Note-2: Syed Rahim Nabi will stay at East Bengal and he has signed a new two year contract with the red-and-gold like a number of other players earlier.

24. May
Calcutta's Mohammedan Sporting Club didn't play today in the 2.Division National League Phase II final-leg, but still they where the big winners. As Punjab Police won against HAL, Sporting are assured of at least finishing second in the Final Four in Jamshedpur and a place for promotion back into the 10th National League after having been relegated last season.
The second team to make it to the NFL will be decided on Friday between Air-India and Punjab Police.
CONGRATULATIONS FROM THE IndianFootball.Com TEAM TO MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING CLUB!

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase II: Punjab Police 2-0 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 1-0 Parveen Kumar (43'), 2-0 Parminder Singh (55').

Under-19 National League - Barasat - Group A: State Bank of Travancore 0-2 Mahindra United - Goals: 0-1 Grenville Murzello, 0-2 Ajith Fermin (own Goal).

14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Jammu&Kashmir - Himachal Pradesh
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Uttaranchal - Uttar Pradesh
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Maharashtra 10-0 Rajasthan
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - East Zone Qualifiers: Chattisgarh - Services

Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Quarterfinal: Malappuram 1-1,6-5 Kozhikode [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Jesin Karanth (30'), 1-1 Mohammad Helmi (52').
Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Quarterfinal: Wayannad 4-3 Idukki - Goals: 0-1 Harris (28'), 0-2,1-3 Rajesh Mathew (34',39'), 1-2 Prince Paulose (38'), 2-3 Faizal (44'), 3-3 Rajesh Kumar (58'), 4-3 K Manoharan (68').
Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Quarterfinal: Palakkad 3-2 Trivandrum - Goals: 1-0 Prasad (27'), 1-1 Sylvester Ignatius (42'), 1-2 Rafi Jacob (55'), 2-2 Abdul Noushad (81'), 3-2 AB Kabeer (89').
Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Quarterfinal: Ernakulam 3-0 Thrissur - Goals: 1-0 KJ Lenin (21'), 2-0 CC Hanson (36'), 3-0 Bijesh Ben (72').

Note-1: The India probables camp kicks-off tomorrow and goes on until June 10 at the JCT Mills Sports Complex in Phagwara under the watchful eyes of reappointed Indian national coach Sukhvinder Singh. The probables would go through their paces to be picked for the final 20 for the Pakistan-India Football Series.
Some players would be arriving late due to AFC Cup and Super Cup commitments, while others are injured, so the one or the other player could be called-up later to the camp.

Note-2: East Bengal Club's 2004/05 season comes to an end tomorrow with their final AFC Cup Group A match against Turkmen side Nebitchi FC at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. For the red-and-gold only pride is at stake, while for Nebitchi FC a win away could take them to the quarterfinal knockout stage.
East Bengal would like to forget their miserable end of their NFL campaign on Saturday when they had lost to Vasco SC in Siliguri and missed out on the theorethical chance to win the NFL title. They have a score to settle with the Turkmen against whom they had lost away and after that away trip all the problems started with health and the NFL. The team surely would like to end the season on a high.
Nebitchi arrived on Sunday in Calcutta, but they have come with only 12 players, the 12th man being their second goalkeeper. Coach Amanmurod Meredov said the team is hard hit as three players are injured and three others are out of the tie due to bookings. Still the Turkmen have come to win as they then could qualify for the quarterfinals.

Note-4: After a second season were Mohun Bagan AC had to fight relegation in the National League, the club is making changes to set their house in order.
The first step is a code of conduct for the players. As per the code, if any player gets into trouble with players from the opponent or with a referee, he has to sort it out himself. If the Federation imposes any monetary penalty then the player will have to bear that out of his own pockets.
Further Mohun Bagan has had problems with hidden injuries to signed players, who therefore often didn't play for the club. As is usual in many parts of the world, the players would have to go through medical tests to get a fitness certificate from a club appointed medical board.
Indiscipline will not be tolerated as the coaches say is binding on and off the field. Players could be released or even thrown out without citing any further cause or reason.
Some things sound logical and good measures, but the one or the other point is a bit weird from the clubs side. As per the code of conduct, if a player gets in trouble with an opponent or the referee, then he will have to sort things out himself. It has nothing to do with the club, but it would affect the club.
Only one of the players would need to go to international players union or even FIFA, and get the code of conduct checked...

Note-4: An Andaman&Nicobar XI (SAI, Special Area Games) is currently touring the country to give the young footballers a chance to get away from the terrible Tsunami disaster. Tomorrow they face a Delhi XI at the Ambedkar Stadium at 15.00 IST.
In some good news the SAI director-general Ratan Wattal informed Tuesday that SAI has decided to revive football in the Tsunami-hit island of Car Nicobar by setting up a training centre there. Football is very popular in Car Nicobar, which the SAI chief learned as he had interacted with tribals during his visit to Car Nicobar and one of their key demands was for a good football ground. Before the Tsunami struck the island, Car Nicobar had had 15 football grounds, but at the moment none are in playing condition. Until the new complex with sports facilities and hostel are in place in Car Nicobar, the SAI boys would be based in the Andaman&Nicobar Islands capital Port Blair.

Note-5: English Premier League club Aston Villa FC community coach Keith Brown held a coaching session with nearly 40 children from the Super Socccer Academy at Sri Ram School, DLF Phase IV, Haryana today. The SSA coaches also profited from the session as Brown gave them useful coaching tips. The kids were said to have enjoyed their special training.

Note-6: Here the sad story of a former Indian football hero and his current fight for survival by VV Subrahmanyam (the Hindu):
HYDERABAD: Olympian Dharmalingam Kannan, who mesmerised football fans with his dribbling skills and powerful shots, is a forlorn man today, wondering whether all those years of toil were worth it.
"Mujhe tho koyi dekhne vaale bhi nahin hain," says the 70-year-old Kannan, who is struggling to make both ends meet, as tears roll down his cheeks.
A striker par excellence, Kannan's record speaks of his talent. He represented India in the 1958 Asian Games, 1959 Asia Cup, the Merdeka Cup (1959 and 1960) and the 1960 Rome Olympics.
After his retirement from the SCR, the Olympian is forced to survive on a meagre pension of Rs. 3,000. And he has to run a family of three sons (all unemployed) and three daughters, one of them widowed early. To add to his woes, Kannan also spent a huge amount for treating his brain clot. "Don't we deserve help?" he asks.
During his heydays, Kannan was a threat to the best defenders in the country. He also played alongside some of the legendary names of Indian football like P.K. Banerjee, Balaraman, Chuni Goswami and goalkeeper Peter Thangaraj.
But a visit to his residence in J.J. Nagar in Ammuguda will reveal Kannan's present-day condition. He could not even afford a telephone. His sons are not certain how to approach the officials for assistance.
Kannan now hopes that somebody will come to his rescue at least by paying the medical expenses of Rs. 25,000 which he incurred last month.

23. May
2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase II: Mohammedan Sporting Club 3-1 Air-India - Goals: 1-0 Malswama (16'), 1-1 Paresh Shivalkar (44'), 2-1 Jiten Rai (63'), 3-1 Raman Vijayan (76').
REFEREE: Binod Kumar Singh (Jharkhand).

Under-19 National League - Barasat - Group A: East Bengal Club 2-2 JCT Mills

14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Chandigarh - Delhi
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Gujarat 0-5 Goa
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - East Zone Qualifiers: Jharkhand - Bihar
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - NorthEast Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Nagaland 3-2 Assam

Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Pre-Quarterfinal: Kollam 2-6 Trivandrum - Goals: 0-1,0-2,1-5 Ebin Rose (25',27',70'), 0-3,1-6 Rafi Jacob (49',72'), 0-4 Sylvester Ignatius (55'), 2-4 Sagar (68'), 2-6 Renjith (81').
Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Pre-Quarterfinal: Wayannad 2-1 Kottayam - Goals: 1-0 Joseph Perrera (43'), 2-0 Rajesh Kumar (68'), 2-1 Ajil Kurian (83').
Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Pre-Quarterfinal: Pallakad 6-1 Alappuzha - Goals: 0-1 Sumesh (7'), 1-1,3-1 Abdul Noushad (27',35'), 2-1,5-1 Anas (34',66'), 4-1,6-1 Shajahan (48',89').
Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Pre-Quarterfinal: Kannur 0-1 Idukki - Goal: 0-1 Lijo (2').

Note-1: This is the news that East Bengal Club - officials, players and fans have been waiting for: Subhas Bhowmick will continue at least for another season as East Bengal coach.
Subhas Bhowmick still wants to go on a tour of Europe and visit some top clubs. He wants see their coaching and functioning, to learn and to get know their ways now on a much shorter three/four week trip. Earlier it had sounded as if Bhowmick wanted to take a longger sabbatical break, making it impossible to keep on coaching at East Bengal.
With the club able to keep their successful coach and signing longterm contracts with most key players, the club is on the hunt to strengthen their roaster and challenge for the 2005/06 NFL title.

Note-2: We had reported way back in mid-March in our news that India had received an invitation from the Fiji FA to visit the pacific island nation for a two to three match tour in August 2005. Already then the FFA had said that their Indian counterparts had accepted the offer, but upto now there was no official confirmation from the AIFF. This confirmation came today from AIFF vice-president CR Viswanathan in Chennai, who said that the Indian national team would visit Fiji in July/August.

Note-3: The Fatehgarh Sahib District FA will host the 58th Punjab State Senior Inter-District Football Championship at the ITI ground, Bassi Pathana, from May 25 to 29 with teams from all districts participating.

22. May
Under-19 National League - Mapusa - Group B: Salgaocar SC 1-1 Dempo SC - Goals: 0-1 Clifton Gonsalves (36'), 1-1 Savio Carvalho (43').

14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Uttar Pradesh 0-2 Jammu&Kashmir - Goals: 0-1 Waseem Javed (15'), 0-2 Showkat Baddu (40').
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Uttaranchal - Himachal Pradesh
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Rajasthan 3-2 Daman&Diu
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - East Zone Qualifiers: Chattisgarh - Orissa

Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Pre-Quarterfinal: Thrissur 2-0 Kazargode - Goals: 1-0 Girish VM (51'), 2-0 Anil Kumar (78').
Kerala State Senior Football Tournament - Pre-Quarterfinal: Kozhikode 5-0 Pathanamthitta - Goals: 1-0 Sunil Kumar (36'), 2-0 Prajeesh (41'), 3-0 Vijesh (44'), 4-0 Mohammad Halmi (60'), 5-0 Sudheer (64').

Friendly - Jamshedpur: Tata Football Academy 4-1 Andaman and Nicobar XI (SAI, Special Area Games)

Note-1: The Super Cup is set to be held coming Saturday, May 28, between NFL and Federation Cup champions Dempo SC against NFL runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa at the Municipal Corporation Stadium, Calicut. The question of the venue for the Super Cup remained open until the finish of the NFL. This was the due to East Bengal had made it clear, if they finish amongst the top two, it would be difficult to play in Calicut on May 28 after their last AFC Cup match on May 25 in Calcutta. Now with two Goan sides facing each other in the Super Cup, maybe Goa would have been a more suitable venue, but due to commitments made to the sponsors, the venue cannot be changed now.

Note-2: The three day Inter-Club Transfers ended in Guwahati with 58 players seeking transfers to a new club. A sharp drop from last years 103 transfers. The biggest local Guwahati transfer is that of BM Zenith Sharma from the Assam State Electricity Board team to the smaller Royals SC.

21. May

9th National League - Siliguri: East Bengal Club 1-3 Vasco SC - Goals: 0-1,1-3 Anthony Pereira (22',65'), 0-2 Fabio Xavier Soares (48'), 1-2 Sandip Das (53').
Defending champions East Bengal Club suffered a surprise 1-3 defeat at the hands of relegated Vasco SC in a Round 22 match of the 9th National League at the Kanchanjunga Stadium, Siliguri to end their two year reign as NFL champions. East Bengal ended their campaign as third in the table with 43 points from 22 matches, four short of new champions Dempo SC; while Vasco SC ended their campaign on a high with the win but they remained 10th with 20 points and were already relegated before today's match.
Before the match it was clear to the East Bengal camp that their title chances were slim with defeats to both Sporting Clube and Dempo, who were infront of them, and a victory against Vasco would give them a hattrick of NFL titles. But Vasco coached by newcomer Mathew D'Costa had other plans as they took the match to an East Bengal, who were nowhere near their best. The Brazilian duo of midfielder Sidney Santana Rodrigues and striker Fabio Xavier Soares troubled East Bengal throughout the match.
Vasco took control of proceedings early on after a few East Bengal raids. Vasco had their first chance in the 13.minute when an Agnelo Colaco shot was cleared of the goalline, but only nine minutes on Vasco took the lead through striker Anthony Pereira who lobbed the ball over keeper Sangram Mukherjee after Vasco had played the ball forward through some neat short passes. East Bengal just found no answer to the Vasco game in the first half.
Things got even worse for the champions after resumption as Vasco doubled the lead in the 48.minute through Brazilian Fabio Xavier Soares, who scored from the left into the far corner of the net past Mukherjee in goal. In the 53.minute East Bengal were suddenly back in the match when Sandip Das deflected a Subhas Chakraborty freekick into the Vasco goal. But East Bengal's revival was stopped abruptly only three minutes later when Debjit Ghosh was given marching orders by the Malaysian referee Mohamad Sukri for a second bookable offence. Vasco sealed the match in the 65.minute when Anthony Pereira scored his second goal of the match. Whatever little title chances East Bengal had, where totally gone by then.
With today's win Vasco completed a rare treble by beating all Calcutta sides away in West Bengal in the 9th National League.
EAST BENGAL: Sangram Mukherjee, Surya Bikash Chakraborty (46' Bijen Singh), Debjit Ghosh, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Syed Rahim Nabi, Sandip Das, Shylo Malswam Tulunga, Climax Lawrence (Bhola Prasad), Subhas Chakraborty (Chandan Das), Earnest Jeremiah.
VASCO: Virender Singh, Agnelo Colaco, Vine Jose, Samson Fernandes, Kamal Thapa, Sushanth Mathew, Menino Fernandes, Sidney Santana Rodrigues, K Anees, Anthony Pereira (Levy Coelho), Fabio Xavier Soares.
REFEREE: Mohamad Sukri (Malaysia).
ONGC Man of the Match Award: Fabio Xavier Soares (Vasco SC).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

9th National League - Goa: Dempo SC 2-0 Tollygunge Agragami - Goals: 1-0 RC Prakash (65'), 2-0 Ranty Martins Soleye (78').
Federation Cup champions Dempo SC won 2-0 against relegated Tollygunge Agragami at the Tilak Maidan, Vasco in the final round of the 9th National League and with title rivals Sporting Clube de Goa and East Bengal Club both losing 1-3, they won their first-ever NFL title in a dramatic finale. Dempo ended a memorable 2004/05 season with a national double, first winning the Federation Cup and then the NFL title. They became the only second team in Indian football history, after Mohun Bagan in 2001/02, to complete the historic double. Dempo won the title with 47 points from 22 matches, while today's opponents Tollygunge Agragami were relegated as the bottom team of the league with only 17 points.
In the first half things didn't look like title celebrations for Dempo as Tollygunge's teenage keeper Proloy Datta denied the Goans the lead on a number of occasions. It was clear what the two teams wanted to do from the onset - Dempo wanted to score and win, while Tollygunge wanted to deny them this success with most players in a defensice mode. Proloy proved his talent as early as the 2.minute as he denied RC Prakash's shot a goal, when he cleared the ball for a corner. Thereafter Ranty Martins Soleye, RC Prakash and Jose Colaco all had their chances. Tollygunge had their only chance of the first 45 minutes just before the breather as midfielder Gouranga Datta send a cross into the middle which beat friend and foe.
Dempo coach Armando Colaco realising that he had to take a gamble at the breather brought on veteran Mario Soares and striker Ishfaq Ahmed and switched from a 4-4-2 to a morre attacking 4-3-3 formation. This was to be the breakthrough as Ishfaq troubled the Tollygunge defence with his speedy runs. But still there was Proloy Datta in the Tollygunge goal who denied Ishfaq a goal of a midrange effort. Dempo finally took a deserved lead in the 65.minute when RC Prakash connected a Clifford Miranda cross. The goal gave Dempo a fresh pair of legs as they continued to attack. Prakash could have scored a hattrick had he used his chances, but it was left to Nigerian striker Ranty Martins Soleye clinch the match in the 79.minute of another Clifford Miranda cross. It was Ranty's 15th goal in this NFL and he finished second highest goalscorer.
After the match ended and news came from the Nehru Stadium to the Tilak Maidan that Sporting Clube had lost to Mahindra it was party time for Dempo SC. But at a time of celebrations the Dempo management, coaches and players all didn't forget the late Cristiano Sebastiao Junior de Lima and dedicated the NFL title to the Brazilian, who had died in the Federation Cup final December last, after having won the match for the team with two goals. All later said Cristiano had inspired them to win the Federation Cup and in his memory they also won the NFL title.
ONGC Man of the Match Award: RC Prakash (Dempo).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

9th National League - Calicut: State Bank of Travancore 2-0 Fransa FC - Goals: 1-0 T T Asif Saheer (27'), 2-0 MA Abdul Hakkim (50').
State Bank of Travancore ended their one year stay in the NFL with a strong 2-0 victory against fellow promoted Fransa FC in the 9th National League at the Municipal Corporation Stadium, Calicut. SBT ended their campaign on 18 points from 22 matches and leapfrogged past Tollygunge into 11th place. Meanwhile Fransa stayed on 30 points from as many matches finishing as credible fifth.
Fransa today was no match for their Kerala rivals, missing as many as six regulars; while SBT started as usual, a barrage of attacks spearheaded by Asif Saheer and Mohammed Rafi with back-up from Abdul Hakkim. But it took SBT 27 minutes to take the lead as Kalyan Chaubey had another strong outing in the Fransa goal. The nippy Asif Saheer scored of a pass from NP Pradeep coming of a Abdul Naushad corner. Just before the breather Fransa captain blasted a 25 yarder which was saved by SBT keeper Jean Christian. Five minutes into the second half SBT doubled their lead, when Mohammed Rafi broke free, beat two defenders and then played square pass to Abdul Hakkim who made no mistake to score. Late in the match Fransa were reduced to ten men when substitute Alex Colaco was given a red card for a harsh foul on Asif Saheer.
SBT: Jean Christian, Paul Antony, V Sivakumar, NP Pradeep, M Lanel Thomas, KM Abdul Naushad, AB Kabeer, TV Mohammed Harris, MA Abdul Hakkim, M Mohammed Rafi, T Asif Saheer.
FRANSA: Kalyan Chaubey, Anbalath Suliman Firoze, Sanjeev Kumar Maria (Alex Colaco), Cressan Antao, Peter Costa, TV Biju Kumar, Hardip Singh Saini, Jules Alberto Dias, Remedios Barreto, Santa Saikhom Singh, Ajit Waikhom Singh.
REFEREE: S Suresh (Tamil Nadu).
ONGC Man of the Match Award: Jean Christian (SBT).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

9th National League - Goa: Sporting Clube de Goa 1-3 Mahindra United - Goals: 0-1,1-3 Flavio de Oliveira Rodrigues (40',86'), 1-1 Wilton Gomes (42'), 1-2 Kalia Kulothungan (81').
Surprise-package Sporting Clube de Goa couldn't win the NFL title as they suffered a 1-3 home defeat at the hands of Mumbai giants Mahindra United in a 9th National League match at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. Sporting Clube leading after Round 21 needed a win to ensure the championship, but they faced tough opposition from Mahindra United who wanted to ensure their fourth place finish. Sporting Clube ended the season as the second-placed side with 45 points from 22 matches, while Mahindra ended their campaign on 35 points from the same number of matches.
It was a fast-paced and attacking game that the around 20.000 spectators at the Nehru Stadium got to watch with the wrong ending for most with Sporting Clube not winning their maiden NFL title in their second year of being in India's top flight.
ONGC Man of the Match Award: Sandip Nandy (Mahindra).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase II: Air-India 2-0 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 1-0 Anthony Fernandes (45'), 2-0 Noel Fernandes (62').

Under-19 National League - Barasat - Group A: Mohun Bagan AC 5-2 State Bank of Travancore

14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Chandigarh - Haryana
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Madhya Pradesh 0-2 Goa - Goals: 0-1 William Colaco, 0-2 Agnelo D'Souza.
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - NorthEast Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Mizoram 1-1 Manipur
14.Dutta Ray Trophy (Under-21) Trophy - NorthEast Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Meghalaya 2-1 Nagaland

20. May
Finally out is the IndianFootball.Com Club Ranking for May 2005. Sorry for the delay in the release
There are a few surprises in the ranking and some interesting movements. Calcutta giants East Bengal Club still tops the second edition of the "IndianFootball.Com Club Ranking", although losing two points. Goa's Dempo SC has moved up three spots to take second place with Mahindra United, Mumbai remaining third, while Mohun Bagan drop from two to four.
Lajong SSC from Shillong is the biggest mover of the latest ranking, climbing 13 places into 52nd position through their good qualifier campaign in the 2.Division. Also several clubs have entered the "IndianFootball.Com Club Ranking" for the first time.
Click here for the complete >>IndianFootball.Com club ranking

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase II: Mohammedan Sporting Club 2-1 Punjab Police - Goals: 0-1 Harnek Singh (9'), 1-1,2-1 Naushad Moosa (60',86').
REFEREE: M Joychandra Singh (Manipur).

Under-19 National League - Barasat - Group A: East Bengal Club 0-0 Mahindra United - Goals: none.

Note-1: IANS report: The Pakistan FF is worried at not having found any sponsors for Pakistan's first-ever series against India next month.
PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat called an emergency meeting to expedite preparations for the series, to be played at Quetta, Peshawar and Lahore on June 12, 16 and 18. "While marketing department is still searching for sponsors of the series though it had recently reached an agreement with a Dubai-based television channel for the live coverage of the matches but their prime objective to sell the sponsorships is still incomplete," reported the News on Thursday.
Faisal is taking serious note of slackness of some top officials of the federation ahead of the first-ever series between Pakistan and India and their efficiency will also be discussed, wrote the paper.
"The PFF chief has directed all the four paid directors - marketing, finance, administration and technical - to attend the meeting at all costs," it said.
The PPF president Faisal, sources said, is concerned about the unprofessional approach of some of the highly paid officials, who have not shown any efficiency in their respective areas.
The issue of the administration department's failure to inform the probables and provincial associations in advance about the camp and trials will also be taken up at the meeting, the paper said.

Note-2: The Calcutta Maidan will be host to a special football match tomorrow when the Bengal Under-21 team takes on a Andaman&Nicobar XI at the Mohun Bagan ground at 16.00 IST. The Andaman&Nicobar XI will be made-up of Tsunami affected trainees of Special Area Games of SAI, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The team is on a national tour with further matches in Jamshedpur, Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore and Chennai.

Note-3: The WIFA (Maharashtra)/Mumbai District FA Inter-Club Transfer will be open to players from June 1 until 20.

19. May
Under-19 National League - Barasat - Group A: Tollygunge Agragami 1-0 JCT Mills - Goal: 1-0 Asim Das (83').

2nd Dr. Nitu Mandke Memorial Trophy, Mumbai - Semifinal: Colaba 2-0 Santa-Cruz East

Note-1: Aston Villa FC, a renowned English Premier League club from Birmingham in the Midlands, is sending two officials and a youth coach to New Delhi to explore ways of working with the Super Soccer Academy of the Indian Youth Soccer Association to develop football projects in India.
Officials of Aston Villa FC will arrive in Delhi on Sunday for a five day stay as guests of the Delhi-based Super Soccer Academy. Villa and the SSA have been communicating since June 2004, after SSA founder and Director Bill Adams, visited Villa Park at the invitation of the UK club.
The Officials from the English Premier League Club will conduct one coaching session, and meet with members of the local football and corporate community. The party will include the Aston Villa Coach, Keith Brown, and Simon Rines and Remy Bertrand the marketing experts behind the Villawannabe TV series.
While in Delhi the officials will be meeting with prospective sponsors and TV companies to look at the feasibility of setting up with Football coaching and community development schemes, as well as the Villawannabee TV programme in India.
On Tuesday, May 24, Keith Brown will be conducting a coaching session for children from Schools in the DLF area at the Super Soccer Academy facility, Shri Ram School, Aravali.
Aston Villa officials have told IndianFootball.Com, Villa are interested to enter the Indian market for long-term development of the game, but also for business interests of the club.

Note-2: A day after Mohun Bagan AC survived the threat of relegation from the high profile National League, the Calcutta High Court granted the club two additional month's to hold their office bearer elections by September 30.
A two-judge division bench comprising Justice Prabir Kumar Samanta and Justice Maharaj Sinha extended the date for holding elections to the club by two months from 31 July. The election time-frame extension was asked for by the three-member special committee, consisting of senior advocates SP Roychowdhury, Jayanta Mitra and government pleader Rabilal Moitra, who had been appointed by the court. And the court made it clear that no one should interfere with the work of the trio.
The original election order was modified after an appeal from Bagan secretary Anjan Mitra. The club would now not have to publish the name and address' of the 8000 members in four newspapers, but would have to make them public on the club notice board and at the club office, guarded by police to ensure that no one interferes with the lists.

Note-3: The State Bank of Travancore vs Fransa FC match in the final Round 22 of the 9th National League scheduled for tomorrow (Friday) has been postponed by a day to Saturday. The match to be played at the Municipal Corporation Stadium, Calicut was postponed by the AIFF on request from the two clubs.

Note-4: From Anthony Marcus Mergulhao (oHerald, Goa): Sporting Clube de Goa midfielder Joseph Pereira has been voted the best player of the 9th National League by the Sports Journalists' Association of Goa.
Joseph Pereira beat off "extremely tough" competition from his Dempo SC counterpart Clifford Miranda. AS Firoze (Fransa FC) and Satish Kumar (Dempo SC) were the other players who were shortlisted by the SJAG for their first-ever award.
SJAG picked Joseph as their first choice largely due to his upstanding and consistent performance in the NFL, in which his team is within sniffing distance of the coveted title.
The 21 year old has got the journalist vote because of his sublime skills, something that every football enthusiast would vouch for. For someone who is only 5.5ft tall, standing up and being counted, literally, is a remarkable achievement.
In the NFL, Joseph has starred in 20 of Sporting Clube's matches and walked away with the Man of the Match honours an amazing four times.
Joseph was also among the six Sporting Clube players who were injured in the bus-accident at Calcutta.
However, while others are still struggling with their fitness, it is credit to Joseph's will power, that he has come back stronger than ever before.
The SJAG award is among the cherished recognitions a Goan player can get considering that journalists, who follow each and every move of a footballer, vote for a footballer of their taste

Note-5: EverReady SA coach and former India international Aloke Mukherjee was admitted to a city hospital after some "urinary track complications". He will be checked by doctors tomorrow.

Note-6: Iranian Jamshed Nassiri is no longer coach of Oil India Limited, Duliajan from Assam. Nassiri originally wanted to extend his association with the Assam Club Championships runners-up, but had to back down due to personal reasons.
Oil India Limited are searching for a new coach and their eyes have fallen on Shyamal Banerjee, who was assistant to Subrata Bhattacharya at Mohun Bagan until the duo was sacked in late-March. Banerjee has agreed in principal to takeover and is soon expected in Assam to start his work. Oil India Limited is working to strengthen their team for the season ahead and even a Nigerian defender is set to sign for the club.

18. May
India's oldest football website, IndianFootball.Com, India's Premier Football Website, today crossed the milestone 500.000 HITs barrier !!!
IndianFootball.Com was launched on April 10, 1998 by Arunava Chaudhuri and since then our team with fluctuation has now four members, to bring the latest on Indian football - news, schedules and results, and that not only from the high profile National League, but also from the 2.Division, local leagues, youth football and on the numerous national teams - men/women, junior/senior. We try to cover as much of Indian football as possible.
We only started with the counter on the site in 1999 and we had crossed the 100.000 barrier on May 9, 2002, the 200.000 barrier on July 18, 2003, the 300.000 barrier on March 29, 2004 and the 400.000 barrier on November 16, 2004. So we have been reaching the following 100.000 HITs faster and faster. Sadly we have to add that the counter hasn't always worked, so we actually will have crossed the 500.000 HITs mark a few days ago.
Still today, IndianFootball.Com is the only site, which tries to look at as many aspects as possible within Indian football though other sites have come-up and we hope more websites will have Indian football as their topic.
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 we happily see that we are getting more and more HITs!
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank those of you, who have helped us with our work and have supported us over the years!!!

9th National League - Calcutta: Mohun Bagan AC 1-1 Churchill Brothers SC - Goals: 1-0 Roberto Mendes Silva (19'), 1-1 Marcos Pereira (76').
Three time champions Mohun Bagan AC have kept their NFL status intact with a one-all draw against three time runners-up Churchill Brothers SC in a tense 9th National League match at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. Bagan survive only on the virtue of a better goal difference, while Churchill Brothers are relegated as both sides finish their 9th NFL campaign with 23 points from 22 matches. Bagan have a goal difference of -3, while Churchill have a seven goal worse goal difference of -10, which made the final difference.
Mohun Bagan made it clear from the start that they wanted to win the match to stay in the NFL. The trashing of Tollygunge surely helped as a moral boaster ahead of the difficult tie, while Churchill Brothers had difficulty to find their rhythm. Bagan had their first chance in the third minute when Mehtab Hussein took a shot on goal but it got stuck in traffic. The ball travelled to Brazilian Roberto Mendes Silva who took a shot and off a deflection from Venancio Gonsalves the ball hit the post and lurking nearby striker Sunil Chetri took a shot on goal, only to be cleared by Satish Bharti on the goalline. Bagan kept on the pressure on their opponents and in the 19.minute they were rewarded. Mehraj din Wadoo set-up Brazilian Silva who got past a challenge from teenager Chitrasen Chandam Singh and then let go a right-footer which beat keeper Marc Mascarenhas hands down. Bagan could have doubled the lead only three minutes later, but Sunil Chetri scored from an offside position. Churchill's Ghanian-Brazilian attack of Yakubu Yusif and Marcos Pereira were kept under control of the Bagan Nigerian-Brazilian defence combination of Ajibade Babalade and Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, who gave no room to the dangerous strikers.
After the breather things changed as Bagan coach Amal Datta took a more defensive approach. It exposed the problem of his team, who suddenly were no longer playing with confidence and they totally lost the plot, but Churchill Brothers were not their usual self as they needed a lot of time to use their opponents weaknesses. Churchill got the equaliser in the 76.minute when Marcos Pereira volleyed home a cross from substitute Vanlal Rova. Bagan players and officials protested as they said Marcos came out of an offside position to score, but the referee from Malaysia stood by his decision, as the Bagan defence moved out too late to place Marcos offside. Suddenly Bagan even more nervous as another goal for Churchill would mean the Maidan giants would get relegated, but Churchill's chances after the equaliser weren't dangerous enough to keep them in the NFL.
But after the question remained, if four teams will go down or if any team at all will have to go down, if a new 16 team Professional League is started next season. A lot of questions remain, but as of today Churchill Brothers were relegated to the 2.Division NFL along with Vasco SC, Tollygunge and SBT.
MOHUN BAGAN: Subrata Pal, Dulal Biswas, Ajibade Babalade, Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, Rishi Kapoor, Tomba Singh, Mehraj din Wadoo, Noel Wilson (70' Basudeb Mondal), Mehtab Hussein, Roberto Mendes Silva, Sunil Chetri (46' Dharamjit Singh).
CHURCHILL: Marc Mascarenhas, Venancio Gonsalves, Satish Kumar Bharti, Osumanu Husseini, Sanjay Parte, Harinder Singh, Sujoy Dutta (46' Vanlal Rova), Chitrasen Chandam Singh (76' Ryan D'Souza), Ratan Singh (57' Lolendra Singh), Marcos Pereira, Yakubu Yusif.
REFEREE: Ravi Chandran (Malaysia).
ONGC Man of the Match Award: Mehtab Hussein (Mohun Bagan).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

9th National League - Calcutta: Salgaocar SC 2-0 JCT Mills - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Felix Ibrebru (78',84').
Two late goals by Nigerian Felix Ibrebru gave Salgaocar SC a 2-0 victory against JCT Mills in a match-up of two former champions in the final Round 22 of the 9th National League at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. With today's win Salgaocar and JCT Mills both finished on 28 points from 22 matches with Salgaocar placed sixth with a better goal difference of +2, while JCT are behind them with a goal difference of +/- 0.
ONGC Man of the Match Award: Felix Ibrebru (Salgaocar).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Kerala State League - Final: State Bank of Travancore 1-1,1-3 Kerala State Electricity Board [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 T Asif Saheer (52'), 1-1 Dinraj (79').
Kerala State Electricity Board upset defending champions State Bank of Travancore to win the Kerala State League for the first time!

Under-19 National League - Barasat - Group A: East Bengal Club 3-1 State Bank of Travancore - Goals: 1-0 Swarnabha Barisa (6'), 2-0 Dharmendra Deogam (22'), 3-0 Ayan Choudhury (45'), 3-1 Jibin Poulose (90+3').
Under-19 National League - Mapusa - Group B: Vasco SC 1-1 Sporting Clube de Goa - Goals: 1-0 Joel Sequeira (50'), 1-1 Stanley Coutinho (84').

2nd Dr. Nitu Mandke Memorial Trophy, Mumbai - Semifinal: Madanpura 8-1 Dhobi Talaon-Girgaum

Note-1: The latest FIFA World Rankings were released today. INDIA remain 135th in the world and 26th in Asia as per the rankings of May 18. With our next international asignment being the Tour to Pakistan one can expect movement in our rankings in July, positive or negative.

Note-2: After today's relegation match in the NFL, Mohun Bagan coach Amal Datta heavily criticised the match referee from Malaysia, whose decision to give the goal instead of calling offside, was one of the mistakes to harm Mohun Bagan and keep Churchill in the NFL.
Dutta said, "The AIFF secretary, Alberto Colaco brought these set of officials to save Churchill."
But as per statements from neutral spectators and journalists at the gound the Churchill equaliser was fine, no offside.
And Datta then went on to call him a messiah's for the club as he kept the team in the NFL. If he would continue wasn't clear as the club celebrated their survival like a NFL title.

Note-3: At an official press conference in their Maidan club tent East Bengal today disclosed that they have renewed the contracts of nine key players for two years. Besides influencial attacking midfielder Alvito D'Cunha the following players now have contracts running until 2007 Sangram Mukherjee, Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Muttath Suresh, Surya Bikash Chakraborty, Malswam Tulunga, Chandan Das, Sandip Das and Jayanta Sen was signed from EverReady SA. The club further hoped to finalise deals with Syed Rahim Nabi and Habibur Rehman Mondal in the coming days.
It is positive to see that East Bengal as the first club in India has given their key players two year contracts, which takes pressure of the club and the players next year, when no contract or transfer talks will need to be held.

Note-4: Calcutta Port Trust have appointed former international goalkeeper Bhaskar Ganguly as their new goalkeeping coach. The club would also in the coming days appoint a new chief coach as the club is one of the eight teams participating in the first-ever Calcutta Premier League next season.

Note-5: The Inter-Club Transfers will be held in Guwahati, Assam from May 20 to 22. The date of withdrawals will be May 23. The necessary transfer forms are available at the GSA offices.
Meanwhile the Guwahati Sports Association hold a coaching-cum-selection camp for U14 and U16 footballers from the city. Interested players have been asked to contact the GSA on May 24, though the final dates of the camps have not been set.

Note-6: The 15 day AMFA Coaches' Coaching Course ended in Imphal today with a function at the Khuman Lampak youth hostel, where All-Manipur FA president A Santosh Kumar Singh and secretary Ranjit Roy plus other officials were present.

17. May
The local organising IFA (West Bengal body) is unable to host the NFL match between East Bengal Club - Vasco SC on May 20 at the Saltlake Stadium due to municipal elections in the state and the non-availability of police security at the ground. Therefore the match has been shifted to the Kanchanjunga Stadium, Siliguri in northern West Bengal and it would now be held a day later on May 21.
As East Bengal are still in the running for the NFL title, the two matches in Goa - Sporting Clube de Goa vs Mahindra United and Dempo SC vs Tollygunge Agragami - have also been postponed by a day. Therefore the 9th National League title will now be decided on Saturday instead of Friday.

Kerala State League - 3rd Place Playoff: Central Excise 0-2 Viva Kerala - Goals: 0-1,0-2 K Manoharan (18',68').

Under-19 National League - Barasat - Group A: Tollygunge Agragami 4-1 Mahindra United - Goals: 1-0,4-0 Asim Das (51',75'), 2-0 Sheikh Matijul (63'), 3-0 Suman Datta (69'), 4-1 Grenville Murzello (90+3').

Air Force Football Championship, Barrackpore - Final: South-Western Air Command 1-3 Western Air Command

Note-1: It is a battle for survival in the 9th National League tomorrow amongst two biggies of Indian football. At the Saltlake Stadium in Calcutta home team Mohun Bagan AC face Goans Churchill Brothers SC. Mohun Bagan are ahead of Churchill Brothers on goal difference as both teams have 22 points, but Bagan are on -3 while Churchill have -10 as goal difference. So Bagan stay in the NFL with a win or a draw, while Churchill Brothers have to win to stay in.
The current heat and humidity in Calcutta is likely to be of help for the home team. But none of the two sides are taking anything for granted.
Mohun Bagan's veteran coach Amal Datta is likely to take a wait and watch approach with defence first as the priority, while upfront they will get the one or the other chance to score and those have to be used. But as the miserable season has shown with only 15 goals in 21 matches, upfront lies the problem for Bagan.
Churchill Brothers have only one option and that is to win as otherwise they get relegated. The Goans will once more depend on their foreign strike force of Ghanian Yakubu Yusif and Brazilian Marcos Pereira. The duo have scored incredible 21 of 22 goals that Churchill Brothers have scored in this NFL.
Tomorrow we will be wiser, who stays in and who gets relegated.

Note-2: Seasoned Amitava Chanda has been suspended for one year by his club Tollygunge Agragami for indiscipline. Indiscipline is said to have been a constant problem at Tollygunge throughout their campaign in the 9th NFL, but due to lack of bench strength a number of senior players went punishment free.

Note-3: The Assam Rifles Sports Club will remain in Tezpur, upper Assam and not relocate to Dimapur in Nagaland. The sports club wanted to relocate as the entire unit had shifted to Nagaland, but requests from the Tezpur District Sports Association and the Assam FA with higher authorities seemed to have worked. The Sports Club has been asked to return to the 5 Assam Rifles base in Chariduar in Sonitpur district.
For Assam it means that one of it's best outfits says in the state and doesn't move elsewhere.

Note-4: The Delhi Institutional League will kickoff on May 28 at the Ambedkar Stadium. In total 24 teams will be taking part in the two tier league. Defending champions Zakir Hussain College and runners-up Delhi Audit will be playing in the 12 team Senior Division.

16. May
9th National League - Calcutta: East Bengal Club 2-1 Dempo SC - Goals: 1-0 Earnest Jeremiah (19'), 2-0 Syed Rahim Nabi (31'), 2-1 Clifford Miranda (83').
Defending champions East Bengal Club kept their slim title chances alive with a deserving 2-1 victory against Federation Cup champions Dempo SC in the 9th National League at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. And this win sets-up a thrilling finale to the 9th National League with three clubs still in the hunt for the title with just one match to go. After 21 Rounds Sporting Clube de Goa remain on top with 45 points, followed by Dempo SC on 44 points and East Bengal a close third with 43 points.
Sporting Clube now have the best chances but face the toughest opponent on the last day of the season in Mahindra United, who will not gift the title to them. Dempo and East Bengal take on relegated sides - Dempo on Tollygunge and East Bengal on Vasco. Dempo can only win, if Sporting Clube lose, while East Bengal can only retain their title if Sporting Clube lose and Dempo doesn't win. They could also win the title if Sporting Clube draw and they win with a six goal margin against Vasco SC. Surely not impossible, but rather unlikely. Coming Friday close to 18.00 IST we will know who has won the 9th National League title.
The win last week against Mukti Joddha in the AFC Cup seems to have done a world of good for East Bengal, who still without a number of regulars, played a much better game than in their recent NFL outings. The team wanted to avenge their 2-3 defeat away to Dempo in the first phase and also they wanted to keep their slim title chances alive and not allow Dempo to run away with the title. Dempo were also not their usual self with the weather, injuries and transfer talks having an effect on the team plus the East Bengal defence kept a close eye on Nigerian Ranty Martins Soleye.
Dempo's strategy were hard hit when key midfielder Riston Rodrigues limped off with a ligament injury in the 8.minute, which could also rule him out of the India probables camp for the Pakistan tour. But still Dempo had the first chances of the match. In the 11.minute Nacimento Silveira send his over the goal in a hurry, while a Mario Soares freekick was headed goalwards by defender Majekodumni Bolaji hit the crossbar before being cleared on the goalline by Subhas Chakraborty. A goal then and the match could have gone the other way. East Bengal were lucky to get their first goal in the 19.minute, when Earnest Jeremiah intercepted a sloppy Stanley Colaco pass, he made his way past Bolaji and then at the top of the box scored into the far corner of the net. The match tilted in East Bengal's favour who scored the second goal in the 31.minute when Jeremiah sold a dummy to Dempo keeper Satish Kumar of a Climax Lawrence cross for Syed Rahim Nabi to score. Dempo could have soon reduced the deficit, but once again Subhas cleared a Bolaji header. East Bengal also could have scored more in the first half with Jeremiah always a threat upfront getting able support from Tulunga, Climax, Sandip and Subhas.
After the breather the match lost some of it's pace in the heat and humidity of a Calcutta summer afternoon, still East Bengal controlled proceedings. Dempo earned a penalty in the 83.minute when defender Muttath Suresh brought down Ranty. The Malaysian referee Ram Chandran pointed to the spot and flashed a yellow card at Suresh. Clifford Miranda walked to the spot and scored with a grounder.
EAST BENGAL: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Syed Rahim Nabi, Muttath Suresh, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Madhab Das (17' Selwyn Fernandes), Gurpreet Singh, Shylo Malswam Tulunga (90' Chandan Das), Sandip Das, Climax Lawrence, Subhas Chakraborty (57' Bijen Singh), Earnest Jeremiah.
DEMPO: VP Satish Kumar, Valeriano Rebello, Majekodumni Bolaji, Stanley Colaco (52' Dominic Noronha), Raju Singh, Clifford Miranda, Riston Rodrigues (8' Mario Soares), Johnny D'Cruz (34' Ishfaq Ahmed), Nacimento Silveira, Ranty Martins Soleye, RC Prakash.
REFEREE: Ram Chandran (Malaysia).
ONGC Man of the Match Award: Earnest Jeremiah (East Bengal).

Kerala State League - Semifinal: State Bank of Travancore 1-1,4-3 Viva Kerala [penalties] - Goals: 0-1 K Manoharan (15'), 1-1 MA Abdul Hakkim (52').

Air Force Football Championship, Barrackpore - Semifinal: Western Air Command 3-0 Training Command
Air Force Football Championship, Barrackpore - Semifinal: South-Western Air Command 0-0,1-1,6-5 Western Air Command [penalties, sudden death]

Note-1: The Super Cup 2005 which will be held on May 28, 2005 between the 9th National League champions and runners-up is likely to be held at the Municipal Corporation Stadium in Calicut. NFL title sponsors ONGC is said to want the Super Cup to be held in Calicut.

Note-2: Jamshedpur will host an exhibition match to be played between Tsunami affected SAI players from the Andaman&Nicobar islands against a TFA XI on May 22, 2005.

Note-3: The Meghalaya Football Players Association is organising its 2nd Under-14 Open Football Tournament in the first week of July. Clubs and schools can contact MEPA every Friday and Saturday at Polo Ground, Shillong for participation.

15. May
2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Karnataka State Police 1-2 Air-India - Goals: 0-1 Lawrence Dias (40'), 0-2 Neil Gaikwad (56'), 1-2 Sendhil Kumar (65').
KSP: Nagendra, Girish, Arun, BV Pradeep, Bharath Kumar (Venkatesh), Sendhil Kumar, Sampath Kumar, Srinath, Pradeep Kumar, Sameer Ahmed, Inyathullah Khan (MJ Antony).
AIR-INDIA: Raju Ekka, Stephen Hmar, Henry Picardo, Uttam Kumar Singh, Apparao Chiman Rao (Haobijam Napoleon Singh), Hringlal Thomte, Javed Ansari, Paresh Shivalkar, Suprith Jathanna (Noel Fernandes), Neil Gaikwad, Lawrence Dias (Anthony Fernandes).

2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Border Security Force 1-0 Indian Bank - Goal: 1-0 Amarjit Rai (64').
BSF: Kameshwar Singh, Raghuvir Singh, PB Ekka, Mandeep Singh, Amarjit Singh, Sarabjit Singh (Souvik Ganguly), J Joseph (Munish Mehta), Samrat Choudhary, Amarjit Rai, Sunil Vairagal (Kamal Kishore), Santosh Kujur.
INDIAN BANK: Felix Edward, S Sudhakar, D Ravanan, Joseph Anandavasan, Gift Rai Khan, VK Harish (James Singh), Gregory Clarke, Raman Singh, KG Joseph, ? (Syed Sabir Pasha), Noah Rozario (AS Mahendran).
REFEREE: Jayanta Sarkar (West Bengal).

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Tata Football Academy 2-0 EverReady SA - Goals: 1-0 Pachau Lalam Puia (69'), 2-0 Bimal Minz (72').
TFA: Arindam Bhattacharya, Harmanjot Singh, Gurjinder Singh, C Chandrashekhar, T Naoba Singh, Sovan Chakraborty, Lester Fernandes, S Satish Kumar (53' Robert Lalthalma), Parwinder Singh, Pachau Lalam Puia, Bimal Minz (82' Goutam Kujur).
EVERREADY: Amit Nandy, Babun Kar, Anupam Sarkar, Surajit Chakraborty Sr, Rajib Ahmed, Sankho Roy Choudhury, Jayanta Sen (86' Sanjay Kar), Satyajit Bose, Jerome Sebastian (74' Crispin Chetri), Joydeep Bose, Ratan Das (63' Surajit Chakraborty Jr).
YELLOW CARD: Surajit Chakraborty Sr (32' EverReady).

Kerala State League - Semifinal: Central Excise, Kochi 0-4 Kerala State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Renjith (15'), 0-2 Girish (17'), 0-3,0-4 Ramesh (41',82').

Under-19 National League - Barasat - Group A: Mohun Bagan AC 2-1 JCT Mills - Goals: 1-0 Mohammed Nadim (5'), 2-0 Nilkamal Mondal (8'), 2-1 Baljit Singh Saini (41').

Note-1: AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco has turned down the latest request from the Pakistan FF to play an additional fourth match on June 14 in Karachi as part of the Pakistan-India Football Series. The reason given was that four matches in seven days would be too much stress on the players of both teams.
"We have made our position very clear that our team would like to play only three matches on the tour and not four or even five. The dates of June 12, 16 and 18 also football-wise leave no space for more matches. The PFF would like Karachi to host the match on June 14, which would mean four matches in seven days, which is too much football in too short a time for the players of both nations. If a fourth match is added, then the schedule should be redone, which is not possible," the AIFF told the PFF in clear terms.

Note-2: The Asian Football Confederation has invited renowned sports administrator Dr JPS Sidhu for a presentation on 'mental training in competitive sports' in the third Asian Conference of Sciences and Football Medicine to be held at Muscat, Oman from May 19 to 22.
Sidhu, a Joint Director with the Sports Department of Chandigarh Administration and also a trainer with the Indian Hockey Federation, had earlier attended the fifth IOC World Congress on Sports Sciences at Sydney and also the second Asian Conference on Sciences and Medicine at Kuala Lumpur.

Note-3: Former India captain IM Vijayan and veteran coach TK Chathunni, currently coaching Viva Kerala, were honoured by the Calicut University Ex-Footballers Association at a function in Calicut today.
Vijayan was also the guest of honour in a match-up of former Calicut University students, who played a match between themselves. Amongst those playing where CV Pappachan, KP Sethumadhavan, Victor Manjila, MM Jacob, KF Benny, Jose P George, Solly Xavier, Itty Mathew, CPM Abdul Rasheed and Martin Mathew.

14. May
Calcutta's Mohammedan Sporting Club were the last side today to make it to the final four Phase II of the 2.Division National League from the 12 team Phase I. Earlier Bangalore's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Mumbai's Air-India qualified from Group A, while Punjab Police had made it from Group B from which also Mohammedan Sporting qualified. The final round will be held from May 20 to 27 in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand to find the two sides who make it to the 10th National League 2005/06.

2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Bengal Mumbai FC 1-3 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 0-1 Raju (1'), 1-1 Sajid Ansari (6'), 1-2,1-3 Xavier Vijayakumar (51',53').
BMFC: Ethesham Ahmed, Sajid Ansari, Shabbir Ali, Yadwinder Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Nirmal Deep Singh, Amarjeet Singh, Tiken Singh (Mohammed Islam), M Sagar Thapa, Anil Pawar (Harish Bhoir), Ruben D'Souza (Steven Gupta).
HAL: Abhra Mondal, Jayakar (Rajendra Prasad), Sivakumar, Naveen Babu, William, Xavier Vijayakumar, Rajesh Thomas, Sanath Kumar (Jagadesh Kumar), Raju, Dayanand, Nanda Kumar.
RED CARD: Steven Gupta (BMFC).

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Mohammedan Sporting Club 3-0 Lajong SSC - Goals: 1-0 Raman Vijayan (33'), 2-0 KP Zubair (38'), 3-0 Jiten Rai (73').
YELLOW CARD: Prakash Koley (73' Mohammedan Sporting).

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Hindustan Club 1-0 Punjab Police - Goal: 1-0 Tajuddin Ali (83').

Kerala State League - Group B: State Bank of Travancore 4-1 Titanium XI - Goals: 1-0 NP Pradeep (15'), 2-0,3-0 T Asif Saheer (25',26'), 4-0 Sylvester Ignatius (51'), 4-1 Sajan Louis (56').

Note-1: Sports channel TEN Sports has acquired the rights to telecast the three match Pakistan-India Football Series live in June 2005. This was disclosed today by the Pakistan FF after PFF Marketing Director Arif Rahim and TEN Sports Board of Directors member Zahid Noorani. TEN Sports would be showing the matches on June 12 in Quetta, on June 16 in Peshawar and on June 18 in Lahore live across south Asia.

Note-2: As was expected the AIFF have nominated referees from Malaysia to officiate in the title and relegation deciding National League ties. The foreign referees would officiate in the Mohun Bagan vs Churchill Brothers relegation match on May 18, as we as the title deciders on May 20 between Sporting Clube de Goa vs Mahindra United and Dempo SC vs Tollygunge Agragami.
Meanwhile referee L Gokulananda Sharma from Manipur has been appointed to officiate in the East Bengal vs Vasco SC match on May20.

Note-3: Former international and Bengal state captain Gautam Sarkar has been deputed by the AIFF to train the Assam men's football team for the 33rd National Games to be hosted by Assam. The Assam FA would provide accomodation for Sarkar, while the other costs involved would be bourne by the AIFF.
The AFA secretary Ankur Dutta has been in touch with Sarkar, who would be at the probables camp in Moran from May 25 to June 10 to start off with.
Further the AFA has roped in PK Banerjee as the technical director of the Vision 2008 scheme of the AFA to find and nurture talented youngsters. The programme would start with scouting for talented under-14 players across the state.

Note-4: Bassi Pathana will host the 58th Punjab State Senior Football Championship from May 25 to 29.

13. May
2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Indian Bank 1-3 Air-India - Goals: 0-1 Anthony Fernandes (6'), 1-1 KG Joseph (28'), 1-2 Vinay Kuruvilla (54'), 1-3 Javed Ansari (82').
INDIAN BANK: Felix Edward, Joseph Anandavasan, Anthony Noel, D Ravanan, Gift Rai Khan, VK Harish (S Sudhakar), Andrew Louis (Syed Shabir Pasha), Noah Rozario (Gregory Clarke), Raman Singh, James Singh, KG Joseph.
AIR-INDIA: Raju Ekka, Haobijam Napoleon Singh, Vinay Kuruvilla, Santosh Koli, L Uttam Kumar Singh, Paresh Shivalkar, Apparao Chiman Rao (Surprith Jathanna), Javed Ansari, Noel Fernandes (Hringsolal Thomte), Narendra Meetei (Neil Gaikwad), Anthony Fernandes.
RED CARD: Anthony Noel (Indian Bank).

Kerala State League - Group A: Viva Kerala 2-2 Kerala State Electricity Board - Goals: 1-0,2-2 Denson Devadas (50',65'), 1-1 K Binoop (53'), 1-2 Anil Kumar (56').

Note-1: Subrata Bhattacharya, former Mohun Bagan coach, has been appointed as the spotter for the upcoming under-19 National League, which kicks-off in Barasat, on the outskirts of Calcutta, on Sunday, May 15.

12. May
The AIFF today released the schedule of the final Round 22 of the 9th National League. As per the schedule the decision on NFL title and relegation has been kept apart and all matches would kickoff at 16.00 IST.
May 18 will witness the relegation playoff between Mohun Bagan AC and Churchill Brothers SC at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta; while Salgaocar SC would host JCT Mills in an inconsequential match between two former champions.
May 20 will be the day when the title will be decided. At the Saltlake Stadium in Calcutta, defending champions East Bengal host Vasco SC; at the Nehru Stadium in Goa Sporting Clube de Goa face Mahindra United; while the Tilak Maidan in Vasco will host it's first-ever NFL match between Dempo SC and Tollygunge Agragami. The other match of the day is relegated State Bank of Travancore facing Fransa FC in Calicut.
For the >>National League 2004/05 Round 22 schedule .

2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Border Security Force 1-2 Bengal Mumbai FC - Goals: 1-0 Santosh Kujur (13'), 1-1 Sajid Ansari (53'), 1-2 Tiken Singh (65').
BSF: Kameshwar Singh, Raghuvir Singh, PB Ekka, Mandeep Singh, Amarjit singh, Sarabjit Singh, J. Joseph, Samrat Choudhury, Amarjit Rai, Sunil Vairagal, Santosh Kujur.
BMFC: Ethesham Ahmed, Sajid Ansari, Shabir Ali, Yadwinder Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Nirmal Deep Singh, Amarjeet Singh, Jimmy Kazip (Mohammed Masadul Islam), Tiken Singh, M Sagar Thapa, Ruben D'Souza (Steven Gupta).

2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Karnataka State Police 0-4 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 0-1,0-2,0-3,0-4 Nanda Kumar (38',44',50',80').
KSP: Nagendra, BV Pradeep, Arun, Vinod Kumar (Girish), Bharath Kumar, Sendhil Kumar, Sampath Kumar, Sameer Ahmed, Naveen Moses (Pradeep Kumar), Inyathullah Khan, Srinath.
HAL: Abhra Mondal, Sugandar, Sivakumar, Satish Kumar Sr, Mahendra Mani, Xavier Vijayakumar (Jagadish Kumar), Rajendra Prasad, Sunil Kumar, Satish Kumar Jr (J Muralidharan), Dayanand, Nanda Kumar.

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Hindustan Club 0-1 EverReady SA - Goal: 0-1 Jerome Sebastian (11').
HINDUSTAN CLUB: Anup Singh, Inderjeet Dhar, PK Kundu, Satnam Singh, Ranvijay Singh, Irfan Zaman Khan, Tajuddin Ali, Amit Sharma (69' Lalit Rawat), Subhas Negi (32' Sanjeev Kumar Yadav), Faiz Alam (46' Nageshwar Rao), Deepak Kumar.
EVERREADY: Amit Singha Roy, Babun Kar, Anupam Sarkar, Surajit Chakraborty Sr, Bimal Sarkar, Sushil Karthik, Jayanta Sen (80' Manoj Joshi), Ratan Das, Jerome Sebastian, Joydeep Bose, Sujit Ghosh (90+3' Rajib Ahmed).
YELLOW CARD: Joydeep Bose (81' EverReady)

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Tata Football Academy 1-1 Mohammedan Sporting Club - Goals: 1-0 Pachau Lalam Puia (29'), 1-1 KP Zubair (85').
TFA: Shilton Pal, Warundeep Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Harmanjot Singh, T Naoba Singh, Lester Fernandes, Lalramlua, Goutam Debnath, Robert Lalthalma (30' Parwinder Singh, 66' S Satish Kumar), Pachau Lalam Puia, Bimal Minz (74' Sielphaw Henry Gangte).
MSC: Gopal Das, Temjen Kibang, Madhusudan Majumdar, Naushad Moosa, K Ratan Singh, Amjad Hussain (64' Prakash Koley), Hamza Zaheer Abbas, Shamshi Reza, Sheikh Habeeb Ali (76' Raman Vijayan), Malswama, Krishna Tudu (57' KP Zubair).
YELLOW CARDS: Parwinder Singh (44'), Warundeep Singh (81' both TFA).

Kerala State League - Group B: Central Excise, Kochi 1-0 Titanium XI - Goal: 1-0 Anfaz Ahamed (3').

Note-1: The AIFF has turned down a number of requests from their Pakistani counterparts in the PFF to add a fourth match in the first-ever Indo-Pak Football Series, but the PFF continues to try and get a fourth match to be played in Karachi. The PFF is now even seeking the help of the Indian High Commissioner and the Pakistan Prime Minister, and says that they are acting on public demand in Karachi to host of the matches against India.
The AIFF is not said to be happy about all this as it has made it's position very clear that it would like to play a three match on the tour, not four or even five. The dates of June 12, 16 and 18 also football-wise leave no space for more matches. The PFF would like Karachi to host the match on June 14, which would mean four matches in seven days, which is too much football in too short a time for the players of both nations. If a fourth match is added, then the schedule should be redone.

Note-2: The AFC U13 Football Festival Group D was held from May 2 to 8, 2005 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The festival's aim is not to win, but to enjoy playing football and it is held in a three stage format.
In Format I our INDIA U13 boys had to play five 11 a-side matches of 20 minute duration.
Uzbekistan U13 1-0 INDIA U13; INDIA U13 1-0 Tajikistan U13; Uzbekistan U13 0-0 INDIA U13; Iran U13 3-1 INDIA U13; INDIA U13 0-1 Turkmenistan U13.
In Format II our INDIA U13 boys had to play three 11 a-side matches of 60 minute duration.
INDIA U13 2-1 Tajikistan U13; INDIA U13 2-2 Iran U13; Uzbekistan U13 0-1 INDIA U13.
In Format III the children showed their skills in competitions.
The coaches were happy with the performance of the boys and in their reports wrote that the performance got better in each passing match.

Note-3: A major tragedy was averted at Chennai's Nehru Stadium on Tuesday due to the alertness of some officials after the Indian Bank vs Bengal Mumbai FC 2.Division NFL match. BMFC's Pun Yuvraj Ramsingh Bhai fell unconscious in one of the dressing rooms of the stadium about 30 minutes after the match. The stadium was already clear of most officials, players and the medical staff with the ambulance. Lucky for the player the Indian Bank team doctor Dr. B Ashok Kumar was still around as was the Chennai FA assistant secretary Balaji. In Balaji's car the player was taken to the nearby KJ Hospital, where he received the necessary treatment at the ICU unit. The player was said to be unconscious until midnight, but was out of danger.
All this had happened as late in the match Pun Yuvraj Ramsingh Bhai had collided with Indian Bank's Joseph Anandavasan in the air, but at the time all looked fine with both players.

Note-4: The Assam Rifles Sports Club have withdrawn their affiliation from the Tezpur District Sports Association in upper Assam. The Assam Rifles football team is one of the key teams in the Assam football scene and has created a stir in the Assam FA, who do not want to lose one of their better sides. The complete Assam Rifles sports unit in Tezpur has been shifted to Dimapur in Nagaland. But the AFA authorities are hoping that the Assam Rifles high command will reconsider it's position and keep the team in Tezpur. Contact has been made in this regard.
The relationship between the AFA and Assam Rifles authorities haven't been the best over the last couple of years with Assam Rifles coach Santanu Bose's suspension being one of the issues. The suspension has now been lifted unanimously by the AFA. Also last year Assam Rifles had decided to shift their base to Arunachal Pradesh after allegations of having signed players from neighbouring states against the rules.
One will have to wait and see what happens...

11. May
AFC Cup 2004 - Dhaka - Group A: Mukti Joddha KC, BANGLADESH 0-1 East Bengal Club - Goal: 0-1 Bijen Singh (75').
Indian champions East Bengal Club earned their first victory in the AFC Cup 2005 Group A, a 1-0 win against Bangladeshi-side Mukti Joddha KC at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka. After five matches played the red-and-gold remain bottom of the four team group with a worse goal difference than their Bangladeshi opponents as both teams have four points.
East Bengal were without a number of regulars with Baichung Bhutia and Alvito D'Cunha injured, Selwyn Fernandes and Marcos Secco suspended, and Debjit Ghosh forced to sit just before the start out with muscular problems, still East Bengal were the better of the two sides on the day infront of about 6.000 spectators.
Mukti Joddha had the first good chances of the match, but they were denied by an alert East Bengal keeper Sangram Mukherjee. The best chance was a Hassan Al Mamun shot. The longer the match went on the more control of the midfield and proceedings East Bengal got. In the last 10 minutes of the first half East Bengal had three good chances. Two were wasted by Nigerian striker Earnest Jeremiah, one went wide and the other hit the crossbar, while a Subhas Chakraborty shot was saved by Mukti Joddha keeper Aminul Haque.
Mukti Joddha made a couple of substitutions in the second half to strengthen their midfield, but the East Bengal defenders stood their ground. East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick brought on Bijen Singh in the 67.minute and only eight minutes later Bijen scored the winner of a chip over keeper Animul Haque inside the box. In the 84.minute East Bengal could have doubled their lead as Climax Lawrence first beat keeper Animul, but he recovered in time to deny Climax.
MUKTI JODDHA: Aminul Haque, Charles Ghansa Benin, Rajani Kanta Barman, Hassan Al Mamun, Mohammed Iqbal (54' Mohammed Azmul Hossain Bidduth), Kanchan Rokonuzzaman, H Hery, Firoj Mahmud Hossain Titu, Mohammed Rasheed Ahmed Pappu (67' Mohammed Saiful Islam), Rana Amin (79' Mohammed Rony), Sheikh Belal Ahmed.
EAST BENGAL: Sangram Mukherjee, Surya Bikash Chakraboty, Muttath Suresh, Madhab Das, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Syed Rahim Nabi, Sandip Das, Subash Chakraborty (56' Chandan Das), Climax Lawrence, Malswam Tulunga (67' Bijen Singh, 87' Nitin Pradhan), Earnest Jeremiah.
REFEREE: Kadyrbek Chynybekov (Kyrgyzstan).
Detailed information are available at the >>Indian Clubs in Asia Special.

AFC Cup 2004 - Goa - Group B: Dempo SC 0-1 Al-Ahed, LEBANON - Goal: 0-1 Hassan Maatouk (72').
Indian Federation Cup champions Dempo SC also lost their fourth and last AFC Cup match in Group B, this time a lone goal loss at home to Al-Ahed from Lebanon at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. With today's loss Dempo ended their AFC Cup campaign with four losses and having scored no goals, conceeding seven.
Detailed information are available at the >>Indian Clubs in Asia Special.

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Punjab Police 5-0 Lajong SSC - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Harjinder Singh (38',47'), 2-0,4-0 Parminder Singh (45',68'), 5-0 Gurpreet Singh Sr (73').
PUNJAB POLICE: Sunil Kumar, Gur Iqbal Singh, Sarbjeet Singh, Sukhjit Singh, Harish Sharma (70' 16), Gurpreet Singh Sr, Vijay Pal (46' Sandeep Singh), Harnek Singh, Jaspal Singh (56' Amarjeet Singh), Parminder Singh, Harjinder Singh.
LAJONG: Hubert Nongbri (78' Markhus Basumatary), Robinson Sangma, Sam Kharbhih, John Michael Shadap, Kitkupar Kharsing, William Umwi (65' Niwamo Gadphoh), Birendra Thapa, Kyrshan Lynghshing (72' Gamseng Marak), Johny Marboh, Batkupar Lamare, Romeo Sukhlein.

Kerala State League - Group A: Kochin Port Trust 1-1 Viva Kerala - Goals: 0-1 PA Javeed (4'), 1-1 Harris (89').

Note-1: Baichung Bhutia was released from the Apollo Gleneagles Hospital today after being admitted there for drastic weight loss.
"I'm feeling much better now. The medication is working. I hope to come back stronger next season," Bhutia said.
Gastroenterologist Mahesh Goenka, leading the team of doctors treating Bhutia, said that the way in which Bhutia was responding to medication, he could start practising in three weeks.
"I'm convinced that within seven weeks he will return to his form."
Medical reports indicated that over functioning of thyroid and mild dysfunction of the liver could be the reasons behind the weight loss. Bhutia was put through a number of tests including thyroid and liver tests as also virus studies, endoscopy, thyroid scan and ultrasonography.
Baichung is said to be leaving for his home state of Sikkim next week.

Note-2: With Kerala's Kochi set to host the Santosh Trophy 2005, the Jammu&Kashmir FA is hoping to host the 2006 edition of Indian football's state championships. The JKFA hoped to get the necessary infrastructure in place in Srinagar to host the tournament. Also it hoped to hold the U19 Nationals for Boys and Girls to promote football amongst the youth in the state.
The JKFA is proud that over the last few years a number of players from Jammu&Kashmir have made it into the national teams, junior and senior. Earlier Mahindra's Arun Malhotra and Dempo's Ishfaq Ahmed had played for the U23 national teams now Mehraj Din Wadoo, who plays for Mohun Bagan has been called to the probables camp for the Pakistan tour.
The JKFA is working to promote football and for that also the help from government departments was needed as they should relaunch their football team, which had been disbanded during the insurgency. Currently on J&K Bank, J&K Police and State Road Transport Corporation had clubs playing in leagues and tournaments. Such teams also offer jobs to players, so this would enable them to play football, not having to worry about money.

Note-3: Uttaranchal is hosting the North Zone qualifiers for the National Under-21 Football Championship for the Dutta Ray Trophy in Haldwani (Nainital) from May 21 to 31. Jammu&Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Railways, Delhi and hosts Uttaranchal are set to take part.

10. May
IndianFootball.Com, India's Premier Football Site, and FootballPakistan.Com, The Voice of Pakistani Football, have concluded successful cooperation talks. The meeting was held at the Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf (Germany) on Friday, May 6. IFC Editors-in-Chief Arunava Chaudhuri and Chris Punnakkattu Daniel discussed the modalities and content of a partnership with FootballPakistan.Com's webmaster Malik Riaz Hai Naveed.
This partnership will be a historic one, as both Germany-based websites agreed to work together in several fields of south Asian football promotion and highlight events involving both nations. IndianFootball.Com and FootballPakistan.Com will kick-start the new partnership, while covering the Indian national teams Pakistan Tour from June 10 to 18 jointly with a joint-special-section. This coverage will be the first-ever partnership between an Indian and Pakistani online media.
We at IndianFootball.Com as our friends at FootballPakistan.Com are delighted to finally be able to work together to promote football in our countries!

2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Karnataka State Police 0-2 Border Security Force - Goals: 0-1 Sunil Vairagal (18'), 0-2 Kamal Kishore (82').
KSP: Nagendra, Bharath Kumar, M Arun, Vinod Kumar, Girish, Sameer Ahmed, Naveen Moses, Sampath Kumar, Srinath, Inayathullah, Pradip (Maheshwaran).
BSF: Kameshwar Singh, Raghuvir Singh, PB Ekka, Mandeep Singh, Harmesh Lal (Souvik Ganguly), Sarabjit Singh, J Joseph, Samrat Choudhary, Amarjit Rai (Munish Mehtra), Sunil Vairagal (Kamal Kishore), Santosh Kujur.

2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Bengal Mumbai FC 0-2 Indian Bank - Goals: 0-1 R Amulraj (11'), 0-2 James Singh (81').
BMFC: Ethesham Ahmed, Sajid Ansari, Shabir Ali (Steven Gupta), Yadwinder Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Nirmal Deep Singh, Amarjeet Singh, Tiken Singh, M Sagar Thapa, Anil Pawar (Mohammed Masadul Islam), Ruben D'Souza (Pun Yuraj Ramsingh Bhai).
INDIAN BANK: Felix Edward, Joseph Anandavasan, D Ravanan, Anthony Noel, Anil Kabui (Gift Rai Khan), VK Harish (Andrew Louis), Gregory Clark, James Singh, Raman Singh, R Amulraj (Syed Shabir Pasha), KG Joseph.

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Mohammedan Sporting Club 2-0 Hindustan Club - Goals: 1-0 Raman Vijayan (72'), 2-0 KP Zubair (88').
MSC: Gopal Das, Bidesh Pal (7' Abdul Rauf Khan), Madhusudan Majumdar, Naushad Moosa, K Ratan Singh, Amjad Hussain (70' Prakash Koley), Hamza Zaheer Abbas, Shamshi Reza, Jiten Rai, Malswama (41' Raman Vijayan), KP Zubair.
HINDUSTAN CLUB: Anup Singh, Lalit Rawat (75' Nageshwar Rao), PK Kundu, Satnam Singh, Ranvijay Singh, Irfan Zaman Khan, Tajuddin Ali, Amit Sharma, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav (85' Sheikh Aslam), Faiz Alam (63' Kamal Bhakuni), Deepak Kumar.

Kerala State League - Group B: State Bank of Travancore 4-0 Central Excise - Goals: 1-0 KM Abdul Naushad (11'), 2-0 MA Abdul Hakkim (59'), 3-0 T Asif Saheer (74'), 4-0 AG Mohammad Aslam (87').

Note-1: It is AFC Cup time tomorrow, but for the Indian representatives NFL champions East Bengal and Federation Cup winners Dempo SC nothing more than pride is at stake. Both teams are already without any chance of reaching the knockout phase. The campaigns have been sadly unsuccessful this season with East Bengal have only a point from four matches, while Dempo have lost all three of their games.
In Group A East Bengal travel East across the Bangladesh border to Dhaka to face Mukti Joddha KC. With the NFL title having slipped away and the AFC Cup just being played as it is the group stage, motivation will be a key problem for coach Subhas Bhowmick after long and difficult season. The team will be without hospitalised Baichung Bhutia, injured Alvito D'Cunha and the suspended Marcos Secco and Selwyn Fernandes. It gives the fringe players a chance to prove themselves. For Mukti Joddha there is still a chance to move on, so they will play to win.
In Group B meanwhile Dempo SC host Al-Ahed from Lebanon at the Nehru Stadium, Margao in Goa. For the Goans like their Calcutta rivals only pride is at stake, but coach Armando Colaco is already thinking of the big showdown with East Bengal on May 16, as Dempo is still in the hunt for their first NFL title. Dempo will rest most of their regular players giving fringe players a chance. Amongst those rested will be goalkeeper Satish Kumar, defenders Valeriano Rebello and Melwyn Fernandes, midfielders Riston Rodrigues and Nacimento Silveira and striker RC Prakash. While the likes of goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal, defender Pio Rodrigues, midfielder Jose Colaco and strikers Ishfaq Ahmed and Kasun Nadika Jayasuriya will get a chance to prove themselves. Meanwhile the Lebanese have flown into Goa to win and keep their chance of moving into the knockout stage alive.

Note-2: The final Phase II of the 2.Division National League will be held in the Steel city Jamshedpur from May 20 to 27. The top two teams from the Phase I Groups A and B will qualify for the final Phase.

Note-3: Baichung Bhutia admitted to the Apollo Gleneagles Hospital yesterday, was feeling better today and will be discharged tomorrow.
After ungoing numerous medical tests yesterday and today, medical reports suggest that over-functioning of thyroid and mild dysfunction of the liver could be the reason behind the heavy weight loss.
"Both these conditions can be related. We are awaiting some more reports," gastroenterologist Dr Mahesh Goenka, heading a team of doctors treating him, said.
He is likely to be discharged tomorrow and should be back to normal life in a couple of days," the doctor added.
Baichung is likely to be forced to take a four to six week break from football, before starting with pre-season training, but Baichung himself hoped to be back in action as soon as possible.

Note-4: The All-Manipur FA will hold elections for the new term of office bearers on May 22. As per the procedure, nomination forms can be obtained from the AMFA office on May 10, while these have to be handed in on May 14 to 16, with May 17 being the day of scrutity, while candidates can withdraw their candidature on May 18. The elections will be held on May 22 from 08.30 to 11.30 with the counting starting thereafter.

Note-5: The 13th Garodia Cup will kickoff on June 5 at the Chowkidingpee Playground in Digrugarh, Assam. Top teams from across Assam like Oil India Limited, Assam State Electricity Board, Assam Rifles and more are going to take part.

9. May
We at IndianFootball.Com launched a completely redesigned 'index/news' page last night.
The new page will highlight the latest news, results and features in a more structured and user-friendly way. IndianFootball.Com will continue its well-known service on Indian football with high quality coverage and specials.
We are sorry that the updates have been a bit patchy over the last few days. We had exams and computer problems, so the updates weren't upto our own standards. Now all is back to normal.

2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Air-India 0-0 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: none.
AIR-INDIA: Raju Ekka, Haobijam Napoleon Singh, Sagolsem Santa Singh (Uttam Kumar Singh), Vinay Kuruvilla, Santosh Koli, Paresh Shivalkar, Apparao Chiman Rao, Javed Ansari, Noel Fernandes, Anthony Fernandes (Neil Gaikwad), Narendra Meetei (Suprith Jathanna).
HAL: Abhra Mondal, Sugandra Sivakumar, Satish Kumar Sr, Mahendra Mani (Nanda Kumar), Xavier Vijaykumar, Rajendra Prasad (Rajesh Thomas), Sunil Kumar, Satish Kumar Jr, Dayanand, Raju.

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Tata Football Academy 2-0 Lajong SSC - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Pachau Lalam Puia (13',90+3').
TFA: Arindam Bhattacharya, Warundeep Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Harmanjot Singh, T Naoba Singh, Lester Fernandes (61' Sovan Chakraborty), Lalramlua, Parwinder Singh (46' Goutam Kujur), S Satish Kumar, Pachau Lalam Puia, Bimal Minz (90' Gautam Debnath).
LAJONG: Markhus Basumatary, Rodingson Sangma, Poibang Pohshna, John Michael Shadap, Kitkupar Kharshing (84' Johny Marboh), William Umwi (21' Rolano Pyngrope), Birendra Thapa, Kyrshan Lyngshing, Sooki Lamare, Aibok Kharpran Romeo Sukhlein.
YELLOW CARDS: Lalramlua (40'), Gurjinder Singh (69' both TFA); Rodingson Sangma (40' Lajong).

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Punjab Police 2-1 EverReady SA - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Jaspal Singh (45',65'), 2-1 Jerome Sebastian (68').
PUNJAB POLICE: Sunil Kumar, Gur Iqbal Singh, Sarbjeet Singh, Sumit Balli (9' Sukhjit Singh), Harish Sharma, Gurpreet Singh Sr, Vijay Pal, Harnek Singh, Jaspal Singh, Parminder Singh (71' Praveen Kumar), Harjinder Singh.
EVERREADY: Amit Singha Roy, Babun Kar, Surajit Chakraborty Sr, Manoj Joshi, Bimal Sarkar, Sushil Karthik, Anupam Sarkar, Crispin Chetri (Jerome Sebastian), Joydeep Bose, Ratan Das (Rajib Ahmed), Surajit Chakraborty Jr.
YELLOW CARD: Parminder Singh (41' Punjab Police).

Kerala State League - Group A: Kochin Port Trust 1-1 Kerala State Electricity Board - Goals: 1-0 Harish (58'), 1-1 PB Ramesh (66').

Punjab State Junior Football (under-19) Championships, Malerkotla - Final: Ropar 1-1,3-3,1-0 Jalandhar [penalties, sudden death]

Note-1: Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia was admitted to Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, a private Calcutta hospital, today for medical tests after losing about 7,5 kgs in about a month. He is likely to remian there for a couple of days.
After initial tests renowned gastro-enterologist Dr Mahesh Goenka told UNI today that upon preliminary examination it has been found that he has some sort of a liver and thyroid problem.
"There is no cause for concern. He is ok. He will undergo a series of tests to determine the cause of the weight loss and a general feeling of weakness," East Bengal team doctor and vice-president Shanti Ranjan Dasgupta said.
The striker has not been feeling well and has been having stomach problems after having been infected with diarrhoea in on East Bengal's away trip to Turkmenistan to take on Nebitchi FC. Since then his form had dipped and in his last match against Mahindra he came on only as a substitute. Baichung will be forced to sit out the upcoming AFC Cup match on Wednesday in Dhaka against Mukti Joddha KC and the NFL tie next Monday against Dempo SC. Baichung was also lef out on request of the India squad for the Pakistan tour.
Further the problem seems to be that East Bengal had sub-standard food on their away trips to Turkmenistan and Jordan, especially in the former Soviet state and it caused stomach problems to all the team with Baichung, by far, being the worst affected.

Note-2: Futsal is seeming to become more and more popular in India. After Manipur, Kerala and Bengal now it is the turn of Mumbai to have an own Futsal tournament. SportzVillage, a sports management Company, in association with Mumbai District FA is organizing the first-ever Mumbai Regional Futsal Championship from May 21 to 29, 2005 at the Cooperage grounds, Mumbai.
Director of SportzVillage Jitendra Joshi said, "The tournament is intended to create a platform for the passionate footballers to experience the thrilling sport first-hand. The four day event will attract over 100 teams from Mumbai region to show off their digs and skills at the competition. Teams of all skill levels are welcome to participate, and each team will be playing in one of the two Cups. We are planning a National Futsal Championship in year 2006."
The Mumbai Regional Futsal Championship will be held over the weekends May 21/22 and 28/29 at the Cooperage Ground, St Xaviers Ground, Parel & University grounds, and Marine lines. The championship would be held in two separate Cups, Champions & Premier Cup, and would be played in a knockout format. The total prize money is worth more than Rs 25,000 and the registration fee is Rs 500 per team.
For registration details please call: 93246-45694 // 93246-45693.

8. May
2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Karnataka State Police 1-4 Indian Bank - Goals: 0-1,1-2 R Amalraj (38',65'), 1-1 Sampath Kumar (58'), 1-3 KG Joseph (66'), 1-4 Syed Shabir Pasha (89').
KSP: Nagendra, Girish, Vinod Kumar, M Arun, Bharath Kumar, Pradeep Kumar (Inayathullah Khan), Sampath Kumar, Naveen Moses, Srinath, Sameer Ahmed, BV Pradeep.
INDIAN BANK: Felix Edward, Joseph Anandavasan (S Sudhakar), D Ravanan, Anthony Noel, Anil Kabui, VK Harish (Syed Shabir Pasha), James Singh, Gregory Clarke, Raman Singh, R Amalraj, KG Joseph.

Note-1: The future structure of the National League is totally unclear at the moment.
The AIFF had decided at the beginning of the season to reduce the league to 10 teams in 2005/06 against the opinion of the clubs and also against the advice of the AFC, who told the AIFF to first of all professionalise their National League and also expand it to at least 16 teams.
Now with the Vision India team having been in India recently, they have reitereated that the Indian league should be professionalized as soon as possible, but latest in two years time.
Within the AIFF and amongst the clubs a discussion has started if the AIFF should take back their decision to relegate four teams. And at an AIFF executive committee meeting in Mumbai midweek, the AIFF decided to rethink the number of relegated teams at the end of the season.
All would depend on what path the AIFF goes with the National League. If a 16 team professional league is started, then it might happen that all relegated teams would stay in the NFL plus the four top teams from the 2.Division would get promoted. The 2.Division would also get a new format with only eight teams participating.
Interesting times are ahead for Indian club football.

Note-2: The fifth edition of the Kerala Football League will kickoff tomorrow at the Sree Kerala Varma College ground, Thrissur with Kerala's top six clubs facing each other. Group A consists of Kerala State Electricity Board, Kochin Port Trust and Viva Kerala. In Group B defending champions and just relegated NFL side State Bank of Travancore face Kerala State Club Championships winners Titanium XI and Central Excise - Kochi. The semifinals would be held on May 15 and 16, while the final has been slated for May 18.

Note-3: The Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Memorial Football Tournament, the season-opener of the Guwahati football season, is set to be renamed to Nripendra Narayan Bhattacharya. The contract between the Guwahati Sports Association and the Choudhury family ended after five years last year and now the GSA has signed a new five year contract with the Bhattacharya family to sponsor the meet.

7. May
2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Border Security Force 0-1 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goal: 0-1 Satish Kumar Jr (90+2').
BSF: Kameshwar singh, Raghuvir Singh, Amarjith Singh (Souvik Ganguly), PB Ekka, Samrat Choudhury, Mandeep Singh, Sarabjit Singh, J Joseph, Amarjit Rai (Harmesh Lal), Santosh Kujur, Sunil Vairagal (DS Negi).
HAL: Abhra Mondal, Sugandar, Sivakumar, Satish Kumar Sr, Mahendra Mani, Xavier Vijayakumar, Rajendra Prasad, Sunil Kumar, Satish Kumar Jr (Nandakumar), Dayanand, Raju (PK Jagadish Kumar).

2.Division National League - Chennai - Phase I Group A: Bengal Mumbai FC 0-1 Air-India - Goal: 0-1 Javed Ansari (5').
BMFC: Ethesham Ahmed, Sajid Ansari, Shabir Ali, Yadvinder Singh, Jaspreet Singh, Nirmal Deep Singh, Amarjeet Singh, Jimmy Kazip (M Sagar Thapa), Tiken Singh, Anil Pawar, Ruben D'Souza.
AIR-INDIA: Raju Ekka, Haobijam Napoleon Singh, Stephen Hmar (Paresh Shivalkar), Vinay Kuruvilla, Uttam Kumar Singh, Santosh Koli, Apparao Chiman Rao, Javed Ansari, Noel Fernandes (Suprith Jathanna), Anthony Fernandes, Lawrence Dias (Neil Gaikwad).

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-0 EverReady SA - Goal: 1-0 Jiten Rai (49').
MSC: Gopal Das, Amjad Ali Khan, Madhusudan Majumdar, Naushad Moosa, K Ratan Singh, Amjad Hussain, Hamza Zaheer Abbas (72' Sheikh Habeeb Ali), Shamshi Reza, Jiten Rai, Malswama (88' Krishna Tudu), KP Zubair (90' Raman Vijayan)
EVERREADY: Amit Singha Roy, Rajib Ahmed, Anupam Sarkar, Manoj Joshi, Bimal Sarkar, Sankho Roy Chowdhury, Jayanta Sen (63' Joydeep Bose), Satyajit Bose (75' Surajit Chakraborty Jr), Jerome Sebastian (57' Crispin Chetri), Ratan Das, Sujit Ghosh.
RED CARDS: Amjad Ali Khan (90+3' Mohammedan Sporting); Sankho Roy Chowdhury (90+3' EverReady).
YELLOW-RED CARD: Sheikh Habeeb Ali (73',90+3'Mohammedan Sporting).
YELLOW CARDS: Jiten Rai (20'), Hamza Zaheer Abbas (75' Mohammedan Sporting); Jerome Sebastian (19'), Bimal Sarkar (83' both EverReady).

2.Division National League - Jamshedpur - Phase I Group B: Hindustan Club - Lajong SSC - Goal: 1-0 Deepak Kumar (28'), 2-0 Fiaz Alam (73').
HINDUSTAN: Anup Singh, Inderjeet Dhar, PK Kundu, Satnam Singh, Ranvijay Singh, Irfan Zaman Khan, Tajuddin Ali, Amit Sharma (80' Kamal Bhakuni), Sanjeev Kumar Yadav (74' Lalit Pawat), Faiz Alam (79' Nageshwar Rao), Deepak Kumar.
LAJONG: Markhus Basumatary, Rodingson Sangma, Poibang Pohshna, John Michael Shadap, Kitkupar Kharshing, William Umwi (68' Niwano Gadphoh), Birendra Thapa, Kyrshan Lyngshing, Roland Pyngrope (71' Sooki Lamare), Aibok Kharpran (77' Johny Marboh), ?.
YELLOW CARDS: Ranvijay Singh (50'), Deepak Kumar (90+2' both Hindustan).

6. May
9th National League - Goa: Fransa FC 2-2 Salgaocar SC - Goals: 0-1 Felix Ibrebru (47'), 1-1 Jules Alberto Dias (85'), 1-2 Bento Vaz (89'), 2-2 TV Biju Kumar (90+').
A thrilling but sometimes rough and illtempered Goan derby between Fransa FC and Salgaocar SC ended two-all with three players sent-off in a 9th National League match at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. After having both played 21 matches, Fransa remain fifth with now 30 points, while Salgaocar ensured their survival in the NFL with 25 points as the seventh-placed team in the league.
In a match-up between a rising power in Goan football against a former NFL champion also with company honours at stake, there was a lot to play for though the two sides have nothing to do with the title or top rung finishes. And it was the former champions in Salgaocar SC who started strongly putting pressure on the Fransa goal. Fransa keeper Kalyan Chaubey started on an unusual shacky note but averted an early reversal for his side when he saved shots from Felix Ibrebru and Samson Singh in the first 10 minutes. Thereafter the match turned rough and ugly when Ghanian Benjamin Owusu Ansah elbowed Salgaocar's Micky Fernandes in