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I-League: 'Maroon'ed And 'Green'ed
Football is full of surprises. Yet every time something happens, we tend to get surprised! It’s a strange phenomenon but that’s how it is. Another such story is of Mohun Bagan who recorded their fifth consecutive victory in the I-League, a feat which the club hasn’t achieved for several years in the recent past.
25-Nov-2008 5:53:06 AM
Who would
have imagined this especially after Mohun Bagan’s disastrous start to the
league campaign? Not many including me! But here come the Green and Maroon
brigade overturning all the pre-match predictions with their
performances lately.
What has brought about this sea of change at the club? Or was it already present and was only rekindled?
It all started when several Bagan players were called for an early pre-season to face Bayern Munich. Then entered Coach Karim Bencherifa and his pre-season camps. The Kolkata League began and the club won a number of games. They won the derby against East Bengal once and drew the other in their final game, and thus defended their local league title successfully. Part one of Karim Bencherifa’s job was done considering the importance of Kolkata League in the football crazy city.
With a break of only two weeks between the Kolkata League and I-League, the Kolkata teams didn’t get any break and had to prepare for the latter competition. Injuries to their key players saw most of them being out of action. Add the fact that the local league is being played in slushy conditions which takes a lot from the players.
Their first I-League game was against newcomers Mumbai FC and the club was shocked in the early moments as they went 0-2 down. They had no idea what had hit them but did well in the second session to pull one back. The match saw a half fit Bhaichung and a defence which lacked proper coordination.
The draw against Air India didn’t help either where they were second best for most parts. The biggest letdown was the 0-2 away defeat to Sporting Clube De Goa following which there was some unrest in the team.
There were talks of Coach Karim Bencherifa not being happy with some of the players and then began a string of serious talks. Players, officials and the coach mulled together and separately.
They came out to face Mohammedan Sporting still without several players being unfit and missing in action. Bagan went down early but Jose Baretto’s goal restored parity for them. All this while, Bagan didn’t have a third foreign player with the transfer of Marcos Pereira from JCT being in limbo. Once given the green light by the Players’ Status Committee, Marcos was ready for some action after a long lay off ever since the last I-League season.
If there is one match which any Mohun Bagan coach wouldn’t want to lose is the ‘Big Kolkata Derby’ against East Bengal. Bhaichung Bhutia, Habibur Rahman and Marcos started for Bagan and the Indian international announced his arrival with a fine goal in the early minutes. East Bengal did score one through the brilliance of Yakubu and Nabi with the latter scoring.
Bagan were criticized for not taking the game on with their opponents playing with 10 men for most of the second half. At the end of the derby, Bhaichung announced that the I-League title would come to Kolkata this season. It sounded bombastic and unrealistic considering the state of the Kolkata sides them and in particular, Mohun Bagan.
No team would want to face Dempo SC when going through the bad phase as they can demolish whatever confidence the team has. Bagan didn’t start the match as they would have liked and to make matters worse, as it appeared to be, they went a man down around the half hour mark.
This brings to mind the well-known quote of Charles Darwin who said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” And Bagan players did respond to the change of playing with 10 men and even managed to beat Dempo in their own den after several years!
If this wasn’t to be believed then came the victory against last season’s runners-up Churchill Brothers SC. Coach Karim Bencherifa used his boys well and made his earlier wards from the Goan side look pale and toothless.
Mohun Bagan then went onto beat JCT and thus in their last three games, they had beaten the top three clubs from the previous season! Wow! What a turn around?! Something that would make one’s lower jaw slide downward…
They had to struggle hard to win against lowly placed Vasco SC in Goa and did enough to beat Mahindra United. Ahead of the match against JCT, Coach Karim Bencherifa had mentioned that the next three games could see his team either in the top two or the bottom two. Well, surely things have gone right for him and the side is in the second slot.
The colours Green and Maroon have great significance. Maroon means to be abandoned or be stuck with something while Green symbolizes regeneration and fertility. Mohun Bagan are also known as the Green and Maroons and their season has been very much like the two colours.
They were ‘Maroon’ed in the earlier part of the I-League only to be ‘Green’ ed later…
Rahul Bali.
What has brought about this sea of change at the club? Or was it already present and was only rekindled?
It all started when several Bagan players were called for an early pre-season to face Bayern Munich. Then entered Coach Karim Bencherifa and his pre-season camps. The Kolkata League began and the club won a number of games. They won the derby against East Bengal once and drew the other in their final game, and thus defended their local league title successfully. Part one of Karim Bencherifa’s job was done considering the importance of Kolkata League in the football crazy city.
With a break of only two weeks between the Kolkata League and I-League, the Kolkata teams didn’t get any break and had to prepare for the latter competition. Injuries to their key players saw most of them being out of action. Add the fact that the local league is being played in slushy conditions which takes a lot from the players.
Their first I-League game was against newcomers Mumbai FC and the club was shocked in the early moments as they went 0-2 down. They had no idea what had hit them but did well in the second session to pull one back. The match saw a half fit Bhaichung and a defence which lacked proper coordination.
The draw against Air India didn’t help either where they were second best for most parts. The biggest letdown was the 0-2 away defeat to Sporting Clube De Goa following which there was some unrest in the team.
There were talks of Coach Karim Bencherifa not being happy with some of the players and then began a string of serious talks. Players, officials and the coach mulled together and separately.
They came out to face Mohammedan Sporting still without several players being unfit and missing in action. Bagan went down early but Jose Baretto’s goal restored parity for them. All this while, Bagan didn’t have a third foreign player with the transfer of Marcos Pereira from JCT being in limbo. Once given the green light by the Players’ Status Committee, Marcos was ready for some action after a long lay off ever since the last I-League season.
If there is one match which any Mohun Bagan coach wouldn’t want to lose is the ‘Big Kolkata Derby’ against East Bengal. Bhaichung Bhutia, Habibur Rahman and Marcos started for Bagan and the Indian international announced his arrival with a fine goal in the early minutes. East Bengal did score one through the brilliance of Yakubu and Nabi with the latter scoring.
Bagan were criticized for not taking the game on with their opponents playing with 10 men for most of the second half. At the end of the derby, Bhaichung announced that the I-League title would come to Kolkata this season. It sounded bombastic and unrealistic considering the state of the Kolkata sides them and in particular, Mohun Bagan.
No team would want to face Dempo SC when going through the bad phase as they can demolish whatever confidence the team has. Bagan didn’t start the match as they would have liked and to make matters worse, as it appeared to be, they went a man down around the half hour mark.
This brings to mind the well-known quote of Charles Darwin who said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” And Bagan players did respond to the change of playing with 10 men and even managed to beat Dempo in their own den after several years!
If this wasn’t to be believed then came the victory against last season’s runners-up Churchill Brothers SC. Coach Karim Bencherifa used his boys well and made his earlier wards from the Goan side look pale and toothless.
Mohun Bagan then went onto beat JCT and thus in their last three games, they had beaten the top three clubs from the previous season! Wow! What a turn around?! Something that would make one’s lower jaw slide downward…
They had to struggle hard to win against lowly placed Vasco SC in Goa and did enough to beat Mahindra United. Ahead of the match against JCT, Coach Karim Bencherifa had mentioned that the next three games could see his team either in the top two or the bottom two. Well, surely things have gone right for him and the side is in the second slot.
The colours Green and Maroon have great significance. Maroon means to be abandoned or be stuck with something while Green symbolizes regeneration and fertility. Mohun Bagan are also known as the Green and Maroons and their season has been very much like the two colours.
They were ‘Maroon’ed in the earlier part of the I-League only to be ‘Green’ ed later…
Rahul Bali.
Inside Goal.Com
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