Santos, Barreto combine gives Bagan a clean start

By Our Special Correspondent

PONDICHERRY, JUNE 13. Brazilian imports, Santos and Barreto, scored a goal each to give glamour team Mohun Bagan of Calcutta a perfect lung opener, a 2-0 effort over Vasco SC, Goa in a quarterfinal league match of the Pondicherry Millennium all-India invitation football tournament at the Indira Gandhi complex here on Tuesday.

Considering that this was the first time that the Calcutta giant was playing here and there being so much of talk about this, a houseful crowd was expected but that was not to be. Nonetheless there was a certain importance given to the National league champion and the side kept up its reputation. What makes the team tick is the Brazilian duo, who with their clean shaven pate seem like look-alikes both in appearance from a distance and in play too. They form a formidable double-trouble for the opposition. Poor Vasco goalkeeper Gumpe Rime will testify to that.

Gumpe is not a rabbit. His alacrity and sense of positioning have been inspirational. But he was helpless when Barreto from 20 yards away crashed a running right footer on the rise so accurately that the ball shot in past the narrowest of gaps imaginable. The sensational effort came in the 48th minute. Half an hour later Santos accepted Barreto's pass from the far flagpost, juggled the ball at the top of the box before flicking it over his head and executing a scissors kick. The shot was not a stinger but Gumpe, perhaps, was mesmerised by the act so much so that he let the ball drop into the cage after accepting it with both hands.

Bagan spent much of the first session probing corridors to the goal. Vasco, having earned a NFL berth for next season, was bent on thwarting any rival move. But past the half hour, Gumpe did the cardinal mistake of going for Barreto's leg rather than the ball to kill a danger. The resultant trip and fall by Barreto was enough for referee Shankar to signal a spot kick. But much to the surprise of his colleagues, the Bagan skipper Debjit Ghosh shot wide trying too fine an angle.

The opening minutes of the second session was indicative of the change of gears by Bagan. Dulal and Prakash fed Barreto to cause a spot of bother for Gumpe. Then followed Barreto's classic goal. Vasco's reaction was eyecatching. Daniel Colaco fired a 40 yarder that beat an advancing Bivash, whose lanky frame could not negotiate the ball's trajectory. Unluckily for the Goan team the ball thudded onto the crosspiece. And it was too good a phase to last particularly when the Brazilians were on the prowl.

There were eight bookings, five on the Bagan side but that was no reflection on the contest, which was engaging all the way.

Wednesday: quarterfinal league: Mahindra and Mahindra, Mumbai v Tollygunge Agragami, Calcutta 5 p.m.; ITI Bangalore v Vasco, Goa 7 p.m.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Germany escapes with a draw
Next     : Mann at joint third