I-LEAGUE : 2nd leg win of East Bengal over HAL..
21.01.2012 : .KFC.. | www.kolkatafootball.com HOME PAGE
Kingfisher East Bengal overcame a spirited challenge from HAL Bangalore to defeat them 2-0 in the 16th Round I-League encounter, played at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, on Saturday.
Both the teams started on aggressive note. But the host find it increasingly difficult to get past the visitors defence in the first half. It was HAL who stole the show in the first half and came very close take an early lead, in 20th minute when RC Prakash brilliantly took a volley but alert East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh punched the ball away to safety.
Though both the team kept attacking each other goalpost but much to the disappointment of the crowd the first half remained goalless.Changing over, East Bengal seemed to have came out with some resolution. Their persistent effort finally gave them lead, when on a perfect cross from Sanju Pradhan, Saumik Dey scored the first goal in 65th minute for Red and Gold brigade.
Spurred by the first goal red and gold brigade became all more dangerous, and it paid off in the 89th minute when Penn Orgi found the back of the net to score second goal on a unselfish pass from Brazilian, Edmilson Marques who had earlier replaced Tolgay Ozbey upfront in 76th minute.The scoreline remained unchanged till the end to hand HAL Bangalore their 13th defeat of the League.
With this win East Bengal now have 33 points from 16 matches while HAL stays at 3 points from 16 outings. Round 7th match between the two teams was won by East Bengal by 8-1.
MATCH LIVE UPDATE : MRINAL KANTI NATH
21.01.2012 : KF East Bengal 2-0 HAL ( KOL - FT )
KEB : Gurpreet, Khabra, Okpara, Sunil Kumar, Soumik, Sanju, Penn, Mehtab, Paite (Sushant), Vasum, Tolgey(Edmilson),
HAL : Promod P, Ramesh, Sudesh, James, Bijoy, R.C. Prakash, Goutam, Vinod, Hamza, Metei, Rohit.
KEB : Soumik Dey 65', Penn 89'
==============================
2nd HALF stats: FREE KICK - EB 8:5 HAL... Shot on Target - EB 5:1 HAL... Offside - EB 1: 0 HAL...Corner Kick - EB 3: 5 HAL.....
FT : Match end. East Bengal won both leg against HAL.
90'1': YELLOW CARD : Khabra of EB and Ramesh Of HAL
90': Referee Deepak Singh added 3 minutes as injury time.
90': East Bengal is leading 2-0 .
89': GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL..Penn scored for East Bengal. The goal maker was Edmilson who got the pass from Mehtab and beat one defender in HAL box and passed to upcoming Penn who made no mistake to score.
85': Promod saved a free kick of Sanju from out side box.
81': Chance came to EB, Edmilson passed well towards advancing Penn but his missed to control the ba,, in HAL box.
80': East Bengal is leading 1-0 .
78': PLAYER CHANGE : HAL... Vinod out and Kartigayon in.
76': HAL got the corner but saved by Gurpreet.
75': PLAYER CHANGE : EAST BENGAL... Tolgey out and Edmilson in.
74': East Bengal won a corner in left, Mehtab's shot saved by Promod.
71': Still East Bengal is leading 1-0.
70': HAL attacked through Hamza but Okpara well clered the ball.
'
67': East Bengal got a free kick. Sanju kicked the ball and Okpara's header went wide.
66': East Bengal is leading 1-0.
65': Khabra to Tolgey who passed to Sanju in right and Sanju's brilliant cross in box and Soumik scored through a nice header.
65': GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL..Soumik scored for East Bengal.
65': East Bengal attacked. Mehtab's shot from outside box of HAL went wide.
62': Tolgey was tackled by HAL defence in box but ball cleared for throw in.
62': In first leg East Bengal was leading 5-1 within 60th minutes at Bangalore.
61': Still no score in the Match.
60': Hamza again attacked, beat Sunil and passed to R.C.Prakash but his shot went out.
57': Penn attacked in HAL box, cleared by HAL defence.
54': Hamza tackled by Khabra in EB box. Corner for HAL. Saved the corner kick.
52': PLAYER CHANGE : East Bengal. Paite out Sushant in.
50': Hamza tackled by Okpra, Corner for HAL, Hamza header from corner cleared by Mehtab.
47': HAL got corner from R.C Prakash move, Saved by Okpara.
46': 2nd half match starts.
Upto Half Time : Corner - EB 5:0 HAL... Shot On Target - EB 5:3 HAL.... Free Kick - EB 9:5 HAL.. Offside - EB 0:2 HAL.....No card.
HT:: It's half time now in the match no score. In first leg East Bengal was leading 3-1 in half time.
44:': Penn missed pass towards Tolgey.
43': Sanju passed in right to Vasum but his cross cleared.
40': Penn beat two defenders in HAL box but his shot went wide.
37': Sanju to Tolgey to Penn but ball cleared out side box.
33':Tolgey got the ball from Penn but HAL cleared.
30': HAL fouled Mehtab. EB got Free Kick. Mehtab shot cleared and R.C.Prakash shoot from acounter attacked but okpara clered.
27': Ramesh cleared Tolgey shot who got the pass from Sanju.
18': Well attack of HAl, R.C.Prakash got a ball out side of EB box but his shot went direct to Gurpreet's hand.
15': Still no score in the match. In first Leg the score line was 1-1 within 16 minutes of the match. Robin singh scored for East Bengal and Hamza eqalized then.
14': Gurpreet came out from goal and saved the attack of Hamza, who got the ball in box from back pass of Sunil Kumar.
11': Back to back 5th corner for East Bengal. Penn shot from Mehtab's corner kick went over the cross bar.
10': Tolgey scored 4 goals with a hattrick against HAL in first leg .
9': 2nd corner of East Bengal from Saju's shot which was cleared by Promod. Mehtab's kick wasted.
8': East Bengal got Free Kick, Tolgey was fouled by HAL. Paite's shot cleared.
7': East Bengal won first leg by 8-1.
6': Counter attack of HAL, R.C Prakash to Metei and his shot went to Gurpreet's hand.
4': East Bengal got 1st corner, Soumik corner kick from left, sanju's header wemt over the cross bar.
3': Counter attack of HAL, Okpara blocked R.C. Prakash attack.
2': Tolgey attacked from left but cleared by HAL defence.
1': Match starts.
28th AFRICA CUP of NATIONS will start tomorrow.
20.01.2012 : .KFC.. | www.kolkatafootball.com HOME PAGE
The 28th edition of 2012 Africa Cup of Nations will start tomorrow at Estadio De Bata of host nation Equatorial Guinea where in Group 'A' host nation Equatorial Guinea will face Libya in the opening match. Senegal and Zambia will play just next match after the opening game in the same stadium.
This will be the first ever match in African Nations cup of Equatorial Guinea. "The National Lightning" nick name of the host country will be looking to secure a win against Libya which will be their 3rd participation in the Tournament.
In an another match of Group A where Senegal will face Zambia. Tournament Favourite Senegal who have made 11 appearances and got the runners-up position in 2002 and also participate in the Kora - Japan World Cup in the same year.
On the other hand Zambia who have appeared 14 times in the tournament. The Zambians scored 11 goals in their run qualification and trying to continue their scoring run continues in the tournament. Zambia who won 5-0 against India recently in a friendly match at Goa.
Equatorial Guinea and Gabon is joint host countries of this year's edition. This year Nigeria senior national side failed to qualify in the trounament from a group topped by Guinea. Like Nigeria some big names will be missing in the event are 7 time winners Egypt and 4 times winners Cameroon and South Africa.
In 2010 Egypt's Ahmed Hassan got the most valuable player award in the Tournament for 2nd time as he got the award in 2006 also. In the absence of those big names Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire, Senegal and Morocco have tipped as the front-runners to win the title.... THE HISTORY OF AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS 
Countrywise list of winners
Egypt : 7 Times
Cameroon : 4 Times
Ghana : 4 Times
Congo : 2 Times
Nigeria : 2 Times
Algeria : 1 Time
Congo : 1 Time
Ethiopia : 1 Time
Ivory Coast : 1 Time
Morocco : 1 Time
South Africa : 1 Time
Sudan : 1 Time
Tunisia : 1 Time
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME : WORLD FOOTBALL NEWS MAGNET.
20.01.2012 : MRINAL KANTI NATH...KFC.. | www.kolkatafootball.com HOME PAGE
In today's AIFF u-19 Dr. B.C. Roy trophy National football at Silliguri, Bengal thrashed Maharastra in 8-0 while defending champion Jharkhand maintains their strong run by beating Madhya Pradesh in 7-0.
From tomorrow Africans Nation Cup will start. In the opening day Equatorial Guinea will face Libya and Senegal will face Zambia.
Pepe says he did not attempt to injure Lionel Messi during Real Madrid's 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in the Copa del Rey quarter finals.
New Chelsea signing Gary Cahill admits that he was frustrated by how long it took to complete his transfer from Bolton Wanderers, but is now focused on establishing himself at Stamford Bridge.
Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann has revealed how he lost 2,88,400 pounds on a single bet during his playing career.
LA Galaxy have admitted their interest in Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard as they look for another star to join their ranks.
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has revealed he has no intention of leaving Andre Villas-Boas' side until June at the earliest.
Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini hopes the drawn-out transfer saga over Carlos Tevez is resolved "very quickly'' as it is "impossible" for the rebel striker to return to Eastlands.
Robbie Keane has ruled out making a permanent move back to the Premier League after joining Aston Villa on loan from LA Galaxy.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is facing an injury predicament ahead of the visit of Manchester United this weekend, with defender Thomas Vermaelen almost certain to be unavailable, midfielder Mikel Arteta definitely out and forward
Thierry Henry facing a late fitness test.
Joey Barton has blasted Neil Warnock as an 'embarrassment' after the former QPR boss implied the midfielder had his manager sacked.
I-LEAGUE PREVIEW : East Bengal to take on HAL at home.
20.01.2012 : AIFF PRESS...KFC.. | www.kolkatafootball.com HOME PAGE
Kingfisher East Bengal look to consolidate their position at the top of the table when they take on lowly placed HAL at the Yuva Bharati Krinangan on Saturday (January 21). East Bengal stay on 30 points from 15 matches while HAL languish at the bottom of the table with just 3 points from same number of matches.
The last time the two teams met, East Bengal won 8-1. When asked whether it would be a relatively easy match, East Begnal Coach Trevor Morgan begged to differ. "No team in the I-League is an easy opponent and we would be missing several players due to injury," he lamented.
The injury list looks long with Nirmal Chettri, Robin Singh, Naoba Singh, Robert Lalthwama, Gurvinder Singh and Ravinder Singh ruled out for the match. Morgan is set to hand Sunil Kumar his I-League debut alongside Uga Okpara. It looks like East Bengal will play Tolgay Ozbey as the lone striker upfront with comeback man Edmilson Marques to start from the bench.
Morgan added: "At present, there are 7 teams vying for the title and hence every match is important for us."
Meanwhile, HAL had a light practice session ahead of the crucial clash. On the surface, they have an uphill task. But as Morgan insisted, it's not right to "make any prediction."
