30. Juni
Note-1: The final line-up of the 120th anniversary Leicester FC tournament is now out. Besides host Leicester City FC, their club partners Indian champions East Bengal Club, Spanish Primera Division side CD Real Mallorca and Portuguese side CS Maritimo Madeira would be seen in action on July 31/August 1 at the Walkers Stadium. On July 31 in a match-up of Iberian sides Mallorca would face Maritimo at 14.00 GMT (18.30 IST) in the opening match, while LCFC would face our champions East Bengal Club in the second semifinal at 16.30 GMT (21.00 IST). The losers of the saturday matches would face each other on Sunday, August 1 at 14.00 GMT; while the winners of the matches would face each other in the tournament final at 16.30 GMT.
Tickets have been priced at £20 for adults, £15 for senior citizens and young adults, and £5 for juveniles for one day tickets, while weekend tickets would cost £35 for adults and £10 for juveniles.
Missing from the original line-up of sides to play in the tournament are Argentinian giants Boca Juniors and German Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund. While Dortmund cannot take part due as it missed the qualification for the UEFA Cup and would have to play in the UI-Cup over the tournament weekend, Boca Junior were forced to pull out. Only a few days later Boca would take part in the Vodafone Cup in Manchester with Manchester United, Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven and Japanese J-league side Urawa Red Diamonds taking part and the organisers of the tournament wanted Boca to take part exclusively in their tournament. So the LCFC tournament would have to do without and Maritimo came in as a replacement.
Foxes' Chief Operating Officer Paul Mace said: "Playing against East Bengal promises to be a very special occasion. This fixture will generate huge interest not only among our own fans and the ethnic community of Leicestershire, but at a national level and throughout the Asian sub-continent as well."
Note-2: The issue of the galleries on the Calcutta Maidan of the three enclosed grounds of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting crops-up at the beginning of each season. Inspections are going to be held in July at the grounds, and especially the Mohammedan Sporting ground could miss some matches due to not so good prevailing conditions. Sporting fans have stated about the "neglected state" of some stands at their clubs ground. It might happen that some matches could be played at the Barasat Stadium, when the Saltlake Stadium is not available from later this month.
29. Juni
NFL Champions East Bengal Club are back in pre-season practice ahead of the tasks for the new season but coach Subhas Bhowmick is try to keep expections low for the start of the season. And Bhowmick has reasons to do so. Most East Bengal players have had a month long holiday but some would rather have needed a few weeks more break. Last season East Bengal had for the first-time for an Indian football club had a month-long pre-season camp at the top class Hyatt Regency Hotel. The basis worked on by Bhowmick and his team was instrumental in bringing the ASEAN Club Cup to India. This season the club is unlikely to be able to afford, financially, to have a camp at the hotel but an alternative residential camp is being worked out at the moment. If the facilities are to the liking of coach Bhowmick, then East Bengal could be staying at the Kalyani University campus outside Calcutta and the team would travel to their club ground for their first few Calcutta Super Division matches.
But East Bengal have a much bigger potential problem on the ground. At the moment East Bengal stand their without a proper striker and their recruiters seem to have forgotten the vital strikers position. Brazilian top scorer Cristiano Junior couldn't be retained due to a too high asking price of the player, while back-up strikers like Kalia Kulothungan and Raman Vijayan have left the club. Meanwhile India captain Baichung Bhutia is contemplating to go to Cyprus for a trial, while the same applies to Nigerian striker-turned-midfielder Mike Okoro, who wanted to try his luck in Holland. But the club is sure that at least Baichung would return and Mike Okoro has been contacted through several modes to come back, though no surity is there that both strikers will return. Coach Bhowmick must be thinking of alternatives in the team and he might have to rely on Alvito D'Cunha and Bijen Singh, who were strikers before playing more withdrawn.
28. Juni
Calcutta Super Division: George Telegraph SC 1-0 Calcutta FC - Goal: 1-0 Asit Biswas (19').
Calcutta Super Division: Eastern Railway SC 0-1 Calcutta Port Trust - Goal: 0-1 Shyambabu Routh (10').
Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan AC 2-2 Food Corporation of India - Goals: 1-0 Sanjib Mishra, 1-1 Sital Mondal, 2-1 Benjamin Hmar, 2-2 Mohammed Ali.
Calcutta Super Division: Railway FC - Wari AC - abandoned in the first half due to rain
27. Juni
Mumbai Elite League: Western Railway - Air-India
Note-1: The Calcutta Super Division kicks-off tomorrow with four matches being held across the city. Tough none of the big teams in East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Tollygunge or Mohammedan Sporting playing on the opening day, the match-ups will see some interesting matches as some of the lower rungs teams of Calcutta football are trying to make their presence felt on the bigger Super Division stage, some even having ambitions to qualify for the second Division National League.
Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting would open their league campaign on July 8, while champions East Bengal play their first match on July 10 against Railway FC.
Note-2: Ahead of the 2004/05 seasons asignments NFL champions East Bengal are setting their house in order. Goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee has been named captain, while Englishman peter McKnight has been appointed the teams new physical trainer. If Baichung Bhutia would remain wasn't clear yet as it would depend on the possible trials in Cyprus.
The team is in preseason training with some already focusing on the Leicester City 120th anniversary tournament .
26. Juni
Chennai Super League: Madras Sporting Union 1-0 Chennai Customs - Goal: 1-0 Samuel Jackson (24').
Madras Sporting Union have won for the first-time the Universal trophy for topping the Chennai Super League!
Mumbai Elite League: Bengal Mumbai FC - Indian Navy
Note-1: Calcutta's Mohammedan Sporting Club will go into the new 2004/05 season with a totally overhauled team. After being relegated last season from the National League, only a year after finally making it into the NFL proper, the club decided to make a new attempt to get back into the Premier Division of the NFL. As a relegated club Sporting will feature in this seasons 2.Division NFL.
So the Sporting recruiters have rooped in talented youngsters and seasoned players, some overhill players as well. The new Sporting squad of 32 players will be coached by Mrinul Banerjee, who returns to Sporting after a few seasons. Former Indian internationals Raman Vijayan and Naushad Moosa have been named captain and vice-captain of the team.
25. Juni
Chennai Super League: Indian Bank 3-0 AGORC - Goals: 1-0 Ravi Babu (13'), 2-0,3-0 Syed Shabir Pasha (54',90+').
Mumbai Elite League: Bank of India - Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers
Note-1: Calcutta's EverReady Association have released their coach Amal Datta and have signed Aloke Mukherjee as their new coach for the 2004/05 season. The clubs executive committee took this decision today after Amal Datta had declined to go into the new season without signing further foreign players as the clubs key recruiter was in hospital and couldn't sign any foreign players.
EverReady Association will go into the new season with a squad of 27 players and as only one foreigner has been signed so far in Liberian Eugene Gray, two more foreigners are likely to be signed in the near future.
24. Juni
Chennai Super League: Madras Sporting Union 3-0 Integral Coach Factory - Goals: 1-0 Venkatesan (40'), 2-0 Pradeepkumar (49'), 3-0 Bharath (90+').
Note-1: The AIFF today released the eighth list of 35 cleared Inter-State Transfers for the 2004/05 season.
Most transfers cleared in today's list where from and to smaller clubs across India. The biggest gainer was Guwahati first division club Royal SC signing seven players from Manipur.
Among the bigger transfers were talented Vanlal Rova moving from the Tata Football Academy to Churchill Brothers SC, Fransa FC signed Waikhom Ajit Singh from Neroca SC, Manipur, while Sporting Clube de Goa got Nigerian Subair Mulitala Ali from Air-India cleared. Calcutta's EverReady Association got two players cleared - Manoj Joshi (Jammu&Kashmir Bank) and Anil Kumar Singh (FAM, Mumbai).
23. Juni
Chennai Super League: Chennai Customs 1-1 Indian Bank - Goals: 0-1 Gregory Clark (76'), 1-1 V Rajan (86')
22. Juni
Chennai Super League: Madras Sporting Union 4-1 State Bank of India - Goals: 1-0 Samuel Jackson (50'), 2-0,3-0 Venkatesan (69',78'), 4-0 Pradeep (85'), 4-1 Senthilkumar.
Note-1: East Bengal's success in national and international competitions didn't pass without influence on the Club World Ranking. NFL champions East Bengal climbed up the ladder to book their place at 212. The Calcutta giants were ranked 242 in the last rankings released in April. East Bengal are now higher ranked than renowned clubs like Grasshopper Zurich, Southampton FC, VfL Bochum, Málaga CF and Real Valladolid. Mumbai based Mahindra United recored also a new high in the Club World Ranking, while moving up to 254 (last ranking 266.).
Great to see our Indian clubs making their waves in such a high-profile ranking, which sees Argentinian giants Boca Juniors in the lead followed by Italy's AC Milan (2.) and FC São Paulo from Brazil (3.).
Note-2: PK Banerjee has been conferred the prestigious FIFA centennial order of merit, as was disclosed by the AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco today.
PK, as he is popularly called, had represented India for 13 years in 86 internationals to score 65 goals. He had captained India at the 1960 Rome Olympics and was part of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics teams, which had finished fourth. Also PK had played for India at three Asian Games - Tokyo, Jakarta and Bangkok, winning the gold 1962 in Jakarta. After the end of his career PK had been attached to the national team as coach and technical director from 1970 to 1986. Thereafter he had been director at the Tata Football Academy and later in his career had coached East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Last season PK had been technical director at Mohammedan Sporting.
Also after ending his career PK had been working as a radio and TV commentator plus as a football column writer at newspapers.
For his achievements on and off the football fields, PK had received the Arjuna Award in 1961 and the Padmashree in 1990 plus many other different awards.
Congratulations on the Award to PK Banerjee from the IndianFootball.Com team!
Note-3: Mumbai giants Mahindra United has kicked off their Youth Development Program from June 1. The club had called for trials for players born on or after 1.1.1987 wherein 346 players from all over Mumbai and its suburbs participated and the final selection will be done by this weekend. The aim will be to spot and develop talented football players who will form the nucleus of the future Mahindra United team said general secretary JM Mapgaonkar. Some very talented players in the 17/18 year old age group with tremendous potential have been spotted and under the training and guidance from Mahindra United senior side coach David Booth these players could be a set to watch in the coming years said Manager Henry Menezes.
To give a fair chance to the players to display their skill Mumbai and its suburbs were divided into 8 Zones comprising of Western, Central and Harbour. The Management kept a close watch for 20 days to select the best.
The selected boys will form the Mahindra United Under-19 team to participate in the U19 National League in October under the program set by coach David Booth.
21. Juni
Chennai Super League: Chennai Customs 0-2 AGORC - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Muthu (44',83').
Note-1: The AIFF today released the seventh list of 23 cleared Inter-State Transfers for the 2004/05 season.
East Bengal Club got Nigerian defender Louis Aniweta (Sporting Clube de Goa) and striker Nitin Pradhan (Churchill Brothers SC) cleared. Churchill Brothers also lost Ranjit Singh (Punjab Police), Raghuvir Khanolkar (Central Railway, Mumbai) and Sanjoy Das (Jugashanti AC, Calcutta).
Keeper Gumpe Rime and midfielder Buvan Krishna Joshi were cleared to move from Mohammedan Sporting Club to Salgaocar SC. Meanwhile Nitin Singh Bisht signed for Tollygunge Agragami from Haldwani Sports Hostel, Uttar Pradesh.
In local Calcutta transfers Gouranga Datta stayed with Tollygunge for another season.
Note-2: Tollygunge Agragami secretary Mantu Saha said in public yesterday that Aloke Mukherjee has been sacked as coach, while Biswajit Das would be the coach for the new season. Biswajit Das was the goalkeeping cum assistant coach last season.
Meanwhile now Aloke Mukherjee claims he was never appointed, so there was no question of sacking him. Mantu Saha explained the reason behind the sacking was that Aloke has insulted the club when he said the officials weren't trustworthy enough. Aloke answered that he said nothing, as he only said that he will not trust anyone until he holds the advance salary cheque in his fingers. No comments were available from the assistant secretary Mantu Ghosh.
20. Juni
Chennai Super League: Integral Coach Factory 1-0 State Bank of India - Goal: 1-0 Jegan Jr (87').
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Final: SAI, Guwahati 0-1 Food Corporation of India, Guwahati - Goal: 0-1 Goutam Daimary (20').
Mumbai Elite League: Indian Navy 2-1 Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers
Note-1: The Assam Sports Minister Robin Bordoloi informed the press in Guwahati today that national chief coach Stephen Constantine would be coaching the Assam probables for the National Games 2005 to be held in the state from July 16 for 15 days. This was confirmed to the Assam sports minister last night by AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco. The probables would be mainly under-21 boys to focus on the future of Assam football plus a group of six coaches to get guidance for Constantine during his stay in the Northeast. The minister hoped that Constantine would return to the state in the future to train the boys ahead of the National Games and not make this a one time experience.
19. Juni
INDIA chief coach Stephen Constantine has given an exclusive interview to IndianFootball.Com Editor-in-Chief Arunava Chaudhuri discussing the last couple of results of the India team, with Stephen also giving an outlook into the future and speaks his mind on a number of different issues.
Click here for complete >>Stephen Constantine interview
Chennai Super League: Madras Sporting Union 5-1 AGORC
Mumbai Elite League: Air-India 7-0 Bank of India
Note-1: Last summer rumours had made the round that India captain Baichung Bhutia would go on trial with Greek Premier Division club Panionios Athens, which in the end turned out not to be ture. But those who know Baichung, know that the East Bengal Club striker would like to have another chance to play in Europe and prove his class. Now the new chance might have come.
Baichung after his asignment with ESPN-Star Sports as Euro2004 analyser is set to go to Cyprus for trials with Cypriot Premier Division club AEL Lemesós (Limassol). The contact was made through India chief coach Stephen Constantine, who had played at the club in the past and also coached there. The club were on the lookout for a defender and a striker, so Stephen recommended Mahesh Gawli and Baichung Bhutia. Stephen confirmed to IndianFootball.Com that AEL Limassol want Baichung for a trial, but if they still would be interested in Mahesh Gawli wasn't sure as the club would look for Greek defenders first. So lets all hope that Baichung will be back in Europe in the new season!
Note-2: The IFA (Bengal body) held it's annual prize distribution ceremony at the Rabindra Sadan in Calcutta. The champions and runners-up of all Calcutta Football leagues and of IFA organised tournaments were fecilitated.
AWARDEES: Super Division: East Bengal Club (champions), Mohun Bagan AC (runners-up); 1st division Group A: Food Corporation of India,Calcutta (champions), Peerless SC (runners-up); 1st Division Group B: Taltala Dipti Sangha (champions), Muslim Institute (runners-up); 2nd Division: Taltala Institute (champions), Kalighat MS (runners-up); 3rd Division: Subhasdwip SC (champions), Town Club (runners-up); 4th Division: Cossipore Saraswati (champions), Beleghata AC (runners-up); 5th Division Group A: Jadavpur Association (champions), International Club (runners-up), Fifth Division Group B: South Folk Club (champions), Goan Association of Bengal (runners-up); Nursery league: Belghoria SC (champions), Kasba Samanmoy (runners-up); Women's league: Income Tax (champions), Sarojini Naidu Club (runners-up); Trades Cup: Calcutta FC (champions), Eastern Railway SC (runners-up); State League: Chandernagar (champions), Hooghly (runners-up); Best referee: Subrata Das; Best state class I referee: Barun Saha.
18. Juni
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Semifinal: City Police 1-5 Food Corporation of India, Guwahati - Goals: 0-1 David Marsh Goyari (15'), 1-1 Rajeswar Das (26'), 1-2 Raju Brahma (39'), 1-3 Kubal Rabha (56'), 1-4 Bijen Goyari (65'), 1-5 Nayan Wary (89').
Note-1: As per plans which came out today the AIFF would hold the 27th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy for under-16 state teams from the third week in September in Goa, while the delayed Under-19 National League would be played in October 2004.
Note-2: The season in Goa will kickoff on August 8 with the GFA Charity match between Goa Pro League champions Salgaocar SC against Churchill Brothers SC. The Goa Professional League 2004 is likely to kickoff thereafter in the second week of August but the Goa FA is still on the lookout for a title sponsor for it's league. Whenever a deal is finalised, the schedule will be drawn as the GFA is positive in finding a sponsor soon.
The 6th Goa Governor's Cup meanwhile is likely to kickoff in the last week of September after the Pro League finishes. The GFA is considering to invite a foreign team to the tournament to add some spice to it. Talks are said to be on with teams from Brazil, the UAE, Thailand and Uzbekistan. The Goa Governor's Cup, which a few years ago used to be the Goa season-opener has now become a mid-season tournament.
17. Juni
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Semifinal: Northern-Frontier Railway SC 1-1,4-5 SAI, Guwahati [on penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Tapash Singha (47'), 1-1 Thomson Langthasa (54').
Note-1: After a gap of 13 years the Chennai Football Association will be reviving the Vittal Trophy. The Vittal Trophy would be played between the Chennai Senior Division teams plus four Tamil Nadu ditricts keeping the tournament a state affair. The tournament would be held from July 4 to 11 at the Nehru Stadium, Chennai.
16. Juni
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Quarterfinal: Jewel Star Club 0-3 City Police - Goals: 0-1 Manoj Ahmed (3'), 0-2 Ajoy Basumatary (29'), 0-3 Rajeswar Das (57').
8.Sumant Moolgaonkar Trophy - Jamshedpur - Final: Tata Football Academy 2-1 Tata Motors - Goals: 1-0 PC Lalam Puia (32'), 2-0 Goutam Kujur, 2-1 Gurjinder Singh (own Goal).
Note-1: 47 players have been cleared by the AIFF in their sixth list of Inter-State Transfers for the 2004/05 season.
Among the cleared transfers today weren't any big one's. Manipur youngster Arun Kumar Singh got cleared to join Mohammedan Sporting Club from Williamson Magor Football Academy in Tezpur, Assam. Another Calcutta side, EverReady Association, signed Mohammed Hadi Hassan Khan from Dynamose, Uttar Pradesh. Tollygunge Agragami got Pushpender Kundu from Shastri Club, Delhi cleared, while they lost keeper Abhra Mondal to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
Note-2: Dutch globetrotter Frank van Eijs arrived in Calcutta today for a trial with Mohun Bagan AC over the coming days. Bagan technical director will try to access if the Dutchmen, who can play as stopper-back and defensive medio, would be useful to Bagan. van Eijs has played across Europe starting in his home country the Netherlands before playing in Belgium, Germany and Scotland. He even played in China before playing for German Oberliga Niedersachsen club (fourth division) SV Meppen last season.
Talking to newspersons after his arrival in Calcutta van Eijs said, "At this moment I don't want to make a comment as first I would want to go get a feel of the place. Then only can I tell you about my targets."
van Eijs told the press that after being contacted by Bagan through his agent, he tried to get infos on the club and Indian football from the Internet.
If van Eijs is signed by Bagan he would be the first Dutch player from the "Oranje" country of Tulips and Gouda cheese to play in India.
15. Juni
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Quarterfinal: Assam Dynamo Club 1-1,3-4 Food Corporation of India, Guwahati [on penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Padum Rabha (17'), 1-1 Kubal Rabha (49').
Calcutta Women's League - final: Income-Tax 1-0 Sarojini Naidu Club - Goal: 1-0 Sujata Kar.
Note-1: Seasoned CPM politician Somnath Chatterjee, who has been named as speaker of the new Lok Sabha, is also a big football fan, holding a life membership for Mohun Bagan AC and is part of the clubs executive committee. Chatterjee is a renowned barister in Calcutta and was fecilitated by Mohun Bagan on becoming the Lok Sabha speaker at the clubs Maidan Tent.
"Nobody can challenge the Speaker's ruling in the Lok Sabha. Similarly, I want an assurance that nobody will challenge the solution I thrash out. On this condition, I'm prepared to do my bit if the contending groups come to me," Chatterjee said on the occasion after he had been requested from officials and former players to help the club get past their problems.
"Soccer is played on the ground. But I feel pained when I see the officials fighting it out in the courts. But I'm a die-hard optimist. I'm sure that a new dawn is not far off," he said.
Club president Swapan Sadhan Bose lost no time in accepting Chatterje's proposal. "We give you the entire responsibility. We will abide by whatever decision you take," Bose said, amidst loud cheers from the overflowing crowd of members, supporters and former soccer players at the tent. Balaram Chowdhury, who heads the rival faction now in charge of the club's soccer affairs, was also seen applauding the decision.
Note-2: The AIFF has directed the IFA (Bengal body) to immediately suspend Bengal under-21 player Amjad Ali Khan and has asked the IFA to explain why the Bengal players misbehaved in the Under-21 Nationals final in Jamalpur earlier this month. The IFA will send a written answer to the AIFF.
Amjad Ali Khan, who played for Mohammedan Sporting Club last season and got transferred to Mohun Bagan AC, had hit the referee before being given marching orders.
Note-3: The Assam FA will organise it's second camp for it's state team for the National Games 2005 in September. The camp will also be used as preparation for the Santosh Trophy, which will be played in October in Kochi, Kerala. Meanwhile the first phase camp for the Assam women will be held in July.
14. Juni
Chennai Super League: Integral Coach Factory 1-2 Chennai Customs - Goals: 1-0 RP Ashok Kumar (26'), 1-1 Arul Mani, 1-2 R Prakash.
34.All-India Hot Weather Football Trophy - Mandi; Himachal Pradesh - Final: Hyderabad Globe Club 1-0 Tata Football Academy - Goal: 1-0 Majid (67').
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Quarterfinal: Assam State Electricity Board 1-2 SAI, Guwahati - Goals: 0-1 Raju Konwar (5'), 1-1 Sushil Kumar Singh (29'), 1-2 Pabitra Konwar (34').
Traders Cup - Final: Eastern Railway SC 1-2 Calcutta FC
Note-1: Officially we are now 14 days into the 2004/05 season but an important decision in regard to the number of foreigners an Indian club can sign has been finalised.
From the current 2004/05 season onwards, which is from now on, clubs will be allowed to register a maximum of three foreigners. In the local leagues and domestic tournament only two of the foreigners can play, while in the National League and Federation Cup all three foreigners can take the field. The AIFF took this decision quite fast after cunsulting the state FAs and the clubs, and as no club has signed four foreigners so far the rule was directly applied in the interest of Indian football.
Most are said to be happy with the decision but some continue to say that the number of foreigners should be reduced to two for NFL and Fed Cup, and only one for local leagues and domestic tournaments. But the AIFF claim it is the right number as in Asian club competitions upto three foreigners can be used in a match.
13. Juni
Chennai Super League: State Bank of India 1-4 Indian Bank
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Quarterfinal: Northern-Frontier Railway SC 3-1 Maharana AC - Goals: 1-0 Shibendra Gayari (2'), 1-1 Raju Basumatari (17'), 2-1,3-1 Kushal Rajkonwar (22',49').
Note-1: Our friend Biplav Gautam reports on his site NepalSport.Com that former Indian international and Calcutta Maidan star Shyam Thapa has signed a four year contract with the All-Nepal Football Association to take care of the Nepal's youth program and the youth national teams.
Note-2: IndianFootball.Com's Mohun Bagan Fansite has shifted to a new "own" Domain!
You can now find the site under MohunBaganClub.Com but the old mohunbagan.tk will remain as a mirror site.
12. Juni
Chennai Super League: Integral Coach Factory 3-3 AGORC
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Pre-Quarterfinal: City Police 1-1,4-3 Royal Sports Club [on penalties] - Goals: 0-1 T Suraj Singh (30'), 1-1 Sukleswar Das (73').
Mumbai Elite League: Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers 0-0 Union Bank of India - Goals: none.
Traders Cup - Semifinal: Eastern Railway SC 3-1 Railway FC
Traders Cup - Semifinal: Calcutta FC 2-0 George Telegraph SC
Note-1: The AIFF today released the fifth list of 56 cleared Inter-State Transfers for the 2004/05 season.
Among the top clubs in India, Goans Churchill Brothers got most players cleared today with seven. They are James Lukram Singh, Syed Altafuddin Ahmed, Sanjay Parte (all Mahindra United), Paresh Shivalkar, K Binoop (both Air India), Karthigan Lakshiman (Tata Football Academy) and Rehman Cardozo (Bengal Mumbai FC).
Champions East Bengal got TFA trio Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Gurpreet Singh and Bhola Prasad cleared. Also the NFL champions signed seven boys from the Silli Sports Academy, Jharkhand for their under-19 team. The boys
are Mohammed Tafazzul Ansari, Dharmendra Deogam, Shambhu Nath Oroan, Suger Shantilal Champia, Willson Kumar, Dinesh Kumar and Umesh Chandra Mahato.
Meanwhile city rivals Mohun Bagan got five players cleared, the TFA trio of Subrata Pal, Praveen Rawat and Malswama plus the Mahindra United duo of Tapan Ghosh and Falguni Datta. Another TFA lad Shambhu Mistry joined promoted Super Division side Calcutta FC.
Fransa FC got four players cleared today - Naushad Pari and Biby Thomas from Bengal Mumbai FC, Kalyan Chaubey (EverReady Association) and Navas Rahman (Keltron FC, Kerala).
Relegated Mohammedan Sporting Club gained Bengal Mumbai FC trio Krishna Tudu, Aga Syed Abdul Wahed and Syed Alamdar Raza plus former international Naushad Moosa from Air-India. BMFC further lost Supong Yapang to Calcutta Super Division Mohammedan AC.
Another big gainer was Raisana Sporting Union from Delhi who signed four players from the Calcutta football league.
11. Juni
It's been two days and two night since the 7-0 defeat at the hands of Japan for our Indian national team but for most fans the defeat remains a shock.
But what does this loss mean? Where do we stand with our football? Is there any progress or none? Will something have to change?
I will try to put things into perspective as we at IndianFootball.Com have received loads of eMails, messages in our forum and guestbook plus discussions in the mailing list on what went wrong and what needs to be changed but I fear from a fans point of view some things seem so logical but making those observations by watching a match, following newspapers and TV, you cannot know or judge how much work and dedication there is behind this. And at least this credit one has to give the Indian team. They are surely not as good as the Japanese, but was known before.
If I am honest I had thought India were likely to lose 4-0, 5-0 against the Japanese but had hoped for a surprise, if we could either score an early goal or hold the Japanese goalless for a long time. An early goal for Japan would kill any such thoughts. But surely for us looking for better times in Indian football, a 7-0 trashing is unacceptable as was the 5-1 defeat against Oman. But such losses are rather better to show, where our problems lie and also show us where we realistically stand in world and Asian football. We are a developing football nation, maybe too slowly, but the developments of the last four/five years have to be accepted and realised.
Dont take the FIFA rankings too seriously, as they take the scores from the past eight years into account and in the past lies our problem. In the mid- and late-90s we have played too few matches, once even no international match for 14 month's, so we cannot get any points from there plus we still play too few internationals in a year. This needs to be changed and hopefully the AIFF will look into this.
I will take a special look on national coach Stephen Constantine and his work, as his position seems to be at stake.
So should Stephen Constantine be released by the AIFF or be fired? I personally think and the IndianFootball.Com team is of the similar opinion: NO.
But why so? Is it because Stephen is a personal friend? No. If Stephen wasn't a suitable coach for our Indian national team anymore I would tell him personally and not do it in public over the site or anywhere else. Stephen has done a tremendous job over the last couple of years in India and every Indian football fan should first give him the credit and thank him for that. The 7-0 loss against Japan will have made Stephen himself the most depressed man but this sadly is what football is about. Some win, others lose...
From my knowledge of football I think Stephen is the only national coach of a country, who has worked from the senior side, the Olympic team, the junior sides right down to the under-14 boys. With the senior side Stephen reached the Afro-Asian Games finals, the Under-23 team won the LG Cup plus the under-18 boys won the Ian Rush Trophy and raised eyebrows with their performances at the Milk Cup. We have also had our lows but if no proper training camp is possible or key players are missing it cannot be compensated by our national setup. Our base of players is just too small.
Stephen has also since he has been in India working to put together a youth development programme and set-up for talented players and also has helped to put a coaching development scheme together. But there are other things which have changed with the arrival of Stephen for the national team. The accomodation has shifted from SAI hostels to to good hotels, proper kit with Adidas as kit sponsor, preparatory matches. All things which national teams around the world have as part of their preparations. In India this all is seen by some as bonus.
But what do the people think who travelled to Japan in and with the team?
AIFF vice-president CR Viswanathan, who was leader of the Indian delegation to Japan, told the Hindu that according to him the Indian football team did not present a sorry sight. "On the contrary, for once I saw the Indians play like a team. I say this from my experience of watching our teams since the Sixties. Not once did any player relax in the 90-minute game. Even the goal-bound balls eluded goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee only by inches. The goalkeeper made valiant tries, even going for full-length dives. Maybe, Baichung Bhutia, could visit the rival end only once or twice, but such was the marking that often two to three players converged on him when he received the ball. Their speed, height, reach, weight and, of course, skills totally undid the Indians," he summed up. That sums-up the difference between Japan and India in the current football world.
And the players are also supportive of Stephen and want him to continue as coach, no matter if it is captain Baichung Bhutia or the newcomers Habibur Rehman Mondal or Debabrata Roy. The players know best of the contribution of their coach. Baichung told the Times of India when asked if Stephen should be sacked, "It's utter nonsense. Why should Stephen be singled out. The team tried its level best." He added: "Technically, he is the best to have handled the team since I've been playing. People are forgetting about the LG Cup triumph, the Milk Cup, the Ian Rush Trophy. The confidence of the players showed in East Bengal's ASEAN triumph. It's hilarious, how people forget all in a day." Baichung added, "They are holding him responsible for India's downslide in FIFA rankings. How can rankings improve if we play just a couple of international matches in a year. Shouldn't the guns be pointed in the other direction (read the AIFF). They all have vested interests."
I guess enough reasons to keep Stephen to work further within the Indian national team setup. And his qualifications as a coach I haven't even mentioned.
Give it a thought...
Chennai Super League: Integral Coach Factory 2-0 Indian Bank - Goals: 1-0 RP Ashok Kumar (24'), 2-0 Jagan Sr (81').
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Pre-Quarterfinal: Sunrise Club 0-2 Food Corporation of India, Guwahati - Goals: 0-1 Raju Brahma (55'), 0-2 Gautam Daimari (72').
10. Juni
The AIFF executive committee met in a hotel in New Delhi today with an aim to discuss and if necessary take decisions but an absentee was AIFF vice-president Vijay Mallya, who had hit out at the unprofessional running of the AIFF.
The key points of discussions were India's performance against Japan yesterday, the calendar for the 2004/05 season, dues of the AIFFs marketing agents and the to be amended AIFF constitution and future of the National League as part of the Vision India programme.
The AIFF executive committee was clearly unhappy with the result of yesterday's World Cup qualifier against Japan. Many members wanted chief coach Stephen Constantine to be removed from his post and a new national coach named. But the members didn't want Constantine to leave but rather look after the youth development programme. The AIFF would await the reports of Leader of the Delegation CR Vishwanathan and Stephen Constantine before taking a decision on the future of Constantine.
The key tournaments in the 2004/05 season calendar have been set. The postponed 59th Santosh Trophy to be held in Kochi from October 14 to 31, while the also postponed 26th Federation Cup would be held in Bangalore from November 20 to 30. The 9th National League would kickoff in the first week of December.
The AIFF top brass also informed the executive committee that the AIFFs marketing agents, Strata, still owes the federation Rs 16,3 million. The meeting decided to allow a 20 percent concession of the sum as proper TV coverage wasn't given by the AIFF. Now a letter would be send to Strata and if the dues weren't paid legal action would be taken.
The proposal and recommendations from the Vision India report of the Asian Football Confederation was discussed in the executive committee, which were said to be somewhat "unrealistic" for the current Indian football scenario. The AIFF secretary is said to be unhappy with the report and it's result seeing the key problem being that the experts didn't go too much into details. But the AIFF would try to implement the recommendations setting-up a core committee to look into things. Who would be part of the core committee wasn't decided.
It was decided to immediately implement needed amendments in the AIFF Constitution to bring it in line with the FIFA statutes.
That the National League will have a new structure from this season onwards was clear before today. The Vision India team recommends an 18 team league, while the AIFF wants to run the NFL but spend less money on the league to reduce spiraling costs by around 20 percent. The plans for a revamped National League for the upcoming two seasons were tabled infront of the committee but no final decision taken as all state associations and clubs would be consulted and then a special committee meeting held to take final decisions. The plan to reduce the number of foreigners from four to three per club in the National League has been put off for at least this season, as the clubs haven't been informed before the start of the season. But as per new foreigners ruling only three foreigners could be signed in a season with three able to play in the NFL but only two in all other domestic tournaments.
The plans for the 2004/05 season see the 12 team NFL divided into two groups of six teams each, playing each other in a one-leg at one venue. The top three teams of each group would move into a Super League, which would be played on a home-and-away format.
For the 2005/06 season the NFL would be expanded to 18 teams but not as one would expect. So who would be the participating teams? As per the plans, the four top teams from the NFL 2004/05 would be joined by three clubs each from Calcutta and Goa; two each from Kerala and Maharashtra; one each from Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka plus the champion team from North-East region. The 18 teams would be divided into three groups of six teams each to be played on home-and-away basis. The top two teams from each group would play in the Super Six League.
Also a licensing for professional clubs would be started with financial details and youth development as the top priority of the club checking process.
Chennai Super League: State Bank of India 2-4 AGORC - Goals: 0-1 Balashankar, 0-2 Muthu (52'), 0-3,1-4 Antony, 1-3 Basheer, 2-4Annadorai.
5.Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Cup - Guwahati - Pre-Quarterfinal: Young Blue Club 1-3 SAI, Guwahati - Goals: 0-1,1-2 Raju Konwar (39',62'), 1-1 Bendri Thankon (52'), 1-3 Mintu Boro.
Note-1: The AIFF today released the fourth list of 61 cleared Inter-State Transfers for the 2004/05 season.
The biggest gainer among National League clubs today were Churchill Brothers as Calcutta-based trio Lorendra Singh (Mohun Bagan), Umesh Sharma (Mohammedan Sporting) and Ajay Kumar Singh (Tollygunge Agragami) were cleared to move to Goa. Further NFL debutants Fransa FC gained Manik Barman and Shamshi Reza both from Tollygunge.
Dharamjit Singh was cleared to move to Mohun Bagan from Salgaocar, while keeper Surojit Chatterjee shifted from Indian Telephone Industries back to Calcutta to rising EverReady Association.
Biggest gainer of the day was Ageya Chalo Sangha, Tripura's biggest club side who signed 11 players from the lower Calcuuta leagues. Meanwhile Calcutta League side SAIL signed nine boys from their own SAIL Football Academy in Bokaro, Jharkhand.
Talented Assamese goalkeeper Jiju Chetri moved back to his old club Oil India Limited, Duliajan from East Bengal, where he was only the fourth keeper.
9. Juni
2006 World Cup Qualifiers - Asia Zone - Group 3 - Saitama Stadium, Saitama: Japan 7-0 INDIA - Goals: 1-0 Tatsuhiko Kubo (12'), 2-0 Takashi Fukunishi (24'), 3-0 Shunsuke Nakamura (28'), 4-0 Takayuki Suzuki (53'), 5-0,7-0 Yuji Nakazawa (66',78'), 6-0 Mitsuo Ogasawara (68').
Japan trashed INDIA 7-0 in a 2006 World Cup Qualifiers Asia Zone Group 3 match at the sellout Saitama Stadium, north of the capital Tokyo. The 7-0 defeat is INDIA's worst in recent past against an inform Japan who showed and proved their class. The match sadly clearly showed were Japan and INDIA are in the footballing world.
From the onset it was clear which way the match was to go. The INDIA defence would be under pressure were 18 year old former TFA lad Habibur Rehman Mondal gave his debut. Meanwhile the Japanese wanted to prove that their performances so far in the World Cup qualifiers didn't show their true potential but rather their impressive friendlies against European sides over the last couple of month's. Japan missed their Europe-based stars - captain Hidetoshi Nakata, striker Naohiro Takahara and midfielder Junichi Inamoto but the mainly of J-League players team played a 3-5-2 system, which the players are used to, was a well-oiled unit.
But it was INDIA who a few seconds into the match had the first chance. Midfielder Shanmugam Venkatesh made a long range effort which Japan keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi had to tip over. No one will ever get to knows what would have happened, had INDIA scored a goal then.
Japan had their first chance four minutes into the game, when a cross from the left from Shinji Ono found Yuji Nakazawa but he failed to connect. Japan then took the lead in the 12.minute, when talented striker Tatsuhiko Kubo volleyed home an Alex cross. Midfielder Takashi Fukunishi doubled the lead in the 24.minute with a volley of a Nakamura cross, which had been headed on by Kubo. Kubo was fouled just outside the box just before the half hour mark. And Italy-based Shunsuke Nakamura showed his freekick skills to make it 3-0. It remained 3-0 until halftime.
After the breather former TFA youngster Debabrata Roy came in for Jatin Singh Bisht. For the 18 year old Debu is was his debut for the senior team. But the one-way traffic towards the goal of Sangram Mukherjee didn't end. Also coming on was Belgium-based striker Takayuki Suzuki for the strong Tatsuhiko Kubo. Eight minutes into the second half striker Keiji Tamada took a long range effort which beat Sangram. Later the goal was credited to Takayuki Suzuki. Nakazawa made-up for his early miss to score Japan's fifth goal in the 66.minute of a corner from Nakamura. Less than 120 seconds later sustitute Mitsuo Ogasawara made it six, while the rastaman Nakazawa scored his second and Japan's seventh in 78.minute minute.
According to information we have received and Japanese reports, INDIA had their best player in Climax Lawrence but after a 7-0 defeat you can't pick anything to have had a good game.
After the match INDIA coach Stephen Constantine said: "There's not a lot you can say when you lose 7-0. I had said before that Japan were going give somebody a thrashing. I just hoped that it wasn't gonna be us, but unfortunately it was. Though they (India) didn't stop fighting and trying and I thought they played as well as they possibly could against Japan at home."
"We weren't able to score much in previous games," said Japan's Brazilian coach Zico. "But we created many chances in this game and took advantage of those chances and the team played well."
The two teams now meet again on September 8, but this time in Calcutta, when INDIA play host to the Japanese.
JAPAN: 23-Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi; 5-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto [C] (8-Mitsuo Ogasawara), 22-Yuji Nakazawa, 3-Keisuke Tsuboi; 14-Alessandro 'Alex' Santos, 15-Takashi Fukunishi, 10-Shunsuke Nakamura, 18-Shinji Ono (16-Toshiya Fujita), 21-Akira Kaji; 20-Keiji Tamada, 9-Tatsuhiko Kubo (11-Takayuki Suzuki).
INDIA: 1-Sangram Mukherjee; 17-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 2-Habibur Rehman Mondal, 16-Sameer Naik; 8-Renedy Singh, 5-Climax Lawrence (10-Bijen Singh), 11-Jo Paul Ancheri, 19-Jatin Singh Bisht (20-Debabrata Roy), 6-Shanmugam Venkatesh; 15-Baichung Bhutia [C], 12-Ashim Biswas (9-RC Prakash).
REFEREE: Junjie Huang (CHINA).
Attendence: 63.000
Chennai Super League: Madras Sporting Union 1-1 Indian Bank - Goals: 1-0 Samuel Jackson (5'), 1-1 Noah Rozario (86').
Note-1: Yesterday we had given you the great news that TEN Sports would be showing the Japan-India match tonight but today there was no live telecast to watch.
Peter Hutton, vice-president of programming at TEN Sports told IndianFootball.Com, " It is hugely frustrating and annoying for us - we had received confirmation that all would be fine and that we could show the game, but it seems that between the Japanese broadcaster, the Japanese FA and the sales agents involved it all became too complicated and at the last minute we were told that the signal wouldn't be available."
Really sad for Indian football fans, as though we suffered one of our worst losses today, the coverage would have been world class to watch.
Note-2: I don't want to add to all our misery but the latest FIFA World Ranking came out today. And INDIA has slipped four further places to 143rd in the world, as the Oceania World Cup qualifiers were held in the last few weeks and many teams moved-up the rankings. India is now behind pacific island Vanuatu and ahead of Africans Gambia. In Asia INDIA remains 27th in the rankings behind south Asian rivals Sri Lanka and Maldives.
Note-3: A Hindustan Times report by Jaydeep Basu:
Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is making every attempt to become the president of the AIFF, but he may find his own wings heavily clipped if the proposed new constitution of the federation is approved by the general body later this year.
Mallya, in addition to being AIFF vice-president, also controls the two biggest clubs in Indian football - Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. His company, the UB Group, sponsors both clubs under different titles. In the proposed constitution, Mallya may be allowed to back only one team.
Article 18 of the draft constitution under the sub-head 'Status of Leagues and other groups of clubs' says: "Every member shall ensure that its affiliated district Associations or clubs can take all decisions on any matters regarding membership independently of any external body. The obligation applies regardless of an affiliated club's corporate structure. In any case, the member shall ensure that neither a natural nor a legal person (including holding companies and subsidiaries) exercises control over more than one club whenever the integrity of any match or competition could be jeopardised."
The constitution, drafted along the lines of the FIFA and AFC codes, in an attempt to usher in professional football management in India, also proposes to vest most powers with the AIFF president. It also calls for doing away with the post of treasurer and turn the post of honourary general secretary into a paid secretary.
The draft gives a wide range of powers to the president. According to it, he will not only represent the AIFF legally, but will implement the decision passed by the general body, supervise the work of the general secretariat and represent the federation in the FIFA, AFC and other Government agencies.
The general secretary's powers, on the contrary, could be reduced drastically. He would no longer remain the elected chief executive as "only the president may propose the appointment or dismissal of the general secretary." Article 65 clearly proposes that he "shall be appointed on the basis of agreements governed by private law." It means he could be a paid employee of the federation and would be responsible for "implementing decisions passed by the general body and executive committee in compliance with the president's directive."
The general secretary also does not find place in the 18-member executive committee in the proposed constitution.
Said a veteran member of the federation: "It's good to see that an attempt has been made to make the federation a professionally run body. But in that case, given the kind of powers he has been vested with, the AIFF president has to be a full-time football administrator. Here, the president is a full-time politician and a part-time soccer administrator. Can he do justice to the huge responsibilities he will be given?"
Union minister for Water Resources, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi has been AIFF president for the last 16 years. He took over in 1988 when India was around the 100 mark in the FIFA rankings. Currently, India is placed 143.
Note-4: The final selection camp for the INDIA U17 team started yesterday in Bangalore with 24 boys trying to get into the final squad for the Asia U17 Championships to be held in Japan in September 2004. As per current plans the U17 team would be undergoing rigorous training in Bangalore and might go on a training trip to Leicester City FC around mid-July, which is still not finalised.
The coaching issue hasn't also been sorted yet as Johar Das no longer is the coach of the INDIA U17 boys. Senior team chief coach Stephen Constantine will be taking charge as chief coach, having TFA assistant coach Carlton Chapman and Suresh Babu as his assistants and Virender Singh as goalkeeping coach.
PROBABLES: Shilton Paul, Harmanjyot Singh, Roa Chinta Chandrasekhar, Hirohito Elagban, Bimal Minz (all Tata Football Academy), Manik Biswas, Antoni Soren, Pradeep Roy (all SAIL, Calcutta), Chanchan Saha (Tollygunge Agragami), Souvik Mondal, Suman Dutta, Mohammad Muktar, Ashim Das (all Calcutta), Poibang Pohshna, Romeo Suklain, Sielphaw Henry Gangte (all Meghalaya), Laltanpuia Hnamte, Malsawmtluanga, Zaidinmavia Hmar (all Mizoram), Ong Tshering Lepcha, Sanju Pradhan (both Sikkim), William (Delhi), Vachhawng Lalchhuanmawia (Jharkhand), Pavan Kumar (Chandigarh Football Academy)
Coaching Staff: Stephen Constantine (Chief Coach), Carlton Chapman (Coach), Suresh Babu (Coach), Virender Singh (goalkeeping Coach).
8. Juni
Great news for Indian Football fans!
IndianFootball.Com just received the info at noon from TEN SPORTS that the Dubai-based sports channel will be showing the Japan-INDIA 2006 World Cup qualifier LIVE tomorrow from 15.50 IST from the Saitama Stadium.
The match will be aired live across south Asia and the Gulf. So those of you who can watch the match, enjoy it!
For a Japan-INDIA match preview and further infos surrounding the match go to the >>2006 World Cup Qualifiers Section .
Chennai Super League: State Bank of India 2-4 Chennai Customs - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Shanthakumar (10',38'), 2-1,2-2 Samuel, 2-3 Jaikumar (85'), 2-4 Kumar.
Note-1: A PTI report: Days after his outburst against AIFF president and Union Minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, liquor baron Vijay Mallya today said he would seek 'support' of the current incumbent to bag the hot seat of the apex soccer governing body.
Dismissing any 'hostility' brewing up with Das Munshi on the issue, Mallya, a Rajya Sabha MP and vice president of AIFF, said, "My decision to contest for the presidentship is based on the understanding that during the previous election, he (Das Munshi) had said it would be his last term."
"There is no question of hostility. On the contrary, I may seek his support in the interest of Indian football," Mallya told PTI over phone from Delhi.
While Das Munshi, having been at the helm of affairs at AIFF for over 15 years, pooh poohed Mallya's outcry, the UB Group chairman stuck to his decision to contest for the post at the coming elections slated for the end of this year.
"Its not a question of ending the Priya era in Indian football... Its only that I have decided to exercise my democratic right of placing my candidature for the post".
Mallya, who holds fifty per cent stake in Kolkata glamour clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal and spends rupees five crore as annual football budget of his company, expressed hope of garnering support from others for his presidentship in view of the performances shown particularly by East Bengal.
Note-2: Earlier the IFA (Bengal body) had banned a group of six players who did not attend the Bengal under-21 probables camp but those players were allowed to get transferred after clearing their names. Now yesterday the IFA has banned the whole Bengal U21 team of 22 player from taking any transfers this season due to their unruly behaviour in the final of the U21 National Finals on last Friday, which the team lost 1-4 against Punjab. The team had among others national level regulars Syed Rahim Nabi and Madhab Das.
The joint Bengal U21 coaches, Sishir Ghosh and Mihir Bose, complained to the IFA that the players did not listen to them and so they could not control the situation. It went so far that after a penalty decision for Bengal wasn't given that Amjad Ali Khan "manhandled" the referee got marching orders but the others weren't any better in an ill-tempered match as reports say.
Now the IFA has banned the players from taking any transfers but so far it has not put a fact-finding committee together. And the transfer season is just on with some players hot properties and others having been cleared to get transfers.
7. Juni
The IndianFootball.Com team is this year organising it's third annual IndianFootball.Com Awards!
The IFC Awards started with the selection round, where you - the fans - named us your favourites in five different categories until yesterday.
From today the final round of voting is open! So use your right to vote in the only Indian football voting, where the fans can vote for award winning performances of the last season.
To vote go to the >>IndianFootball.com Awards 2004 section .
Note-1: The third list of 92 cleared Inter-State Transfers was released today by the AIFF.
Akshay Das has been cleared to rejoin champions East Bengal from Sporting Clube de Goa, ending his two year Goa stay. Meanwhile runners-up Dempo, who have been relatively inactive on the Inter-State Transfer front, got international defender Satish Kumar Bharti cleared.
Three of the four East Bengal players moving to Mahindra United have been cleared. Keeper Sandip Nandy, defender Mahesh Gawli and midfielder-cim-forward Kalia Kulthungan are done but the transfer of Surkumar Singh is on hold as East Bengal claim that Surkumar owes the club money. Mahindra also got Mohammedan Sporting duo Khalid Siddique and Dipendu Biswas cleared to wear the red jersey.
Four players were cleared to join Churchill Brothers SC. They are Subhashish Roy Chowdhury (East Bengal Club), Bungo Singh (Mohammedan Sporting Club), Somatai Shaiza (Mohun Bagan AC) and Shariat Reza (Mohammedan AC, Calcutta).
Vasco also got a number of their signings cleared today. Joining Vasco are Rajesh Kumar Pandey (Indian Bank), TG Purushothaman (State Bank of Travancore), Arun Ghosh (Mohammedan AC, Calcutta) and K Anees (MES Mampad College)
Promoted Fransa got two players cleared - V Santosh (FC Kochin) and Arijit Mondal (George Telegraph SC, Calcutta); while Goan signed Arjun Pandit from Shastri Club in Delhi and Biju Kumar has joined Sporting Clube de Goa.
Mohun Bagan got Brazilian defender Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda cleared to join them from Bangalore's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
FC Kochin lost four players in today's transfers list. While one Manipuri, Abkar Singh, and Rajesh Thomas joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the other FCK Manipuris Rocky Kom and Jimmy Kazip went to Bengal Mumbai FC. BMFC have also signed M Sagar Thapa and Pun Yuvraj Ramsingh Bhai from Young Challenger Club, Gujarat. Another Mumbai club, Air-India, signed Haobijam Napoleon Singh from Tollygunge Agragami.
In local Calcutta transfers, Rishi Kapoor and Sanjeev Kumar Maria have stayed back with Mohun Bagan, while Tollygunge Agragami signed former Bengal Juniors Mohammed Rafique from EverReady and Supratik Ain from Wari AC plus junior Ramen Basak. EverReady meanwhile retained Tapan Giri and Amit Das.
Note-2: AIFF president Das Munshi, who is now also the Union Minister for Water Resources in the new Manmohan Singh government, was today named the Chef-de-Mission of the Indian contingent for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. This was announced today by the Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi in New Delhi. So far the Indian contingent has 62 sportspersons included but a few could qualify in the coming weeks in different disciplines.
Note-3: The 5th Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Memorial Football Trophy will be held from June 10 to 20 as season-opener in Guwahati. 11 teams are taking part in the tournament this year. Assam Police Blues, last years runners-up, were forced to pull out due to a 43 week training programme for the players as Police officers. While Guwahati Town Club didn't send their entry form back to take part.
6. Juni
Now an official statement from IndianFootball.Com on Arunava Chaudhuri, IndianFootball.Com Editor-in-Chief, and certain rumours surrounding his name.
In the German football franity the last few days a rumours has making the round that Arunava would be joining a German Bundesliga clubs management for the new season. Some journalists even contacted Arunava on the issue but as of now he has not been approached by a club or anyone else. He doesn't even know where the rumour has come from but if he is approached by a German club he would at least listen to the offer. But as of now, no truth is attached to those rumours.
Note-1: United Breweries chairman, Vijay Mallya, who also happens to be a Rajya Sabha MP and AIFF vice-president, now serious wants to change the face of Indian football by becoming AIFF president. Those of you who have been following Indian football for years, know that Mallya has said similar things in the past and nothing has happened, but maybe this time it will. Chances seem to be better than ever before.
The UB Group are sponsors of Calcutta Maidan giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, in whom the company also has a 50 percent stake.
Speaking to the press at a UB Group sponsored celebrity Golf tournament in Mumbai, Mallya said, "The federation is being run in a most unprofessional manner. I am saying this as the vice-president of the AIFF. Mr Priyaranjan Das Munshi, who is my good friend, has been at the helm for 15 years. His plate is now full with the Congress government now in power at the centre. Let him step aside and allow people like me run the game and show what we can do to uplift Indian football."
Mallya added, "I am sure football has the potential to become as big as cricket through proper planing and scheduling. The AIFF calendar gets finalised at the last moment. The matches are held in the afternoon, when no one can watch the game, though most of the grounds in the country have floodlighting facility. And DD has been given the rights for the matches, but their coverage is lousy."
But the key statement of the day was that Mallya wanted to stand election for president of the AIFF at the AIFF office-bearer elections at the end of this year or early next year.
What Mallya wants to change is that Indian football is run professionally, proper planning carried out, the calendar released in advance, proper TV coverage guaranteed and play more matches under floodlights. A logical approach to the key problems of Indian football and this would surely generate more interest in the game.
Also Mallya wants to do is promote Indian football through it's best clubs, which he partly owns, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan going on a national tour playing across the country.
So lets hope Vijay Mallya keeps his promises and "put his money where his mouth is" as he himself said today.
5. Juni
Note-1: In local Calcutta transfers of the last few days former East Bengal Club captain Anit Ghosh was moved across the Maidan to Mohammedan Sporting Club, while India probable Sheikh Sanjeeb has shifted from Mohammedan Sporting Club to EverReady Association. Meanwhile EverReady also retained Surojit Chakraborty but lost Biplab Dhar to Calcutta FC, who also signed Dipankar Chatterjee from Mohammedan Sporting.
Note-2: Former Iranian Calcutta Maidan star Jamshed Nassiri will be coaching Duliajan-based Oil India Limited in Assam in the new season. A six month initial contract had been signed with a view of extension in the coming months. Nassiri had last coached Mohammedan Sporting Club, who got relegated from the National League, in the just concluded season. Before that Nassiri had long coached Bengal Mumbai FC.
For Oil India Limited Nassiri is their first proper fulltime coach since 2002, when successful Bidhan Das was forced to leave the team as his employers Sports Authority of India wanted him back.
Further good news is that goalkeeper Jiju Chetri has returned to Oil India Limited from NFL champions East Bengal after a season on the terraces as Jiju was only the fourth keeper in the East Bengal line-up.
4. Juni
13.Datta Ray Trophy - Semifinal: West Bengal 1-4 Punjab - Goals: 0-1 Rajvir Singh (45'), 0-2,0-4 Amarjeet Singh (54',74'), 0-3 Kularjeet Singh (70'), 1-4 Gauranga Datta (83').
Punjab won their first-ever M. Datta Ray Trophy in their first Under-21 Nationals final, trashing defending champions West Bengal 4-1 at the Jamalpur Railway Stadium, Bihar.
West Bengal had more of the match in the first half but a goal just before the breather from Rajvir Singh gave Punjab the lead. Amarjeet Singh doubled the lead in the 54.minute but only a minute later Amjad Ali Khan was red-carded for assaulting the referee. What had happened. The Bengal players wanted a penalty from the referee for a alleged handball of a Punjab defender but the referee continued to disagree, so it got physical which resulted in Amjad's ejection. Thereafter Punjab used their one man more to score goals three and four in the 70. and 74.minute through Kularjeet Singh and Amarjeet Singh. Bengal was only able to get a consolation goal in the 83.minute through Gauranga Datta.
Note-1: The AIFF today released a second list of 58 cleared Inter-State Transfers for the 2004/05 season.
Among the transfers cleared today are the transfers of Climax Lawrence and Rajat Ghosh Dasdidar from Salgaocar SC and Vasco's Selwyn Fernandes to champions East Bengal.
Further transfers cleared are those of Noel Anthony Wilson and Nongmaithem Rajesh Meetei from Churchill Brothers SC to Mohun Bagan AC. Meanwhile Bilifang Narzary left Bagan for Central Railway in Madhya Pradesh, not to be mixed with the Central Railway team in Mumbai. Also cleared to leave Bagan were Harpreet Singha and Hardip Singh Gill, who go back to JCT Mills, like Surjit Singh who left Mohammedan Sporting. Leaving JCT is Parminder Singh, who has joined promoted Fransa FC
Besides losing Rajat and Climax, Salgaocar also have lost international Jatin Singh Bisht to Mahindra United and Narender Meetei, who returns to Air-India. But good news for Salgaocar is that Brazilian Marcos Pereira has been ceared to join the green-and-whites from Mohun Bagan, after a loan spell with Goan rivals Vasco SC.
Mohammedan Sporting today gained further in the transfers. Gautam Ghosh returns to Calcutta from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, while youngsters Nirmal Khatri joins Sporting from the Williamson Magor Football Academy
Another relegated side, Indian Bank, is working to put together a strong team for next seasons 2.Division to get back into the NFL and are bringing back a number of players, who have already played for the club. Those returning are VK Harish (Mahindra United) and Noah Rozario (Fransa FC), while Gregory Clarke (Vasco SC) and Andrew Louis (Sporting Clube de Goa) join the Chennai Bankmen for the first time.
Note-2: Goalkeeper Felix D'Souza has been summoned by the Goa FAs to appear infront of its Player Status Committee on June 13 to discuss the players current status. Felix has signed to two clubs for the new 2004/05 season. Felix's contract with his old club Sporting Clube de Goa has not expired according to the club but he signed a new contract with former NFL champions Salgaocar SC for the new season. The Player Status Committee will now listen what the player has to say after going through the documents and then decide according to the rules and regulations of the GFA.
Note-3: The Assam Rifles from Tezpur might be suspended by the Assam FA for playing eight non-registered footballers in their team last season. Assam Rifles have been send a show cause notice by the AFA and if the reply is not satisfactory then the team may be suspended for at least six months. The team has a week to reply and a copy of the letter has been send to the AIFF.
3. Juni
International Friendly - Jakarta: Indonesia 1-1 INDIA - Goals: 1-0 Ponaryo Astaman (33'), 1-1 Jo Paul Ancheri (89', pen).
INDIA came back from a goal down to draw the Indonesian senior side in an international friendly at the Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta tonight. For both sides the match was a practice game ahead of their 2006 World Cup qualification matches on June 9 as INDIA face Japan away in Saitama, while Indonesia face our neighbours Sri Lanka. For INDIA it was their second one-all draw in Jakarta as they had faced the Indonesia U20 team two days ago.
The story of the match is easily told, as it was a match of two halves with Indonesia controlling affairs in the first half, while India had more of the action after the breather. INDIA today fielded their best eleven but the team needed time to settle down against the Indonesians. Indonesia took the lead in the 33.minute when midfielder Ponaryo Astaman scored. After the breather the INDIA attack was more in action, especially captain Baichung Bhutia and Renedy Singh had shots at goal but the equaliser didn't want to come. It needed a penalty a minute from time for the equaliser. Midfielder Climax Lawrence was brought down by Indonesian defender Harry Saputra and seasoned midfielder Jo Paul Ancheri made no mistake to score.
After the match both coaches, Indonesia's Bulgarian coach Ivan Kolev and our coach Stephen Constantine, were not happy with their teams performances. Both mentioned the lack of fighting spirit was their teams key problem. Constantine said that India didn't play it's best of matches but the team created a number of chances, which he saw as positive.
So now INDIA travel over to Nippon to face the mighty Japanese, on whom we will give you more infos in the coming days...
Note-1: Tentatively the 2004 Calcutta Football season for the top clubs of the city would be organised and played around the India-Japan 2006 World Cup qualifier on September 8. The Calcutta Super Division will kickoff by end-June/early-July with East Bengal and Mohun Bagan likely to take the field for the first time around July 10. The Saltlake Stadium will be closed from July 25 until September 8 for renovation work for the match against Japan, so the first phase exhibition matches between the big four would have to be played before July 25, while the second phase exhibition matches would be played after September 8. The IFA hopes to finish the Super Division by September 25 and hold the 110th IFA-Shield thereafter. As per current plans of the IFA, the IFA-Shield would be a eight team affair - four Calcutta teams, two Goa sides, Mahindra United and a foreign club. But the IFA would like to see two foreign sides taking part, and if that happens then only one club from Goa would be invited.
Note-2: Another big football bonanza awaits football fans in India later this summer. The EURO 2004 starts next week in Portugal and that will be covered extensively and live by ESPN-Star Sports.
Meanwhile Dubai-based sports channel Ten Sports will telecast the 41st Copa America football tournament into Indian homes from July 7 to 25 live from Peru. All 10 south American countries plus Mexico and Costa Rica will feature in the 12 team tournament.
2. Juni
I guess some of you will have seen last nights impressive Japanese performance against a not so strong England at the City of Manchester Stadium. The match ended one-all with England in the end being lucky to get away with a draw.
But the misery of injuries to key players is rising for Japan coach Zico. Last night Japan lost influencial midfielder Junichi Inamoto due to a broken left ankle. Inamoto, who plays his club football for Fulham FC, will be out for around three months, meaning he is not only going to miss next weeks match against India in Saitama but also could miss the September 8 match in Calcutta against India. With Inamoto it is now the third European-based player to miss next weeks match, after already Bologna midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata and Hamburger SV striker Naohiro Takahara are out.
Now the backup players, who play back home in Japan, will have to prove their class. And Japan seems to have a similar problem to India and that is scoring goals. Maybe this will help India's cause.
Anything is possible, from a trashing to causing a major surprise, though I would look forward and hope for a surprise!
AFC U19 Women's Championships - Quarterfinal: INDIA U19 0-10 North Korea
Our girls got the expected and feared trashing for one of the best girls football teams in the world.
13.Datta Ray Trophy - Semifinal: Punjab 3-2 Goa - Goals: 1-0 Kularjeet Singh (5'), 2-0 Yadhwinder Singh (40'), 3-0 Sunil Kumar (69'), 3-1 Bernard Pires (76'), 3-2 Marcus Peixoto (90+')
13.Datta Ray Trophy - Semifinal: West Bengal 3-0 Bihar - Goals: 1-0 Syed Rahim Nabi (11'), 2-0 Sheikh Habeeb Ali (26'), 3-0 Gouranga Datta (85').
Note-1: The future format of the National League seems to be pretty uncertain at the moment as the AFC's Vision India experts have given their ideas on what format the Indian NFL of the future should look time, while the AIFF, state FAs and clubs might have different ideas and opinions on it.
The Vision Asia team of experts from around the world which the Asian Football Confederation has put together are working out the Vision India report, where ideas and ways are shown to the Indian football franity to improve the situation of football in India.
The experts see the development of the National League as the key to success and growth of Indian football. The Vision India report says that the National League needs to be expanded to at least 16, but even better 18 teams to make it a real National League and not a Goa-Calcutta league. Also the NFL would be held over a longer duration than the current four month's. Also teams taking part in the NFL should not play in local leagues and all-India tournament, while the NFL registered players should only play in the NFL and Federation Cup. This would help against burnout of the players and also help to a better structured Indian football season.
The AIFF will place the expert views infront of an AIFF executive meeting on June 10 and the national association is talking to clubs and state FAs about the recommendations. What the AIFF has heard from clubs so far is that the clubs would be keen to keep the NFL a 12 team affair with a two group - north and south set-up and a final round Super Six, which would then be played home-and-away.
SO lets wait and see what happens to the NFL in the future...
Note-2: IndianFootball.Com's East Bengal Fansite has shifted to a new "own" Domain!
You can now find the site under EastBengalFC.Com but the old eastbengal.tk will remain as a mirror site.
1. Juni
International Friendly - Jakarta: Indonesia U20 1-1 INDIA - Goal: 1-0 Ahmad Zaelani (27'), 1-1 Renedy Singh (90+').
A second string INDIA team was held to a one-all draw by the Indonesia U-20 team in a friendly match at the Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta tonight. The match was held a day later than originally planned.
In the match INDIA coach Stephen Constantine wanted to check his bench strength ahead of the tough outing against Japan. The Indian attack of RC Prakash and Bijen Singh, who played in place of captain Baichung Bhutia and Ashim Biswas, did everything right in the match except scoring goals but also a great performance by Indonesia keeper Roni Tri Prasnanto, who made some exceptional saves, denied India any goal. The Peter Withe coached young Indonesian team, preparing for the Asian U20 Championships in Malaysia in September, played in an unfamiliar 3-5-2 formation but sprang some surprises to the India team. Defender Ahmad Zaelani scored the lead in the 27.minute beating Prasanta Dora in the Indian goal. Thereafter Indonesia relied more on swift counter attacks as the Indian team went in search for the equaliser and put the Indonesian goal under pressure. After 66.minutes Baichung Bhutia was brought on and the captain encouraged his teammates to play more aggressively and it seemed to work. India finally got the equaliser in injury time through a Renedy Singh goal, when the young Indonesians seemed to head to a surprise victory. Once again a Renedy Singh goal for India, seems to become common for the midfielder. Referee HM Olehadi after the match was criticised by Stephen Constantine for some bad decisions, who handed out two yellow cards, one each for Indonesia's Khomad Suharto and India's Deepak Kumar Mondal.
On Thursday India will be playing with their first eleven against the Indonesian senior side again in Jakarta ahead of the match against Japan next week.
Meanwhile in Manchester Japan played an impressive match against England tonight, holding David Beckham&Co to a one-all draw.
LIVE COVERAGE / England vs Japan live at IFC
The FA Summer Tournament match between England and Japan will covered live by IndianFootball.Com! The match will kick off at 20:00 local time (21:00 CET / 00:30 IST). Please check the IFC World Cup section to be up-to-date with the action from the City of Manchester Stadium! Please check the JUNE NEWS at the IFC World Cup section to get live updates!
13.Datta Ray Trophy - Semifinal: Punjab 2-0 Goa (abandoned after 66.minutes due to rain) - Goals: 1-0 Kularjeet Singh (5'), 2-0 Yadhwinder Singh (40').
The match had to be abandoned for the day due to very heavy rains. As per tournament rules, the remaining 24 minutes of the match would have to be completed. And that would be done tomorrow ahead of the second semifinal.
Note-1: The AIFF today released the first list of cleared Inter-State Transfers for the 2004/05 season. In total 81 transfers were cleared, among them those of two female footballers.
Most of the cleared transfers on the first list are between level clubs, especially players switching to smaller Calcutta clubs of the Super Division and first division from across India.
One of the major gainers today was JCT Mills who got the TFA trio of Bimanyu Bimal Birua, Sumit Thapa, Subhas Mondal and Vasco's Sukhwinder Singh cleared. The talented TFA trio move to Phagwara will surprise some, Sukhwinder's returns to JCT after a not so successful season at Vasco.
Mohun Bagan got three of their numerous signed players cleared, Tomba Singh (Salgaocar SC), Mehraj Din Wadoo (Sporting Clube de Goa) and Jerry Zirsanga (Tata Football Academy).
Vasco have signed talented striker K Aseem from Indian Bank, while Virender Singh was cleared to come out of retirement. Salgaocar have gotten cleared Pawan Kumar (JCT Mills) and A Jyothi Kumar (Chennai Customs). Sporting Clube de Goa meanwhile got Jaswant Singh (JCT Mills), Mahendra Mani (Indian Bank) and CK Jiteesh (Indian Telephone Industries) cleared. Tollygunge got Sikkim duo Tashi Rapden Bhutia and Leezang Lepcha. While Mohammedan Sporting is doing a complete overhaul of their relegated team has so far only got Amjad Hussain and Mohammed Bin Hassan (both Indian Bank) cleared, Indian Bank so far has only lost players.
Promoted State Bank of Travancore has signed no player from outside the state so far, while Fransa so far have made four outside state signings in Sampath Kumar Kuttimani, Mashangva Genius Zenith (both Indian Telephone Industries), T Roopesh (Indian Bank) and Penpa Tshering Bhutia (Sikkim United Club).
Hardest hit by the transfers has been Indian Telephone Industries as the future of the club looks uncertain. As many as 13 players have sought Inter-State Transfers so far.
Meanwhile champions East Bengal only got TFA's Habibur Rehman Mondal cleared, while Mondal's former teammates Debabrata Roy and Chaitan Mukhi have been cleared to join Mahindra United but otherwise no Inter-State Transfer of the two have been cleared so far.
In the coming days further transfer lists will be released by the AIFF.
Note-2: From the 2006 World Cup FIFA is rotating the World Cup among the contitents. The same will also happen from now on in Asia with the AFC deciding to rotate the hosting of the Asian Cup among the regions. 2000 had been hosted by Lebanon, this summer China will host the 2004 Asian Cup, while Southeast Asia is to host the 2007 edition. The AFC has decided to pull forward the hosting of the Asian Cup forward by a year to 2007, so the Asian Cup no longer clashes with the European Championships and the Olympics.
The good news for India is that the AFC wants the 2011 edition of the Asian Cup to be held in South Asia. With the AFC helping Indian football to improve it's football and the AFC seeing India as a future powerhouse of Asian football, we are likely to host the championships in seven years. So we got time to improve our game.