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Bagan in Fed Cup semis

By Amitabha Das Sharma

Mohun Bagan's Jose Barreto (left) tries to hoodwink JCT's K.V. Dhanesh and Daljit Singh (right) in the Federation Cup football tournament in Kolkata on Friday. — Photo: Sushanta Patronobish

KOLKATA AUG. 1. The Mohun Bagan lion roared finally as the defending champion put across three goals without a reply against JCT Mills, Phagwara to sail into the semifinals of the Tata sponsored 25th Federation Cup football here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday.

Mohun Bagan will now taken on local challenger Mohammedan Sporting in the first semifinal scheduled on Tuesday. Having realised the comfortable win, the defending champion set itself up for an interesting clash for the final berth against an opponent that too has shown tremendous form defeating Goa giant Salgaocar SC 5-0 before qualifying to the last-four stage.

Starting the season under new coach Aloke Mukherjee, Bagan had hardly played to its reputation remaining unimpressive in local Super Division league. The team managed to scrape through beating a spirited State Bank of Travancore 2-1 in the pre-quarterfinals, but the confident showing against JCT seems to have brightened its hopes of retaining the title for the third time.

Playing JCT, Mohun Bagan was in the goal hunt by the first quarter of the opening session. The team's most dependable man, Brazilian Jose Barreto, saw his header blocked by JCT's last man in defence — Ghanaian goalkeeper Mansuru Mohammad — who made a diving save in the 15th minute.

The JCT home remained intact till the 33rd minute as Mohun Bagan took its time adjusting to the heavy slush — a daily feature and a bane to the tournament. The JCT citadel finally fell after the half-an-hour mark and it was the magic touch of Barreto that did the job for Mohun Bagan.

The Brazilian effected a spectacular bicycle kick making the best of a miscued shot by his midfield colleague Renedy Singh, and broke the defence of the JCT `keeper, who had helped the Punjab team find a quarterfinal berth through the `sudden death'.

Renedy Singh made amends 12 minutes later as he perfectly met a Hardeep Gill provision to volley home the insurance goal. Renedy did a good job shielding his marker in JCT's Jaswinder Singh while he made space to place his shot past Mohammad just before the interval. With JCT unable to gain much through its seasoned Nigerian striker Stephan Abarowei, who was thoroughly in discomfiture on the muddy surface, Bagan continued to attack in brief spurts in the second session. Hardeep Gill could only see his angular shot sailing wide as he squandered a sitter after being set on the goalmouth by Barreto in the 60th minute. Renedy Singh made up for that in the 70th minute as he availed a set-piece situation bringing up the third Bagan goal.

Taking the freekick, Singh showed his left-foot wizardry swerving the ball over the Mansuru Mohammad and the crosspiece did the rest deflecting the ball into the goal. This was the end of scoring for Mohun Bagan, which had two more opportunities later but its other Brazilian Marcose Pereira and substitute Abhay Kumar remained wayward in the 82nd and 85th minutes respectively to let go the chances.

In the third quarterfinal on Saturday, the two Mumbai teams — Mahindra United and Air India — will clash in a battle of supremacy at the Howrah Municipal Stadium.

Meanwhile, East Bengal has sought a venue change for its next match against Vasco SC, citing "bad ground conditions". In a formal letter to the local organiser Indian Football Association, the club — at the behest of its coach Subhas Bhowmick — has asked to change the venue. The coach has even threatened to opt out of the tournament if the demand is not met.

Making the East Bengal view clear, Bhowmick said he would not let his team play on the "treacherous condition'' of the Salt Lake Stadium pitch. The coach, who has recently seen the team win the ASEAN club championship, was upset at the way the sport's national governing body — All India Football Federation — has "ignored the condition of the ground'' in allowing the matches to continue daily.

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