Of Heartbreaks

En route to an early morning game of football, what was the first in ages, sitting in an auto with 2 other players, chatting about what was last evening's game between city rivals East Bengal and Mohunbagan and Robin Singh's two match winning strikes when our veteran auto driver turned and retorted to us young EB fanboys with disdain that "Prothom goal ta kheye toh Shilton-er book bhenge gelo, tar por dwitya goal aar ki thamabe??!? Or je mon bhenge gechche".

Literally translates to "The first goal broke Shilton's heart (Shilton = Mohunbagan goal keeper), how do you expect him to stop the second. The poor man was heartbroken".

I've been wanting to leave this city for a while. And sometimes it seems like I'll never get out. But some other times, times like these, they bring a smile to my face. For such sometimes happen only in Kolkata.

Indian v. Red Devils

Delhi boy Sunil Chhetri will soon be seen taking the field against Manchester United on July 25 as part of the latter's tour of USA. Chhetri will be playing for his new club Kansas City Wizards when they take on the former world club champions in a friendly encounter. Although Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra are said to have stayed out of the tour on holidays, big names like Ryan Giggs, Berbatov and Edwin Van der Sar will be available for the English giants. A detailed report of the same is available here.

Sunil Chhetri appearing for his erstwhile club Kansas City Wizards

Here's hoping that the India No. 11 gets playing time against one of the greatest football clubs in the world and does us all proud. Gooo Chhetrii!

Romario comes home

Brazilian legend and Calcutta's favourite son (since most Bengali Calcuttans consider themselves Brazilians with the remaining firmly believing that they were actually born in Argentina, and that Bengal is in India today due to some sort of tectonic shift or CIA conspiracy) Romario de Souza Faria came to the city a couple of days back to encourage youngsters participating in a state-wide football tournament, the Kolkata Police Coca-Cola Friendship Cup. He is staying on to host a reality tv show on football, to be aired on Mahua Channel, alongside former team mate and fellow World Champion 1994, Branco.

It seems a tad weird to imagine how a game meant to be watched live can be any more real than it already is, but atleast its a good excuse to have one of the finest exponents of the game in your hometown. He's probably as loved here as he is at home, and probably better remembered. I can only confirm that after I have been to Brazil in 2014 ;)

Cheers, and good luck to Romario for his future exploits in the city of joy.

Picture from here.

Of Belated Glory

It's been five years since NALSAR won any football tournament anywhere. However, a bunch of kids who've barely played together for much time, came together at SAI Complex football ground, Kolkata after securing a clean sheet right through the tournament.

Most were visibly tired and semi-drugged on Combiflams to ease the aching in their legs and backs from other ongoing events. They went up against the ever formidable NUJS playing at home at their own sports fest INVICTA '10. The boys showed a lot of heart and moved the ball around the field fluently to dominate the first half. Three fantastic plays were not converted into goals. One was a heartbreakingly near miss. The second half revealed a more tired side defending itself against wave after wave of NUJS attack and trying to counter-attack in vain. It was clear that the wind had been knocked out of their weary lungs. The home side hit the cross bar once and had a couple of other close chances. However, the match stayed goalless till the end of the scheduled time and extra time. Roll in Penalties. Couple of unlucky shots hit the cross bar and one mistimed kick went sailing away from the goal for the visitors. Their keeper however saved two strikes which alongwith another miss dragged the never-ending game to sudden death.

The home-team took their chance first and it was calmly saved under pressure by the visiting keeper. Then one of the oldest warhorses from of the present side stepped up to lob in the winner after wrongfooting the host keeper. And we won!!! Finally!

Well done NALSAR, Champions of Invicta '10. And well played NUJS.

I-league

A correction to an earlier post. I-league starts today October 1st, and not from the 3rd as I'd mentioned earlier. East Bengal's opening encounter is scheduled on the 3rd. Apologies. The first game scheduled for this afternoon is between two of the tournament favourites and in form teams, Mahindra United and Churchill Brothers. Here's to an entertaining season ahead.

Meanwhile East Bengal are likely to go into the tournament without any foreign players, after the sacking of all of the previous 4 due to their dismal performance in the Durand Cup. However, Baichung Bhutia officially signed for the club today and maybe he can turn the fortunes of the club that discovered him in its most troubled season in years.

Churchill Brothers clinch Durand Cup 2009

What is it with teams from Bengal and football finals? Last evening 16 time champions Mohunbagan AC lost to 3 time finalists Churchill Brothers after drawing first blood. The final scoreline read 1-3 in favour of Churchill Brothers thus crowning them the Champions of Durand Cup '09. I was languishing at work while the game was on and hence can't really comment on what went wrong. All I know is that being an East Bengal supporter I committed sacrilege by rooting for Mohunbagan simply cause they were a Calcuttan team, and all for nothing!

This is the second tournament this year that football crazy bongs have lost out on in the finals. The last one being the Santosh Trophy loss at the hands of Goa.

I-league starts from 3rd October. Its got a horde of new teams this year, namely Pune FC, Mumbai FC, and the first ever club from the talent filled North East India in the form of Lajong FC of Shillong. Also there are 3 teams from Calcutta that shall feature in the Indian premier division; ie. East Bengal, Mohunbagan and Chirag United. That is something to look forward to especially considereing that it does not end with a final.

We are the Champions!!

Some atrocious defending saw India lose the advantage of Renedy Singh's splendid goal from a free kick, and drag an otherwise hard fought encounter to penalties onto sudden death. But in the end Baichung & Co. prevailed. In an outfit full of experienced campaigners such as Baichung, Renedy, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli and in form young guns like Sunil Chettri and Steven Dias, it was Bengal boy Subrata Pal whose intimidating stance and safe hands saved the day in the end for India. The Bengal keeper saved 3 spot kicks to give India their 2nd Nehru Cup in a row with a win over Syria in a packed Ambedkar Stadium at the capital.

A nailbiting finish, and a well deserved victory. As usual I got lucky to catch the highlights.

oooh oohh, days go by..

It has been a terribly long and hectic one and half weeks for me. Now I suddenly find myself a little blank and in need of a breather. Hence the return to blogosphere.

Despite the long hours at office I did have some minor excitements that the universe chucked my way. Firstly an older friend and mentor turned 40. We had a magician and good scotch whiskey to celebrate his birthday. While I'd like to elaborate on the magic show, hours of typing Form TM 5(s) - for the uninitiated...trust me you don't care enough to want to know - and answering inane client queries have induced a strange weakness in my digits and I shall refrain from indulging in providing further details. Let it suffice that it was a good show, I'd witnessed live magic after quite sometime and while I did not expect Magician Pijus (for your entertainment I am here!!) to really deliver anything out of this world, he did exceed my expectations and provided for a good half an hour/forty minutes of pure entertainment. For those in Calcutta who wish to hire the services of a magician at a reasonable price, you can find Mr. Pijus Bannerjee at 09830111195. He's also a ventroquilist in case you need one.

Besides this the football season has started again. My old favourites in the English Premier League, Arsenal have started well by netting 10 goals in their first 2 matches. This Saturday they face arch rivals Manchester United, who too have regained form after a first match loss to Burnley. It should be an interesting encounter. Pray the days of Patrick Viera and Roy Keane return and the young guns in both the teams shine through in a season that has already been overhyped by record shattering transfers.

India on their part have recovered some of their pride by defeating Sri Lanka convincingly in the ongoing Nehru Cup. I was lucky to be able to catch the highlights of yesterday's encounter against Lanka. It was amazing to see the men-in-blue dominate and crush our neighbours. India has restored some of its chances of making the final, though all is not clear. But the show put up by Baichung & Co. under pressure after their early loss to Lebanon was commendable. Special mention must be made Steven Dias who was unstoppable on the right flank. All residing in Delhi can watch the finals live at the Ambedkar Stadium which is hosting the entire tournament.

I'm still at work. The days are going by really fast, and the weekends even faster. But life is good, and football adds sufficient spice to it. I just wish I had more time to watch every match.

bleh!

Bad day for teams I support.

I first saw Bengal dominate the finals of Santosh Trophy against Goa, but yet bewilderingly fail to score in 120 minutes of play. Then lose out in the penalty shootouts, thanks to miserable spot kicks by Lalkamal and Safar Sardar that were saved by Goanese keeper Felix D'souza.

Later in the evening I watched India lose to England in their second super eight game. Needing 19 to win off the last over, a six from Pathan and a boundary from Dhoni couldn't do the trick as India lost by 3 runs despite having 5 wickets in hand.

It has really been a day of weird losses for the teams I support. Very weird and disheartening.

Bengal in the Finals

Bengal is to take on the winner of the game between Goa and Tamil Nadu on 14th June, in the finals of Santosh Trophy. Today Bengal overcame Services 2-0 in a convincing display of strength. Although both the goals have been credited to Gouranga Ghosh, it is worthy of mention that the first goal came of Gouranga's head as a deflection off a powerful goal-bound shot from Lalam Puia. The second goal came from a counter attack which saw an unmarked Gouranga race through a hapless Services defence and tuck the ball into the nets.

The Bengali challenge for the trophy has grown stronger over the last couple of games. It remains to be seen who qualifies to challenge them in the finals.

Goa v. Tamil Nadu will be telecast live at 1730 hrs tommorrow on Zee Sports.

Baichung Bhutia suspended...

for 6 months by his club Mohun Bagan AC for allegedly not taking necessary permission from the club for participating in the dance show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa. Mohum Bagan coach, Karim Bencharifa, has however stated otherwise. The coach has said that Baichung had obtained his permission before signing up for the show. Also that Baichung had not missed a single I-league game this season. For those interested, details here.

Yesterday Goa thrashed Maharashtra 5-0 to advance into the semi-finals alongside Services who overcame Karnataka 1-0 in a closely contested game.

Goa now face Tamil Nadu in the semis while Services take on Bengal.

I didn’t watch either game. I was busy watching Pakistan-England T20, which was pretty boring except for Umer Gul breaking a stump in half with a beauty of a delivery. I don’t know why, but I always find myself inclined towards Pakistan whenever they play anyone but India. I’ve always admired their pacemen. Its just that nowadays I’ve begun feeling guilty about feeling this way. Weird how what goes on around one affects simple feelings that one may have in something as non-political as sport. Whats there.

BENGAL IN SANTOSH TROPHY SEMI-FINAL!

It was an ecstatic finish to the league for Bengal as they bulldozed their way into the semi-finals of Santosh Trophy. In what was a keenly fought encounter, Bengal drew first blood through a Snehashish Chakrobarty strike. A move that was initiated by the striker himself and midfielder Shubho, who returned possession by way of a delicate pass into the box, resulted in the ball screaming past a hapless Punjab keeper. But defending champions Punjab were not to be kept down for long. They kept attacking, making life hectic for the Bengal defence. The latter defence must be given due credit for playing brillaintly today. They gained possession off most Punjab attacks, and managed to return the ball to their own midfielders. Something that went a tad awry in the second half against Manipur. Punjab however, held their nerve and came back in the game early in the second half with a strike from PC Mahlima who took quick advantage of a rare lapse in the Bengal defence.

Bengal showed tremendous grit and determination in the game to come back in the 84th minute. The hero, non other than Chirag's United's golden boy Pachau Lalam Puia, who scored his 3rd goal of the tournament in emphatic style to clinch the winner for Bengal. The final scoreline read 2-1 in Bengal's favour.

In today's other game, a resurgent Tamil Nadu routed Manipur 3-1, with striker P. Muthu scoring a hat-trick for the winners. They join Bengal in the semi-finals, outsting Manipur on goal difference.

Bengal have now topped the group with 5 points in 3 games, while Tamil Nadu and Manipur share second place with 4 points each, and Punjab bringing in the rear with 3 points.

A great day for Bengal football which found its chances of qualifying to be slim due to some extremely competitive football played by all 4 states in the qualifying rounds.

The other league in the touranment is also being keenly fought with one game remaining for each team. While Maharashtra having lost both their matches are out of contention, the race to semis is still on between Goa, Karnataka and Services.

All matches are broadcast live of Zee Sports.

Santosh Trophy

After drawing their first game with Tamil Nadu, the brave Bengalis literally threw away a golden opportunity of getting closer to a berth in the semi-finals. They played Manipur today. Lalam Puia of Chirag United, put one past the Manipur keeper in the 10th minute itself to take his personal tally of the tournament to 2 goals in 2 games. Since then Bengal dominated the proceedings and had most of the possession. However, they messed up numerous chances to score in the first half with Lalam Puia himself guilty of a couple of missed opportunities. Credit must be given to the Manipur keeper Basant Singh who kept his state in the game under pressure.

The second half, however, was dissapointing. It saw Bengal sitting deep defending their lead, while a belligerent Manipur kept pushing forward. Bengal were duly punished for their negative play with Manipur equalising in the 59th minute. After that the game turned lacklustre with both sides playing extremely mediocre football and being unable to capitalise on the other's mistakes.
Bengal did have a few good chances in the end which failed thanks to some great goalkeeping and poor luck. The game ended 1-1.

In the other game of the league Punjab beat Tamil Nadu 1-0. Punjab reportedly scored of a penalty. Details here.

Now each team has played 2 games with only one to go. Manipur are sitting on top of the table with 4 points, Punjab are second with 3 points, Bengal in third place with 2 points and Tamil Nadu last with 1. To go through to the semi-finals Bengal must win their final league game against Punjab and pray that Tamil Nadu somehow overcome the fighting Manipuris.