifetime! Maradona could not find a place in Argentina’s Cup winning squad of 1978. It was “the biggest disappointment “ of his life, yet “it marked me for ever, it defined me.” Anger and revengefulness – byproducts of his exit from the team – were to remain fuel for Maradona’s genius throughout his career. He always turned the table whenever he suffered a setback. That’s how he came to limelight when he blazed through his way to help Argentina win the first FIFA Coca Cola Youth World Cup in Japan in 1979. Diego left Argentinos Juniors next year to join Boca Juniors – an important step in his professional footballing career. Yet, his stint with Boca was wrought with ups and downs in performance – consistency became the catchword for him and his team. Diego began to realize another truth of his footballing life – blows and injuries. In his first World Cup in Spain 1982 he had to negotiate with the kicks and blows from his opponent defenders. Although he and his compatriots came to the Cup tired and over-trained from concentration, most of them suffered from complacency: “We thought we were the best and we hadn’t even played a game.” Maradona played his part scoring his first goals in the biggest show, but could not check his impulses on the field. Being continually kicked by opponents every game, he finally lashed out against Brazil and got a red card. Spain was over for the last time winners, but not for Maradona as Barcelona FC had secured his transfer on the eve of the tournament for an unprecedented amount. However, it was difficult for him to cope with tricks and politicking of the club for long. More importantly, he suffered his first major injury of his career leading to an operation on his leg and requiring a lengthy recovery programme. But his time with Barcelona was ill fated not only because of these things, but more because “there, in Barcelona, my relationship with drugs began.” Hence, the change for the better – not only for Diego but more for his new club Napoli – the club which fought hard to avoid relegation thrice in a row till 1984. And Maradona gave everything he could to Napoli – Serie A title, Copa Italia and the coveted UEFA Cup. Never before and never after the world saw such a modest team to dominate European football for so long – an unparallelled feat by Diego. Come 1986 and Argentina under Diego’s captaincy lifted the World Cup – the most desired occasion of his life. The road to this glory Diego delineates elaborately and vividly. For the first the Cup was telecast globally and the globe had their first visual footballing icon on screen. Maradona, Burruchaga, Rugeri, Valdano and the inspiring Bilardo – a great combination saw Argentina through although after a very hard fought final against West Germany. But Mexico ’86 is remembered for one special match – Argentina’s clash with England. It not only witnessed Diego’s Hand of God shining with a goal hoodwinking the referee but produced the greatest goal in the history of World Cup – a “dream goal” in Maradona’s own words. Maradona could not win the Copa America despite best of efforts in 1987 and 1989. Argentina finished runner up in Italia 90 thanks not only to Maradona magic but also to the genius of its reserve goalkeeper Goykochea. Yet, the world saw the severest fouls committed against one man in the tourney. Maradona also became aware of a possible Italian vendetta after Argentina knocked them out of the World Cup that summer. And he left Napoli in 1991. Post-1991 Diego’s career reveals a story of ups and downs including bans, comebacks, scandals and drug tests. Drug had already become a bane of his life – a bane from which he could never really recover in his career. Meantime, he played for Sevilla in Spain with sparks of his old form at times. And then came USA ’84 where Maradona had his swan song. Tested positive in scheduled drugs, he had to face the most shameful and painful music of his life. He was banned from football for another 15 months. Stories have multiplied about his intentions –innocent or evil, but let us hear to his voice of confession: “The truth, the only truth about the World Cup ’94 is that my personal trainer, Daniel Cerrini, made a mistake and I took the brunt of the fallout.” (p. 201) The Argentinian side – a great side that time – could not recover from the set back and went on to lose meekly to Romania in the second round. Diego’s fight to stage a comeback with the ball, however, continued unabated although he knew that his Cup of glory was over. He found solace with his old love Boca Juniors where he remained with intermittent sparkles of his old touch. But he got tested positive again in 1997. Time was fast running out for the ‘world’s greatest footballer’ and he played his last match for Boca against Newell’s on 25 October without knowing the same. It was time for a farewell: “And I said goodbye to football. For ever? I could never say that.” People across the world keenly awaited the English translation of Diego’s autobiography since its first publication in Spanish in 2000. The book was worth it as it reveals the true man on and off the pitch. Amazing, interesting and insightful, it’s real pleasure reading the book even for those who don’t like Maradona but love the game. Written with passion, coherence and clarity, it shows when an impulsive character reveals himself with honesty, an autobiography too can become authentic and authoritative. Maradona’s struggle with the pressures of his life on and off the pitch and his uncanny ability to turn negative feelings into positive energy and revenge into inspiration not only fascinate but inspire as well. Since his (in)famous ‘hand of god’ goal against England in 1986 Maradona and controversy became synonymous as he was “torn between the demands of corporate club bosses, the fans, the media, and his own tempestuous personal life”. In the last chapter of his autobiography, Maradona talks about his most loved and dear ones in life, presents his all time favourite Argentine formation, mentions those players who have delighted him and reveals his relations with some big personalities like Fidel Castro or Carlos Menem. This chapter has hinted to many unknown aspects of his life, which, if Maradona desires to elaborate a bit later on, could produce another revealing memoir, which would, now it seems, include his visit to Kolkata as well, thereby making us proud for ever. Article Written By :Kausik Bandyopadhyay Senior Lecturer in History North Bengal University, India & Fellow Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies 5, Ashraf Mistri Lane Opp. Ballygunge Military Camp Kolkata-700019 West Bengal, India. Associate Editor Soccer and Society (London: Routledge)

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Rodriguez's early goal gave Maradona a winning start as Argentina coach

19.11.2008 : Maxi Rodriguez's 8th minute goal gave Diego Maradona a winning start to his international coaching career as National Team Coach of Argentina who beat Scotland 1- 0 in an international friendly at Glasgow Hampden Park today. Diego Maradona, who returned to Glasgow for the first time since he scored his first goal for Argentina in a 3 - 1 friendly win against Scotlant at Hampden in 1979 as his international debut. Today in the 8th minute of first half, Scotland Custodian Allan McGregor made a great save from Argentina skipper Javier Mascherano before Rodriguez finished off a fine move by sliding the ball past the Scotland keeper from close range. OTHER MAJOR RESULTS OF INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES Brazil 6 - 2 Portugal England 2 - 1 Germany Holand 3 - 1 Sweden France 0 - 0 Uruguay Spain 3 - 0 Chili Greece 1 - 1 Italy

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SONG OF MARADONA : WELCOME TO KOLKATA

19.11.2008 : Kolkata is ready to welcome Diego Maradona with a theme song "Maradona - O - Maradona" , Written by Prof. Avik Lahiri and the composer and singers are Moyuk - Mainak :: A press conference regarding this will be held tomorrow 1.00 PM at Kolkata CSJC. Maradona - O - Maradona Ek theke Noi par hoye gele tr pore ase dos Sokolai Futbol khele,ekjon e sudhu boss | paier choaai choaai bol tai jure dile du dana .... Maradona O Maradona Tomar desh ta koto dure jani na ami joto dure hok chelebela theke tumi Amar pasher parar e lok Khide nea pete sokto chowal...ei chele tui lor Tor rastar ses pothe ache futbol isswar | Joto mar khabi ghure o darabi cuba theke ghana Spanish Guiter e Thakumar Jhuli " Maradona O Maadona |" Mar khete khete uthe darabe tumi Uthe darabe dunier gourab| Ses hote hote suru holo Ba paier Biplob | Written by : Professor Avik Lahiri Composor and Singer : Mokam Group " Mayoukh - Mainak

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"I don't think he's resigning" :: Carlos Bilardo

13.11.2008 : Diego Armando Maradona, who has just appointed as Argentina National Football team's Technical Director on 4 th November, could quit if he does not get his way over his choice of assistant Coach.He asked to the AFA let him freely allow to appoint the remaining members of his coaching staff. The Argentine media, reportedly run into a deadlock with Argentina Football Association (AFA) president Julio Grondona over his choice of assistant.Argentina head coach Diego Maradona says he will walk out on the national team if he is unable to appoint former teammate Oscar Ruggeri as his assistant. Maradona initially announced that former 1986 World Cup teammates Sergio Batista (Gold winner National Team Coach of Beijing Olympic 2008) and Jose Luis Brown would work as his joint assistants .But now he wants to appoint former teammate Defender Oscar Ruggeri,a former coach of San Lorenzo and Independiente, and Mexican team of America.Maradona thinks that the former teammate can teach the players the expertise he gained, as a leading defender during three World Cups with National Team. "I don't think he's resigning," Argentine Team's Technical Secretary Carlos Bilardo acknowledged that there has been a tense dispute between Maradona and AFA president Julio Grondona over the coach's appointment of Oscar Ruggeri as his assistant. TyC Sports of Argentina said, Maradona had met Technical Secretary of National Team Carlos Bilardo and sent a message to Grondona insisting him to appoint Ruggeri as his assistant.But In this connection to appoint of Ruggeri, Grondona refused to comment but said “I don’t like his face,”. Several websites and television channels of Argentina said Maradona could ultimately resign over the matter.However,Argentina's next friendly after Scotland is in February against France, followed by a World Cup qualifier against Venezuela in March 2009.

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ONGC I-League 2nd Leg Fixture

12.11.2008 Round 12 23.01.09 :: Mumbai ::Mumbai F.C v/s M.Mohun Bagan 23.01.09 :: Ludhiana:: JCT v/s Dempo 24.01.09 :: YBK :: Chirag v/s East Bengal 24.01.09 :: Mumbai :: Mahindra United v/s Churchill Bros. 25.01.09 :: Goa ::Sporting Goa v/s Vasco 25.01.09 :: Mumbai :: Air India v/s Mohammedan S.C Round 13 31.01.09:: Mumbai :: Mumbai F.C v/s East Bengal 31.01.09 :: Ludhiana :: JCT v/s Vasco 31.01.09 :: YBK :: Mohammedan S.C v/s Sporting Goa 01.02.09 :: Mumbai :: Air India v/s M.Mohun Bagan 01.02.09 :: YBK :: Chirag v/s Mahindra United 01.02.09 :: Goa :: Dempo v/s Churchill Bros. Round 14 06.02.09 :: Mumbai :: Mumbai F.C v/s Mahindra United 06.02.09 :: YBK :: M.Mohun Bagan v/s Sporting Goa 07.02.09 ::YBK :: Mohammedan S.C v/s JCT 07.02.09 :: Goa :: Churchill Bros. v/s Chirag 08.02.09 :: YBK :: East Bengal v/s Air India 08.02.09 :: Goa :: Vasco v/s Dempo Round 15 13.02.09 :: Goa :: Dempo v/s Mumbai F.C 14.02.09 :: Mumbai :: Mahindra United v/s JCT 14.02.09 :: YBK :: Chirag v/s Air India 14.02.09 :: Goa :: Vasco v/s East Bengal 15.02.09 :: YBK :: M.Mohun Bagan v/s Mohammedan S.C 15.02.09 :: Goa :: Sporting Goa v/s Churchill Bros. Round 16 20.02.09 :: Mumbai :: Mumbai F.C v/s Sporting Goa 20.02.09 :: Goa ::Churchill Bros. v/s Vasco 21.02.09 :: Ludhiana ::JCT v/s Chirag 21.02.09 :: Mumbai :: Mahindra United v/s Mohammedan S.C 22.02.09 :: YBK ::East Bengal v/s M.Mohun Bagan 22.02.09 :: Mumbai :: Air India v/s Dempo Round 17 27.02.09 :: Goa ::Sporting Goa v/s Chirag 28.02.09 :: Mumbai :: Mumbai F.C v/s Air India 28.02.09 :: YBK ::East Bengal v/s Mohammedan S.C 01.03.09 :: Mumbai :: Mahindra United v/s Vasco 01.03.09 :: YBK/Barasat:: M.Mohun Bagan v/s Dempo 01.03.09 :: Ludhiana ::JCT v/s Churchill Bros. Round 18 06.03.09 :: Mumbai :: Mahindra United v/s East Bengal 06.03.09 :: Goa ::Vasco v/s Mumbai F.C 07.03.09 :: Goa ::Sporting Goa v/s Dempo 07.03.09 :: YBK/Barasat :: Mohammedan S.C v/s Chirag 07.03.09 :: Ludhiana ::JCT v/s Air India 08.03.09 :: Goa ::Churchill Bros. v/s M.Mohun Bagan Round 19 14.03.09 :: Goa ::Vasco v/s Mohammedan S.C 14.03.09 :: Mumbai :: Air India v/s Mahindra United 14.03.09 :: Ludhiana ::JCT v/s M.Mohun Bagan 14.03.09 :: YBK/Barasat:: Chirag v/s Dempo 15.03.09 :: Goa ::Sporting Goa v/s East Bengal 15.03.09 :: MumbAI :: Mumbai F.C v/s Churchill Bros. Round 20 21.03.09 :: Goa ::Dempo v/s Mahindra United 21.03.09 :: Ludhiana ::JCT v/s Sporting Goa 21.03.09 :: YBK ::Chirag v/s M.Mohun Bagan 22.03.09 :: Mumbai :: Air India v/s Vasco 22.03.09 :: Goa ::Churchill Bros. v/s East Bengal 22.03.09 :: YBK/Barasat:: Mohammedan S.C v/s Mumbai F.C Round 21 Not Fixed :: Mumbai :: Air India v/s Churchill Bros. Not Fixed :: Goa :: Sporting Goa v/s Mahindra United Not Fixed :: YBK/Barasat :: East Bengal v/s JCT Not Fixed :: Goa :: Dempo v/s Mohammedan S.C Not Fixed :: YBK/Barasat :: M.Mohun Bagan v/s Vasco Not Fixed :: Mumbai :: Mumbai F.C v/s Chirag Round 22 Not Fixed :: Goa :: Churchill Bros. v/s Mohammedan S.C Not Fixed :: Mumbai :: Air India v/s Sporting Goa Not Fixed :: YBK/Barasat :: East Bengal v/s Dempo Not Fixed :: Mumbai :: Mahindra United v/s M.Mohun Bagan Not Fixed :: Ludhiana :: JCT v/s Mumbai F.C Not Fixed :: Goa :: Vasco v/s Chirag

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Steadfast trophy u-13 football festival at Mumbai

12.11.2008 :The Mumbai based "Steadfast Sports and Adventure Academy (SSAA)" is going to organize their first under 13 Football Festival "STEADFAST CUP 2008" at Bharat Scouts and Guides Activity Ground,JBVP, Mumbai from 13th - 16th November this year. In this 7 a side Football tournament, the participating teams are some football Coaching Camps of Mumbai and some Schools, which are registered under Mumbai Sports Association.The final will be held on 16th November where Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran - AIFF - Director Vision (Head of Football Development) will be present as Chief- Guest . The participants of this Tournament will be given a certificate duly signed by Indian Football Team Captain "PADMASHREE" Baichung Bhutia. On behalf of the organiser Mr. Moloy Sengupta (Coach of the Academy) said us that, the U-16 team of Steadfast Football Academy will visit Bangladesh next Feb and u-12 and u-14 team will participate DANA cup at Denmark in July-August next year.They are going to start their own residential academy at Mumbai within a few days in Mumbai. Ist Day The 1st Steadfast Cup the under 13 invitational tournament started with Mr. Xavier Faria of MSSA inaugrating the tournament. The FUN! FOOTBAL! FIESTA could be felt from the word go. The 1st match started with Celibrity Guest Mr. Parminder Sethi wishing the the teams. 1st Match : Steadfast Acdemy- (A) -10 bt Gyan Kendra - 0 2nd Match : Hansraj Intl.- 5 bt St. Andrews High School (Bandra) - 2 3rd Match : Bombay Scottish (Powai)-1 draw AVM (Juhu)- 1 4th Match : St. John the Evengalist - 3 bt R.N.Shah - 0 5th Match : Alphonso Academy -1 bt Jamnabai Narsee - 0 6th Match : Bombay Scottish - 8 bt Sacred Heart - 1 7th Match : St. Andrews (Bandra) - 3 bt St. John the Evengalist - 1 8th Match : Steadfast Academy (B) - 3 bt Sacred Heart - 0 9th Match : R.N.Shah - 4 draw Hansraj - 4 Clearly the last match was the match of the day with R.N.Shah equalising in the very last minute. The mood of the tournament was raised further with the visit and words of encouragement from Mr. Henry Menezes - General Manager of Mumbai FC. It was encoraging to see children seeking loads of advice from the Dietician and the Physiotherapist present at the tournament.

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“We are here not to earn money like other European or Latin American clubs”: Karl Heinz Rummeniggee

November 12 : Subhransu Roy :Few days back It was Diego Maradona who rocked the city football fans.Now its time for his contemporary German International football star Karl Heinz Rummeniggee to rock. The difference is Maradona yet to arrive in the city while today the ace German football star, currently the Chairman of FC Bayern Munchen, is attend a press conference in a esteemed five star hotel in Kolkata.. And just like his aggressive gesture in the ground, in the beginning of his address he made it clear that Bayern Munichen is not come in this country only to earn money just like other European clubs, but they are really willing to share their great football experience and legacy with India so that India can produce footballers of international quality. The Occasion was official announcement of establishment of a football academy in Burdwan .The proposed academy will be named as ‘Bengal Bayern Munchen Techno football Academy’ .Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the main attraction at the press meet,said: “May be, in future, you may see an Indian footballer from this Academy play as a professional football in Munich. Burdwan District Sports Association (BDSa)would enter into an agreement with FC Bayern Munchen for this academy . The Techno India group will work as co- sponsor in the academy. FC Bayern will be extending technical experts for setting up the academy.It will assist the BDSA in developing international quality football ground,extending training to the coaches with modern scientific training.The residential academy would have a good structure, including a 5000 capasity stadium, five training grounds, apartments for coaches, an administrative building with an academic institution for the trainees. Out of five,two of the grounds will have artificial grass, and the others natural grass. Bayern will help in preparing the grounds, spotting talent, training of coaches and laying the blueprint of the programme.Boys in the age group of 7 to 9 years would be recruited from various parts of West Bengal for the proposed academy. Other dignitaries present in the press meet are Mr.Subhas Chakraborty,Transport & Sports Minister, Government of West Bengal. Mr.Nirupom Sen, Minister in charge, commerce and Industry Development, Mr Martin Hegele, Foreign Manager FC Bayern, Mr. Satyam Roy Choudhury, Md, Techno India Group, and others.

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PIFA Director visits FIFA Head Quarter at Zurich

November 12 :"India -The awakening of a sleeping giant." was the topic of the seminar organised by IFA held at the FIFA HQ in Zurich. PIFA Director Nirvan Shah was specially invited to attend this event. Prominent members of the football industry such as Sepp Blatter (President FIFA), Peter Kenyon (Chelsea FC CEO), Franz Beckenbauer (exe FIFA), Amit Bhatia (VC QPR), Umberto Gandini (Dir AC Milan) just to name a few attended this seminar that focused on India. Unfortunately, the big wigs of the Indian FA were absent. The seminar was inaugurated by FIFA President Sepp Blatter. He reiterated FIFA's commitment towards the development of football in India thru FIFA & AFC projects. FIFA would like to convert this cricket crazy nation to football. It was evident that great interest was being shown by foreign clubs to increase their fan base in India, especially with its booming economy and large population. Issues such as to how to develop football in India and who is responsible were raised. It was unanimously agreed that football in India lacked grounds, facilities, marketing, media, coaches and most of all youth academies and these needed to be developed soon. Everyone associated with Indian football must do their bit to promote the game, just as PIFA is doing in India. The question that remained unanswered was how would foreign clubs venturing into India benefit Indian football and why is the Indian FA romancing these clubs, when clearly they should be be aligning with their counter parts - the foreign FA bodies to guide them.

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Kalyani Municipality Sports Academy won NIKE MUPC East Zone Qualifier 2009

20.11.2008 : Kalyani Municipality Sports Academy won the Indian East Zone Qualifier of U - 15 NIKE Manchester United Premier Cup 2009 Football Tournament. he Tournament held in Sikkim at the Palijor Stadium, Gangtok from 18th - 20th Nov’ 08.

Pic: Shankar Dhar:Baichung Bhutia with the Winner Team Here the Brief Results Day (18th Nov. 2008) 1. Sikkim Football Academy 0 - 1 Kalyani Municipality Sports academy 2. Kalyani Municipality Sports academy 2 - 0 Snow Lion Football Academy 3. Sikkim Football Academy 2 - 0 Snow Lion Football Academy 2. Day (19th Nov. 2008) 1. Kalyani Municipality Sports academy 0 - 0 Snow Lion Football Academy 2. Snow Lion Football Academy 1 - 2 Sikkim Football Academy 3. Sikkim Football Academy 0 - 1 Kalyani Municipality Sports academy 3. Day (Final 20th Nov. 2008) 1:30 pm. Kalyani Municipality Sports academy 0 - 3 Sikkim Football Academy The Kalyani Team Manager Shankar Dhar told, India Finals will be held at Goa from 1st - 3rd December, the team will return to home and a residential camp will be conduct again for a good preparation to try their best for coming India Final.

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A Sports Academy of District creates Sensation by participating in U-15 NIKE MUPC Cup 2009

Kalyani, November 12 : Priyabrata Chatterjee : Kalyani Municipal Sports Academy (K.M.S.A.), a football academy which is sponsored by Kalyani Municipality has created a sensation in recent days as they are participating in the qualifier of Manchester United Cup after winning the Nursery League for the consecutive two times, organized by IFA. The sensation is not only created as an football academy gets the chance for participating in the qualifier, but as an academy of a district overcoming many problems makes their way to the qualifier of an international tournament like NIKE Manchester United Premier Cup. As we have talked with the chief coach of the academy Mt.Chinmay Chatterjee, he said, "The boys of the team are very much excited as they get the chance to play in this qualifier to be held at Sikkim." He also said that they are focusing hard on their game all the time. Though the academy sometimes could not afford the facilities like any other teams in Kolkata but still they don't want to make any complain as they gets a lot of help from the Chairman of Kalyani Municipality, Dr. Shantunu Jha. According to Coach IFA also helped as much as they can. The team has organized a conditioning camp for the last ten days in there own ground in Kalyani. The Coaches and other supporting stuff were working very hard to get their team ready for competing with the big teams like Mohun Bagan , Mohammedan Sporting,Chirag United and many more. He said, "The team is ready mentally and physically to take this challenge, the team will not disappoint their supporters, We will fight till the last." The team combination looked nice and some of the boys really has some potential to serve the Bengal's football better in the future. When we asked the coach about this coach said that they want to guide those players in a right way as according to him there is a lot of talent in boy's of rural area also, But they just needs proper guidance and help. When we asked Mr. Chatterjee about the benefit of playing tournaments like Manchester United Cup he said that the teams really get benefited as the players learns a lot. About saying their future target Mr. Chatterjee told us that the K.M.S.A. is trying to search the talented players and wants to provide them the proper facilities to groom them rightly to make the future of Bengal and India's football much better. The K.M.S.A. is working on an appreciable noble work for the future of the Football and Footballers. NIKE U-15 MUPC 2009 :: INDIA QUALIFYING 2009 The participating teams include Mohun Bagan AC,Mohammedan S.C Chirag United, Mahindra United , JCT, Pune FC, Viva Kerala, Salgaocar S.C, Sporting Goa, Sikkim Football Academy, Silchar Football Academy, Mumbai Sports School Association, Pondicherry Coaching Centre, Uttaranchal etc. The group stage matches of the tournament will be held in three centers, the North Zone qualifiers in New Delhi at Dr. Ambedkar Stadium (11th - 13th Nov’ 08), the East Zone qualifiers in Sikkim at the Palijor Stadium, Gangtok (18th - 20th Nov’ 08) and the South and West Zone qualifiers in Goa at two stadiums; Nehru Stadium, Fatorda & Raia Football Ground, Raia near Fatorda (26th - 28th Nov’ 08) The India Finals would be played from 1st Dec’ - 3rd Dec’ 08 at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Goa

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Mumbai F.C hold defending Champion Dempo at home

11.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Defending champions Dempo were held by Mumbai FC at their away match at Mumbai Cooperage ground . The match ended goalless. Dempo dominated the first half and came close to scoring a goal in the 13th minute and 38th minutes respectively through Brazilian Beto and Mboyo, but their efforts fully damaged by Mumbai F.C goalkeeper Kalyan Chawbey. In second half, Mumbai FC came back strongly into the game and put pressure on the dempo defence and finally they came close to scoring in the 65th minute just outside the box but Dempo custodian Satish Kumar saved Abhishek Yadav's attempt .James of Mumbai F.C was declared Man of the Match today. With this draw, Mumbai FC have 11 points from 7 matches and Dempo have 8 from 7 matches matches.

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Karim wins the Churchill Challenge

09.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Mohun Bagan defeated Churchill Brothers 1-0 in Salt Lake Stadium today via Lalampuia goal in 13th minute. Mohun Bagan played a brilliant tactical game and credit should be given to Karim for this win. Mohun Bagan defenders did not give Odafe any chance to take a shot at goal. Whenever he got possession of ball, at least 2 Mohun Bagan players surrounded him and forced him to make errors. However, Odafe Okolie tried a lot and gave few passes to other players but they shot wide. Manju, Deepak and Peter Odafe were rock solid in defence. Marcos and Rakesh played quite well in midfield. Coach Karim said, "I wanted to cut the supply line from midfield to Odafe Okolie and my players succeeded in doing that and so Churchill changed their game plan and in 2nd half they mainly relied on long ball towards our box and our defenders played well to deny Churchill any goal mouth opening." Mohun Bagan started the match with a bang. Within 2 minute, a long throw from Peter Odafe caused panic in Churchill box and defenders cleared the ball for safety. In 6 minutes, Felix ran down the right flank past Deepak and took a center which just went out. In 8th minute, Ishfaq gave a good pass to Lalampuia who attempted a center towards Baichung but Churchill defenders managed to clear the ball. Within 2 minutes, Churchill got a direct free-kick but Odafe's shot went above the bar post. Mohun Bagan scored the goal in 13th minute. Marcos lobbed the ball from center circle towards Lalampuia who was standing in the right edge of the box, the ball went straight over Gourmangi's head towards Lalampuia whose brilliant first touch carried the ball forward before he placed the ball nicely past Churchill goalkeeper into net giving Mohun Bagan the lead. A brilliant pass from Marcos and equaly brilliant was the finish by Lalampuia. Within 5 minutes, Vashum missed a chance for Churchill when a misunderstanding took place between Sangram and Habibur, and Manju made a brilliant tackle to save a certain goal. In 22nd minute, Baichung appealed for penalty but TV replay showed he had dived.

In 27th minute, from a pass off Chitra, Odafe got the ball in open space inside Mohun Bagan box and as he was about to take a shot, Manju made a well timed tackle. In 31st minute, Mohun Bagan got a direct free kick outside Churchill box, Baichung took the shot but it went out. In the next minute, Odafe Okolie got the ball in good position in box but Peter Odafe covered him nicely and prevented him from taking a shot. In 40th minute, Mohun Bagan missed an easy chance. From a Marcos corner, Baichung got the ball in a scoring position but he placed the ball which went over goal post, he could have done better. In 42nd minute, Odafe Okolie took a nice free kick which swerved and was going in goal, Sangram made a timely save and fisted the ball for corner. In 43rd minute, Felix took a center from right flank, Sangram missed flight and James cleared the ball for safety. Just after lemon break, Peter Odafe miscleared a ball inside box and Odafe Okolie got a chance but could not take a shot. In 52nd minute, Felix ran with ball inside Mohun Bagan box and Peter Odafe made a brilliant tackle for corner. Churchill coach then made two changes in quick succession bringing on Nicholas and Bimeesh. In 62nd minute, Chandam Singh got a loose ball in right side but he shot wide. From counter attack, Ishfaq gave a good through pass to Lalampuia who just could not reach, Churchill goalkeeper came out and made a timely save. In 67th minute, Odafe took a center from right side and Nicholas attempted a bicycle kick but could not connect the ball properly and it went out. In 70th minute, Gourmangi fouled Lalam quite badly and should have got yellow card but referee completely ignored the incident. Lalam then got the easiest chance of the match when Ishfaq gave a pass towards Lalampuia, Churchill defence failed to clear the ball and Lalampuia got the ball in open and he shot straight at Arindam, he could have placed the ball on either side of the goalkeeper. In 75th minute, from a long clearance by Odafe, Baichung back headed the ball towards Lalampuia who got a lot of open space in front of him but could not utilize it and gave a pass to Masih who gave a miss pass towards Ishfaq. Churchill indeed attacked a lot in 2nd half and tried to score but Mohun Bagan defenders played brilliantly and did not give any opportunity to score. Marcos got Man of Match. Marcos played well but we think that Manju would have been the better choice for the award. Mohun Bagan now has 9 points and Churchill 12 points from 7 matches.

After match, Churchill coach completely blamed referee for the loss and he said, "My players are young players and they got disheartened after seeing such bad refereeing and so today we could not play to our potential. Also Kareem won a tactical battle and marked Odafe nicely." When asked if Mohun Bagan played negative game in 2nd half, he said, "No Mohun Bagan played good tactical game to beat us but yes refereeing was also vey poor." Kareem said, "I am happy with how my boys fought, full marks to them, every player had a great game. This is the third match in which I am having my full team and this is the reason team is playing well. After Kolkata league, the players were exhausted and few of my players were injured and so we faltered in few games initially in I league." When asked if Mohun Bagan is back in race for championship, Kareem said, "I am not thinking that way. I will plan game by game. Next match is a tough game against JCT and we have to continue with our winning streak." When asked to comment about Marcos, coach said, "I am quite happy with his performance. In Kolkata league, my midfield was a bit shaky and Marcos has given stability to the midfield."

Mohun Bagan : 1-Sangram Mukherjee, 3-N.S.Manju, 4-Deepak Mondal, 5-Habibur Rehman , 9- Lalam Puia (22-Kartick Kisku),11-Ishfaq Ahmed (19- Malswam Tulunga),14-Peter Odafe, 16-James Singh sr., 30-Marcos Pereira, 20-Rakesh Masih, 15-Baichung Bhutia (37-Lal Kamal Bhowmick) Churchill Brothers: 29-Arindam Bhattacharya,3-Warundeep Singh, 8- Naoba Singh,9-Ogba Kalu, 11-Khemtang Paite (14-Nicholas Rodrigues), 19-Gouramangi Singh, 12-R.Vashum (35-T Bineesh ),15- Chandam Singh, 17-Robert Lalthalma,7-Felix, 10-Odafe Okolie

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Air India beat JCT in home

09.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Air-India's winning streak on their home ground in this tournament helped them to earn full three points while they beat JCT 1 - 0 and secure second place in the I-League Table with 14 points just behind Sporting Goa. The first half ended goalless.In the 85th minute of 2nd half , Uttam Singh's long throw-in inside the box from right, which was anticipated by Samson Sing and he made no mistake to score the winning goal with his right foot. L.Uttam sing of AIr India was declared Man of the Match today.

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CHIRAG BEAT MOHAMMEDAN IN I LEAGUE

08.11.2008 : S.Mitra :In a rather insipid match, Chirag defeated Mohammedan by a solitary second half goal scored by Gauranga Dutta. In the first half, both teams were cautious and did not want to concede any goal and the match mainly confined to midfield. In the very 1st minute, Gopal almost conceded a goal when he could not gather an easy center but Mohammedan players could not capitalize on the chance. In 12th minute, this time it was Mohammedan's turn for a blunder when Adebao almost scored a sameside, while clearing a ball in his own box he miscued a shot and the ball just went above barpost with goalkeeper stranded in goalline. In 20th minute, Chirag missed an easy chance when Snehasish got a ball in right side of the box, he could have shot himself but instead gave a pass for Muritala which the latter just could not reach to put it in empty goal. In 26th minute, Muritala headed the ball in goal but linesman disallowed the goal because of offside, a dubious decision indeed. In 32nd minute, from a indirect free kick, Daniel took a left footed shot which was well directed but just went over post. In 38th minute, Louis was shown card for foul on Okero but the replay clearly showed that Okero had dived. The 2nd half was much more fast paced and both teams went for scoring. Subrata Bhattacharya, Chirag coach said after match, "I had made certain plans today, asked the boys to play counter attacking football, my main aim was to not concede any goal and I told the boys to go on attack in 2nd half mainly, the boys fought very well and played according to my game plan." Indeed, Chirag looked the better team in 2nd half and got more chances to score than Mohammedan. In 60th minute, Okero got a ball in midfield, ran a few paces towards Chirag box and gave the ball to unmarked Theo who lost possession very easily. Within 2 minutes, from a Snehasish center, Muritala passed the ball towards Gouranga by his chest and Gouranga reached for the ball nicely and pushed the ball past Mohammedan goalkeeper to give Chirag the lead. Mohammedan goalkeeper was completely out of position and he should have dived to save the ball. In next attack itself, Gouranga could have scored again off a Muritala pass but referee gave offside, television replay suggested that the decision was a faulty one. Mohammedan then made 2 changes bringing on Jothi Kumar and Lalhriatzuala and went for all out attack. In 72 minute, Okero took a cracking shot from outside box which Gopal saved and Theo could not push the ball inside goal off rebound, though linesman had already raised his flag ruling Theo offside. In 74th minute, Adebao gave a through pass to Theo who again made a mess of the attack. In 77th minute, Snehashish took a direct free kick and the ball swerved nicely but Mohammedan goalkeeper made a good save. In 85th minute, barpost denied Mohammedan the equalizing goal. From a center from left flank, Okero headed down the ball for Adebayo whose shot hit bar. In 87th minute, Daniel made a costly error in his own box and he misheaded a ball, Okero got the loose ball and instead of taking a shot, he tried to dribble past the defender and wasted the opportunity by losing possession. From counter attack, Dulal floated the ball inside box from right flank which Muritala could not connect properly and Mohammedan goalkeeper also failed to gather the ball and Gurpreet made a goalline save. After few brilliant performance by Mohammedan goalkeeper Tharangachan, today he made few costly errors and we will have to see if Sabbir Ali asks Naseem to play as goalkeeper in their next match. Gouranga Dutta was adjudged Man of the Match. Okero played well for Mohammedan but Theo could not match up to his standards. Coach Sabbir commented after match saying, "Theo is little injured and I hope he comes back to form soon. Today we played badly and so we lost the game. Chirag deserved to win today." When asked if he could have brought Jothi Kumar a bit early, Sabbir said, "Gautam was playing very well as the destructive midfielder and was snatching the ball quite well, that is why I kept him so long." Chirag has got 8 points from 7 matches and Mohammedan only 6 points from 7 points and are placed in 7th and 11th position respectively.

CHIRAG UNITED : Gopal Das, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury (Kingshuk Debnath 45), Louis Ebami, Daniel, Dulal Biswas, Dhanarajan, Hardeep Singh Saini, Denson Devadas, Snehasish, Muritala Ali, Gauranga Dutta (Sankar Oraon 90) MOHAMMEDAN S.C: Tharangachan Tsunghang, Mir Farroque Hyder (Vimal Pariyar 84), Anit Ghosh, Wasim Feroz, Bijoy Das, Gurpreet Singh, Sovan Chakraborty (Lalhriatzuala Tezoka 62), Adebayo, Gautam Thakur (Jothi Kumar 70), Okero, Theodore Sunday.

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Sporting Goa upset Dempo while Vasco shared point with Mumbai F.C

08.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Sporting Goa earned full 3 points against defending Champion Dempo S.C through Elija Junior's 83rd minute goal and remain on top of the table in the ONGC I-League, played at Nehru stadium today. The first half ended goal less which Dempo dominated, but Sporting Goa played all out game in the last twenty minutes and scored the all important goal in the 83rd minute through junior Elija. Referee S.Suresh showed Red Card to Sporting's Mikey Fernendez in 86th minutes. Now Sporting Goa has collected 18 points from 7 matches while Dempo remained on 7 points from 6 matches. Elija Junior was selected Man of the Match today. In the other match being played at Mumbai Goan club Vasco S.C managed to make a 1 - 1 draw against Mumbai F.C of Mumbai. Kalia Kulothungan scored first for Mumbai F.C in 25th minutes who received a square pass from Alex Ambrose. In the second half,Vasco S.C equalized through Avishek Yadav in 70 minutes who got the ball frm a free kick taken by team mate M.Fernandez. Sunil Kumar Thakur of Vasco has been selected Man of the Match today

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Football Premier League at Hyderabad

From Hyderabad : Samira Sultana and Murtuza Ali : The SAAP "Budweiser" Premier League Football Tournament organised by the District Sports Authority of Hyderabad .Budweiser will be the title sponsor of the 'SAAP Budweiser Premier League cum Super League and Knockout invitation prize money football tournament.All matches will be played at the Gymkhana Grounds in Secunderabad The Participating Teams are : SBI Hyderabad Bharat Dynamics Limited - Hyderabad Shastri Soccer Club -Trimualgerry City College Old Boys - Hyderabad Hyderabad Sporting Bolaram Sporting Club S.C Railway - Secunderabad Electrical and Mechanical Engineers - Secunderabad Army Ordinance Corps - Secunderabad SB - Hyderabad Hyderabad Globe Account General Of Andhra Pradesh The top six teams will qualify for the super league Tournament The top 4 team from super league will compete for the title on a knockout basis. FIXTURE and RESULTS 08.11.2008 : Bolaram S.C   1 - 0   State Bank - Hyderabad BSC : Fareed 57' 10.11.2008 : Shastri Club 1 - 5 S.C. Railway - Secunderabad SCR: Srinu 2,Vijay, Mauzam, Azeem 11.11.2008 : EME 3 - 0 City College Old Boys - Hyderabad EME:Rajesh 17', Sandeep 45', Roman Singh 70' 12.11.2008 :Hyderabad Sporting VS Army Ordnance Corp 13.11.2008 :SBI Hyderabad VS Hyderabad Globe 14.11.2008 :Bharat Dynamics Limited - Hyderabad VS Account General Of Andhra Pradesh

EAST BENGAL AND MAHINDRA MATCH ENDS IN A DRAW

07.11.2008 : S.Mitra :The first half completely belonged to Mahindra with hardly any penetration by East Bengal team in this half. Like last match, today also while warming up before match a key player of East Bengal, Rennedy, got injured and could not play due to muscle tightness and this disrupted the plan of coach Stanly and he had to field Sonju Pradhan in right half position and shift Nabi to left half position. Along with Rennedy, Alvito, Suresh, Dharamjit also missed the match due to injury. Usually Stanly follows a principle of not to keep that player in his team who has missed last day's practice session before match but today was an exception and he had no other option but to keep Yakubu in squad as he says, "I have no other player in forward as Ashim and Edmilson are not fit to play." Stanly really appreciated the dedication of Yakubu and Sunil. Yakubu had the mental strength to stay in field for full 90 minutes keeping in mind that he was in hospital for 3 days and was discharged about 48 hours before match. During match, Sunil became unconscious in 2nd half after a collision with Mahindra player but Sunil also regained consciousness and continued playing. If only Alvito had this dedication, East Bengal might have been back to winning spree. In first half, Mahindra completely dominated and should have scored at least two goals. In 6th minute, Sushil got the ball in open from Chiddi through pass and could have scored but linesman raised his flag and penalized Sushil as offside though television replay suggested that the decision was a wrong one. After 2 minutes, Sonju ran down the right flank and delivered a good center but went straight to Subhashish. In 10th minute, Mahindra missed an easy chance when Chiddi took the ball along right flank, dribbled past Nirmal and passed the ball inside box but both Sushant and Sushil could not connect the ball. In 13th minute, Chiddi took a brilliant shot from outside box that was saved by Subrata for corner. In 16th minute, East Bengal made its first fruitful attack when Sonju got a loose ball in right flank and passed it to Sunil outside box who took a poor shot that went out. In the very next minute, Sushil attempted a back volley which he could not connect properly. In the 20th minute, Kima gave a miss pass to Chiddi who delivered a good center from right side which neither Sushil could connect nor Subrata could gather the ball. Sushil then took the ball from left flank and his center went straight to Sushant Matthew who completely messed up the chance. In 25th minute, Chiddi missed the easiest chance of this half when Sushant lobbed the ball from center circle which went straight to Chiddi inside the box who just had to push the ball past Subrata in an empty net, but he could not receive the ball properly. In 30th minute, another bad decision by referee went against Mahindra when a brilliant head by Sushil was saved from goalline by Subrata Pal and the ball went out but the referee gave a goal kick instead of corner. Mahindra seemed to control the midfield completely at this point as Mehraj, the defensive medio of East Bengal was in awful form and did nothing right. He was thus replaced by Jayanta in 34th minute, the decision should have been taken much earlier. In 41st minute, Sushant got a ball in the right side of the penalty box but he could not receive the ball properly and missed yet another chance to score. From counter attack, just before lemon break, Yakubu should have scored. From a corner taken by Sonju Pradhan, Nabi lobbed the ball from left side to Yakubu who was standing in an open position but could not trap the ball properly and missed a golden chance to give East Bengal the lead.

East Bengal started the 2nd half in a positive note. After match, coach Stanly told that, "By seeing the Mahindra team list, I thought that they would be playing with 4 half but Sushil was playing as withdrawal forward and so they had one man advantage in midfield. My defenders failed to understand this in first half. I tried to give my instruction from side line but due to so much noise they failed to understand my instructions and that is why our team played badly in first half." In 2nd half, East Bengal played much better as compared to first half and the match was keenly contested with both teams getting chances and failing to score. In 51st minute, East Bengal could have gone ahead but Sunil's shot hit the crossbar. The attack started from right flank and Sonju passed the ball to Yakubu who got past 2 players and gave to Sunil who took a shot from outside box which beat Subhashish and hit the crossbar. In 56th minute, a brilliant center from Sonju went straight to Nabi but he could not head properly. Mahindra then made two changes, Paresh and Steven came in place of Pradeep and Douhou. Mahindra went ahead in 58th minute, when Soumik made a costly error in left flank and from Chiddi center, Paresh scored an easy goal, pushing the ball in empty net with the defenders being out of position making it 1-0 in favor of Mahindra. However, within 2 minutes, East Bengal equalized via Sunil goal. From a Yakubu pass, Sunil's crisp left foot drive from a tight angle beat Subhasish and went into corner of the net making it 1-1. In 68th minute, Chiddi centered from from right side and Paresh took a left footed shot which hit post and went out. Soumik then missed an chance off Yakubu pass when he failed to trap the ball inside box with goalkeeper out of position. In 73rd minute, Mahindra missed two back-to-back chances with Sushil and Chiddi missing from Steven and Paresh Center. In 85th minute, Yakubu passed to Nabi who shot wide, yet another chance goes begging for East Bengal. Stanly brought on Gautam Kujur in 88th minute and within a minute he missed the last chance of the match, missing an easy head.

Stanly looked disappointed with the result and is hoping that his team will convert the chances that they are getting. He said, "We are looking forward to AIFF's decision regarding Edmilson, and if AIFF allows us to replace him, we will try to get a foreign striker and hopefully that will end our goal scoring drought. However, I am happy that Sunil who was trying so much at last scored a goal today and the goal was really a brilliant one." Derrick said that he is satisfied with today's performance compared to the last match. "We should have won the match in first half itself. We played so well but our strikers are not being able to score easy goals", he said. Bringing on Steven in 2nd half and replacing Pradip was part of his strategy he said and he brought on Steven and Paresh to press more in 2nd half down the wings. He said, "The third foreigner for my team is ready, he could not play because he fractured his ankle before first match ane he has started practicing now and hopefully he will be seen in action in 1st league itself." Commenting on who will be champions, he said, "League is still open, in every round we are seeing that at least 2-3 matches are ending in draw, so any team can win from here on." Ravanan was adjudged Man of the Match, only the person who selected Ravanan knows the best reason why. It should have gone to Chiddi of Mahindra who played very well and did everything right other than scoring. For East Bengal, Nabi and Yakubu played well. Slowly Nabi is turning out to be an allrounder like Pradeep. Nabi adapts himself to all the positions whether it is striker or left half or right half or left back or right back, a great team man indeed. Similarly for Mahindra, Pradeep today played in a position where he has never played as Ajayan developed chickenpox yesterday.

EAST BENGAL : Subrata Pal, Surkumar Singh, Nirmal Chettri, Suley Musah, Saumik Dey, Sanju Pradhan (Dipankar Roy 89), Mehrajuddin (Jayanta 34), Malsawmkima (Goutam Kujjur 88), Rahim Nabi (captain), Sunil Chettri, Yusif Yakubu. MAHINDRA UNITED : Subhasish Roy Chowdhury (captain), Ravanan, Justine Stephen, Debabrata Roy, N. P. Pradeep (Paresh Shivalkar 57), Sushanth Mathew, Douhou D. Pierre (Steven Dias 55), Sunil Kumar, Sukhwinder Singh, Sushil Kumar Singh (Md. Rafi 80), Chidi Edeh.

PIFA International camp in Dehra Dun

07.11.2008 :The beautiful campus of Unison World School in Dehra Dun once again hosted the PIFA International Camp from 3-4 November 2008. This was the fifth PIFA International Camp 2008 in India. It was an all girls camp with 32 children from Unison World School & 11 from Hope Town School participated at this camp. The girls learnt to shoot like Rooney, pass like Gerrard, defend like Terry and dribble like Walcott at the camp. The campers were trained like they would be at Liverpool or Everton Youth Academy. The children were also taught the benefit of keeping a good healthy diet, how to cope with match day jitters and how to take care of their body The coaches were Mr Sean Clancy, 21 year old, is an FA coach and a professional player. He has played left back for Blackpool, Southport, Burscough in UK and for MLF team – DFW Tornados, USA. He is currently coaching at the Liverpool FC Academy. He was accompanied by Mr Gary Judge, 22 year old working with the Everton FC youth development.

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Mboyo saves the day for Dempo

05.11.2008 : Priyabrata Chatterjee : Mboyo saves the day for Dempo a crucial match of ONGC I-League against Churchill Brothers. People who came to Nehru Stadium ,Goa witnessed a thriller, full of dramatic changes of situations. Through Mboyo Iyomi's Superb hattrick, Dempo held Churchill Brothers to an exciting 3 - 3 draw today which takes Dempo to 7 points from 5 matches while Churchill Brothers moved to 12 from 6 matches. Though the match ended with a draw but both the team played a high quality football to dominate each other. As the first half-an hour was controlled by Churchill Brothers but after that time Dempo started to show their skill and takes the control of the game away from the hands of Churchil Brothers. Churchill scored first in 15th minutes when Khan Thang Paite from the left sent a cross to Felix whose powerful left footer that found the net (1 - 0).After 4 minutes Felix scored again when he received a lob from Robert Lalthalma from the left (2 - 0 ). Churchill Brothers increased the tally in the 32nd minute through Captain Odafa off a ground pass from Ogba Kalu (3 - 0). Dempo did not lose their temperament but put pressure to Churchill defence with long balls and succeeded in scoring two goals before half time with a span of 10 minutes. In 36th minutes Churchill's striker Mboyo Iyomi received a pass inside the box and eluded keeper Arindam Bhattacharya to the far post (3 - 1).In the first half injury time Iyomi scored his and teams 2nd goal through a header off a cross from defender Valeriano Rebello. The scoreline of First half was 3 - 2 on behalf of Churchill. Dempo equaliser in the 75th minute when Iyomi's header off a Noronha corner(3 - 3 ). The clash of the two teams ended with a draw after creating a lot of drama both in the field and out of the field also.

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soccer legend Diego Maradona to visit kolkata in December

05.11.2008 : Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona would make a short two-day trip to Kolkata in the first week of December.The newly appointed Argentine coach would inaugrate the Indian Football School in Maheshtala, 13 km south of the city. The hero of Argentina’s 1986 World Cup victory is also scheduled to visit Mother House, the global headquarters of Missionaries of Charity here, said Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) Lok Sabha member Samik Lahiri. “Maradona inked the deal to come to Kolkata when we called on him at his Buenos Aires residence Nov 1. He is keen to come to the city for promoting soccer and visiting the Missionaries of Charity,” said Lahiri, who hit upon the idea of inviting Maradona and roped in the Ceberity Mangement Group and real estate company Eden as joint organisers.This is Maradona’s first visit to Asia. Lahiri said Maradona spent more than an hour with the two-member team led by him. “His estranged wife Claudia helped us a lot in arranging the meeting. And we sent him the mail through her”. The exact date and detailed itinerary is being worked out with Maradona’s agent. “Everything will be known by Friday”. Kolkata had earlier hosted football greats like Pele, Oliver Kahn and Roger Milla. Courtesy: EIN News

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Celebrity Management Group brings Maradona to Kolkata

10.11.2008: Kolkata will get to witness legendary Football Player and newly appointed Technical Director of Argentinean National Football Team "DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA" who will visit the "FOOTBALL CAPITAL OF INDIA" Kolkata on 6th-7th December this Year. In this connection a press meet was held at Netaji Indoor Stadium , Kolkata in presence of Hon'ble Sports & Transport Minister of State Mr. Subhas Chakrabarty, MP from Diamond Harbour Mr. Samik Lahiri, Executive Director of Celebrity Management Group Mr. Bhawar Goswami alongwith few other eminent personalities. Mr. Lahiri announced that, after arriving in the Football City on the night Dec 5th Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona would lay the foundation stone of the Indian Football School (IFS) at Nungi near Mahestala,Kolkata. Maradona will meet the press on 6th. He will be felicitated at 1,20,000 capacity Salt Lake Stadim, Kolkata by West Bengal Government and the soccer fraternity alongwith some cultural programmes. He will also be visiting the Missionaries of Charities global headquarter (MOTHERS' HOUSE) near Abdul Halim Lane next day. The Superman of World Football MARADONA will also open a Youth Football Clinic in the city and also participate in a Fund Raising Dinner. An auction of memorabilia of Diego Maradona will also take place. West Bengal Sports and Transport Minister Mr. Subhas Chakraborty said the State Government would play the role to felicitate Maradona at Salt Lake Stadium .

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"Maradona will be here to sensitize India " : Samik Lahiri

He is the man behind the curtain who made 100 million Indians’ dream come true. He is the man who has been able to get the consent of Football Legend Diego Armando Maradona to visit the Football Capital of India. He is Mr. Samik Lahiri, the hon’ble M.P from Diamond Harbour Constituency of West Bengal. Amid his very tight schedule Mr. Lahiri gave our representative Subhransu Roy an Exclusive interview regarding the forthcoming visit of soccer legend MARADONA to Kolkata. Here is the abstract of that interview. How could you make this dream of 100 millions Indians’ a reality? What is exact plan behind this visit? Samik Lahiri : Actually for last three years we were working very hard on a project called “INDIAN FOOTBALL SCHOOL”. I thought that if our country could produce good Doctors, Scientists , Academicians, IT professionals then why not quality football players? As an avid football fan this question arose in my mind since long. Hence, we started a research to find the reasons behind our failure. For our research purpose we went to South Africa where football is well structured, went to Europe where football is well planned and also went to South America where football is a part of their daily life. Finally we reached the conclusion to start the project “INDIAN FOOTBALL SCHOOL in Mahestola, Kolkata. Under this project we will sponsor 100 Football Clinics in West Bengal, Jharkhand and North Eastern States of India within next three years,where initially we will admit 1500 Kids of Under 11 age group.We will appoint about 20 quality Indian coaches and other Technical Staff in our clinics who will be given special training with help of famous Argentinean Football Nursery.By 2011 IFS residential Academy will start with well equipped World class infrastructure with modern Football felicities. Out of these 1500 students, when they reach at the age of 14, we will select only the best 40 Kids for our future residential Football Academy in Mahestala. We will provide them 3 years full scientific modern training under direct Argentinean coaching instruction. (in this concern we are also negotiating with famous Argentinean Football Club RIVER PLATE F.C).The boys of the Academy will train through exposure tours to Europe,South Ameria or Africa every year to gain more experience of modern football. At the age of 17 they will be free to play pro football not only in India but also in the South American Leagues. It is highly possible that we can put them in 3rd/4th Division League of Latin American club Football where modern football really exists. As an answer to quality, which once arose in my mind, I think by this process, if everything goes according to our plan, in 2022 we will be able to produce more than 100 of standard footballers with international experience. These talented footballers will help Indian Soccer immensely. After all this planning, we were searching for a personality who can really shake the whole nation as well as can launch our project. Whom you can think is more suitable for the job other than MARADONA? So we started looking for opportunities to present our plan to MARADONA. We were able to contact him through direct help of his estranged wife Claudia and Sevastian the CEO of MARADONA’s personal Management Group 'PASSION' . Following e-mail exchanges routed through Claudia, Maradona agreed to meet us at his residence in Buenos Airs.I led a two-member team to meet him on 1st Nov and had been able to extract his consent for coming to Kolkata in the first week of December this year. I personally feel that this visit of MARADONA will create a great impact to boost Indian Football in future also expecting a huge corporate participation for the mega events.

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WOMEN IN GOAL AT GLOBAL FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

02.11.2008 :The Homeless World Cup today announced a partnership with Women Win to bring the powerful life-changing benefits of football to thousands of homeless women and their communities around the world. The partnership begins with 20,000 euros funding from Women Win for the development of women’s grass roots football in Columbia, enabling Team Columbia to make its debut at the global tournament In addition, Women Win also initiates a Challenge Award of 5,000 euros that will be awarded to one of the community organisations participating in the Homeless World Cup in December to help them implement their ideas for sustainable programmes for homeless girls and women in their home country. As the partnership grows it will also look for opportunity to create social enterprises that contribute to sustainable change for women and girls and their communities. The Homeless World Cup is an annual international tournament, which provides the opportunity for people who are homeless to change their own lives. The 6th Homeless World Cup takes place in Melbourne from 1-7 December 2008, which will include the first Women’s Cup in the tournament’s history. 8 national women’s teams will participate from Cameroon, Columbia, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Zambia, Liberia and Paraguay. 77% of players involved experience a significant life change; no-longer using drugs and alcohol, moving into homes, jobs, education, training, repairing relationships and becoming coaches or players with semi-pro teams. 94% claim to have a renewed motivation for life. Michele da Silva played for Team Brazil at the Copenhagen 2007 tournament and was recently selected for Brazil U21’s Women’s squad. Cherie from Team Liberia has won a 4-year athlete scholarship to a USA college. Mel Young, Founder & President, Homeless World Cup commented: Women participating in previous Homeless World Cup’s have been tremendously successful in changing their lives. They become change-makers and inspirational leaders in their communities. We want to invite many more women to participate and a partnership with Women Win that will grow as both organisations develop is great way to create effective lasting change.” Founder and Executive Director of Women Win, Ms Astrid Aafjes said: “Homeless World Cup and Women Win share mutual values and goals using sport as an empowerment strategy for homeless and disadvantaged girls and women worldwide. By working together we can further raise awareness and have a greater impact.” “Women Win is proud to support the Colombia homeless women’s team this year. The position of women is very difficult in Colombia due to the years of conflict. Especially this group, homeless women, they suffer from gender related violence, low levels of education and are working on the streets from young ages” About Women Win Women Win is a non profit organisation that advocates for and funds organisations that are using sport and physical activity as a strategy for empowering girls and women worldwide. Women Win believes that through participating in sport, women can become strong and confident leaders, take public space and break stereotypes of what women can and should do, and become more in control of their own development, improving their lives and lives in their communities. Women Win currently supports 15 organisations in 12 countries, directly impacting over 5000 girls and women worldwide. About Homeless World Cup The Homeless World Cup is a world-class international football tournament that has triggered and supports grass roots football programmes in over 60 nations engaging 30,000 players who are homeless all year round. At the 6th Homeless World Cup in Melbourne 1-7 December 2008, 56 nations will be united for a tournament that includes the first women’s cup and a legacy of 30 street soccer programmes rolled out by The Big Issue in Australia. The inaugural Homeless World Cup kicked off in Graz, Austria uniting 18 nations. Since then it has gained great momentum in Gothenburg, Sweden (2004), Edinburgh, Scotland (2005), Cape Town, South Africa (2006) and Copenhagen, Denmark (2007). It will visit Milan in 2009. Founded by world-leading social entrepreneur Mel Young, the Homeless World Cup is supported by UEFA, Nike, The Vodafone Foundation, Global Ambassador Eric Cantona and international footballers Didier Drogba and Rio Ferdinand.

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I-League Kolkata Derby ended goalless

02.11.2008 : S.Mitra : The third Kolkata derby in I-league also ended in a draw, the final score was 0-0. Both teams failed to capitalize on the opportunities that they got in the match. East Bengal was in back foot from start as they did not get the service of Alvito, Subrata Pal and Dharamjit in the match, added to this Yakubu suddenly developed fever just before the match, though still coach Stanly kept him in first team. Mohammedan also did not have Azim in their side who played so well in KPL and Theo was not fully fit for the match. Mohammedan started the game in a positive frame of mind and within 2 minutes got their first corner. East Bengal got their first chance on 13th minute when Sunil headed out from a Renedy center. Then a big setback for East Bengal when in 20th minute, Yakubu failed to continue and was replaced by Praveen Kumar. Within minutes, Theo missed a very easy chance off his right footer. In the very next attack, Jayanta took a long right footed shot which just went out. Sunil looked total off form today and he did not get any support from Praveen. Sunil so far in this league has just scored 1 goal and it is high time that he start scoring some goals. In 30th minute, Sunil got a good ball inside box but his recieving was very poor and wasted the opportunity. However, in 37th minute, Sunil was tripped just outside box by Bijay who should have been booked for this offence. Renedy took a direct free kick with his right foot which was saved brilliantly by Mohammedan goalkeeper. Madhab then got yellow card for tripping Sunil Chetry. Just before lemon break, Mohammedan got an easy opportunity to score when Okero's center went straight to Adebayo in the box who had open goal in front of him but failed to trap the ball, thus missing an easy chance.

In 2nd half, within 2 minutes of start, East Bengal was denied a penalty when Anit handled the ball in the box. In 50th minute, Theo Okero combination created magic but unfortunately for Mohammedan the final pass by Theo to Okero was poor. In 56 minutes, Theo should have scored when he missed an 1:1 chance and shot straight to Abhra. Okero was in brilliant form today and he marshalled most of the attacks for Mohammedan. In 70th minute, Sunil Chetry missed an easy header off a brilliant Nabi center and headed the ball straight to Mohammedan goalkeeper. Sonju Pradhan played badly and was subsequently replaced by Dipankar Roy in 73rd minute. In 75th minute, after MSc corner, Mehraj made a long clearance which went straight to Sunil Chetry who chest trapped the ball elegantly and passed the ball to Praveen who could have moved with the ball into the box but instead he hurriedly took a poor shot from outside the box thus wasting yet another opportunity. In 80th minute, from a short corner, Okero beautifully chipped the ball towards unmarked Theo in box but Theo reacted late and Abhra collected the ball. Both teams made a change during the fag end of the match, East Bengal brought Kujjur in place of Praveen and Mohammedan brought Jothi Kumar in place of Goutam but to no avail as the match ended in a goalless draw. Jothi Kumar should have been brought much earlier by Sabbir Ali which could have given Mohammedan chance for more attack. Nabi had a good match for East Bengal and he overlapped quite nicely. Coach Stanly should be thinking more of utilizing Nabi in attacking force rather than in defence. Adabayo also played quite well for Mohammedan. Mohammedan goalkeeper Tharangachan Tungshang got Man of the Match. Easily Okero could have got that award. East Bengal and Mohammedan has got 8 and 6 points respectively from 6 matches. Stanly expressed his anxiousness after match as most of his attacking force is injured and he is looking forward to Yakubu's recovery. He blamed the missed chances for not getting full 3 points. He said since opponent goalkeeper got Man of the Match award, this proves that East Bengal created many opportunities and those were saved by goal keeper. Sabbir Ali is more or less satisfied with the results and he said that with the limited resources that he is having, he is happy with his team's performance and that his first target will be to save relegation.

KF East Bengal: 1-Abhra Mondol, 3-Nirmal Chetri, 4-Suley Musah, 7-Jayanta Sen, 8-Renedy Singh 19-Rahim Nabi, 12- Yakubu, (parveen Kumar, 32-Goutam Kujur),19-Rahim Nabi,22-Sanju Prodhan(Dipankar Roy),11-Sunil Chetri, 26-Mehrajuddin,29-Saumik Dey, Mohammedan S.C : 22-Tharangachan , 3-Madhab Das, 19-Gurpreet Singh, 13-Anit Ghosh,30-Bijoy Das, 26-Gautam Thakur (Jyothi Kumar), 5- Farooq Hyder, 16-Sovan Chakraborty, 20-Adebayo Adewusi, 11-Theodore Sunday ,10-Mike Okoro

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JCT hold Churchill Brothers

02.11.2008 :JCT and Churchill brothers shared one point each in an exciting match of the ONGC I-league, played at goa today. Churchill Brothers took the lead in the 28th minute while Captain Odafe Okolie head home a well directed cross from the right flank by Felix Chimaokwu (1 - 0). In the 2nd half JCT Coach Sukhbinder Singh replaced Amandeep Singh in the place of Baldeep Singh Jr. who equalized in 48th minute from a goal mouth melee off a pass from Jagpreet Singh (1 - 1) . Churchill's Ogba Kalu was declared Man of the Match. Churchill Brothers now have 11 points from 5 Matches while JCT collected 9 points from 6 matches.

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PIFA International football camps conclude in Mumbai

02.11.2008 :Premier India Football Academy organised 2 football camps in Mumbai with UEFA/FA licensed foreign coaches. The four day camps were held at Karanatak football ground at Churchgate and later at the St Andrews ground in Bandra. Inspire Academy coaches Sean Clancy & Gary Judge both from Liverpool conducted the camps for over 50 children. The children were taught to dribble, turn, shield, kick and use of space to their advantage. The campers participated in a skills contest which was eventually won by Hussain Vahanvaty with 650 points in South Mumbai and Ryuju Osamura with 640 points at the North Mumbai venue, both PIFA students. Nike held a football clinic – EKIN for the campers. They explained the use of the appropriate footwear and clothes while playing the game. The children were also explained the benefits of a healthy diet and on how to prepare mentally for a match. The coaches will now fly to Unison World School, Dehra Dun to conduct an all girls 2 day camp

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Fighting Chirag goes down to Sporting de Goa

01.11.2008 : S.Mitra :Sporting de Goa defeated Chirag United today 1-0 in an away match held in Salt Lake Stadium. Joseph Perreira scored the only goal of the match in 74th minute. Initial phase of the match belonged to Sporting de Goa who missed 3 easy chances within 20 minutes with Gopal Das making one good save and in another attempt he fumbled and Junior missed an easy chance. In 20th minute, Daniel's right footed shot just went wide. Within 5 minutes, Sporting came very close to scoring a goal when Joseph Perreira's left footed shot just narrowly missed target. Then chirag coach Subrata Bhattacharya brought in Basudeb in place of Dhanarajan and Chirag missed an easy chance in 32nd minute, Muritala missed an easy right footer off a free kick, this was perhaps the easiest chance for Chirag in the match. Within minutes after this, from a counter attack, Sporting almost scored when Joseph Perreira could not place the ball in an open net when a center from right went straight to him and his left footed shot went wide. Just after this attack, match was held for 27 minutes due to loadshedding. This is indeed a shame for Yubabharati where time and again this has been happening. In the first half, certainly Sporting was the better team and missed many easy chances. In 2nd half, Chirag started in an attacking frame of mind and played lot better than 1st half. However, against run of play Gopal Das almost conceded a goal when he missed a easy ball off Nathaniel's center and Junior could not push the ball inside goal. Then in a span of 5 minutes, Chirag missed 3 chances. In 20th minute, Basudeb gave a through pass to Gouranga in the right flank who ran well with the ball. With 2 Chirag players waiting in the box, Gouranga passed the ball straight to the lone defender of Sporting who was inside the box. In the next attack itself, Muritala could not beat the goalkeeper to score, he missed an 1:1 chance. 2 minutes later, this time Soumik got a loose ball in right flank and again he hurriedly made a miss pass when Gouranga and Muritala were waiting in the box. Unluckily for Chirag, from a counter attack, Sporting scored in 29th minute o 2nd half when Nathaniel's shot was saved by Gopal Das and from rebound Joseph Perreira pushed the ball in an empty net making the scoreline 1-0 in favour of the Goan brigade. Chirag started attacking more after conceding the unfortunate goal and on 32nd minute, Hardeep Singh got the ball in a scoring position in the box but his shot went straight to defender and deflected off for safety. In 35th minute, Basudeb showed his class once again when his long pass went straight to Muritala, but the latter just could not reach the ball and Sporting custodian made a timely save. In 40th minute, Chirag again got an easy chance, this time Muritala got the ball in an open space on the left flank but the delivery was very poor and went straight to goalkeeper. Luciano Sobrosa got Man of the Match award. After the match, Sporting coach, Gaunkar Vishwas told he was very happy with his team's performance and said that it was due to team spirit that team has got its 5th win in 6 matches and this performance is not at all a fluke as has been reported by many critics. Subrata Bhattacharya was disappointed with the loss and said that the main reason was that the midfielders could not control the game and was not holding the ball much, added to this he said his team missed many easy chances to score. He is hopeful that his team will get around 12-13 points after 1st league which is his target right now.

Chirag United : 23- Gopal Das, 2-Louis Ebami, 15-Dulal Biswas, 5- Subhasish Roychowdhury,6 - Dhanarajan (14-Basudeb mondol),7-Hardip Singh Saini, 35-Soumik Chakrabarty (10-Ayan Chowdhury),17-Bidemi Daniel, 11-Snehasish Chakraborty,9- Muritala Ali, 30-Gouranga Dutta (4-Kinshuk Debhnath). Sporting Goa:1-Felix D'Souza,3 - Mathew Gonsalvez, 4-Chinta Chandrashekhar,11-Amos Nathniel,14-Wilton Gomes,(23-Bibiano fernandez), 24-Samananda Singh,7- Harmanjot Khabra (Bisheshwor Singh),22-Joseph Pereira, 20-Luciano Sabrosa,10- Elijah Junior(29-Joychandra Sing),33-Rovan Pereira

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