31. July
IAN RUSH TROPHY - Wales: INDIA U18 6-0 Herefordshire Centre of Excellence

25.Federation Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: East Bengal Club 5-0 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Bijen Singh (4',31'), 3-0,5-0 Chandan Das (58',83'), 4-0 Dipankar Roy (68').
EAST BENGAL: Sandip Nandy (Jiju Chetri), Mahesh Gawli, Debjit Ghosh, M Suresh, Subhash Chakraborty, Dipankar Roy, Malswam Tulunga, Douglas da Silva, Alvito D'Cunha, Raman Vijayan (Chandan Das), Bijen Singh (Kalia Kulothungan).
HAL: Amit Sinha Roy, Santosh Kiran, S Paramesh, Alesha Shameki, Gift Rai Khan, Rajendra Prasad (Gautam Ghosh), J Muralidharan, Satish Kumar (Sunil Kumar), Xavier Vijayakumar, Shyam Kumar (Dayanand), Sheikh Shabir.

Guwahati Super Division: NF Railway SC 3-0 Rising XI - Goals: 1-0 Duleshwar Rabha (61'), 2-0 Kushal Rajkonwar (84'), 3-0 Prasanta Bharali (87').

Note-1: Good news for Indian football fans wanting to watch the Federation Cup action live on TV.
From tomorrow's quarterfinal match between Mohun Bagan-JCT Mills onwards all upcoming matches at the ongoing Federation Cup will be shown live on DD Sports.
So Doordarshan seems to take back it's earlier decision not to show any more football this season. The cause of football was helped by the success of East Bengal Club at the ASEAN Club Championships in Jakarta, from where the matches had been shown live.

Note-2: The Indian Football Association, local organisers of the ongoing Federation Cup, have come under massive criticism and protests from participating teams and players about the terrible ground condition at the Saltlake Stadium. Now the IFA has reacted in making a few changes to the schedule until the final, so that the ground can get some rest before the semifinals and the final.
As per the changes announced by the IFA secretary Subrata Dutta, the third semifinal between Mumbai sides Mahindra United and Air-India would be played at an alternative venue on August 2 at the Howrah Municipal Stadium, while the last quarterfinal between East Bengal Club - Vasco SC has been pushed back by a day to August 4. Therefore the schedule for the semifinals and the final have been pushed back by a day. The semifinals will now to be held on August 5 and 6 and the final will take place on August 9.

Note-3: Baichung Bhutia's former English club - Bury FC, now playing in the third Division of English football, are once again looking to Indian talent. Leeds midfielder Harpal Singh is currently on trial at Gigg Lane with a view to completing a loan deal. Interesting to note is that the 22-year-old had a successful loan spell with Bury during the 2001/02 season. Singh, born in Bradford, has a contract with Leeds which runs until 2005 but has no real chances to get into the first team, so a move away makes sense. Earlier he also had loan spells at Bristol City and Bradford City but with no real success compared to the stint with Bury.

30. July
In the latest FIFA world rankings published by football's governing body today, INDIA have lost two position and are now 131st in the rankings, while we remain 22nd in Asia.

IAN RUSH TROPHY - Wales: INDIA U18 2-3 Botafogo Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

25.Federation Cup - Quarterfinal: Mohammedan Sporting Club 5-0 Salgaocar SC - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Sheikh Sanjib (24',45'), 2-0,5-0 Dipendu Biswas (43',70'), 4-0 Syed Rahim Nabi (69').
MSC: KM Rafeeq, Amjad Ali Khan, Hussain Mustafi, Habib Adenkule, Amandeep Singh, Bungo Singh, Shahnawaz Iqbal Khan, Khalid Siddique, Syed Rahim Nabi, Sheikh Sanjib (Dipankar Chatterjee), Dipendu Biswas.
SALGAOCAR: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar (Rajat Guha), Anthony Pereira (Remus Gomes), Roberto Fernandes, Prasanth Jaggi, Bello Rasaq; Tomba Singh, Climax Lawrence (Bernard Pires), Jatin Singh Bisht, Dharamjit Singh, Samson Singh, Sebastiao Endro.

Guwahati Super Division: Young Amateur Club 1-1 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 1-0 Girindra Rabha (50'), 1-1 Utpal Basumatary (59').
Guwahati Super Division: Guwahati Town Club 2-4 Assam Dynamo Club - Goals: 1-0,2-1 Bimal Chakrabarti (20',43'), 1-1 Mao Ao (39'), 2-2 Padum Rabha (47'), 2-3 Hari Das (69'), 2-4 Hariswar Rabha (81').

Note-1: In "The Telegraph" paper India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly was all praise for East Bengal Club, describing them as a "happening club".
"Lot of effort is needed to build a team. East Bengal have built a good team as proved by their success in the ASEAN Club Championship," Sourav said on Wednesday. "Their show is a good boost for Indian sports as a whole."

29. July
EAST BENGAL's heros are back on Indian soil!!!
The ASEAN Club Cup champions returned to a hero's welcome ton Calcutta late today evening, landing just after 22.30 by a Singapore Airlines flight but it was close to midnight when the coach, players and management came out of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport's International Terminal to the cheers of fans, wellwishers and so-called VIPs.
An official welcome had been organised by the West Bengal government and the Dum Dum Municipal Corporation, who had especially constructed a podium beside Gate No. 5 of the International Terminal, where the players were felicitated on their arrival back home.
AIFF president Priyaranjan Dasmunshi was waiting on the tarmac to receive the players. Among other dignitores present where WB sports minister Subhas Chakraborty, development minister Asoke Bhattacharya, Union Minister of state for small scale industries Tapan Sikdar and Bengal Mumbai FC coach Syed Nayeemuddin, who had especially come over to Calcutta for this "historic occasion" as he called it.
Upto 20.000 fans were at the Calcutta Airport to great the team and get a glimpse of the men, who had created Indian football history in Jakarta. Despite the late hour, fans, where beating drums, blowing trumpets and carrying huge bouquets. And luckily for all the situation didn't get out of control but it needed Subhas Chakraborty to promise a gala reception for the team at the Saltlake Stadium on August 17, so that some order could be restored.
But as we know Subhas Bhowmick and his boys, they will remember that on Thursday they have a tricky Federation Cup opener against Bangalore's HAL, which they need to concentrate on and not party on, as some would surely love to do.

IAN RUSH TROPHY - Wales: INDIA U18 0-0 Tranmere Rovers, England

25.Federation Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Tollygunge Agragami 1-1,5-6 Vasco SC (on penalties) - Goals: 1-0 Amit Das (42'), 1-1 Anthony Fernandes (88').
TOLLYGUNGE: Samit Debnath, Sanjoy Das, Isiaka Awoyemi, Sujit Neogi, Suman Dutta, Amit Das, Chinmoy Sarkar (Kajal Bhattacharjee), Gouranga Dutta (Prakash Koley), Gautam Debnath, Kaustav Ghosh (Laltu Das), Akeem Abul Alem.
VASCO: Saji Joy, Seby Dias, Selwyn Fernandes, John Dias, Vinu Jose, Menino Fernandes, Dennis Cabral, Sukhwinder Singh (Sushanth Mathew), Krishnan Ajayan (Kamal Thapa), Agnelo Jose Gomes (Anthony Fernandes), Levy Coelho.

Note-1: It was "Mohun Bagan Day" today, the day when in 1911 Mohun Bagan became the first Indian team to beat a British team East Yorkshire to win the IFA-Shield tournament. The Mohun Bagan Ratna was given posthumously to Shibdas Bhaduri, the captain of the 1911 Bagan team. The award for Bhaduri was accepted by his great grand-daughter Ms Debika Roy.
Also Brazilian Robson Matos de Oliviera, Bagan's new physical trainer and technical director, was introduced to the supporters and the media at the club tent.
But missing from the function at the club tent where former Bagan stars Sailen Manna and Chuni Goswami, who where at the St Xavier's College auditorium for the launch of the book "Chirakaler Mohun Bagan", meaning "Forever Mohun Bagan", written by leading Calcutta solicitor Amal Kumar Sen. Also present at the launch, former West Bengal Chief ministers Jyoti Basu and Siddhartha Shankar Ray, both ardend Bagan followers.

28. July
25.Federation Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Sporting Clube de Goa 0-1 Mahindra United - Goals: 0-1 Abhishek Yadav (76').
SCG: Felix D'Souza; Akshay Das, Ajay Diwadkar, Velancio Gonsalves, Nureni Ayodegi; Kamal Suleiman (Sandeep Colaco), Avinash Thapa, Bibiano Fernandes, Joseph Pereira; Amaechi Nwabunwanne, Alvito Rodrigues (Chanambam Jotin Singh).
MAHINDRA: Sunder Raj Rajan, Odartey Lawson, Arun Malhotra, Covan Lawrence (Jinto Jose), Sanjay Parte, Rauf Khan, Khalid Jamil, James Singh, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Jules Alberto (Abhishek Yadav), Raphael Patron Akakpo (Mongba Aby Samson).

25.Federation Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Dempo SC 1-2 Air-India - Goals: 1-0 Jose Colaco (22'), 1-1 Vinay Kuruvilla (48'), 1-2 Anthony Fernandes (53').
DEMPO: VP Satish Kumar, Sameer Naik, Stanley Colaco, Majekodunmi Bolaji, Raju Singh, Lazarus Fernandes, Mario Soares (Wilton Gomes), Jose Colaco, Clifford Miranda (Desmond Fernandes), RC Prakash, Alex Ambrose (Francis Silveira).
AIR-INDIA: Raju Ekka, Santosh Koli (Naushad Moosa), Vinay Kuruvilla, Sagolsem Santa Singh, T Khambiton Singh, Uttam Leishangthem Singh, Mohammed Rizwan, Vijith Shetty, MK Binoop (Paresh Shivalkar), Anthony Fernandes, Suprith Jathanna (Abbas Ali Rizvi).

Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan AC 1-1 Railway FC - Goals: 0-1 Suraj Mondal, 1-1 Arup Sarkar.
Calcutta Super Division: EverReady Association 4-0 West Bengal Police - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Earnest Jeremiah, 3-0 Eugene Gray, 4-0 Surojit Chakraborty.
Calcutta Super Division: Eastern Railway SC 0-0 Bhratri Sangha - Goals: none.
Guwahati Super Division: Young Amateur Club 0-1 Maharana AC - Goal: 0-1 Robin Kakoti (20').
Guwahati Super Division: Assam Dynamo Club 3-1 Rising XI - Goals: 0-1 Muktar (43'), 1-1 Padum Rabha (45'), 2-1 Moa Ao (45+'), 3-1 Raju Basumutary (85').

Note-1: The newly-elected Goa FA executive committee today elected its Mormugao zone representative Savio Messias as its new GFA secretary at the GFA headquarters, in Panjim, Goa.
Messias, the director of the GFA Academy is a former secretary at Vasco SC and also was assistant secretary of the GFA between 1995-99, also under the presidentship of Shivanand Salgaocar. As assistant secretary Schubert Furtado was elected.
Srinivas Dempo (Ilhas), Vinod Parkkot (Mormugao), Joy D'Silva (Salcete) and Francis Fernandes (Bardez) were elected as the four Zonal presidents while Lavinio Jude Rebello was elected as the GFA treasurer.
Further the 2003/04 schedule for the Goan clubs were released. The Goan season officially kickoffs with the Charity match on August 10 while the Goan Governor's Cup will begin on August 14, with matches to be held at the Fatorda's Nehru stadium; Vasco's Tilak Maidan and Mapusa's Duler Ground.
The eight team Professional League is scheduled to start in early September with Salgaocar SC, Vasco SC, Dempo SC, Churchill Brothers, Sporting Clube, Fransa FC, Cabral SC and promoted Corps of Signals, which means the league will end after the September 15 deadline, which the AIFF had set for local league across India.
Also tentative dates for the 8th National League were given, November 3 to May 4, which would mean that breaks have been planned for the NFL.

Note-2: An assistant referee was injured in a Calcutta Super Division match between Mohammedan AC-Railway FC at the Mohun Bagan Ground. In the 66th minute Mohammedan AC were, according to them, denied a penalty, arguing started with the referee Udayan Haldar and then assistant referee Jayanta Sarkar was hit by a missile from the MAC fans in the Mohun Bagan stands. The match had to be halted for 22 minutes but luckily could be restarted and finished. If the IFA will take action is unknown.

27. July
According to sources in southeast Asia, the ASEAN Club Cup's top scorer, East Bengal's Baichung Bhutia has signed a three month contract with Malaysian champions Perak FC. But no worry East Bengal fans, it will only be a three month loan contract, which starts after the 25th Federation Cup from August 16 according to Perak, so Baichung should be back with East Bengal for the Indian National League, which starts in mid-November. Baichung will play in the Malaysian Cup, the most important tournament of the Malaysian calendar.
East Bengal can release Bhutia, as between the Federation Cup and the National League, there is no major engagement for the Indian champions. So the club can earn some money, in loaning out the Indian football star. But so far, there has been no confirmation from East Bengal's side.
Perak where not the only side interested in signing Baichung, as his eight goals in five matches and the way the played, impressed many. Other clubs from Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam were also interested to sign the Indian captain, among them beaten semifinalists Petrokimia, but Perak won the prize catch.
But Baichung is not the only player in demand, as clubs from southeast Asia are also interested in Alvito D'Cunha, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, M Suresh and Sandip Nandy. And the East Bengal management is thinking of loaning out further players to earn some useful revenue. The money generated could then be spend on the team and other expenses in the future.

IAN RUSH TROPHY - Wales - Exhibition match: INDIA U18 0-0 New York, USA

25.Federation Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Mohun Bagan AC 2-1 State Bank of Travancore - Goals: 1-0 Marcos Pereira (20'), 1-1 Asif Saheer (35'), 2-1 Jose Barreto (55').
MOHUN BAGAN: Imran Khan, Manitombi Singh (Babun Kar), Insaan Ali, Rishi Kapoor, Debkumar Sashmal, Mehtab Hossain (Basudeb Mondal), Hardeep Singh Saini (Hardeep Singh Gill), Chukwuma Olusegun Akuneto, Renedy Singh, Jose Barreto, Marcos Pereira.
SBT: Harshal Rehman, Paul Anthony, V Sivakumar, Abdul Basheer, M Lanel Thomas, NP Pradeep (AB Kabeer), T Shabbir Ali, Abdul Noushad, MA Abdul Hakkim, Asif Saheer, Sylvester Ignatious (Biju Kumar).

25.Federation Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Churchill Brothers SC 0-0,3-4 JCT Mills (on penalties) - Goals: none.
CHURCHILL: Mark Mascarenhus; Roque Pereira, Pio Rodrigues, Osumanu Husseini, Mir Farooq Haider (Rajesh Meetei), Riston Rodrigues, Aqueel Ansari (Harvinder Singh), Savio Alfonso Xavier, Roque Barreto, Sukhdev Arwade, Nitin Pradhan (Marcus Carvalho).
JCT: Mansuru Mohammed; Jagjit Singh Randhawa, Musa Aliu, KV Dhanesh, Daljit Singh, Jaswinder Singh (Baldeep Singh), Sukhjinder Singh (Shivraj Singh), Jo Paul Ancheri, Ram Pal, Harvinder Singh (Charanjit Kumar), Stephen Abarowei.

Note-1: The semifinal at the North Zone qualifiers of the U16 Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy between hosts Uttaranchal and Delhi had to be abandoned due to crowd trouble in the penalty shootout. The match had ended 1-1 after regulation time. The situation got out of control, when Delhi keeper Shahnawaz Hussain blocked a shot in the penalty shootout. Then Hussain was beaten-up by the hosts' supporters and the entire Delhi team assaulted. The supporters even threatened the match commissioner after Delhi manager Arunesh Sharma lodged a complaint.
After the incident, the Delhi Soccer Association has lodged an official complaint with the AIFF.

26. July
EAST BENGAL ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE INAUGURAL ASEAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!
CONGRATULATIONS FOR A REMARKABLE PERFORMANCE TO EAST BENGAL CLUB FROM THE INDIANFOOTBALL.COM TEAM!!!
ASEAN Club Championships - Final - Jakarta: EAST BENGAL CLUB 3-1 BEC Tero Sasana, Thailand - Goals: 1-0 Mike Okoro (28'), 2-0 Baichung Bhutia (48'), 2-1 Panai Kongpapan (58'), 3-1 Alvito D'Cunha (69').
East Bengal's "Mission Impossible" has finally been completed at the ASEAN Club Cup with a convincing 3-1 victory in the final against AFC Champions League finalists and Thai champions BEC Tero Sasana at the Geloran Senayan Stadium in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Earlier in the group stage, East Bengal had lost their only match of the tournament, 0-1 against the same opponent, BEC Tero Sasana. With East Bengal's triumph, Jakarta remains a good hunting ground for Indian football, as over 40 years ago the Indian national team had won it's last Asian title there, the gold at the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games. East Bengal opened the scoring in the 28th minute through Nigerian striker Mike Okoro, who received an excellent 25-yard throughpass from Alvito D'Cunha from the centre line. The tournaments highest goalscorer then got onto the scoresheet again, Indian superstar Baichung Bhutia doubling the lead three minutes into the second half but then BEC Tero Sasana hit back through a goal from striker Panai Kongpapan in the 58th minute. Alvito D'Cunha then made sure of the victory through a goal in the 69th minute, giving the Indian champions the southeast Asian club crown. As champions East Bengal take home the top prize money of USD 50,000, approximately Rs 2,5 million and one should not forget that the Indian champions only were an invited guest at the tournament but should be back as defending champions next year!
EAST BENGAL: Sandip Nandy, Deepak Mondal (Malswam Tulunga), Suley Musah, M Suresh, Surkumar Singh, Douglas da Silva, Alvito D'Cunha, Sasthi Duley, Bijen Singh, Mike Okoro, Baichung Bhutia.

The "City of Joy" is celebrating, coloured in red-and-yellow the historic title of EAST BENGAL CLUB at the ASEAN Club Championships!!!
Calcutta rejoiced to the sounds of crackers, which lit-up the cover of dark clouds.
Around five thousand supporters were said to have come together in the East Bengal Maidan Tent to watch their team beat the Thais and then celebrete on the roads of Calcutta with many many more.
In Jakarta a joyous Vijay Mallya, UB Group chairman, announced cash awards of US$ 500 for each player of the triumphant team.
"I congratulate the East Bengal club for their historic win. The grit and team-work displayed by the players concerned have given a much-needed fillip to Indian football," the Governor Viren J. Shah said in a message. "I am confident that East Bengal will conquer greater heights in future."
Calcutta Mayor Subroto Mukherjee congratulated the winners. "We will definitely felicitate them, though the exact plan is not known yet. They deserve all the praise they get for this," while West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee sent his regards to the team, adding, "They have not only done Kolkata but all of India proud."
Meanwhile, the All India Council of Sports President, Vijay Kumar Malhotra hailed East Bengal's triumph and said the win will give a tremendous boost to football in the country.
A big reception has been arranged at the Calcutta Airport for the team which returns Tuesday night on a Singapore Airlines flight from Jakarta. No fecilitation would be held now, as the team has a Federation Cup engagement two days later.

25.Federation Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-0 Indian Telephone Industries - Goals: 1-0 Bungo Singh (61').
MSC: KM Rafeeq, Amjad Ali Khan, Habib Adenkule, Hussain Mustafi, Amandeep Singh, Khalid Siddique (Arjan Ali), Satish Kumar Bharti, Bungo Singh, Syed Rahim Nabi, Dipendu Biswas, Sheikh Sanjeeb (Trijit Das).
ITI: Surojit Chatterjee, Mehraj Din Wadoo (NK Dileep), CK Jiteesh, Narender Singh, Niyaz Rahaman, James Singh (Lalmuankima Ralte), Jagadish Kumar, Thiyam Ragui Singh, Kutty Mani (John Shadap), RP Ashok Kumar, Ishfaq Ahmed.

25.Federation Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Salgaocar SC 4-0 Indian Bank - Goals: 1-0, 4-0 Climax Lawrence (15',69'), 2-0 Sebastiao Endro (23'), 3-0 Samson Singh (37').
SALGAOCAR: Rajat Guha, Anthony Pereira, Roberto Fernandes, Prashant Jaggi, Bello Rasaq, Tomba Singh (Savio Pereira), Climax Lawrence, Jatin Singh Bisht (Bernard Pires), Dharamjit Singh (Remus Gomes), Samson Singh, Sebastiao Endro.
INDIAN BANK: Felix Edward, T Roopesh, Anthony Noel, S Sudhakar, AV Willy, K Noushad, Mohammed Bin Hassan (M Sudheesh), Mahendra Mani (Joseph Anandavasan), Prahlad Singh Rawat, Syed Sabir Pasha (Basheer Ahmed), KG Joseph.

Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan AC 2-1 EverReady Association - Goals: 1-0 Nazimul Haque (35'), 1-1 Biswarup Bishu (50'), 2-1 Arup Sarkar (68').
Guwahati Super Division: Assam Police Blues 2-2 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1,1-2 Sanjiva Rongpi (6',63'), 1-1 Amulya Das (50'), 2-2 Kishore Das (89').
Mumbai Elite League: Western Railway 3-0 Union Bank of India

25. July
21st MILK CUP - BT Trophy - 13th/14th Place Playoff - Roe Mill 2, Limavady: India U18 1-1,4-5 County Down, Northern Ireland (on penalties)

Guwahati Super Division: Guwahati Town Club 0-2 NF Railway SC - Goals: 1-0 Duleswar Rabha (81'), 2-0 Ashok Ramchiary (88').

Note-1: East Bengal are well-prepared for the last and final match of their ASEAN Club Championships campaign in Indonesia as the Indian champions look to make history tomorrow.
East Bengal in the final face Thai champions and AFC Champions League finalists BEC Tero Sasana, against whom they had lost unluckily in the group stage.
East Bengal have no injury worries but will miss Mahesh Gawli due to a red card from the semifinals. As East Bengal have already achieved more than expected, their coach Subhas Bhowmick has told his boys to enjoy the occasion and do their best.
The ASEAN Club Champions will take home the LG Cup and US$ 50,000 while the losers will get $30,000.

Note-2: While all focus in Indian football will be on East Bengal's final appearance at the ASEAN Club Cup tomorrow, quitely also the 25th Federation Cup kicks-off in Calcutta on the same day. The Federation Cup, India's version of the English FA-Cup, will bring together the 16 top teams from last season - the 12 National League teams plus the top four finishers of the 2.Division.
The Federation Cup got a title sponsor in the Tata Group plus four co-sponsors a few days ago, so the financial side of the tournament is secure for the AIFF and the local organisers IFA. The winner would be richer by Rs 1 million, while the second-placed side would get Rs 600,000. From the quarterfinal stage onwards matches would be shown live on DD Sports.
Also for the first-time the AIFF will introduce dope tests. The tests will be conducted on a player each from the two teams of a match selected at random, the collected samples will then be sent to the FIFA-recognised lab in Penang (Malaysia) for analysis. The participating teams have already been given a list of banned substance and the result from the tests will be available a week later. Dr Nisith Chowdhury, member of the AFC Medical Committee, will oversee the testing procedure.

Note-3: The inaugural under-19 international JRD TATA Cup will be held with five teams in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand from September 11-26. The tournament will be held in a round-robin league format with hosts India playing with two teams - TFA India XI and India B, plus Uzbekistan, Iran and Bangladesh. If any team pulls out, then Malaysia and/or Nepal could replace them.

24. July
21st MILK CUP - BT Trophy - 13th-16th Place Playoff - The Warren, Portstewart: India U18 1-1,3-2 FC Kilmarnock, Scotland (on penalties) - Goals: 1-0 Habihur Rahman Mondal, 1-1 Subashish Roy Chowdhury (own goal).

ASEAN Club Championships - Semifinal - Jakarta: EAST BENGAL CLUB 1-1,0-0,7-6 Petrokimia Putra, Indonesia (on penalties) - Goals: 0-1 Zainal Ekchuan (22'), 1-1 Baichung Bhutia (60').
Indian champions East Bengal made history today by reaching the final of the inaugural ASEAN Club Cup, when they beat Indonesian champions Petrokimia Putra 8-7 after a marathon penalty shootout in Jakarta. With this win East Bengal became the first-ever Indian club to reach the final of an Asian club tournament!
The match had ended 1-1 after regulation time with no further goals in extra-time, with East Bengal even being reduced to 10 men in the 88th minute, when Mahesh Gawli received his second yellow card but the way they played, the East Bengal players looked as if were sure of not losing this match. Then the final climax came in the battle of nerves in a marathon penalty shootout, which ended in sudden-death, where East Bengal came out victorious. A more than deserved victory for the Indian champions, who could have ended the match easily in 90 minutes, had the chances that came their way been used.
East Bengal will once again take on Thai champions BEC Tero Sasana, who beat Malaysians Perak 3-1 in the other semifinal, against whom they had lost 0-1 in their opening Group D match tie.
East Bengal made a slow start, picking-up after the first quarter of the match with Baichung having a chance which he badly missed but then in the 21st minute goalie Sandip Nandy made a once-in-a-lifetime mistake, when he overstepped the penalty box while taking a volley kickoff. Though it isn't clear if Nandy made a mistake or not, the Thai referee gave a direct freekick to Petrokimia with Zainal Ekchuan scoring. East Bengal took time to digest the deficit and only came out after the break with a clearcut aim to score the equaliser. And who else than an inform Baichung Bhutia scored the goal, his seventh of the tournament, making it more and more likely that he will lift the golden Boot award. The attack started with Surkumar Singh, having another sensational match, on the right floating a ball into the middle with Sasthi Duley heading the ball down for Baichung to execute the kill. It stood 1-1 at the hour mark and it remained like that for the next hour of play. Just before the end of regulation time, dependable defender Mahesh Gawli was given marching orders for his second bookable offence. East Bengal had to play for over an hour with 10 men but that seemed to give them even more strength.
Then came the deciding penalty shootout. Of the first five kicks, both sides scored four and then in the sudden-death both sides scored their first two, East Bengal took a 7-6 lead and then Sandip Nandy saved the 16th penalty to take East Bengal into the final!
For East Bengal, Baichung Bhutia, Bijen Singh, Suley Musah, Chandan Das, Douglas da Silva, Surkumar Singh and M Suresh converted with only youngster Malswam Tulunga, who took the fourth kick, shot over.
For Petrokimia, Zainal Ekchuan, Indraju, Pdudu Putra, Daniel Fernando, Chan Jhe and Ekwe converted, while captain Sasi Kirono missed the fifth and Loko's missed the final spotkick.
What a great achievement for the Indian champions!!!
EAST BENGAL: Sandip Nandy, Surkumar Singh, Deepak Mondal, Mahesh Gawli (red carded), M Suresh, Suley Musah, Sasthi Duley (Chandan Das, 98), Douglas da Silva, Alvito D'Cunha (Bijen Singh, 65), Mike Okoro (Malswam Tulunga 37), Baichung Bhutia.

Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan AC 1-0 Wari AC - Goal: 1-0 Nazimul Haque (55').
Guwahati Super Division: Maharana AC 1-0 Rising XI - Goal: 1-0 Swister Momin (82').

23. July
21st MILK CUP - BT Trophy - Quarterfinal - Anderson Park, Coleraine: India U18 1-2 River Plate Buenos Aires, Argentina - Goals: 1-0 Vimal Pariyar (55'), 1-1 N Morales, 1-2 E Morete.

Guwahati Super Division: Assam Police Blues 3-0 Young Amateur Club - Goals: 1-0 Kunjoy Gayary (34'), 2-0 Ranjit Konwar (38'), 3-0 Arun Daimari (70').

Note-1: After beating the first team from the host nation Indonesia in the inaugural ASEAN Cup - Persita Tangerang in the quarterfinals, now in the semifinals East Bengal face the Indonesian champions Petrokimia Putra in Jakarta tomorrow. Coach Subhas Bhowmick and his boys will want to keep their momentum going to reach their goal of lifting the title at the ASEAN Cup where the Indian champions are an invited guest. But before thinking about a possible rematch against Thai champions and AFC Champions League finalists BEC Tero Sasana, the Indonesians have to be taken care-off.
East Bengal will be missing Debjit Ghosh, who himself thinks he has fully recovered but where the management don't want to take any risks with his health. From the semifinal onwards, three instead of two foreigners can be played, so Bhowmick has the option of using Nigerian Mike Okoro. Okoro, having recovered from an injury, could be Debjit's replacement in a withdrawn position behind an inform Baichung Bhutia. This would make East Bengal's game more offensive.
Once again DD Sports will be showing the match live. According to the DD schedule the match will be telecast from 14.00 IST but the match according to the AFF schedule is supposed to kickoff at 14.30 IST.

Note-2: According to Mohun Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra players at the club have not received any payment for the last two month's, which the club's assistant secretary Balaram Chowdhury meanwhile denied. So what is true?
Anjan Mitra sees the situation getting "from bad to worse", after he returned from Delhi, where he took part in a board meeting and feared that the UB Group would stop issuing cheques, if the current impasse remained. But the court appointed officers, supposedly running the club, where not invited to the meeting and said that Mitra couldn't have attended in the name of the football team but in the name of United Mohun Bagan Football Club Pvt Ltd.
Meanwhile UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya said in a press release today, "After having invested over Rs.10 crore into the Mohun Bagan football activity, it is thoroughly unreasonable to expect the UB Group/McDowell & Co Ltd to re-negotiate or amend the agreement duly signed and validly executed,".
But the re-negotiation or amendment of the agreement, was a demand of the court appointed officers, as they say in the interest of the club but what they don't seem to see, is that the UB Group might pull out as sponsors, if the situation prevails further.
But if the players received the salary or not, couldn't be cleared...

Note-3: With East Bengal showing that the signing of physical trainer Kevin Jackson has improved the physical fitness substancially, Mohun Bagan are following their archrivals example. Brazilian physical trainer Robson Matos de Oliveira will be arriving in Calcutta coming Monday to work with the Bagan team. Olivera is said to have worked at seven Brazilian professionals clubs over the last nine years. But the question is allowed, how can Bagan afford a foreign physical trainer, when it is not clear if they have paid it's players any salary for the last two month's???

22. July
21st MILK CUP - Premier Section - Group 1 - Mullaghacall, Portstewart: INDIA U18 2-0 County Antrim, Northern Ireland - Goals: 1-0 Habibur Rahman Mondal, 2-0 Manjit Singh.
India win their second match at the Milk Cup Premier section tournament but sadly missed the quarterfinals, where they could have faced teams like Manchester United or Bayern Munich. Especially a match-up against Bayern Munich would have been welcomed by some parts of the indianfootball.com team, as Chris and Arunava, are fans of the German record title-holders...
But the tournament isn't over yet for our boys, as we now play in the BT Trophy - deciding the places 9 to 16. India tomorrow face the youngsters from Argentinian giants River Plate Buenos Aires in the quarterfinals.

Calcutta Super Division: Mohun Bagan AC 1-0 Railway FC - Goal: 1-0 Marcos Pereira (10').
Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan Sporting Club 0-1 EverReady Association - Goal: 0-1 Mohammed Rafique (23').
Guwahati Super Division: Assam Dynamo Club 1-3 NF Railway SC - Goals: 1-0 Naresh Chetri (10'), 1-1 Sushanta Mazumdar (19'), 1-2 Kushal Rajkonwar (49'), 1-3 Hemanta Kalita (72').

Note-1: As a good sign insurance schemes are becoming a normality in Indian football.
But the latest insurance scheme by the AIFF for the Federation Cup is in it's form, the first of it's kind in India. According to the scheme not only players and officials at the Federation Cup will be covered by the scheme but also the spectators. While each each player and official has been insured for Rs 100,000, spectators will be insured for Rs 50,000.

21. July
We at indianfootball.com don't want to go into superlatives but today surely is a historic day for Indian football!!!
Not only did East Bengal beat one of the ASEAN Cup hosts in Persita Tangerang to move into the semifinals but also today our U18 juniors beat the juniors of Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kiev, a club who have brought-up players like AC Milan superstar Andrei Shevchenko!!!
What a day for Indian football...

21st MILK CUP - Premier Section - Group 1 - Rugby Avenue Stadium, Coleraine: INDIA U18 2-1 Dynamo Kiev, Ukraine - Goals: 1-0 Vimal Pariyar (20'), 1-1 Fiodor Kaplichenkov, 2-1 Habibur Rahman Mondal.
As indianfootball.com congratulated national coach Stephen Constantine and his boys on their great win, he gave us this reply:
Yes, a great win against one of the best European youth teams and what a win!!! We played really well and deserved the win we took the lead after about 20 minutes through Vimal Pariyar and conceed the equalizer just before half time. We carried on where we left off and Habib Rahaman scored the winner from a set play we worked on!!!
A Fantastic win and the whole of Ireland is in shock as like many people in India we were supposed to get beat and not score in any of the games.
I'm really proud of the boys they are making a great impression here in many respects.
We are looking forward to the next game which is tomorrow.
Let's hope the boys can keep the momentum going!!!

ASEAN Club Championships - Quarterfinal - Jakarta: EAST BENGAL CLUB 2-1 Persita Tangerang, Indonesia - Goals: 1-0 Baichung Bhutia (54'), 1-1 Ilham Jayakesuma (66'), 2-1 Bijen Singh (77').
East Bengal's march towards the ASEAN Club Cup title, continued by beating one of the hosts, Persita Tangerang 2-1 in a tense quarterfinal match at a packed stadium in Jakarta. East Bengal not only had to overcome stiff resistance from the hosts but also had anxious moments as Indian international Debjit Ghosh was knocked unconcious on the back of his head in an areal tussle with Indonesian international striker Zaenal Arif and then Debjit had to be taken to hospital.
The first half ended goalless, after an even display but that changed in the 54th minute, when Brazilain Douglas went clar on the right, crossed the ball into the danger area and Baichung Bhutia made a timing connection for East Bengal to take the lead. But then the next disaster struck, as Singaporean referee Marian Ganeshan awarded Persita a penalty, for an infrigement by keeper Sandip Nandy which never was one. Ilham Jayakesuma scored of the referee's gift to equalise in the 66th minute, the match then entered it's crucial ten minutes as both sides had their chances but substitute Bijen Singh headed in the winner in the 77th minute, as a perfect climax to the high voltage match. After taking the lead, Baichung even had chances to increase the lead but that wasn't to be.
It remained 2-1 for East Bengal, as in the ASEAN countries it was counted as a major upset but for Indian football fans, who have been following the Indian champions over the last few weeks this comes as no surprise.
Now East Bengal meet the Indonesian champions Petrokimia Putra on Thursday, again in Jakarta.
East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick after the match said: "I am happy the team qualified for the semifinals. I am disappointed that the referee did not call the medic early enough to attend to my player. I look forward to the match with Petrokimia. It will be another good match to watch."
Persita coach, Benny Dolo, said: "We had a tough match with East Bengal - they are a good team with lots of fighting spirit. My team had performed very well but in football, one wins and the other loses."
EAST BENGAL: Sandip Nandy, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Deepak Mondal, M Suresh, Suley Musah, Debjit Ghosh (Malswam Tulunga), Douglas da Silva, Sasthi Duley, Alvito D'Cunha (Bijen Singh, 67), Baichung Bhutia.

Calcutta Super Division: Tollygunge Agragami - Mohammedan AC - Goals: 1-0 Amit Das (23'), 2-0 Akeem Abul Alem (73'), 3-0 Gouranga Datta (80').
Calcutta Super Division: Bhratri Sangha 3-0 West Bengal Police - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Sanjib Sashmal, 3-0 P Manoharan.
Guwahati Super Division: Guwahati Town Club 1-2 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Utpal Basumatary (42'), 0-2 Karendu Dev Barman (55'), 1-2 Dipak Sarkar (66').

Note-1: According to informations received by us, Debjit Ghosh is on the path to recovery from the head injuries he suffered. A CT scan was carried out on him but nothing serious has been found, with Debjit having to spend a night at the hospital, before being released. If he can join the action again in Jakarta is not sure at the moment.

Note-2: EverReady coach Amal Dutta had a bypass surgery at a hospital in Calcutta today. He is said to be in a stable condition and will be released in seven to ten days.

20. July
Guwahati Super Division: Assam Police Blues 7-0 Rising XI - Goals: 1-0 Monoj Boro (10'), 2-0 Jayanta Das (28'), 3-0,5-0 Arun Daimari (54',70'), 4-0,7-0 Amulya Das (62',75'), 6-0 Subir Goswami (73').
Mumbai Elite League: Western Railway 5-2 Mumbai Customs

Note-1: It's win or lose from now on for East Bengal at the ASEAN Club Cup, as they face Group C toppers Indonesians Persita Tangerang in the quarterfinals. East Bengal will continue to be without injured Sasthi Duley but otherwise coach Subhas Bowmick can choose from the whole squad. East Bengal will play a more reserved game than against the Filipinos, with one likely change - Deepak Mondal to return to the playing eleven for Malswam Tulunga and also Baichung Bhutia to be the only striker upfront with Alvito D'Cunha and Subhas Chakraborty playing more withdrawn.
Persita Tangerang certainly have some advantages, playing at home infront of their own fans, with an electric atmosphere expected from a 20,000 or larger crowd.
So now East Bengal can prove, if they have done their home work and take Indian club football to a higher level in Asia.

Note-2: An oHerald report: Registering a landslide victory, Salgaocar SC president and industrialist Shivanand Salgaocar was voted as the Goa Football Association president for the years 2003-07 during the Annual General Body Meeting, at the premises of Clube Vasco da Gama.
With Fransa FC president and Sports Minister Mickky Pacheco announcing on Monday that he was opting out of the election fray along with 10 of his panelists, Shivanand Salgaocar's return to the GFA hotseat was a foregone conclusion. Mr Salgaocar had earlier occupied the top GFA post thrice before 1987-90, 1993-95 and 1995-99.
Out of a total of 119 clubs that attended and were eligible to vote, Shivanand Salgaocar polled 116 votes while Mickky Pacheco had a vote to his credit. Two votes were invalid.
The Salgaocar panel made a clean sweep of the elections winning all the remainder of the 12 executive committee member posts. Freedom fighter Prabhakar V Sinari, IPS (retd), former IGP, was the Presiding Officer.
Meanwhile, in a significant decision, the General Body authorised the GFA executive committee to issue show cause notices to the 21 clubs who had sought a stay on the GFA elections, bypassing the GFA Constitution.

19. July
21st MILK CUP - Premier Section - Group 1 - University Ground 1: INDIA U18 0-1 Preston North End, England - Goal: 0-1 Mark Jackson.

Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan Sporting Club 3-2 Eastern Railway SC - Goals: 1-0,2-2,3-2 Dipendu Biswas (29',72',76'), 1-1 Saikat Mondal (43'), 1-2 Farid Ali Mollah (51').
Guwahati Super Division: NF Railway SC 1-1 Maharana AC - Goals: 1-0 Kushal Rajkonwar (37'), 1-1 Swister Momin (89').
Mumbai Elite League: Bengal Mumbai FC 0-1 Haywards 2000-Holy Family - Goal: 0-1 Melvyn Vaz.

Note-1: EverReady coach Amal Dutta will have to undergo bypass surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting) at the Apollo Nursing Home, Calcutta in the coming days. Datta had been hospitalised with cardiac complications a few days ago.

Note-2: The winners of matches in the Calcutta Women's League will from this season get a purse of Rs 500. This was disclosed by the IFA secretary Subrata Dutta.

18. July
Today the indianfootball.com Website crossed the 200.000 HITs barrier !!!
indianfootball.com started on April 10, 1998 but we only started with the counter on the site in 1999 and we had crossed the 100.000 barrier on May 9, 2002.
From the start until today, indianfootball.com is the only site, which tries to look at as many aspects as possible in Indian football, which are quite diversified.
indianfootball.com is India's Premier Football Website and the success of the site also proves for us that our hard work and dedication pays off with the return of the visitors/users in search of Indian football news and results.
And as you might have seen, over the last few month's we have redesigned the site and have been working on going into depth in as many areas as possible, with new specials like the "Indian Clubs in Asia" section and the brand new "Indian National Team" section, and also starting a monthly indianfootball.com newsletter.

Calcutta Super Division: Tollygunge Agragami 0-0 Railway FC - Goals: none.
Guwahati Super Division: Guwahati Town Club 1-1 Young Amateur Club - Goals: 0-1 Manoranjan Rabha (17'), 1-1 Raj Kumar Singh (18').

Note-1: The Asian Football Confederation released the draw for the AFC U17 Championships in Japan and the AFC U20 Championship 2004 in Malaysia. Following the lead set by the long-term 'Vision Asia' masterplan for Asian football, all of the competing nations were divided into four zones - West Asia, Central - South Asia, ASEAN and East Asia. The system is set to ensure a more diverse selection of competing nations in the finals, with the traditionally strong regions of West and East Asia set to be joined by four each from ASEAN and Central - South Asia.The Qualifying Round for each age-group event features 15 groups, with the winner of each progressing to next year's finals. Most groups will be played in a single-venue, round-robin format, but three of the U-17 groups feature only two teams and will be played home and away. U-17 hosts Japan and AFC U-20 hosts Malaysia were both drawn in the Qualifying Round, and if they top their groups, the second-placed team will qualify.
AFC U-17 Championship Japan 2004 - Group 6: India, Nepal, Afghanistan (October 11-15, 2003).
AFC U-20 Championship Malaysia 2004 - Group 8: India, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan (October 19-23, 2003).

Note-2: Indian state broadcaster Doordarshan is rethinking it's earlier decision of its commercial stand on lesser (read: less profitable) sports, as it might again show sports where India performs well at the international level. The start of all this was that DD Sports are showing matches of East Bengal from the ASEAN Club Cup but the major shift in decision has come through the success of the Indian Hockey team and the critic that DD has been facing. Besides Hockey is seems football could be the other main beneficiary of this rethinking...

Note-3: The Mohun Bagan executive committee, which has according to a legal notice from the Calcutta High Court, no say in decisions of it's football division, which go to the Supreme Court, to get the issue settled for once and for all. The current situation is not helpful in the running of the football team and the oldest football club in Asia is therefore also losing it's reputation.

17. July
The first-ever ranking of Women national football teams was release today by world governing body FIFA, ahead of the draw for the Women's World Cup to be held later this year in the United States of America. Our Indian women are ranked 57th in the world, while they are ranked 10th in Asia.
Our men would be more than happy, if they were ranked so high in Asia and the world!!!

Calcutta Super Division: Mohun Bagan AC 1-0 Bhratri Sangha - Goal: 1-0 Jose Barreto (45+').
Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan Sporting Club 2-0 West Bengal Police - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Dipendu Biswas (55',65').
Calcutta Super Division: Eastern Railway SC 1-2 EverReady Association - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Eugene Grey, 1-2 Somnath Pramanick.
Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta Port Trust 2-0 Wari AC - Goals: 1-0 Sujit Dey, 2-0 Pradip Indu.
Guwahati Super Division: Assam Dynamo Club 0-3 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Sanjiva Rongpi (10'), 2-0 David Goyary (70'), 3-0 Suchungme Releng (71').

Note-1: The Tata Group of Companies will be sponsor of the upcoming 25th Federation Cup knockout football tournament, which starts in Calcutta on July 26.
The AIFFs marketing agent STRATA, have been negotiating with the industrial house over the past few months, and finally reached a deal just before the start of the tournament.
"We received a letter from STRATA yesterday in this regard," IFA secretary, Subrata Dutta confirmed in Calcutta on Thursday but no statement from the AIFF was available.
Meanwhile further good news for the Federation Cup, as the following companies have agreed to co-sponsor the event: the UB Group's Kingfisher, Pepsi, LG and Oil Public Sector Undertakings.
Interesting to note is that only the same bunch of companies seem to sponsor Indian football, with no new entry. The above mentioned have been associated with football in the past. Hopefully more companies will come forward to sponsor Indian football. We need it...

Note-2: A Times News Network report: Fransa FC has accused the AIFF Disciplinary Committee decision against Haywards 2000 Sporting Club de Goa was in violation of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
They have approached the Jury of Appeal stating that AIFF's Disciplinary Committee had thrown out their protest against HSCG on flimsy grounds.
Fransa said they had sent a written protest to the AIFF on 26th and 28th April, 2003, informing that HSCG had illegally registered a third player on loan. The player, Bungo Singh, was fielded in the HSCG match against Air-India (Mumbai) on March 19 in the West Zone qualifiers which Haywards won 1-0. HSCG pulled out the player just when he was warming up for the match against Fransa on 21st March after the latter informed the AIFF of the illegality. HSCG, however, went on to qualify for the First Division of the NFL.
Among the relief sought by Fransa FC was the disqualification of HSCG from the tournament and its exclusion from the FDNFL in the 2003-04 season.
In their appeal note, Fransa has held many responsible for falsification of documents and registration in contravention of rules which they declared amounts to conspiracy and fraud committed against them, Goa and Indian football.

Note-3: Seasoned coach Amal Datta was taken to a Calcutta Nursing home, after complaining of chest pain. The coach of Calcutta Super Division side EverReady Association, is said to be in stable condition.

16. July
ASEAN Club Championships - Group D - Jakarta: EAST BENGAL CLUB 6-0 Army FC, Philippines - Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-0,4-0,5-0 Baichung Bhutia (20',22',50',53',70'), 6-0 Mahesh Gawli (75').
Baichung Bhutia slammed in five goals past Filipino-side Army FC keeper Eduard Sacapano in East Bengal's 6-0 against an inferior opponent in their Group D match of the ASEAN Club Cup. The other goal was scored by defender Mahesh Gawli, though Baichung later claimed to have touched the ball on it's way into the goal. But five goals aren't a bad tally from an evenings work for a striker whose class had been doubted over the last few months by many. But with his hattrick tonight, Baichung became the only second Indian footballer to do so in an international tournament, the first being legendary Neville D'Souza, who had scores his hattrick against Australia at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
With this win East Bengal made sure that they will make it to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick rested not fully fit Sasthi Duley along with Deepak Mondal, who had received a yellow card in the first match, not risking that he would have to sit out the quarterfinal match.
Initially the Armymen were successful in keeping the East Bengal under control but when Baichung scored of a penalty in the 20th minute, the floodgates opened initially slowly but later faster and faster. Baichung added a second two minutes later, then completed his hattrick in the 50th minute and continued his barrage of goals in the 53rd and 70th minute. Baichung's five goals might be enough to help him secure the top striker award at the tournament. The sixth and final goal was scored in the 75th minute by Mahesh Gawli from the top of the box with a firm right footer.
subhas Bhowmick later said: "Although we won comfortably, the team made many mistakes throughout the match. There are some loopholes in the team and we must work on it before the quarterfinals. We have four days to prepare and we will work on our game."
"We are not bothered about who we meet in the next round. In a tournament like this, we must be prepared to ace any team. If we have to meet the host side, it doesn't matter, we will be prepared. Persita is a good side."
Baichung Bhutia said: "It feels nice to have won and also to have scored so many goals. I actually scored the sixth goal as well. The ball hit me first before it went into the goal. I don't what the officials will decide but it doesn't matter to me. If it's five goals I'll be happy, and if it's six goals I'll also be happy. If it's six, it will be the first time I have achieved this in an inernational."
Philippines coach, Arnel Fernandez, said: "This is our first time in an international club championship. Our players are young and inexperienced and it showed today. We were expecting a tough game from East Bengal because they lost the first game and had to win today. Our next match against BEC Tero will be tough. They are a better side than East Bengal and we will have to prepare for it. At the very least, we must try and minimize the scoreline."
EAST BENGAL: Sandip Nandy, M Suresh, Mahesh Gawli, Surkumar Singh, Debjit Ghosh, Douglas da Silva (Chandan Das, 30), Malswam Tulunga (Kalia Kulothungan, 67), Subhas Chakraborty, Alvito D'Cunha (Bijen Singh, 76), Suley Musah, Baichung Bhutia.
ARMY FC: Eduard Sacapano, Efren Pabilona, Richard Braga (Brendon Morata, 65), Rocky Garciano, Nolan Madali (Richard Betita, 75), Jeoffrey Lobaton, Wilson Dela Cruz, Philip Cesar Caballero (Judy Salura, 55), Billy Estrella, Roel Gener, Allan Palma.

Guwahati Super Division: NF Railway SC 2-1 Assam Police Blues - Goals: 1-0 Sibendra Gayari (5'), 2-0 Prasanta Bharali (67), 2-1 Amulya Das (89').

15. July
Calcutta Super Division: Mohun Bagan AC 0-0 EverReady Association - Goals: none.
Calcutta Super Division: Tollygunge Agragami 7-1 West Bengal Police - Goals: 1-0 Kajal Bhattacharya (22'), 2-0,5-0 Akeem Abul Alem (30',80'), 3-0 Kaustav Ghosh (62'), 4-0 Gouranga Datta (64'), 6-0 Amit Das (85'), 6-1 Mrityunjoy Patra (88'), 7-1 Niladri Chakraborty (90').
Guwahati Super Division: Guwahati Town Club 0-0 Rising XI - Goals: none.
Mumbai Elite League: Bengal Mumbai FC - Western Railway - match cancelled due to rain

Note-1: For East Bengal tomorrow's match against Filipino-side Army FC will be a do-or-die match, as only a win will assure the Indian club champions, a passage into the quarterfinals of the inaugural ASEAN Club Cup.
Ahead of the tournament Philippines Army were rated as the weakest team but East Bengal will not take them lightly, as their own experience with the mightly Thai's BEC Tero Sasana showed them yesterday.
After a solid performance yesterday, East Bengal's team are a demoralised lot but as Subhas Bhowmick keeps his focus, he will be working to get his boys match-fit psychologically. But Bhowmick is also likely to change strategy, with three instead of one striker upfront. Against the Thais only Baichung Bhutia was upfront with Bijen Singh and Alvito D'Cunha was hanging strikers but with a win the need of the hour, Bhowmick will press more players into attack.
As Bhowmick said, "Yesterday the Thais expected an easy match against us but that turned out not to be true. Instead, we gave them a good fight - in fact, we should have won that game. So we too must not make the mistake of treating them (AFC) lightly and suffer the consequences".
East Bengal are in fact doing the right thing by being wary of the Filipions. For although they are all army personnel and don't have any foreign players in the squad, the team has been preparing for the ASEAN Cup for the last three months.
"We have been in centralized training for the last three months. We did not play any internationals but only played some local sides," said coach Arnel Fernandez. "It is obvious that they have a physical advantage but we promise to give them a good fight."
Fernandez had watched East Bengal in action and said that they were a very physical side. East Bengal had impressed everyone who watched the game with their superior fitness and aggressive nature. The were quick to close in on their opponents and pressured them all the way.
"I watched the game and have worked out a counter-strategy. We can only give our best and keep our fingers crossed that all goes well for us tomorrow." Of all the teams in the tournament, AFC, because of their rigorous army training over the years, may be the only ones capable of taking all the aggression from East Bengal.

Note-2: From this season onwards, the Calcutta Super Division will no longer see a playoff final to decide the Calcutta champions. The IFA has decided to do-away with the playoff finals, after asking governing body members for their feedback on the issue, and most of the replies stated that they did not want playoff finals, as this was prolonging the league unwantedly. Only a formal issue is the ratification of cancelling the playoff final by the IFA governing body.

Note-3: Another first for East Bengal. East Bengal club are planning to built an East Bengal Museum inside the club premises on the Calcutta Maidans. If all things go according to plans, East Bengal would like to lay the foundation stone of the museum on August 13 - late Dipak (Paltu) Das birthday, the former club secretary, after whom the museum would be named. The museum would contain mainly football related momentos but also memorabilia from non-football sports.

14. July
ASEAN Club Championships - Group D - Jakarta: EAST BENGAL CLUB 0-1 BEC Tero Sasana, Thailand - Goal: 0-1 Terdsak Chaiman (85').
An AFF report: After matching Asian Champions League finalists BEC Tero Sasana all the way, East Bengal found themselves on the losing end of tonight's ASEAN Club Championship match no thanks to a momentary lapse in defence in the dying minutes of the game.
Thai captain Terdsak Chaiman took advantage of a slip up at the back to punish the Indians with a goal in the 85th minute of a hard-fought match. Although the Thais started the game as the favourites, they found tonight that East Bengal was a tough nut to crack.
East Bengal however claimed that victory could have been theirs if the referee, Md Addly Abdullah from Brunei had awarded what they felt was a sure penalty just before the goal was scored. "It was 100 percent a penalty," said coach Subhas Bhowmick after the match. "When they did not get the penalty, they lost their concentration and conceded the goal."
East Bengal felt that they should have been awarded a penalty when Malswam Tulunga was brought down by Thai keeper Phansa Meesattham in the 84th minute. The Indians claimed the infringement took place in the box while Thai coach Attapol Puspakom said otherwise. "The referee decides on these matters, at the most it should have been an indirect freekick outside the box," said Attapol.
Despite throwing everything they had at the guest side in the tournament, BEC Tero simply could not do much damage. In fact, it was our boys, led by nippy striker Baichung Bhutia who was causing the Thais trouble.
The fact that both sides knew little about each other stood out clearly as they tried to size each up in the early stages of the match. Thailand however found out that the Indian side were very physical and were never afraid to throw themselves in front of the ball. The Thai strikers in particular found themselves at the wrong end of some crushing tackles. After six minutes, Bijen Singh received the first booking of the game.
At the way the match was progressing, the referee should have brought out the card more often. And because that did not happen, the match continued to be physical and that led to several skirmishes. Finally more cards were flashed and at the end of an uninspiring first half, four players had been booked.
While the action in the middle was intense, there was little to talk about at either end. India had a sniff at goal in the 15th minute but skipper Suley Musah could not connect a corner kick.
On the half hour mark, BEC Tero had a good opportunity but Datsakorn Thonglao's sizzler found the arms of Indian keeper Sandip Nandy.
After the match BEC Tero Sasana coach, Attapol Puspakom as a surprised man said: "East Bengal surprised us and are a good aggressive side. They were very fast and were quick to pressure us which they did constantly. We are pleased to have won and gotten the three points."
Subhas Bhowmick meanwhile said: "It was a good tactical match today and we had many chances in the first and second halves but did not score. I was rather surprised at BEC Tero as they are semifinalists in the Asian Champions League. But today they showed that they are a team that can be beaten."
BEC TERO SASANA: Phansa Meesattham, Pretarat Proundee, Witthaya Nabthong, Satid Mukkratok, Adu Sunday Omojola, Wuttiya Yongant (Anucha Kitpongsri, 61), Jatupong Thongsukh, Thanongsak Pajakkata, Terdsak Chaiman, Datsakorn Thonglao, Panai Kongpapan (Sakchai Yuntasri, 86).
EAST BENGAL: Sandip Nandy, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Mahesh Gawli, Surkumar Singh, Debjit Ghosh, Douglas da Silva, Suley Musah, Sasthi Duley, Alvito D'Cunha (M Suresh, 88), Bijen Singh (Malswam Tulunga, 64), Baichung Bhutia.

Guwahati Super Division: Assam State Electricity Board 5-2 Maharana AC - Goals: 1-0,3-1 Sanjiva Rongpi (21',50'), 2-0,5-1 Suchungme Releng (37',90'), 2-1,5-2 Pratap Brahma (49',90+'), 4-1 David Goyary (80').
Mumbai Elite League: Central Railway 3-1 Haywards 2000-Holy Family

Note-1: Goan Sports Minister and Fransa FC president Mickky Pacheco has pulled out of the Goa FA elections, as he he did not want to be part of what he said was a "big mess."
Though the deadline for withdrawal of nominations from the elections have long been over, Pacheco pulled out of the race for the presidentship, leaving Shivanand Salgaocar the lone contestant.
Speaking to the press Pacheco said there was no point in fighting an election of an association, which is in a mess due to some self-centered people, who are hell-bent to stick to their position at the cost of the game of football. He would in his position as Sports Minsiter work towards the development of Goan football.

Note-2: Mohun Bagan in a face-saving gesture have nominated Shibdas Bhaduri for its top honour, the "Mohun Bagan Ratna 2003". Earlier former player and club administrator Chuni Goswami had rejected the award under the current circumstances.
Bagan's Executive Committee went far back into history, as Bhaduri, who led the side in the historic IFA-Shield triumph in 1911, was chosen for the award.
Under Bhaduri's captaincy, Bagan became the first Indian team to win the coveted IFA-Shield with a 2-1 win over East Yorkshire Regiment on July 29, 1911. Bagan's success electrified the entire country, creating a surging wave of nationalism against the British rulers.
The award would be handed over to one of Bhaduri's relatives on July 29, which is celebrated as Mohun Bagan Day every year in remembrance of the monumental victory but due to the club being under high court administration there wouldn't be any festivities, as the club president Tutu Bose informed.

Note-3: The Bordoloi Trophy dates have once again been pushed back with now November 1 the kickoff date, with matches to be played at the Nehru Stadium, Guwahati from November 12, as on November 9 an one-day international Cricket match would be held. Also the start of the National League on November 12 might be a hinderence for top clubs to participate, whom the organisers wanted to rope in...

13. July
Calcutta Super Division: Mohun Bagan AC 4-0 Mohammedan AC - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Jose Barreto (26',36'), 3-0 Marcos Pereira (45'), 4-0 Ashim Biswas (45+').
Guwahati Super Division: Assam State Electricity Board - Maharana AC - abandoned today due to poor condition of the ground
Mumbai Elite League: Mahindra United 5-2 Mumbai Customs

Note-1: Our national champions East Bengal will not be intimidated by the fact that they will be facing one of Asia's top clubs - Thailand's BEC Tero Sasana - in their opening encounter of the Group D LG Cup ASEAN Club Championship.
By virtue of qualifying for the Asian Champions League finals, BEC Tero Sasana have been given the top billing for the tournament but East Bengal caoch Subhas Bhowmick feels that even the best team can be tamed.
Bhowmick told the press in Jakarta, "We came here to win," and added, "We had a one month camp and we also brought in a physical trainer from South Africa to help the team." The coach and his team are full of confidence.
Thai coach Attapol Puspakom chose to be modest about the competition and said that all their rivals had a chance to win the tournament. "All the teams here are champion clubs so we must be wary of all of them."
DD Sports will be showing the match live from 17.30 IST. So support our national champions on their journey to conquer the ASEAN Club Championships!!!

Note-2: Today marked an historical occasion for the Asian Football Confederation when they hosted a meeting of all Regional Football Federations at AFC House, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This is the first time that all regional bodies have met together; these are the Asean Football Federation, the East Asian Football Federation, the South Asian Football Federation, the Union of Arab Football Associations and the West Asian Football Federation.
This meeting demonstrated AFC's recognition of the activities of the regional bodies, and a desire to achieve closer cooperation among the whole of the Asian football family, in a move towards emphasising AFC's solidarity as FIFA's largest confederation.

12. July
The Indian under-18 national team squad for the Milk Cup tournament in Northern Ireland was announced today by the AIFF. The total squad consists of 18 players, with 14 of the boys from the Tata Football Academy. TFA player GouraMangi Moirangtem Singh has been appointed team captain. After the Milk Cup asignment, the team would play in a tournament in Wales, before returning back to India on August 3.
SQUAD GK: Subroto Pal (Tata Football Academy), Subashish Roy Chowdhury (Tata Football Academy); DF: Subhas Mondal (Tata Football Academy), Habihur Rahman Mondal (Tata Football Academy), Debabrata Roy (Tata Football Academy), Gurjinder Singh (Tata Football Academy), Manju Nanjangud Shivananju (DYS, Karnataka); MF: Gouramangi Moirangtem Singh (Tata Football Academy - Captain), Bhola Prasad (Tata Football Academy), Malswama (Tata Football Academy), Jerry Zirsanga (Tata Football Academy), Chitrasen Chandam Singh (Tata Football Academy), Praveen Rawat (Tata Football Academy), Manjit Singh (JCT Academy), Satyan Das Roy (City AC, Calcutta); FW: Sutang Marlanki (Fransa FC, GOA), Vanlal Rova (Tata Football Academy), Vimal Pariyar (Tata Football Academy).

Friendly - Goa: Salgaocar SC 0-2 INDIA U18

Calcutta Super Division: EverReady Association 0-1 Railway FC - Goal: 0-1 Dinesh Shaw
Calcutta Super Division: Bhratri Sangha 1-1 Wari AC - Goals: 0-1 Himadri Chakraborty, 1-1 Ohidul Islam.
Guwahati Super Division: Assam Dynamo Club 4-2 Young Amateur Club - Goals: 1-0 Shiv Shankar Naskar (9'), 2-0 Navajyoti Baruah (14'), 2-1 Madan Kachari (30'), 3-1 Hareswar Rabha (44'), 3-2 Girindra Rabha (47'), 4-2 Padum Rabha (89').
Mumbai Elite League: Air-India 3-1 United Bank of India

Note-1: From the upcoming Federation Cup on, starting in two weeks time, doping tests will become manditory with AIFF tournaments but as the IFA secretary Subrata Dutta has made clear to AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco, most of the clubs and players don't know what is on the doping list of banned substances. Therefore Subrata Dutta has asked Alberto Colaco to meet clubs before the Federation Cup tournament, so that any misunderstanding is avoided, if any player is caught with a positive doping result.

11. July
Note-1: The Mohun Bagan Ratna for the year 2003 was supposed to be given to former Bagan star Chuni Goswami but Goswami has turned down the offer for the award. The reason behind this is the chaos at the club, which Goswami heavily criticised, which he said is not worthy of a club of the stature of Mohun Bagan. According to plans, on July 29 Goswami would have received the Mohun Bagan Ratna on July 29, which is the Mohun Bagan Day.

Note-2: Every player registered under the IFA (Bengal body), male or female, and state referees will from Monday on be insured. For the project the IFA has joined hands with United Insurance India Company.

10. July
Note-1: The AIFF today released the schedule for the 25th Federation Cup, to be held in Calcutta from July 26 until August 8. Taking part in the 16 team knockout tournament would be India's 16 best teams, which would be last seasons 12 National League sides plus the best four 2.Division teams. Mohun Bagan are the defending champions but according to current form surely not the favourites. Favourites are city archrivals East Bengal and for the interest of the tournament, the two could only meet each other in the final.
On the opening dayf the pre-quarterfinal matches, Salgaocar-Indian Bank and Mohammedan Sporting-Indian Telephone Industries would open the tournament.
For the complete 25th Federation Cup draw .

Note-2: India's longest serving and best football academy, the Tata Football Academy in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand will try to spot local talent in the steel city at an earlier age. According to plans of TFA officials, the academy would start a non-residential nursery to train children in the age group of 12 to 14 from Jamshedpur. The idea is to give budding footballers better training at a younger age. The programme would be carried out by the TFA coaching staff of chief coach Ranjan Chowdhury, P Vijay Kumar and Carlton Chapman, who would conduct trials for the boys to be selected. This way TFA hopes to give talented kids of the region a better chance to get into the academy set-up. Indian internationals like Deepak Mondal and Satish Bharti come from the area...

Note-3: As The Telegraph reports, East Bengal played a preparatory match in Jakarta, Indonesia today against the India Club team ahead of the ASEAN Cup, winning the match rather easily 11-0. Baichung Bhutia scored thrice, while Mike Okoro scored two of the goals.

9. July
Friendly - Goa: Vasco SC 0-0 INDIA U18

Calcutta Super Division: Mohun Bagan AC 3-0 Calcutta Port Trust - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Ashim Biswas (42',78'), 3-0 Jose Barreto (82').
Calcutta Super Division: Tollygunge Agragami 1-0 Wari AC - Goal: 1-0 Akeem Abul Alem (17').
Calcutta Super Division: Eastern Railway SC 1-0 West Bengal Police - Goal: 1-0 Saikat Mondal.
Mumbai Elite League: Mahindra United 2-0 Western Railway - Goals: 1-0 Hekmat Singh, 2-0 Syed Altafuddin Ahmed.

Note-1: The IFA (Bengal body) is thinking about increasing the winners purse in the associations exhibition matches, e.g. the big derby matches in the Super Division. Currently the winner gets a meagre Rs 1,200 but it could be raised to Rs 25,000 if the proposal is accepted by the finance committee. The decision chance in the IFA seems to have come about after last Saturday's derby, were a high Rs 1,2 million were received as gates.
Also dope testing would be started in Calcutta latest by the IFA-Shield, maybe even earlier in the Super Division as dope testing would be carried out at the upcoming Federation Cup.

Note-2: Myanmar's Finance & Revenue Club has withdrawn from the ASEAN Club Championship 2003.
The Myanmar FA, in a letter to the Asean Football Federation, informed that its champions would not be able to participate in the inter-club tournament. Myanmar said that it was not able to participate due to unavoidable circumstances brought about by the prevailing conditions in the country.
With the Finance & Revenue club out of the ASEAN Club Cup, Group A will not be reduced to two teams - Indonesia's Petrokimia Putra and Cambodia's Samart United. The match between Petrokimia and Samart will be played on the opening day of the tournament. All other groups/fixtures remain unchanged.
A total of 10 clubs from the Asean region and one invited team from India will be participating in the tournament.

Note-3: The question where the Afro-Asian Games football tournament will be held hasn't been decided yet. While the venue for the Afro-Asian Games proper was shifted from Delhi to Hyderabad a few month's back, the football tournament is likely to be held across the country. While Hyderabad will likely hold the semifinals and finals, the group stage could be held in Calcutta and Goa, maybe even elsewhere...
The IFA in Calcutta has shown it's interest to host matches.

8. July
Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-0 Railway FC - Goal: 1-0 Satish Minz (24').
Mumbai Elite League: Central Railway 4-1 United Bank of India

Note-1: East Bengal left today evening via Singapore for the Indonesian capital Jakarta to represent India in the inaugural ASEAN Club Championships. And the NFL champions are the best bet for a good performance by an Indian club team in the 12 team group-cum-knockout tournament.
In the morning today, East Bengal had their last training session on Indian soil, with coach Subhas Bhowmick full of confidence. One of his statements was, "Let this Asean Cup be the turning point in Indian football." This clearly shows the ambitions the seasoned coach has with his club, as he sees the tournament as the biggest challenge of his footballing life. Bhowmick dreams of winning the title in Indonesia and has worked hard for it, transforming East Bengal over the last few month's into a professional outfit, on and off the field, with Bhowmick often himselfs planning things minutely...
Not only did the club sign a physical trainer as the first Indian club ever but Bhowmick even further strengthened his star-studded line-up with internationals Baichung Bhutia, Debjit Ghosh and Mahesh Gawli joining the club among others.
East Bengal have a tough opener against AFC Champions League finalists BEC Tero Sasana from Thailand on July 14, which should decide who win the group, while on July 16 they face Filipino-side Army FC, who shouldn't be tough to beat for an inform East Bengal.
So all the best wishes from the indianfootball.com team!!!
And hopefully all Indian football fans will be supporting the team on it's venture for Indian football...

Note-2: Fransa FC have tendered an apology to the Goa FA for not answering a show cause notice regarding "non-fielding of at least one team in one of the GFA age-group tournaments the last two years, which is mandatory for all clubs under the professional club status." The issue was heating up as rivals Sporting Clube de Goa had send a complaint to the GFA. Fransa expalined that the reason behind the non-participation where internal club problems but they would field an under-15 team this season.

Note-3: Irineu Gonsalves, president of Pax of Nagoa SC in a press release forward following message: " Justice F Rebello appointed retired District judge Dr Alvaro Noronha Ferreira to decide on the issue on dispute between Pax of Nagoa SC and Fransa Stylismo Inc. The judgement was passed while disposing the application for appointment of Arbitrator filed by the president of Pax of Nagoa SC, in which the Goa FA and Fransa Stylismo Inc were made parties."

7. July
Calcutta Super Division: Eastern Railway SC 0-0 Wari AC - Goals: none.
Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta Port Trust 0-2 Bhratri Sangha - Goals: 0-1 Sanjib Sashmal, 0-2 P Manoharan (80').
Mumbai Elite League: Bengal Mumbai FC - Mumbai Customs - abandoned due to monsoon rains

Note-1: Indian football icon Baichung Bhutia, a Kingfisher brand ambassador - took time off before leaving with his club for the ASEAN Club Championships, as he was the star attraction at the launch of the Kingfisher Corporate 5 national championship. Bhutia gave a symbolic "kickoff" to the Championship at the Nehru Stadium, Delhi on Monday.
The co-sponsors include Samsung, Park Hotel, Jet Airways and Base Terminal. The winners from each region will meet in the final at Bangalore.
Bhutia said "football as a sport is growing in popularity in India largely due to the patronage and encouragement of corporates like UB. I am happy to be associated with this venture because it will contribute greatly to the growth of the game in India".
The further legs will be held: Calcutta (July 24-27); Mumbai (August 7-10); Bangalore (August 14-17); Delhi (August 28-31); Hyderabad (September 4-7). National Finals: Bangalore (September 13-14).

Note-2: We wrongly reported on Saturday that a 20 member East Bengal squad would travel to Indonesia to take part in the inaugural ASEAN Club Cup Championships. Well, it is only 18, as has been confirmed to us from Jakarta, so the final list had only one surprising change, as vice-captain Dipankar Roy was left out and he was replaced by Kalia Kulothungan in the 18 member squad.
FINAL SQUAD: Sangram Mukherjee, Sandip Nandy, Deepak Mondal, Suley Musah, M Suresh, Mahesh Gawli, Douglas da Silva, Surkumar Singh, Malswam Tulunga, Subhas Chakraborty, Chandan Das, Debjit Ghosh, Sasthi Duley, Kalia Kulothungan, Alvito D'Cunha, Mike Okoro, Bijen Singh, Baichung Bhutia.

Note-3: Officials of Sporting Clube de Goa and Fransa FC will likely not become friends in the near future. After Fransa wanted Sporting Clube's promotion to the National League be taken back by the AIFF as the club "loaned" three players from the home state against the allowed two, now it is Sporting Clube's turn as they say, Fransa shouldn't be allowed to play in the Goa Professional League. The reason behind it, Fransa have not fielded any age group teams in Goa FA organised tournament in the last two years, violating GFA law, then as per the law, professional club have to have a team participating in the age group tournaments of the GFA, otherwise they cannot be declared professional and non-professional club aren't allowed to take part in the Goa Professional League. Sporting Clube has asked for a fast reaction from the parent body but with GFA elections on July 20, things might take a while.
It is really sad to see that Goa, actually known in the last few years for good management and good organisation, is turning into a utter mess, with personal feuds being fought through football...

Note-4: The problems in Mohun Bagan's defence were badly exposed last Saturday in their derby match against East Bengal. Now ahead of the Federation Cup later this month, Bagan have reacted and have newly signed Nigerian Akuneto, a well-build defender, to strenghten their defence. A good decision, if the club wants to have a good campaign in the Federation Cup and later in the season.

Note-5: Do you remember the club United Bangalore, which was started as a farm team of FC Kochin a few years ago? Well, the club has been fighting on it's own to stay alive as a football club and now they got a fresh lease of life with Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) coming forward to sponsor it in the current season. United Bangalore had a dismal last season, when they remained winless in the Bangalore Super Division and got relegated to the A Division. Now KREDL has come in as sponsor, signing a one year contract, with the option of extension, if the club gets promoted to the Super Division. If not, this could be the end of the club...

6. July
Mumbai Elite League: Air-India 1-2 Haywards 2000-Holy Family - Goals: 0-1 Subhash Adilkar, 1-1 Abbas Ali Rizvi, 1-2 Mohammed Rizwan (own Goal).
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Final: Indian Telephone Industries 1-2 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 0-1 Xavier Vijayakumar (10'), 1-1 Jagadish Kumar (65'), 1-2 Dayanand (90+').

5. July
Calcutta Super Division: East Bengal Club 3-0 Mohun Bagan AC - Goals: 1-0 Suley Musah (23'), 2-0,3-0 Baichung Bhutia (68',83').
EAST BENGAL: Sangram Mukherjee, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli (Douglas da Silva), Deepak Mondal, M Suresh, Sasthi Duley, Suley Musah, Malswam Tulunga (Subhas Chakraborty), Debjit Ghosh, Bijen Singh (Alvito D'Cunha), Baichung Bhutia.
MOHUN BAGAN: Imran Khan, Manitombi Singh, Debkumar Sashmal, Insan Ali, Rishi Kapoor, Mehtab Hossain (Sunil Chetri), Hardeep Singh Saini (Basudeb Mondal), Marcos Pareira, Renedy Singh, Jose Barreto, Ashim Biswas.

Friendly - Goa: Dempo SC 2-1 INDIA U18

Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta Port Trust 0-0 Railway FC - Goals: none.
Mumbai Elite League: Mahindra United 2-1 Central Railway - Goals: 1-0 James Singh, 1-1 Kasif Jamal, 2-1 Steven Dias.

Note-1: East Bengal today named 18 players for their ASEAN Club Championship campaign. Subhas Bhowmick left two places in the squad free as 20 players can be registered. The two will be named before the club leaves for Indonesia on Tuesday.
SQUAD: Sangram Mukherjee, Sandip Nandy, Deepak Mondal, Suley Musah, M Suresh, Mahesh Gawli, Douglas da Silva, Surkumar Singh, Malswam Tulunga, Subhas Chakraborty, Chandan Das, Debjit Ghosh, Sasthi Duley, Dipankar Roy, Alvito D'Cunha, Mike Okoro, Bijen Singh, Baichung Bhutia.

Note-2: 106 Goan clubs, affiliated to the Goa FA, have extended their support to the AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco in a document send to the AIFF secretary. Earlier Colaco had been verbally attacked by Fransa FC president and Goan Sports Minister Mickky Pacheco, in the Sporting Clube de Goa "on loan" issue, on being biased and even worse...
Colaco in a press release stated, "I am overwhelmed and deeply touched by this gesture and whilst thanking the clubs for their support, I wish to reiterate that I will continue to serve the Goan football fraternity to the best of my ability. My doors are always open to any clubs, whether they have signed the letter or not, officials, players or any person connected with football"

4. July
Calcutta Super Division: Eastern Railway SC 1-2 Mohammedan AC - Goals: 1-0 Henry Odogo (10'), 1-1 Amar Ganguly (49'), 1-2 Nazimul Haque (72').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Semifinal: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 4-1 CIL - Goals: 1-0 Xavier Vijayakumar (13'), 2-0 Satish Kumar (35'), 3-0,4-0 Sham Kumar (41',49'), 4-1 Rocky (81').

Note-1: Ahead of their ASEAN Club Championship campaign in Indonesia, East Bengal have a tough derby against Mohun Bagan to play in the Calcutta Super Divisio tomorrow. The biggest derby in Indian football is likely to witness a crowd of around 100.000 at the Saltlake Stadium, the proper surrounding for a match, which both sides say, is too early in the season. While East Bengal say that their preparation for the ASEAN Cup is hampered, Bagan say that their new team hasn't had enough time to train together.
East Bengal go as clear favourites into the match, as the team has the by-far strongest defensive line-up in India, a solid midfield and many players so far in the matches among the goals, with especially Baichung Bhutia to mention, who has been back among the goals, after returning from Mohun Bagan. Mohun Bagan meanwhile have made fundamental changes to the team roaster from last season, bringing in many talented players from across India, with the team needing time to gel together. But Bagan will be strengthened by the arrival of superstar Jose Barreto plus new signing Marcos Pereira from Brazil, though both players have clearly stated that they are quite far away from peak form. Leading Bagan will be an inform Renedy Singh, who along with Basudeb Mondal, Marcos Pereira, Hardip Singh Saini and Mehtab Hussein can form a very strong midfield. Also Bagan want to leave the problems of the last few weeks behind them, if they can beat their archrivals.
Kickoff is at 15.30 h at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta with no live TV coverage as reported earlier on indianfootball.com .

Note-2: EAST BENGAL CLUB and REEBOK India Company have signed a contract until March 2005 making the American sportswear giants India's NFL champions club kit sponsor. This was disclosed at a press conference by East Bengal secretary Kalyan Majumdar and Reebok India Company MD Siddhartha Verma.
As per the contract, Reebok will provide East Bengal with jerseys, shorts and socks as well as practice gear for the players but the players will not be provided with boots and training shoes, which will remain their own choice.
East Bengal will wear their new kit for the first-time tomorrow in their derby match against Mohun Bagan, against earlier plans to play in their new kit for he first-time in the ASEAN Club.
As per plans, special shoes in East Bengal colours, would be sold through Bata stores before the Pujas and replica kits might also be in the markets soon.
For East Bengal this means that they have a kit sponsor again, two years after Adidas had not renewed their contract in early 2001, while for Reebok it is their second association with an Indian club, as they had earlier kitted former NFL team FC Kochin.

Note-3: Marcos Pereira has now officially been released by Vasco SC to play for Mohun Bagan this season. The two clubs have reached an agreement regarding the Brazilian but will not disclose anything to the public due to a secrecy clause in the agreement. The problem had arisen as Marcos had signed for Bagan ahead of Vasco's crucial match against East Bengal, at a time when such talks are actually not allowed.

Note-4: The contest for the post of Goa FA president on July 20 will now be a two man race, as today Joaquim Alemao, Churchill Bros president and a Goan MLA, withdrew from the contest. Earlier Jose Antonio Botelho had withdrawn from the elections, now leaving industrialist Shivanand Salgaocar and Goan Sports Minister Mickky Pacheco in the fray.

3. July
Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-2 Calcutta Port Trust - Goals: 0-1 Pradip Indu (43'), 1-1 Syed Rahim Nadi (54'), 1-2 Srimanta Das.
Calcutta Super Division: Tollygunge Agragami 0-3 Bhratri Sangha - Goals: 0-1 Swapan Munda (36'), 0-2,0-3 Sanjib Sashmal (41',84').
Mumbai Elite League: Bengal Mumbai FC 1-2 United Bank of India - Goals: 0-1 Vijay Thapa, 0-2 Ryan D'Souza (57'), 1-2 Herbert Philip (84').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Semifinal: Indian Telephone Industries 2-0 MEG - Goals: 1-0 Kenneth Onu (14'), 2-0 Ishfaq Ahmed.

Note-1: The AIFF president Das Munshi at the launch of the Mohammedan Sporting Clube website disclosed numerous decisions and developments in Indian football.
The biggest news is that the AIFF is talking with it's bigger federations - the IFA (Bengal), Goa FA, WIFA (Maharashtra) and Kerala - about restricting the number of players National League teams can play in the local leagues. The number would be restricted between three to five. While the Goa FA is said to have given its okay to the plans, the IFA secretary Subrata Dutta has objected such plans in talks with Mr. Das Munshi, where he explained that if the top teams play without their best players, the Calcutta league and the IFA would suffer. The idea would be that at the beginning of the season the NFL clubs would name/register 27 players for the National League and the clubs could decide, which players could play in the local leagues. The numbers as said earlier, haven't been finalised yet. The proposal for the restriction has come from the Asian Football Confederation, who is said to help the AIFF also on other fronts.
Ahead of the Afro-Asian Games football tournament in October, India could play friendly international matches against China, Iran, Thailand and South Korea, which the AIFF president will try to finalise when the AFC meets on July 17.
A piece of news which is of interest to us at indianfootball.com is that the AIFF would launch its official website by coming August to record the country's football history as well as update information about the AIFF's activities. So once again a pledge to start an AIFF website, which has been made in the past, so lets hope for the best!
So a lot of news, lets hope that something happens and not just promises and pledges...

Note-2: Mohammedan Sporting Club today launched it's official club website, which can be found under the following URLs: www.mdsporting.com and www.mohammedansportingindia.com .
A lot of dignitaries where present at the launch but the site will have to prove, if it will keep the fans of the club uptodate with the latest infos. So far none of the Indian club websites, some have even disappeared from the web, have kept their fans uptodate over a longer period.
Best wishes from indianfootball.com to Mohammedan Sporting on the launch!!!

Note-3: The organisers Guwahati Sports Association will start the Guwahati Super Division on July 12, while the Bordoloi Trophy wil kickoff on October 12. The Bordoloi Trophy would have a massive Rs 4,9 million budget.

2. July
Calcutta Super Division: East Bengal Club 3-0 Mohammedan AC - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Baichung Bhutia (42',71'), 3-0 Alvito D'Cunha (77').
Mumbai Elite League: Air-India 2-0 Western Railway - Goals: 1-0 Anthony Fernandes, 2-0 Mohammed Rizwan.

Note-1: This seasons first Calcutta derby between East Bengal-Mohun Bagan will not be shown live on TV on Saturday. American sports braodcaster ESPN, who hold the Calcutta football rights, will not be showing the match and hopes that ETV, who showed the season-opener Libero One-Day Cup, might show the match have also faded away.

1. July
We at indianfootball.com have made some changes in the design of the website, creating a new entry site and also making further changes in the design of the site.
We hope you like it!!!

Calcutta Super Division: Mohun Bagan AC 1-0 Tollygunge Agragami - Goal: 1-0 Renedy Singh (47').
Mumbai Elite League: Haywards 2000-Holy Family 1-0 Mumbai Customs - Goal: 1-0 Subhash Adilkar.

Note-1: The LG Cup - ASEAN Club Championship will be contested by 12 of the top teams from the region. The first-ever ASEAN inter-club championship, offering US$110,000 in prize money, will be staged in Jakarta and Surabaya, Indonesia from July 13-26.
As the host of the tournament, Indonesia has the privilege of fielding two teams - Petrokimia Putra and Persita Tangerang, who will be joined by the league champions from nine ASEAN countries plus the invited guests our NFL champions East Bengal Club.
East Bengal Club have been drawn in Group D along with Asian Champions League finalists BEC-Tero Sasana from Thailand and the Philippines' Air Force FC. East Bengal face BEC-Tero Sasana on July 14, while they face Air Force FC on July 16.
The winner of the LG Cup - Asean Club Championship will pocket US$50,000 while the second, third and fourth placed teams will take home US$30,000, US$20,000 and US$10,000 respectively.
In addition to the cash prizes, awards will also be given to players for the LG Man-of-the-Match, LG Player of the Tournament, LG Goalkeeper of the Tournament and LG Top Scorer. The LG Fairplay Club Award will also be up for grabs.
Groupings:
Group A: Petrokimia Putra (Indonesia), Finance & Revenue (Myanmar), Smart United (Cambodia)
Group B: Singapore Armed Forces FC (Singapore), Perak FC (Malaysia), DPMM (Brunei Darussalam)
Group C: Persita (Indonesia), H.A. Gialia (Vietnam), MTTPC (Laos)
Group D: BEC-Tero Sasana (Thailand), EAST BENGAL CLUB, Air Force FC (the Philippines)