30. September
Calcutta Premier League: East Bengal Club 1-0 Eastern Railway SC - Goals: 1-0 Gouranga Datta (73').
EAST BENGAL: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Debkumar Sashmal, Arun Malhotra, Soumik Dey, Shylo Malswam Tulunga (61' Gouranga Dutta), Kalia Kulothungan, Debjit Ghosh, Sasthi Duley (67' Jayanta Sen), Jatin Singh Bisht, Debabrata Roy, Mike Okoro.
ERSC: Tapan Kumar Karmakar, Dipankar Ghosh (75' Archisman Biswas), Subhankar Maity, Barun Kundu, Sanjit Dutta Bhowmick, Babun Kar, Joydeep Bose, Bapin Bera (81' Binoy Saha), Fareed Ali Mollah (66' Kuntal Biswas), Santanu Bit, Monojit Sarkar.

Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Garhwal Heroes 1-0 New Delhi Heroes
Goa Third Division: Macasana Welfare Club 1-2 Guirdolim Club, Deao SC 6-2 St Anthony SC, Assolda, Chicalim SC 4-1 PVA Consua, Quitula SC x-x Sinquerim SC [Quitula SC awarded walk over]
57th Independence Day Cup - Quarterfinal Group A: Oil India Limited 1-1 CRPF, Jalandhar
Mumbai Elite Division: Mahindra United - Indian Navy = match postponed due to heavy rains.
27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Bhutan XI 1-0 Gorkha Rifles, Lucknow

28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U-16) - West Zone Qualifiers: Gujarat 1-3 Goa
28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U-16) - West Zone Qualifiers: Maharashtra 5-1 Rajasthan

Note-1: IndianFootball.Com has been informed by German Bundesliga champions FC Bayern Munich, that their second team will participate in the 111th IFA-Shield. The IFA-Shield is set to be played in late-November/early-December. FC Bayern's second team is playing in the Regionalliga South, the German 3rd Division, and has several talented players in its rows. The team is coached by Herman Gerland and includes former Champions League winner Thorsten Fink and first team experienced youngsters like Jan Schloesser and Andreas Ottl.
IndianFootball.Com will have an in-depth coverage of Bayern's participation in the 111th IFA-Shield!

Note-2: The Kerala Football Association (KFA) has announced its squad for the 28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U-16) qualifiers. The South Zone qualifiers are to be held in Tamil Nadu, while Kerala's first match will be against Karnataka on October 4.
Kerala Squad: KP Nizar (Captain), VR Rahul (Vice-Captain), Shiju Shyam Sudheev, Shijith P, Betson Thomas, Nithin MS, Naushad K, Ahmed Saneed MT, Jobin Babu, Mohammad Thaufiq, Abdul Basim, Merbin J, Jamsheer VC, Munir, Shahab Salil, Darwin Joseph, Shafeer M, Babu MS, Diljith RP, Ajay Ghosh. Coach: Baby Josh TS; Manager: Achu S.

29. September
Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Hindustan Club 1-1 Delhi Police - Goals: 0-1 Mahesh Bisht, 1-1 Nitin Pant.
Goan Professional League: Salgaocar SC 1-3 Vasco SC - Goals: 0-1 Anthony Pereira (33'), 0-2,0-3 Anthony Fernandes (65',76'), 1-3 William Colaco (90+').
Goan Professional League: Fransa-Pax FC 2-1 Churchill Brothers SC - Goals: 1-0 Peter Rodrigues (2'), 2-0 Santa Saikhom Singh (59'), 2-1 Vanlal Rova (90+').
Goa Third Division: St Augustias UC 0-0 Bicholim AFF; Margao SC 1-2 St Anthony's SC, Colva; Davorlim SC 1-1 St Sebastian, Aquem; Chandor SC 1-3 Uguem Rising Club; Cristo Rei YC 0-1 Verna SC; PVC Association - Pilerne SC [PVC awarded walk over as Pilerne did not reach on time]
Mumbai Elite Division: Central Railway 3-0 Mumbai Customs - Goals: 1-0 Shanta Kumar P (20'), 2-0 Kasif Jamal (32'), 3-0 Imran Ansari (90+3').
Mumbai Elite Division: Western Railway 0-1 Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers- Goal: 0-1 Kailash Patil (63').
27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Border Security Force 4-0 Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Santosh Kujur (6',75'), 2-0,4-0 Gurjit Singh Atwal.

28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U-16) - East Zone Qualifiers: Chhattisgarh 2-0 Jharkhand

Note-1: After clinching the exclusive telecast and marketing rights for Indian football, Zee Sports is launching a promotion campaign. The first thing the channel wants to do is run a sustained television and billboard campaign promoting the game and also its Indian stars. A Zee Sports official stated: "An odd star or two like Baichung Bhutia may be known to people where football is not popular, but our aim is to make Indian soccer stars recognisable from Kashmir to Kanyakumari."
Zee has selected footballers from 16 top Indian clubs and shooting promotions on them. Players like Indian star skipper Baichung Bhutia, IM Vijayan, Alvito D'Cunha, Mehtab Hussain and Dipankar Roy will be featured in the campaign. These profile-based campaigns go on air later this month on Zee's various channels.

Note-2: India has been drawn into Group B of the SAFF Cup 2005 taking place in Karachi, Pakistan from December 7 to 17. Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan are the three other teams in the Indian group, while Group A pits hosts Pakistan along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Fixtures:
Dec. 7: Maldives - Afghanistan, Pakistan - Sri Lanka
Dec. 8: Bangladesh - Bhutan, India - Nepal
Dec. 9: Maldives, - Sri Lanka, Pakistan - Afghanistan
Dec. 10: Bangladesh - Nepal, India - Bhutan
Dec. 11: Sri Lanka - Afghanistan, Pakistan - Maldives
Dec. 12: Nepal - Bhutan, Bangladesh - India
Dec. 14: Semifinals
Dec. 17: Final

Note-3: by Xavier Rutsa: 38 teams from Kohima, Phek, Dimapur, Peren and Zunheboto of Nagaland will be vying in the 6th edition of the NSF Martyrs' Memorial Trophy would take place at Kohima local ground from October 4 to November 1. The Championship is being organised by the Angami Students' Union. Rs. 150,000 has been set as the total prize money. The winner and runners-up will be awarded with Rs. 70,000 and Rs. 35,000 respectively registering an increment of Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5000 respectively from the previous year's edition prize money.
Meanwhile the draw of fixtures was held on Wednesday at the ASU office, Kohima. On the opening day (October 4), two time winners Naga Boys Club clash with Merama Sporting Club, Phesama. Rongmei Sporting Club, Dimapur, by virtue of 2004 champions, as directly seeded into second round.
Participating teams include Yippee Sporting Club, Kohima; Chuzuba Town Chakhesang Students Union, Phek; St Joseph Boys Hostel, Jakhama; Zuketsa Town Club, Phek; United Haka, Chedema; Kigwema Students Union; T.Khel Hill Feathers; Kuki Students Union, Kohima; Darlins Club; Zhadima Students Union; Sezu Yout Club, Pfutsero; Pughoboto Phughi Kiphimi Kuqhakulu; Rhododendron Club, Phek; Khwüma Students Union, Jotsoma; D.Block XI; Ziekezou Sporting Club; Rifles Boyz Club; St Joseph's College, Jakhama; New Reserve Youth Orgnisation; Merama Sporting Club, Phesama; Kyong Pongdenro Club, Kohima; Poilwa Students Union, Nagaland; Sepfuzou Youth Club, Kohima; New Ministre Shill Youth, Kohima; Puliebadze Club; Naga Boys Club; Khranoma Youth Society, Pfuchama; Dihoma Village Students Union; Meriema Village Students; Sishunu Youth Club; Medziphema Village Youth Organization; Japfu Christian College; Spartans Club; New Market XI; Jovial Club Pfutsero Town; Union Baptist Church; Rongmei Youth Club, Dimapur; Chuziema Village Sports Association; Winsome Soccer.

28. September
Calcutta Premier League: Mohun Bagan AC 1-0 EverReady SA - Goal: 1-0 Mehtab Hussain (49').
MOHUN BAGAN: Subroto Pal, Sanjay Parte, Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, Anbalath Suliman Firoze, Noel Wilson, Tomba Singh, Mehraj Din Wadoo, Mehtab Hussain, Dharamjit Singh, Sushil Kumar Singh (46' Dipendu Biswas, 72' Harvinder Singh), Jerry Zirsanga.
EVERrEADY: Nasibul Haque , Akshay Das, Surajit Chakraborty Sr, Amulya Mondal, Muzaffar Rehman, Mohammed M. Siddique (29' Crispin Chetri), Lal Kamal Bhowmick, Dhiman Sinha, Snehasish Chakraborty, Sheikh Habeeb Ali, Eugene Jlah Gray.

Mumbai Elite Division: Air-India 1-1 Maharashtra State Police - Goals: 0-1 Uday Badkar (26'), 1-1 Anthony Fernandes (53').
AIR-INDIA: Raju Ekka, Santosh Koli, Haobijam Napoleon Singh, Sagolsem Santa Singh (46' Uttam Leishangthem Singh), Hringsolal Thomte, Javed Ansari, Vijith Shetty, Noel Fernandes (90+2' Diago Fernandes), Paresh Shivalkar, Anthony Fernandes, Lawrence Dias (79' Henry Picardo).
MSP: Shailesh Naik, Vaibhav Kadam, Sachin Jaiswal, Utpal Kadam, Santaji Chavan, Santosh Telang, Parag Sawant, Faraz Sheik (72' Feroze Ali), Javed Pathan, Sandeep Badkar (72' Suresh Yella), Udaj Badkar.

Calcutta Premier League: Mohammedan Sporting 3-2 Tollygunge Agragami
Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta Customs - Railway FC = match postponed
Calcutta Super Division: West Bengal Police - SAIL = match postponed
Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Indian Nationals FC 0-1 Simla Youngs - Goal: 0-1 Ogbedeie Aminawon Austin (64').
Goan Professional League: Dempo SC 3-0 MPT Sports Council
Goan Professional League: Sporting Clube de Goa 0-0 Raia Sporting Club - Goals: none.
Goa Third Division: Quitula SC 1-0 Penha de France, Saligao Sporting Club 4-2 Nerul SC, Sirvodem SC 2-2 UC Telaulim
57th Independence Day Cup - Quarterfinal Group B: Khidderpore Sporting Union 1-1 City Police - Goals: 1-0 Oriyeka Jr (68'), 1-1 Ziaur Rahaman (89').
Mumbai Elite Division: Bengal Mumbai FC 2-2 Bank of India - Goals: 1-0 Sajid Ansari (65'), 2-0 Steven Gupta (67'), 2-1 Velu Karmagulam (90+1'), 2-2 Sanjay Hazare (90+4').
27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Tata Football Academy 4-2 SFA Gold Team

28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U-16) - East Zone Qualifiers: Orissa 0-2 Bihar

Note-1: The 36th Himachal Pradesh Men's Football Championship will be held from October 7 to 11 at Dharamsala. In all 14 teams are expected to take part.

27. September
Mumbai Elite Division: Mahindra United 2-2 H2K-Holy Family - Goals: 0-1 R Suresh Babu (16'), 1-1,2-1 Abhishek Yadav (25',31'), 2-2 Brenden Clapson (70').
MAHINDRA: Subhashish Roy Chowdhury (55' Sandip Nandy), Peter Siddiqui (79' Rauf Khan), Mahesh Gawli, Manju Nanjangud Shivananju, Gouramangi Singh, Subhas Chakraborty, Sushanth Mathew, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, Steven Dias, Surajit Bose (53' Anees Kutty), Abhishek Yadav.
H2K: Manish Kajania, Farhat Raza, Meharajau, Sagar Pawar, Anthony Fernandes, MD Rafi, Nawas Rahaman, Lowren Fernandes, Abbas Ali Rizvi, Harshanam (65' Brendon Calpon), R Suresh Babbu.
YELLOW CARDS: Anthony Fernandes (33', H2K), Sushanth Mathew (81'), Mahesh Gawli (90'+1, both Mahindra)
YELLOW-RED CARDS: Mahesh Gawli (90'+1, Mahindra)

Calcutta Premier League: East Bengal Club 1-0 George Telegraph SC - Goal: 1-0 Mike Okoro (47').
EAST BENGAL: Abhra Mondal (82' Rajat Ghosh Dastidar), Surya Bikash Chakraborty, Muttath Suresh, Debkumar Sashmal, Sandip Das, Debabrata Roy, Soumik Dey, Kalia Kulothungan (32' Mike Okoro), Shylo Malswam Tulunga, Dipankar Roy (55' Jatin Singh Bisht), Syed Rahim Nabi.
GEORGE TELEGRAPH: Swarup Das, Sanjoy Mullick, Binod Mal, Paban Das, Kutubuddin Sipai, Manik Barman, Amit Biswas (66' Somnath Debnath), Sanjib Santra, Ramu Adhikary (83' Raju Ghosh), Gautam Thakur (58' Goodday), Francis.

Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Shastri Club 3-0 New Delhi Heroes - Goals: 1-0 Obed Kahmei, 2-0 Ravi Kumar, 3-0 Sameer Jung.
Goa Third Division: USC Seraulim 0-1 United Boys Dando, Colva; Curtorim Gymkhana 2-1 Guirdolim Club; Deao SC 1-3 ICSC, Paroda; AA de Moira 3-0 St Dominic Savio SC; Calangute Association 3-1 Arpora Sporting Club; Chicalim SC 3-2 Cross Boys
57th Independence Day Cup - Quarterfinal Group A: Oil India Limited 4-0 Assam Police Blues - Goals: 1-0 Mrinal Boro (4'), 2-0 Birjab Mushahary (53'), 3-0 Lal Muanpuia (68'), 4-0 H Lalremruate (85').
Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims 1-1 Bank of Baroda - Goals: 1-0 Mathias Cotinho (76'), 1-1 Akram Shaikh (80').
27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Calcutta Customs 3-2 Jammu&Kashmir Bank

Note-1: The Kerala FA president KMI Mather informed the media last evening at a press gathering that the 60th Santosh Trophy would be held in Kochi, Kerala from November 4. The Nehru Stadium in Kochi will host the final phase under floodlights, while the league phase will be spread out across a number of grounds, which haven't been finalised yet. More than 30 teams are likely to take part.

Note-2: The All India Football Federation has shortlisted 5 coaches for the national coach post. According to scoures the shortlisted coaches are Syed Nayeemuddin, Subrata Bhattacharya, Aloke Mukherjee, M Peethambaram and Dr Birbal Singh. Fax messages were sent out on Monday informing the five about their selection and asking them to make their presentation before the four-member expert committee comprising PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, CR Viswanathan and Dereyk DeSouza on September 30.

Note-3: The 54th Bordoloi Trophy will start on October 17, while the final is slated on October 29. Binoy Medhi, Guwahati Sports Association secretary, also hinted that the big clubs are likely to miss the tournament due to financial reasons. GSA have already met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and sought his help to rope in the big clubs.

26. September
The latest IndianFootball.Com Guest Column comes from Manish Uprety titled "Stakeholders Engagement for Sustainable Development of Football in India", in which Manish looks at who should and needs to be part of the game of football under the stakeholder model. Manish is president of the "South Asian Football Association", an organisation which is trying to promote football across south Asia.
Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - Manish Uprety .

Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Hindustan Club 1-0 Garhwal Heroes - Goal: 1-0 Hitender Singh Rawat.
Goan Professional League: Vasco SC 0-0 Fransa-Pax FC - Goals: none.
Goan Professional League: Churchill Brothers SC 0-0 Salgaocar SC - Goals: none.
Goa Third Division: Uguem Rising Club 2-0 St Anthony SC, Assolda; Macasana Welfare Club 0-2 St Sebastian, Aquem; Navelim SC 2-3 Carmel SC; UB of Palolem 0-2 Canacona Sports Academy; St Sebastian SC, Fatorda - Fatorda FC
57th Independence Day Cup - Quarterfinal Group B: Nagaland Police 1-0 City Police, Guwahati - Goal: 1-0 Vizoru (61').
Mumbai Elite Division: Golden Gunners 3-1 Mumbai Customs - Goals: 1-0,2-1 Reuben D'Souza (31',42'), 1-1 Siddarth Puthran (36'), 3-1 Soccor Velho (77').
Mumbai Super Division: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) 4-0 Central Bank of India - Goals: 1-0 Ravi Ghadi (10'), 2-0,3-0 Amiruddin Ansari (40',52'), 4-0 Dhileep Kumar (75').
27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Round 1: Bhutan XI 7-2 Assam State Electricity Board

Mumbai Women's Football League - Final: Fr Agnel SA (Red) 0-0,5-4 Sea View SC (penalties) - Goals: none.
Mumbai Women's Football League - 3rd Place Playoff: Mumbaikar United 1-0 Bodyline FC - Goal: 1-0 Sneha Pillai.

Note-1: The AIFF and Zee Sports today put pen to paper to sign an exclusive telecast and marketing rights contract. The deal comes into effect on October 1, 2005 and runs for 10 years, but the final value of the contract is unknown. Speculations range from Rs 2 to 5 billion, an unbelievable amount for Indian football.
AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and Zee Telefilms Chairman Subhash Chandra signed on the dotted lines. As part of the contract Zee Sports will broadcast at least 70 matches live and exclusive a year of Indian football, while it will market domestic tournaments organised by the AIFF - National League, 2.Division NFL, Federation Cup, Super Cup and the Santosh Trophy. Part of the deal are also home matches of the Indian national team.
The AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said, "We are looking at growing the popularity of football across the country. Our goal is to make, Indian Football one of the most fan friendly leagues in the world and we have taken a major step towards that with agreement with Zee Sports. This partnership a natural alliance between India's biggest media and entertainment conglomerate and worlds most watched and played sport, will provide right impetus for its growth."
He further added, " With more matches of tournaments being shown live, with world class production techniques and reputed commentators presenting in viewer's friendly format, will significantly increase domestic football popularity among masses with international distinction."
Zee Telefilms Chairman Subhash Chandra, said, "We're very excited about our new partnership with the AIFF. Zee will provide unparallel coverage for domestic football. As part of the total telecast package we are working on special initiatives to substantially boost the value we will provide to football fans and advertisers. We are bullish about building football passion and reviving its lost glory."
So finally the deal has been signed between the AIFF and Zee Sports to market and telecast Indian football properly. It sounds like history is repeating itself as a decade ago a similar contract, not worth as much, was signed between the AIFF - IMG World, as the marketing agents and Star Sports, the broadcaster. Sadly the deal was cancelled after a successful first National League. So lets hope that this contract stays and Zee Sports highlights Indian football the way it should. The need of the hour is to have quality live broadcast and spread the games fanbase across the country besides new marketing initiatives. A lot of work lies ahead.
Indian football surely deserved a better deal and now we have it. So lets make the best of it. All the best Zee Sports!!! You surely have the support of the IndianFootball.Com Team.

Note-2: Krishnaji Rao is back as coach of Bangalore giants Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC. HAL SC hasn't had a good start to the season losing in the semifinals of the season opening Puttiah Memorial Trophy with some patchy performances in the tournament. This resulted in the management deciding to release coach Ravi Kumar and bring back the experienced Krishnaji. Krishnaji's first real test will be the Federation Cup next month.

Note-3: The 30th Gurdarshan Memorial Trophy will be held from October 16 to 23 at Nabha (Patiala) in Punjab. Missing this time will be the Punjab top sides JCT Mills and Punjab Police, who at the time will take part in the 27th Federation Cup.

Note-4: The Indian Women national team will take part in the Vietnam Coal International Football Tournament to be played from October 2 to 10 at the Cua Ong stadium in Quang Ninh province. India will face the hosts Vietnam, club side Cua Ong Coal and Chinese Taipei, where the winner takes home the top prize money of USD 3,150.

25. September
Calcutta Premier League: Mohun Bagan AC 1-0 Tollygunge Agragami - Goal: 1-0 Sanjay Parte (25').
MOHUN BAGAN AC have won the Calcutta Premier League title with 12 wins in 12 matches played so far. It was the 26th Calcutta Football League title for the Green-and-Maroon and their first title since 2001.
MOHUN BAGAN: Subrata Pal, Dulal Biswas, Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, Anbalath Suliman Firoze, Sanjay Parte, Noel Wilson, Tomba Singh, Mehtab Hussain, Dharamjit Singh, Sushil Kumar Singh (45' Jerry Zirsanga, 89' Harvinder Singh), Gley Yao Rodrigue.
TOLLYGUNGE: Proloy Dutta, Mahesh Sarkar, Nayan Dey, Sheikh Azim, Dibakar Roy, Tridib Chowdhury, Manoj Das, Bhola Prasad (46' Sudip Banik), Surajit Chakraborty Jr (72' Trijit Das), Ayan Chowdhury, Prasanta Chakraborty.

Goan Professional League: Sporting Clube de Goa 5-0 MPT Sports Council - Goals: 1-0,4-0 Nicholas Borges (12',51'), 2-0 Bibiano Fernandes (20'), 3-0,5-0 Joe Rodrigues (24',58').
SPORTING CLUBE: Felix D'Souza, Denzil Franco (Alvito Rodrigues), Mathew Gonsalves, Philip Gomes, Vincent Pires (N Samananda Singh), Nicholas Borges, Bibiano Fernandes, Hardeep Singh Saini, Nicholas Rodrigues, Joe Rodrigues, Reagan Fernandes (Fiaz Alam).
MPT: Cosme Oliveira, Sebastiao Oliviera, Casmiro Peixeto, Faisal Martins (Jayesh Gotlekar), Nelson Dias Jitendra Bhise, Queeno Gurjao ,Michael Monteiro, Brijesh Dessai (Lyold Mascarenhas), Vilas Morje, (Pillory Alvares), Vishant Pednekar.

Calcutta Premier League: Mohammedan Sporting Club 2-0 Calcutta Port Trust - Goals: 1-0 Raman Vijayan, 2-0 Patrick D'Souza.
Calcutta Premier League: Eastern Railway SC 0-0 EverReady SA - Goals: none.
Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Simla Youngs 0-0 Delhi Police - Goals: none.
Goan Professional League: Dempo SC 1-1 Raia Sporting Club - Goals: 1-0 Joaquim Abranches (4'), 1-1 Santan D'Cruz (81').
Goa Third Division: PVC Association, Parra 1-3 Nerul SC; St Augustias UC 1-1 Quitula SC; Agonda SC 2-0 UBC of Ponsulem
57th Independence Day Cup - Quarterfinal Group A: Assam Police Blues 1-1 CRPF, Jalandhar - Goals: 1-0 Arun Daimary (46'), 1-1 A Singh (61').
Mumbai Elite Division: Bengal Mumbai FC 1-0 Maharashtra State Police - Goal: 1-0 Amarjeet Singh (35').
Mumbai Super Division: Mumbai Port Trust - Akbar Travels = match postponed due to inappropriate ground conditions.
Mumbai Women's Football League - Semifinal: Fr Agnel SA (Red) 2-1 Mumbaikar United
Mumbai Women's Football League - Semifinal: Sea View SC 3-0 Bodyline FC
27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Round 1: Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council 1-0 Potala XI, Dehra Dun

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Final: Central Railway 1-1,9-8 Western Railway [penalties]
Mumbai's Central Railway won the Inter-Railway Trophy title in a thrilling final against city rivals Western Railway ending in a sudden death penalty shootout.

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - 3rd Place Playoff: Eastern Railway SC 3-1 East Coast Railway

Note-1: New Calcutta Premier League champions have made a change in their preparations for the 27th Federation Cup. The club will not take part in the ongoing 27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup, but rather will have a two day camp at the beach ressort Digha in south West Bengal.

Note-2: by Armstrong Vaz: Kahan gaye who goal rakshak - where have all the Goan Goalkeepers gone? These is a pertinent question that is doing the rounds in football circles. Goan goalkeepers are a vanishing tribe. A tribe whose flag was carried forward by the likes of the legendary Arjuna awardee Brahmanand Shankwalkar and Chandrakant Naik.
Goan goalkeepers who took over from the two towering personalities have not been able to come even a seldom close to matching the exploits of the two goalkeepers. The goalkeeping department is the last line of the defence. A last line of defence which coaches seldom take risk. One mistake in the goal and the team and the goalkeeper is condemns to the bench. A goalkeeper minds thus has to be alert on the field a momentary lack of concentration and application all his efforts to a nought.
Salgoacar have all the three goalkeepers coming from outside the state, with last years performance in mind the Salgaocar management took it safe and brought in India international Sangram Mukerjee and another Calcutta lad Arijit Sengupta to beef up the goalkeeping department. Karnataka Lad Juje Siddi who has played all his competitive football in Goa after being spotted by SAI Center in Karnataka complete the troika in the Salgoacar camp. Thus Shabbir Ali has ample of choices in the last line of defence with Sangram Mukerjee being the obvious first choice keeper.
At Fransa-Pax FC, another Karnataka lad Mark Mascarenhas who came over from Bangalore to the Goan club Churchill Brothers SC is one who will provide the cover for the defence. Another outstation goalkeeper is Bengali Rajat Guha while young upcoming local lad Jerome Fernandes is the lone keeper in the Fransa camp. Fransa-Pax coach Nobert Gonsalves will rely on Mark as a first choice keeper to give the defence.
At Sporting Clube de Goa coach Clifford Chukwama have a an all Goan flavour to guard his goal Felix D'Souza and Luis Baretto have broke the myth that Goan keepers cannot be relied on. Felix D'Souza who started with SAI has over the years gained in maturity to one of the most reliable keepers in the last five years. Luis Baretto too has excelled in the last two season under the bar for Sporting. Gerald Lobo and Christopher Afonso are the other two keepers who are vying to gain attention in the sporting goalkeeping department.
At Dempo SC VP Satish Kumar, Abhijit Mondal and Francis Fernandes are the three keepers which are the options which coach Armando Colaco can rely upon. Satish Kumar with his last years performance will be the first choice keeper while Abhijit Mondal who had a consistent run a coupe of seasons back will be breathing down the neck of Satish Kumar to be in the thick of action. Francis Fernandes the lone Goan contender for the slot has since faded away after his showing early promise. The Majorda who lost out a place in the Indian team a few seasons back is now confined to the third place in the team.
At Churchill Brothers Vinay Singh has struck to the club after being spotted by Churchill in the last edition of the Santosh trophy while Reagen Alemao will be the cover for Vinay in an eventuality.
At MPT Rovan Colaco, Cosme Oliveira and Agnelo Noronha complete the goalkeeping department. Expect for Furtado the other two are around for a quite along time and cannot fathom a chance of making into the top echelons of the Indian football.
At Raia Sporting Martin Dias and Felix Fernandes are the two who will provide the luxury for Raia coach Ajay Acharya. Martin Dias after showing ample promises in his younger days failed to keep up to his billing. Dias is thus is into the last laps of his career. Young Felix Fernandes, the Ambelim-based keeper endowed with a height will have to live up to his top billing to deny the rival strikers the liberty to score goals.
At Vasco SC Sesa Goa Football Academy product Milagres Madeira after staying with Salgoacar for three seasons will be having his first real break into the top gear in the goal for Vasco. Hopefully he will display his immense talent for a greater cause for Vasco.
On its part Goa FA has now contracted former Vasco, Churchill Brothers SC and Sesa Goa goalkeeper Virender Singh to be the goalkeeping coach for two months to coach youngsters.
On the lack of emerging goalkeepers former Chandrakant Naik stated that goalkeeping is a entirely separate department and there is a need to appoint separate goalkeepers coaches at all levels. "We should start from the age group teams. A goalkeepers coach can give attention to the needs, priorities and explain the lucanes in a goalkeepers armory."
Incidentally Brahmanand Shankwalkar played in the Goa League for 25 years while Chandrakant Naik is in his 27 season now turning out for Raitura SC in the 2.Division having played for the country and for all the top clubs of the state.

Note-3: Duliajan-based Oil India Limited is planning to have two teams from next season onwards. The oil major hopes to have their senior Team join the Guwahati Super Division, so the club plays in a tough competitive league; while the second or B Team would be based in Duliajan with the team given exposure and a chance to develop it's own players.
OIL has embarked on a talent scouting mission in it's region of Assam organising four camps in Tingkhong, Barekuri, Kathaloni and Duliajan. About 30 players would be picked for a month long training camp in November from where the club hopes to pick-up probables for it's new B Team.

24. September
Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta FC 2-1 Peerless SC
Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan AC 0-2 Khidderpore Sporting Union - Goals: 0-1 Sheikh Saidul, 0-2 Kartick Kai.
Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Indian Nationals FC - Shastri Club
Goa Third Division: Candolim SC 2-3 Arpora Sporting Club; Sinquerim SC 1-3 St Dominic Savio SC; Davorlim SC 14-1 Spiders United; Cross Boys - Cortalim SC; Miracles SC - Chandor Club; Canacona Sports Academy - UB of Palolem
57th Independence Day Cup - Round 2 Qualifiers: City Police, Guwahati 1-1,5-3 Langsning FC [penalties]
Mumbai Elite Division: Air-India - Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers = match postponed due to heavy rains.
Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims - Sea View SC = match postponed due to heavy rains.
Mumbai Women's Football League - Semifinals: Fr Agnel SA (Red) - Mumbaikar United; Sea View SC - Bodyline FC = matches postponed due to heavy rains.
27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Round 1: Assam Regimental Centre 0-3 Sikkim FA Gold

All-India Public Sector Football Tournament - Semifinal: ONGC 2-0 BEML, Bangalore
All-India Public Sector Football Tournament - Semifinal: Food Corporation of India 0-0,5-4 NALCO [penalties]

Note-1: by Armstrong Vaz: Goals are the ultimate test of superiority. Ultimately the goals count. How you play on a day or how you dominated the entire ninety minutes duration of the match are inconsequentially in comparison to the final result. So the focus is on the strikers is to deliver the goods. Goods in the form of goals. The strikers will be under focus as the Goa Professional League kicked-off last week.
The strikers take the blame for missing one or many a chances and also get the attention when they create chances out of thin air. Breaking through the heart of the defence of the rival team is an art and technique which is perfected to perfection through sheer practice.
A striker is one who has to get a hang over off when to release the ball and when to hold on to the ball. A class of a player is writ large on his football frame in his releasing the ball at an appropriate time. Selling a dummy, the quick body feints the turning and twisting to beat the defenders is all part of the strikers armory.
The Baretto's, Coutinho's, Crasto's, Andrew, Bernard, Catao and Domnic have all being part of the house hold names when one reel of names of Goan strikers who have set the fire going on the goal front on the football scene.
Goan football and over all Indian football have been struggling to get a hold of quality strikers in the last five years. The net result Goan clubs have been looking up to foreign players and resources from outside the state to fortify the loose ends in the strike force.
After the exit of Bruno Coutinho none of the Goan strikers have been able to make a impact on the national scene. East Bengal medio Alvito D'Cunha who started as a striker has since shifted to midfield and none of the Goan have been able to rise to command the respect and instill a fear in the opposition defence.
Gone are the days when the Bruno Coutinho, Roy Baretto, Gasper Crasto, Sarto Baptista, Ignatius Dias, Bento Andrew, Catao Fernandes, Domnic D'Souza, Andrew D'Souza and Bernard D'Souza rule the roast now the Singhs and other players are ruling the roost when it comes to enjoying positions up front in the strike force.
In the current season Dempo SC have in their ranks a promising striker Joaquim Abranches, who started as an under-20 player with Churchill Brothers last season has the built and gifted qualities of an striker. The lanky striker who has turned twenty this season is one player Dempo coach Armando Colaco has taken care to groom him for the future challenges. Abranches has showed enough glimpses of his attacking qualities this season and his brace against Sporting Clube de Goa is a grim reminder to the opposition and his fans that he has come of age. Sebastiao Endro is another dangerous customer in the Dempo camp will be one of the striker to watch out for in the Goa Pro League. Endowed with speed Endro will take a full tool of any slack in speed on the part of the rival defenders. Dempo strike work load will also be shared between Ishfaq Ahmed. The Kashmiri lad who along with Mohun Bagan defender Mehraj Din Wadoo has started the tradition of Kashmir boys moving out of the state and playing football all over India will look to get more goals against his name.
In the Salgaocar camp Jyothi Kumar looks the live wire upfront along with Samson Singh. Talented under-20 player Bevan D'Mello will get his chances in between to prove his worth and so will Agnelo Baretto. K Aseem will shoulder the additional responsibility of delivering the goals for Salgaocar coach Shabbir Ali.
In the Fransa-Pax FC camp seasonized campaigner Alex Ambrose, will carry the work load. Alex a TFA product after showing the initial promise has seen faded into oblivion with his inconsistent performance.
At Sporting Clube de Goa Muhammed Nizam the recruit from Delhi will try to have a hang off the competitive football in a new set-up remains to be seen how he copes up to the pressure, Agnelo Gomes will hopefully deliver the knock out punch to the opposition with his speedy runs. Lector Caido, a Sesa Goa Football Academy product will be another young striker who will go under the scanner.
At Vasco SC Anthony Pereira was cynosure of all eyes in the last years' Goa Pro League but could not come with the same level of consistent goal scoring in the NFL. The >Navelim-based striker would have to repeat the same feat under a new coach and under entire bunch of young players to maintain his rating as one of the emerging strikers from the state.
In the Churchill Brothers SC camp Freddy Mascarenhas showed enough recovery after a major road accident, which even forced his way into the selection camp of the national team. The Former Salgoacar striker could maintain the same level of consistency of performance after coming into the latter stages of the NFL as he missed the earlier matches through injury. With the focus shifting on him to deliver with no foreign players for company in the striking department at Churchill, Freddy will have set his vision on scoring more and more goals to catch the bull eye.
At Raia Sporting Club 20 year old Wesley Coutinho playing in the Pro League will be having a feel of the high standards and he would have to carry on the his inter village form and his consistent goal scoring feats for Salcete FC. The six foot striker would have to improve on his sublime skills and not entirely rely on his getting goals through headers. Rehman Cardozo will be another who will try to bull doze his way through rival defence playing for Raia Sporting Club.
At MPT striker Marcus Carvalho started as a teenager for Churchill Brothers SC promised much but could not fulfill his early promise he still around to lend MPT strike force the much needed depth. Another Vishant Pednekar short stature like Marcus also was talented but his talent being restricted to MPT all time expect for a brief period with one of the NFL clubs he could not get a bigger opportunity to play for a longer period for the NFL clubs.
Among the young lot thus Beevan D'Mello, Wesley Countinho, Joaquim Abranches and Anthony Pereira hold a lot of promise as the league unfolds and the curtains come down who have lived up to the promise and which of the strikers have deliver the goods in the form of goals fro the teams will the ultimate test for the striking abilities of the respective players. Great players are ones who make the most of the opportunities that come their way. Hopefully the strikers will strike gold on the goal front.

23. September
Mahindra United manager Henry Menezes confirmed today to IndianFootball.Com the signing by the team this week of Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto and Ghanian Yusif Yakubu. Mahindra United President, Alan Durante, said, "I'm sure these players are going to prove to be a deadly combination". Mr. Durante, who's birthday it is on the 25th, and who will be retiring soon, has sure had an eventful week. Mr. Menezes informed that Barreto has signed on a one-year contract for the moment, with an option for another year's extension. Furthermore, United are looking to add to their contingent of attacking foreign players. They are currently giving trials to a Ghanaian and two Nigerians, who've had experiences in places like Austria and Oman For there is still space in the squad for one more foreigner.
IndianFootball.com Editor Sujay Sharma had a chat with Mahindra United coach Derrick Pereira on the topic of today's signings by United of Jose Barreto and Yusif Yakubu. The delighted Mr. Pereira had the following thoughts to share: "It's a great achievement for us to have made these signings. Barreto and Yakubu are two established players in the NFL. I'm confident that they will help us a great deal in achieving our goals, for these are high-quality players we've signed. They will obviously give us a much greater threat in the attacking department. I'll also try to do my best to convince Barreto to play as a playmaker in the 'hole' behind our strikers. I'm also sure the two won't take long to settle into the team and the system. Both of them are very professional players, and are used to the Indian footballing conditions. Also, these signings don't mean Abhishek and Surajit will be treated as super-subs. Abhishek and Surajit both are proven and very talented players, and they will be played in accordance with the teams' strategies."
So Mahindra United once more pull off some spectacular transfers, this time of two of the best foreigners to have played in the Indian National League. The price catch is surely Barreto, who returns to India after he had left Mohun Bagan in early-2004 during the NFL. Mohun Bagan did give it a last shot with president Bose flying to Mumbai to convince Barreto to return, but he decided to sign for Mahindra. Meanwhile Yakubu leaves relegated Churchill Brothers after a few successful seasons, which had ended with relegation last year. As Mr. Durante says, the duo could surely become a "deadly combination" for the opposition and hand Mahindra the National League crown, which has eluded them since it's start.
It also means that Mahindra sort their weakness in attack, which has been showing in the Mumbai League.

Calcutta Premier League: Mohun Bagan AC 1-0 George Telegraph SC - Goal: 1-0 Sushil Kumar Singh (6').
MOHUN BAGAN: Subrata Pal, Sanjay Parte, Anbalath Suliman Firoze, Mehraj Din Wadoo, Noel Wilson (46' Harvinder Singh), Tomba Singh, Dharamjit Singh, Mehtab Hussain, Jerry Zirsanga (77' Manjit Singh), Sushil Kumar Singh (83' Dipendu Biswas).
GTSC: Swarup Das, Mohan Chakraborty, Binod Mal, Sumit Sengupta, Kutubuddin Sipai, Manik Burman (75' Goddy), Swarup Chatterjee, Asim Das, Subhashis Bhowmick, MC Francis, Amit Biswas (88' Sanjib Santra).

Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Indian Air Force 0-0 New Delhi Heroes - Goals: none.
Goa Third Division: Chicalim SC - PYA Consua = match cancelled due to heavy rain
57th Independence Day Cup - Round 2 Qualifiers: Assam Police Blues 2-2,5-4 FCI, Guwahati [penalties]
Mumbai Elite Division: H2K-Holy Family - Mumbai Customs = match postponed due to heavy rains.
Mumbai Super Division: Union Bank of India - Akbar Travels = match postponed due to heavy rains.
Mumbai Women's Football League - Semifinals: Fr Agnel SA (Red) - Mumbaikar United; Sea View SC - Bodyline FC = matches postponed due to heavy rains.
Punjab State Super League: JCT Mills 1-0 Border Security Force - Goal: 1-0 Sunil Chetri (38').
27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup - Round 1: Calcutta Customs 5-1 Sikkim FA Blue - Goals: 1-0 Robin Mallick (9'), 1-1 Ong Tshering Lepcha (59'), 2-1,4-1,5-1 Debjit Bhowmick (72',79',82'), 3-1 Arindam Das (76').

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Semifinal: Central Railway 1-0 East Coast Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Semifinal: Eastern Railway SC 0-1 Western Railway

Note-1: The fixtures of the Calcutta Premier League have been revived with some changes to the remaining matches. The league ends on October 1 instead of October 3 earlier.
Click here for the updated Calcutta Premier League 2005 fixtures .

Note-2: The 27th Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup kicked-off today at the refurbished 25,000 seater Paljor Stadium in Gangtok, which had been inaugurated yesterday by the President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam. The Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup returned to the Paljor Stadium after a gap of four years, in which it had been upgraded at a cost of Rs 307,4 Million to make it the most modern stadium in Northeast India.

Note-3: Mohun Bagan's winning streak in the Calcutta Premier League continued today to make it 11 wins in a row. A win on Sunday against Tollygunge Agragami and the green-and-maroon win the first-ever Calcutta Premier League. The match is supposed to be played at the Howrah Stadium, but the club and the police are unhappy with the choice of venue due to possible championship celebrations. The club has asked the IFA to shift the match to the Saltlake Stadium, but meanwhile the IFA has been informed by the police that it cannot give adequate police cover due to political tensions in Coochbehar and a Lok Sabha by-election from September 22 to 28. The IFA is trying to solve the problem with the help of the WB sports minister.

22. September
Calcutta Premier League: East Bengal Club 2-1 Calcutta Port Trust - Goals: 1-0 Kalia Kulothungan (80'), 2-0 Syed Rahim Nabi (81'), 2-1 Srimanta Das (88').
EAST BENGAL: Abhra Mondal, Sasthi Duley, Debkumar Sashmal, Muttath Suresh, Soumik Dey, Alvito D'Cunha, Sandip Das, Shylo Malswam Tulunga, Amandeep Singh (65' Gauranga Datta), Syed Rahim Nabi, RC Prakash (53' Jayanta Sen).
CPT: Sandip Guha, Kamal Bhuniya, Rabindranath Karmakar, Soumen Sarkar, Amar Pyne (83' Arup Sinha), Pradip Indu, Sandip Ghosh, Soumitra Chakraborty (57' Uttam Debnath), Kaushik Prasad, Sujit Dey (84' Shyambabu Routh), Srimanta Das.

Chennai Senior Division: Madras Sporting Union 4-0 Young Men SC - Goals: 1-0 Bharath (20'), 2-0 Pradeep Kumar (49'), 3-0 Abdul Kapoor (74'), 4-0 Cleetus (75).
Delhi Senior Division - Super League: Indian Air Force 2-1 Delhi Police - Goals: 0-1 Tara Adhikari (21'), 1-1 LB Victor (61'), 2-1 TT Stephen (89').
Goan Professional League: Dempo SC - Vasco SC = match cancelled due to heavy rain
Goan Professional League: Churchill Brothers SC - Sporting Clube de Goa = match cancelled due to heavy rain
Goa Third Division: Penha de France - Bicholim AFF; Pilerne SC - Saligao Sporting Club; Deao SC - Uguem Rising Club; Guirdolim Club - St Sebastian, Aquem; Margao SC - St Anthony's SC, Colva = matches cancelled due to heavy rain
Mumbai Elite Division: Mahindra United - Maharashtra State Police = match postponed due to heavy rains.
Mumbai Women's Football League - Semifinals: Fr Agnel SA (Red) - Mumbaikar United; Sea View SC - Bodyline FC = matches postponed due to heavy rains.

FIFA Fair Play Day exhibition match - Guwahati: Assam State Team 2-1 Mohammedan Sporting Club - Goals: 1-0 Mrinal Boro (44'), 2-0 Birjab Mushahary (65'), 2-1 Muhammad Mukhtar (85').
The Assam FA organised an exhibition match between the Assam state team against Calcutta giants Mohammedan Sporting Club on the occasion of FIFA Fair Play Day at the Nehru Stadium, Guwahati. In a surprise result the Assam footballers beat their much more famed rivals from the Calcutta Maidans.
Present on the day were amongst others the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi.

Note-1: The Punjab State Super League ends tomorrow with a clash between the league's top two sides - NFL side JCT Mills facing Border Security Force, but the match is only of academic interest as JCT Mills has defended the title, the fourth time they have won the league in a row. The match will be played at the JCT Mills Stadium, Phagwara at 16.30 IST, which will be followed by closing ceremony being arranged by the Punjab FA.

Note-2: The state teams of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will play each other on October 8 in Mysore in a friendly match. For the two states the match is part of their preparations for the Santosh Trophy.

Note-3: The Monibari-based Williamson Magor Football Academy had closed down a few month's ago, which was and is a major setback for football in Assam and the whole Northeast. After the Assam FA wasn't able to convince the Calcutta-based Williamson Magor Group to continue with the Academy with any needed help from the AFA, now the Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has send a personal letter to WM Group chairman BM Khaitan to reconsider his companies decision to close down the Academy, which has produced a number of talented youngsters. The AFA hopes with the help from the state government that the Tea company would reconsider their earlier decision and reopen the Academy.

Note-4: The North Zone qualifiers for the Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (Under-16) will be held in Srinagar, Jammu&Kashmir from October 6 to 16.
Trials for the Delhi state U16 boys will be held tomorrow from 16.00 IST at the Nehru Stadium.

21. September
Mumbai Elite Division: Bank of India 1-3 Air-India - Goals: 1-0 Basheer Hussein (10'), 1-1 Sumit Thapa (52'), 1-2 Henry Picardo (64'), 1-3 Javed Ansari (87' - Penalty).
BANK OF INDIA: Raj N Mitra, Shyamal Singhal, Prakash Mehra, Irfan Sheikh, Francis Dias, Velu Karmagulam, Sanjay Hazare (77' Naveen Kotian), Kajol Das (77' Kunal Prasad), Munir Sheikh, Shankar Thakur (67' Chandrakant Poojary), Bahseer Hussein.
AIR-INDIA: Sunder Raj Rajan (18' Raju Ekka), Eldin Bothello (61' Stephen Hmar), Subhas Mondal, Santosh Koli, Appa Rao Chiman (39' Paresh Shivalkar), Mohammed bin Hassan, Diago Fernandes, Sumit Thapa, Javed Ansari, Neil Gaikwad, Henry Picardo.
YELLOW CARDS: Kajol Das (20'), Munir Sheikh (59'), Irfan Sheikh (86' all BoI).

Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Final: Karnataka State Police 4-1 LRDE - Goals: 1-0 Esmond Coria (4'), 2-0 Sameer Ahmed (11'), 2-1 Nithyanandan (19'), 3-1 Srinath (41'), 4-1 Arun Kumar (59').
Karnataka State Police won their maiden Puttiah Memorial Trophy!

Chennai Senior Division: Octopus Marine SC 2-0 AGORC - Goals: 1-0 Manimaran (19'), 2-0 Murthuza Basha (80').
Goan Professional League: Salgaocar SC - MPT Sports Council = match abandoned due to heavy rain
Goan Professional League: Raia Sporting Club - Fransa-Pax FC = match abandoned due to heavy rain
Goa Third Division: Guirim YCC - Adarsh Yuvak Sangh; Quitula SC - Sinquerim SC; Nerul SC - Candolim SC; Miracles SC - St Anthony SC, Assolda; Macasana Welfare Club - Spiders United = matches cancelled due to heavy rain
57th Independence Day Cup - Round 2 Qualifiers: Nagaland Police 4-0 Royal SC, Guwahati - Goals: 1-0 Lungthui (21'), 2-0 Veza Fevie (41'), 3-0 Zan Thango (69'), 4-0 Ren Thango (79').
Punjab State Super League: Border Security Force 2-1 Punjab State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Parminder Singh (12'), 1-1,2-1 Gurjit Singh Atwal (23',89')

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Quarterfinal: Integral Coach Factory 0-2 East Coast Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Quarterfinal: Eastern Railway SC 1-0 Rail Coach Factory

Note-1: The likelihood of Goa hosting the upcoming 27th Federation Cup next month were given a major boast late today with the Goa Cricket Association handing the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda back to the Sports Authority of Goa after it could not secure to host a One-Day International match from the "Board of Cricket Control India". This comes after much discussion and controversy about blocking the Nehru stadium, which can hosts football and cricket, by the GCA even though it didn't secure hosting an international match.

Note-2: The AIFF and their Bangladeshi BFF counterparts today signed an agreement in Dhaka to organise the Ganga-Padma Football Tournament every year. The top sides of both countries would face each other in the tournament to enhance club football between the two countries. The agreement was signed by the presidents, SA Sultan for the BFF and PR Das Munshi for the AIFF.
Das Munshi said: "The name of the river may be different - Padma in Bangladesh and Ganga in India, but the heart is the same...the root of the river is also the same. India treats Bangladesh as its dearest friend. The tournament will definitely help enhance people-to-people relations," he said during the signing ceremony. Football works beyond the barrier of diplomacy."
Sultan said: "This tournament will strengthen solidarity between India and Bangladesh. I believe not only in football, we have to arrange such tournaments in cricket, hockey and kabaddi to keep the relationship sound."

Note-3: The AIFF Referee's Committee met today in New Delhi and has recommended nine referees for the FIFA panel of referees for the year 2006, two of them women.
Those referee's are: Rizwan-ul-Haq (Delhi), Subrata Sarkar (West Bengal), Manuel Pereira (Maharashtra), A Arjunan (Services), P Bhaskar (Tamil Nadu), S Suresh (Tamil Nadu), Praveer Kumar Bose (Madhya Pradesh). FIFA assistant referees: Komaleeswaran Sankar (TN), Shaji Kurian (Kerala), Udayan Haldar (West Bengal).
Women FIFA referees: Bentla D'Couth (Kerala), Chaitali Pal (West Bengal). Women FIFA assistant referees: Anamika Sen (West Bengal), Keilyani Chanu Chongtham (Manipur).
Komaleeswaran Sankar has also been recommended as a futsal referee.

Note-4: While the AIFF Referee's Committee recommended names for the FIFA panel of referees today, a former FIFA referee in Sundarraj Maheswaran Balu resigned in Bangalore today under sad circumstances. Referee Balu had supervised the illfated 26th Federation Cup final between Dempo SC-Mohun Bagan AC in December last year, when Brazilian striker Cristiano Junior died on the field, and after that he was one of the person's blamed for the death. Balu was never given a proper chance to tell his side of the story and now resigned from football a dejected man with no support even amongst his peers.

Note-5: by Xavier Rutsa: Realizing the needs to have an association, the Kohima District Referee Association was formed with a modest beginning in 1979 with K Chadi, K Delhou and Vizelhou Khezhie as its president, general and treasurers respectively and the association later got registered under the registrar of societies with the present nomenclature and was allotted the number RS.258 dtd 30th Sep.1980.
The KDRFA continued under their able leadership for almost one and half decades, according to the silver jubilee magazines, followed by the subsequent officers being elected from 1995-97, which was again headed by K Chadi and secretary K Delhou, from 1997-2001 Kutu Sekhose ewas the president and Vizopal Chaya as general secretay and from 2001-2004 Lhouliebeio Khezhie as the president and Kuotsuwhelie as the general secretary.
It also owes a great gratitude to the senior members, who had passed away and now in their old ages.
The Silver jubilee magazines revealed that the association was formed with the aims and objectives to promote and to develop the game of football to maintain the high standard of refereeing, to evolve better understanding and co-ordination among the players through the game, to collect the information pertaining to the laws of the game ands its amendments, to hold examination for different class/grade of football referee in the state, to appoint and depute referees to officiate in matches to be played under Nagaland FA/AIFF or other registered bodies sin the state.
Since its inception, KDRFA has been the backbone of the conducting the various tournament throughout the state which includes the Royal Gold Cup, Youth Soccer Championships, NSF Martyrs Trophy, etc.
Altogether there are 63 past and present members according to silver jubilee magazine.
A upcoming referee, Kevisweyie David says the sponsors should come forward to help both the players and refereess in the state. While his colleague Bentilo feels the stage government offers financial help to the referees, as they are doing dedicatory service to the people.
The NFA also from time to time conducts various referees examination to Class III which have benefited not only Kohima district but others districts also, adding it has always been eager that its members are well versed and abreast with the latest laws of the game, according to Kuotsuwhelie as the general secretary in his write-up.
The general secretary informs that the NFA deputed four-members delegations - Neingusalie Medom, Lhouliebeio Khezhie, Methalhoulie and Vizopal Chaya to attend the North East Zone Referees Seminar at Guwahati in 1997, which was coordinated by Eugen Strigel, instructor German FA and Absar Sattar, AIFF Referee Instructor.
Further the fun-frolicker of referee and the crowds by his actions, Kuotsuwhelie disclosed that in the year 2001 UB Bhattacharyee, AIFF Referee Board member and Instructor, conducted the examination for the Class I & II at Kohima under the aegis of NFA., where in five members - Kutu Sekhose, Neingusalie Medom, Vizopal Chaya, Methalhoulie Terhukha and Lhouliebieo Khezie successfully completed the Class I Referee examinations while Lenu, Kevilelie and Kuotsuwhelie also qualified for the Class II referee.
It is hoped that the state government and other agencies would come forward to help this genuine Association in the days and year to come.

20. September
Calcutta Premier League: Mohammedan Sporting Club 5-0 Eastern Railway SC - Goals: 1-0 KP Zubair (5'), 2-0 Amitava Ganguly (47'), 3-0 Suley Musah (71'), 4-0 Raman Vijayan (81'), 5-0 Patrick D'Souza (83').
Chennai Senior Division: State Bank of India 1-1 AGORC - Goals: 1-0 Kavi Bharathi (57'), 1-1 Balashankar (60').
Goa Third Division: St Sebastian SC, Mapusa 1-8 Youth SC, Colvale; Arlem YA 3-2 Parish Youth Nuvem; Cortalim SC 5-1 PYA Consua; Chandor SC 3-0 ICSC, Paroda; Davorlim SC 0-5 Curtorim Gymkhana; Enfermos SC 0-1 Navelim Sporting Club; Augustias SC 3-2 St Dominic Savio SC; Arpora SC 1-2 PVC Association; United Boys of Dando, Colva (walkover) Fatorda FC
57th Independence Day Cup - Round 1 Qualifiers: Rajasthani Yubak Sangha 0-2 FCI, Guwahati - Goals: 0-1 Abedul Ali (24'), 0-2 Raju Brahma (62').
Mumbai Elite Division: Bengal Mumbai FC 0-2 Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Atchuta Rao (2',85').
Mumbai Women's Football League: Fr Agnel SA (Red) 6-0 Franco FC; Sea View SC 3-0 Bombay Gymkhana; Fr Agnel SA (Blue) 3-0 Colaba Young Stars = CYS failed to turn-up, so match forfeited 3-0

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Quarterfinal: South-Eastern Railway 1-2 Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Quarterfinal: West-Central Railway 0-2 Western Railway

Note-1: The Calcutta Premier League match between Mohun Bagan-George Telegraph SC originally scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed by a couple of days and would now be held on Friday. The match had to be postponed due to a public transport strike in West Bengal due to the oil price hike. But still the two clubs would play each other tomorrow at the Howrah Municipal Stadium on the occasion of a library inauguration.

19. September
Goan Professional League: Fransa-Pax FC 1-0 MPT Sports Council - Goal: 1-0 Peter Rodrigues (9').
FPFC: Mark Mascarenhas, Cedric Fernandes (John Baretto), Ryan D'Souza, Cresson Antao, Marcus Peixeto, Peter Rodrigues, Peter Carvalho, Peter Pereira (Godwin Diego Franco), Surojit Roy, Alex Ambrose (K Muhammed Nizam), Lector Caido.
MPT: Cosme Oliveira, Sebestiao Oliviera, Casmiro Peixoto, Pillory Alvares, Faisal Martins, Franky Pereira (Lyold Mascarenhas), Michael Monteiro, Queeno Gurjao (Brijesh Dessai), Vilas Morje, Vishant Pednekar, Marcus Carvalho (Jeetendra Bhise).
YELLOW CARDS: Queeno Gurjao, Casmiro Peixoto (both MPT).

Calcutta Super Division: Railway FC 1-2 SAIL
Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta FC 0-0 Khidderpore Sporting Union
Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta Customs 1-1 Mohammedan AC
Calcutta Super Division: West Bengal Police 1-1 Peerless SC
Chennai Senior Division: Chennai Customs 1-0 Indian Bank - Goal: 1-0 Kumar (23').
Delhi Senior Division - Group B: Delhi Police (walkover) Moonlight Club
Goan Professional League: Sporting Clube de Goa 0-1 Vasco SC - Goal: 0-1 Rovan Pereira (37').
Goa Third Division: Sangolda Lightning Club 2-1 Saligao United; St Christopher SC 2-1 Sirsaim SWC; St Rock's YC 1-3 Verna SC; AA de Moira 2-2 Bicholim AFF; St Anthony's Club, Colva 1-1 St Sebastian SC, Fatorda; Sirvodem SC 5-0 Carmel SC; Shiroda YC 1-0 YC Manora; Ambelim SC 0-0 YWC Assolna; Chicalim SC - Cross Boys = match postponed
57th Independence Day Cup - Round 1 Qualifiers: Royal SC, Guwahati 5-0 9th Assam Police Battalion - Goals: 1-0,3-0,4-0,5-0 K Kiwi (40',70',73',80'), 2-0 Jangthung (52').
Mumbai Elite Division: H2K-Holy Family 0-3 Maharashtra State Police - Goals: 0-1 Parag Sawant (61' - penalty), 0-2,0-3 Javed Pathan (69',90+2').
Mumbai Super Division: Income Tax - Dena Bank = match postponed due to heavy rains.
Mumbai Women's Football League: Bodyline FC 0-3 Bandra (West) FA; Fr Agnel SA (Red) 3-0 Rhema FC; Khalsa College SA 1-0 Franco FC; Bandra Packers 4-0 Colaba Young Stars; Sea View SC 2-0 Mumbaikar United; Bombay Gymkhana - Fr Agnel SA (Blue) = FA (Blue) failed to turn-up, so match forfeited 3-0
Punjab State Super League: Punjab Police 2-2 Punjab State Electricity Board - Goals: 1-0 Harnek Singh (11'), 2-0 Harshdeep Singh (70'), 2-1 Gurpreet Singh (85'), 2-2 Dalip Kumar (89').
Punjab State Super League: Mahilpur FC 0-2 Border Security Force

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: South-Central Railway 2-0 Diesel Locomotive Works
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: Western Railway 3-1 North-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: East Coast Railway 2-1 Metro Rail
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: North-Western Railway 0-1 Southern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: Rail Coach Factory 2-1 East-Central Railway

Note-1: The application phase for Indian national football coach ended today with 15 coaches from across India having applied for the top coaching job in Indian football. Currently Sukhvinder Singh is the coach, but many expect a new coach to take over after not so promising results in Pakistan and Fiji.
The illustrious list of applicants is headed by former national coach Syed Nayeemuddin and includes former Mohun Bagan coach Subrata Bhattacharya, India junior coaches Johar Das, Prasanta Banerjee and Satheevan Balan plus Debashish Mukherjee, GS Parmar, Shyamal Banerjee, M Peethambaram, M Ratan Singh, KP Sethumadhavan, Rajeev PK, K Suresh Babu, Ekendra Singh and Dr Birbal Singh.

Note-2: Officially the final results of the Mohun Bagan AC club elections will be released tomorrow, but today it was known that current secretary Anjan Mitra has beaten his rival and current assistant secretary Balaram Chowdhury by 568 votes for the post of secretary.
In total 4289 votes were cast and the margin is much smaller than many had expected in favour of Anjan Mitra. The overall results will be known by tomorrow evening.

Note-3: Nigerian Mike Okoro landed in Calcutta today to end all speculation about his return to East Bengal Club. East Bengal, having played without foreigners so far, and also having problems upfront in the striking zone hope that Okoro will be a potent weapon, as he has been in the past, in their quest to win the Federation Cup and regain the National League title. After signing their first of three possible foreigners, East Bengal are looking to balance their team in a right way for the challenges ahead with a defensive and/or an attacking midfielder sought.
Meanwhile rumours say that Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto might return to India. Barreto is said to have offers from his former club Mohun Bagan as well as from archrivals East Bengal and Mumbai giants Mahindra United. If he will return to India is unknown.

18. September
Goan Professional League: Dempo SC 2-1 Churchill Brothers SC - Goals: 1-0 Clifford Miranda (42'), 1-1 Chanambam Jatin Singh (77'), 2-1 Ishfaq Ahmed (85').
DEMPO: Abhijit Mondal, Samir Naik, D Ravanan, Stanley Colaco, Pio Rodrigues, Clifford Miranda, Climax Lawrence, Jules Alberto Dias, Agnelo Martins (Nacimento Silveira), Ishfaq Ahmed, Joaquim Abranches (Levy Coelho).
CHURCHILL: Vinay Singh, Syed Hussein, Rupesh Thunal, Villroy D'Cruz, Mohammed Shafeeq, Vanlal Rova, Chitrasen Chandam Singh (PT Somy), Papiah Jagadish Kumar, Donald Rocha (Savio Monteiro), Freddy Mascarenhas, Adolf Caido (Chanambam Jatin Singh).
YELLOW CARDS: Samir Naik, Abhijit Mondal, Nacimento Silveira.

Mumbai Elite Division: Mahindra United 1-2 Air-India - Goals: 1-0 Surajit Bose (40'), 1-1 Paresh Shivalkar (76'), 1-2 Anthony Fernandes (90+1').
MAHINDRA: Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Manju Nanjangud Shivananju, Rauf Khan, Subhas Chakraborty (82' Gouramangi Singh), Sushanth Mathew, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, Shanmugam Venkatesh (82' Anees Kutty), Surajit Bose, Abhishek Yadav.
AIR-INDIA: Raju Ekka, Haobijam Napoleon Singh, Benoy Kuruvilla, Santosh Koli, Hringsolal Thomte, Hamza Zaheer Abbas (66' Uttam Leishangthem Singh), Paresh Shivalkar, Noel Fernandes (66' Suprith Jathanna, 79' Sumit Thapa), Vijith Shetty, Anthony Fernandes, Lawrence Dias.
YELLOW CARDS: Manju Nanjangud Shivananju (51'), Surkumar Singh (81' both Mahindra); Benoy Kuruvilla (71'), Lawrence Dias (90+3' both Air-India).

Chennai Senior Division: Madras Sporting Union 1-1 Netaji SC - Goals: 1-0 Karthik (34'), 1-1 Ravikumar (72').
Goan Professional League: Salgaocar SC 1-0 Raia Sporting Club - Goal: 1-0 Fabio Dos Passos (10').
Goa Third Division: Holiday SC 4-1 Siolim Sodiem
Mumbai Elite Division: Golden Gunners - Mumbai Customs = match postponed due to inappropriate ground conditions.
Mumbai Women's Football League: Khalsa College SA 0-4 Bodyline FC; Fr Agnel SA (Red) 4-0 Bandra (West) FA; Rhema FC 0-0 Franco FC; Colaba Young Stars 0-2 Mumbaikar United; Bombay Gymkhana 0-1 Bandra Packers; Sea View SC 7-0 Fr Agnel SA (Blue)
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Semifinal: Karnataka State Police 1-0 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC - Goal: 1-0 Srinath (84').

Srinagar Senior Division - Final: Jammu&Kashmir Police 1-0 Jammu&Kashmir Bank
U21 Assam Championship, Lakhimpur - Final: Guwahati 4-1 Gossaigaon

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Eastern Railway SC 8-0 Wheel & Axle Plant
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Central Railway 5-0 Northern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: NF Railway SC 3-1 North-Eastern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: South-East-Central Railway 1-2 Integral Coach Factory
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: Chittaranjan Locomotive Works 0-6 West-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: South-Western Railway 3-0 RDSO, Lucknow
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: North-Central Railway 0-2 Metro Rail
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: South-Central Railway 0-2 East Coast Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: South-Eastern Railway 2-0 North-Western Railway

Note-1: The AIFF Disciplinary Committee met yesterday to discuss the issue of John Charles Dias signing for two clubs.
The result of the meeting was disclosed today by the AIFF president Das Munshi in Calcutta. He said that the AIFF had decided to slap a fine of Rs 300,000 on East Bengal and Rs 100,000 each on Dempo SC and John Dias for the imbroglio involving the three over the signing of the player for the current season. This meant that the Disciplinary Committee had upheld the earlier decision of the Players' Status Committee on the fines for the three parties involved. All sides had a week's time to appeal against the fines. Also Dias' signature on the East Bengal contract would be sent for forensic examination, to clear if his claim of it being forged was right or wrong.
Talking about other issues the AIFF president said that the AIFF and the Bangladesh FF would sign a "Memorandum of Understanding" on jointly organising a Club Tournament for the top three teams from each country, the so-called Ganga-Padma Cup, which has been discussed in the past.
Further Das Munshi said that the AIFF would scrutinise the applications for national coach on September 20. Currently known publically Syed Nayeemuddin, Subrata Bhattacharya and Prasanta Banerjee have applied for the job.
The final decision on the foreign technical director would be taken after the Durga Puja festivities.

Note-2: The Mohun Bagan AC club elections were held today at the Town Hall in Calcutta with more than 4,000 of th 6,500 club members casting their votes. Many had to wait a long time to cast their vote, but most said it was surely worth it. Tomorrow the votes would be counted before results are declared on Tuesday. 60 people contested for the 20 seats in the executive committee.

Note-3: Shaji C. Kurian who is a FIFA Assistant Referee, will be the Referee for the AFC Cup 2005 - Quarterfinal return-leg match between Tampines Rovers (Singapore) Vs Al-Faisaly (Jordan) on September 21 at Tampines Stadium, Singapore.

Note-4: A new chapter was added to the saga of Sporting Clube de Goa and road accidents today as their midfielder Wilton Gomes suffered a motorbike accident in Telaulim today. Wilton was taken to Goa Medical College hospital, where he is undergoing treatment. He could be out for a while.

Note-5: The 6th edition of the NST Martyrs' Memorial Trophy would take place at Kohima local ground, Nagaland from October 6 to November 5. The last date for submission of entry forms is on September 24.
The Trophy has been initiated in remembrance and honour of two students, Late Kekuojalie Sanchu and Late Vikhozo Yhoshu who made the supreme sacrifice in 1986 while on the call of duty during NSF's fight for justice and rights of the students community is organized under the aegis of the Angami Students Union (ASU). "The trophy has, since then over the years turned out to be one of the most popular and favourite amongst the local tournaments, attracting the highest number of participating teams from near and far" a release said.
The union while venturing to raise the playing standard and image of the Trophy has extended invitations to few selected local teams, basing on the team's performance in the past editions of the trophy. Efforts are also on to bring teams from the neighbouring states. ASU also appealed to all the tribal federating units of the NSF for support and participation in the same.
Rs. 1.50 lakh has been set as the total prize money. The winner and runners-up will be awarded with Rs. 70,000 and Rs. 35,000 respectively registering an increment of Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5000 respectively from the previous year's edition prize money.

17. September
The latest FIFA Women's World rankings were released yesterday by the world governing body with the INDIA Women remaining 57th in rankings, while in Asia our women remain 10th. The Indian women now have 1443 points, four points less than three month's ago. The Women rankings are released quarterly.

Calcutta Premier League: Mohammedan Sporting Club 0-3 East Bengal Club - Goals: 0-1 Arun Malhotra (4'), 0-2 Alvito D'Cunha (54'), 0-3 Syed Rahim Nabi (67').
MSC: Gopal Das, Amjad Ali Khan, Rodingson Sangma, Madhusudan Majumdar, Kabijit Khotel, Palash Karmakar, Jiten Rai (67' Adil Qadir), Suley Musah, Satyajit Bose, Muhammad Mukhtar (61' Raman Vijayan), Patrick D'Souza.
EAST BENGAL: Abhra Mondal, Surya Bikash Chakraborty, Covan Lawrence (66' Debkumar Sashmal), Muttath Suresh, Arun Malhotra, Soumik Dey, Jatin Singh Bisht, Debjit Ghosh, Bernard Pires (54' Chandan Das), Alvito D'Cunha (74' Shylo Malswam Tulunga), Syed Rahim Nabi.

Mumbai Women's Football League: Rhema FC 0-0 Khalsa College SA; Mumbaikar United 5-1 Bandra Packers
Punjab State Super League: Mahilpur FC 1-3 Punjab Police - Goals: 1-0 Mandeep Singh (43'), 1-1,1-3 Parminder Singh (57',87'), 1-2 Jaspal Singh (73').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Semifinal: MEG 1-1,2-4 LRDE [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Ramu, 1-1 J Muralidharan (85')

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: Western Railway 0-0 East Coast Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: South-Central Railway 1-1 Metro Rail
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: Diesel Locomotive Works 0-3 North-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: Rail Coach Factory 2-0 North-Western Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: South-Eastern Railway 6-1 Southern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: East-Central Railway 4-0 Railway Board SC

Note-1: by Armstrong Vaz: Football lovers in Goa are in for a treat. A treat to the football extravaganza which will extend to the eight teams vying for the top honors in the Goa Professional League title. The extravaganza which will be a double tier meet, which will extend to over three months and is likely to end in November.
The much awaited Goa Professional League will kick off with last years winners Salgaocar SC taking on newly promoted Raia Sporting Club tomorrow evening at Tilak Maidan, Vasco.
Salgaocar is coached by the newly anpointed chief coach Shabbir Ali, while Ajay Acharya will be guiding the destiny of the Raia SC on Sunday at Tilak.
Both Salgoacar SC and Raia SC lost to Sporting Clube de Goa in the recently concluded Goa Police Cup.
Sporting Clube downed Salgaocar SC 1-0 in the semifinal while Raia SC lost to Sporting Clube 0-2 in the quarterfinals.
Raia SC in the meanwhile have romped in a few promising strikers to strengthen the strike force. Cuncolim based striker Wesley Coutinho after repulsing many an offers have finally struck with Raia SC. Giving him company in the strike force will his neighbouring village mate Ambelim based Rehman Cardozo. Raia have also take on Domingos Rodrigues (Sitabai) to reinforce their midfield.
Raia coach Ajay Acharya informed that that of the two foreigners practicing with them one of the Nigerians has been asked to go home while the second one is on trials.
"Our strike force will be strengthen with the current induction", informed the former Air-India player turned coach of Raia for the last two years.
In the Salgaocar camp the boys have undergone a one week camp after the Police Cup campaign ended. The fate of the foreign arrivals in the Salgaocar camp is not clear.
The north Goa fans will have their share of shouting for their favourite stars as NFL title winners Dempo SC will meet a new look Churchill Brothers SC at Duler ground, Mapusa on Sunday evening.
The league according to sources in GFA will have a break to allow the teams to participate in the Federation Cup.
The league will be a double phase league affair. The league will serve as an opportunity for the NFL clubs to gauge there strengthens after their performance in the Goa Pro League.
Uncertainty prevails over the foreign players playing in the Goa Pro League. MPT Sports Council with their sports policy and being a central government organization cannot take any foreign players on their rolls. There is still no sign of the foreign players till now in the Salgaocar SC, Vasco SC and Churchill Brothers SC camp till date. Last years Dempo Nigerian recruits defender Majekodunmni Bolaji and striker Ranty Martins Soleye have already landed up in the state now it remains to be seen whether Dempo coach Armando Colaco will using their services in the Goa Pro League. Sporting Clube de Goa's foreign reinforcements will come in the month of October informed manager Anju Albuquerque. At Fransa-Pax FC the foreign reinforcements are yet to arrive and sources informed that the foreign players will reach the Fransa-Pax camp in tune with the preparation for the NFL.
Dempo SC, Sporting Clube de Goa, Salgaocar SC, Fransa-Pax FC, Churchill Brothers SC, Vasco SC, Raia Sporting Club and MPT Sports Council are the eight teams in the Goa Pro League.

Note-2: Mohun Bagan AC will hold club elections for the first time in 14 years tomorrow as more than 6.000 club members can cast their votes at Town Hall. But this club election is something different as it rather resembles that of a political kind with two warring factions one led by club secretary Anjan Mitra and the other by assistant secretary Balaram Chowdhury fighting for control of the club. The voting starts at 09.00 IST with 400 police officers to be deployed to avoid any untoward incidence.

Note-3: The Myanmar FF is set to organise a Four Nation Football Tournament in November 2005 with China, India and Bangladesh set to take part besides the hosts. The hosts would use the tournament for exposure for their juniors ahead of the South-East Asian Games, while China would send their U21 team, India would give their U20 boys exposure ahead of the Asia U20 Qualifiers, while Bangladesh would send their senior side ahead of the Asia Cup qualifiers.

16. September
A PTI report: National coach Sukhvinder Singh today met AIFF president Das Munshi to discuss the Indian team's lacklustre performances in the recent months.
"I met the AIFF President this morning and we had a good discussion over various issues concerning the game in India," Sukhvinder said over phone from Phagwara.
The coach said the meeting, which lasted for about 20 minutes this morning, took place in a "cordial" atmosphere.
"Dada (Das Munshi) asked me whatever he wanted to know and I also said whatever was in my mind," Sukhvinder said.
The Executive Committee of the AIFF, in its meeting here on September 7, had decided to ask Sukhvinder to appear before Das Munshi to "present his future plans for the team".
The meeting was scheduled to take place yesterday but had to be delayed by a day as Das Munshi and Federation Secretary General Alberto Colaco were attending the 55th Ordinary FIFA Congress at Marrakesh in Morocco.
Sukhvinder's future as national coach was in jeopardy after the pathetic display by the team in Pakistan, where they lost a three-match series on goal difference, and Fiji, where they lost all their encounters.
The coach, however, was tightlipped about what exactly was discussed at today's meeting.
"That is between the President and me and I cannot divulge any details in this regard," he said.
Asked whether he was confident of retaining his job in the light of AIFF asking for applications for the post of national coach, Sukhvinder said "I am the coach at least till someone else is appointed."

Charity Match - Jamshedpur: Jharkhand Invitational XI 0-5 Tata Football Academy - Goals: 0-1,0-2,0-4 Pachau Lalam Puia (24',32',?'), 0-3 Vimal Pariyar, 0-5 TB Bineesh.
The match was inaugurated by Raghubar Das, Jharkhand Finance Minister, with other dignitaries present during the match. Among those were Sunil Mahto, MP Jamshedpur and Enos Ekka, Jharkhand Rural Development, NREP, Transport Minister.
The following players played for the Jharkhand Invitational XI: Sudesh Mahto (Minister, Home & Prison, Road & Building Construction, Art, Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Jharkhand); Madhu Koda (Minister, Parliamentary Affairs, Mines & Geology, Cooperatives, Jharkhand); Baichung Bhutia; Gautam Ghosh; Swapan Dey; Sanjay Parte; Kiran Khongsai; KC Murmu; Noel Wilson; Gabli; Carlton Chapman; Lal Mohan Hansdah; Malswama; Bungo Singh; P Manoharan; Gunabir Singh; Ajay Kumar Singh; Renedy Singh; Kausar Ahmed; Rashid Mehendi; Jiten Hembrem.

Calcutta Premier League: Tollygunge Agragami 1-1 EverReady SA - Goals: 1-0 Bhola Prasad, 1-1 Sheikh Habeeb Ali.
Calcutta Premier League: Calcutta Port Trust 0-1 George Telegraph SC - Goal: 0-1 Arup Chatterjee.
Chennai Senior Division: SAI,Chennai 1-1 Octopus Marine SC - Goals: 0-1 Marikani (24'), 1-1 Karunakaran (47').
Mumbai Elite Division: Maharashtra State Police 0-0 Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers - Goals: none.
Mumbai Elite Division: Bengal Mumbai FC - Indian Navy = match postponed due to inappropriate ground conditions
Mumbai Women's Football League: Rhema FC 0-5 Bodyline FC; Bandra (West) FA 0-0 Khalsa College SA; Fr Agnel SA (Red) - Franco FC = match postponed
Punjab State 2nd Division League - Phase II: Sikh National SC 1-1 GS Parmar FC - Goals: 0-1 Amardeep Singh (23'), 1-1 Jatinder Singh (53').
Punjab State 2nd Division League - Phase II: SGGSS FC, Jalandhar 0-3 Bassi FC - Goals: 0-1 Amarinder Singh (18'), 0-2 Samuel Masih (23'), 0-3 Varinder Singh (54').

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Eastern Railway SC 2-0 Northern-Frontier Railway SC
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Central Railway 5-0 North-Eastern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Northern Railway 7-0 Wheel & Axle Plant
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: West-Central Railway 17-0 RDSO, Lucknow
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: Integral Coach Factory 11-0 South-Western Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: South-East-Central Railway 0-0 Chittaranjan Locomotive Works
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: South-Eastern Railway 7-0 Railway Board SC

Note-1: The Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi, the German Cultural Centre, will host the "Weltsprache Fußball - Planet Football" exhibition at the Siddhartha Hall from September 24 to October 8, 2005. The exhibition will be opened by German Ambassador to India, Heimo Richter, a day earlier on September 23 at 18.30 IST.
A special screening of "Shoot Goals, Shoot Movies", short movies and cartoons, will be held on Saturday, September 24 at 18.30 IST in the Siddhartha Hall.

Note-2: East Bengal Club today announced at a press conference at the club's Maidan tent that the Allahabad Bank will become the clubs co-sponsor with the logo of the bank to sport the clubs shorts. East Bengal would be getting Rs 1,5 million as sponsorship money.

Note-3: The annual All-India Public Sector Football Tournament 2005 will be held from September 19 to 26 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. The league-cum-knockout tournament would feature 10 teams amongst them title holders ONGC, runners-up FCI plus AAI, BSNL, Damodar Valley Corporation, MTNL, NALCO and Singreni Collieries.

15. September
IndianFootball.Com will be covering the annual Soccerex Congress, November 13-15 2005 in Dubai, which will be the biggest and the best yet with a host of influential industry figures from around the world coming together to discuss the latest issues in football.
Amongst other things, there will be a "FIFA and Global Brands Licensing Seminar" to be attended by FIFA Marketing's Head of Licensing Joelle Macoin with the delegation from Global Brands Group led by CEO Mark Matheny and Chairman Jonathan Sieff. Also there will be a FIFA Artificial Turf presentation at Soccerex 2005, something surely of interest to India with diversified weather across the country and across the year.
As it looks at the moment, IndianFootball.Com will sadly be the only Indian football representatives at this high level football gathering. We hope to inform and tell the football world about Indian football and it's possibilities. And like other events we cover, all expenses will be paid from our own pockets as IndianFootball.Com is a non-commercial organisation, where none of the editors get any money for their work. Our only intension of going there is to promote the cause of Indian football. So lets hope we achieve something for the good of the game in our country.

Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta Customs 1-3 Khidderpore Sporting Union
Calcutta Super Division: West Bengal Police 1-1 Calcutta FC
Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan AC 3-3 SAIL
Calcutta Super Division: Peerless SC 1-1 Railway FC
Chennai Senior Division: State Bank of India 0-0 Dhinamani FC - Goals: none.
Goa Third Division: Peddem Bomm SC 3-1 Sai Avtar SC; Rossman Cruz Nagao 1-1 UC Utorda; Our Lady of Gloria 1-0 SCC Loutulim; Cross Boys 1-0 PYA Consua; Calangute Association 12-0 Pilerne SC; Club Sao Miguel de Taleigao 2-2 Nauxim SC; Tropa SCC 1-1 Siolim Sodiem; St Cruz, Poitomado 15-0 SWC Zaino; Cancona Football Academy 2-0 Our Lady of Fatima SC
Mumbai Elite Division: Golden Gunners 3-0 Bank of India - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Soccor Velho (11',43'), 2-0 Sujit Manaly (30' - Penalty).
Mumbai Super Division: Akbar Travels - Sea View SC = match postponed due to inappropriate ground conditions.
Punjab State 2nd Division League - Phase II: SGGSS FC, Jalandhar 2-1 GS Parmar FC - Goals: 1-0 Manpreet Singh (20'), 1-1 Amardeep Singh (25'), 2-1 Navkaran Singh (75').
Punjab State 2nd Division League - Phase II: Sikh National SC 0-1 Bassi FC - Goal: 0-1 Narinder Singh (89').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group B: Royals SC 3-1 ADE - Goals: 0-1 Shamjith (13'), 1-1 Wilfred (45'), 2-1 Ajith (57'), 3-1 Jayaprasad (78').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group B: Karnataka State Police 0-0 SAI,Bangalore - Goals: none.

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: North-Central Railway 2-0 South-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: Western Railway 1-1 Metro Rail
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: Diesel Locomotive Works 1-1 East Coast Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: Rail Coach Factory 2-1 Southern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: South-Eastern Railway 2-0 East-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: North-Western Railway 6-0 Railway Board SC

National School Games Football 2005 (boys) Under-19 Championship, Srinagar - Final: Manipur 3-0 Jammu&Kashmir - Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-0 T Suraj (34',41',55').

3rd Debesh Chakravarty Football Tournament, Lumding - Final: Assam State Electricity Board 3-0 SAI Centre, Cuttack - Goals: 1-0 Manikanta Brahma (31'), 2-0 Sanjiva Rongpi (67'), 3-0 Nitu Narzary (69').

Note-1: As we had reported a few days ago the Tata Football Academy cadets will take on a Jharkhand Invitational XI tomorrow for a charity match for the Jharkhand Drought Relief Fund at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur. Tata Steel are the Principal Sponsors of this match.
The Jharkhand Invitational XI will have Sudesh Mahato (Minister of Home, Art, Culture, Youth Affairs & Sports, Jharkhand) and India striker Baichung Bhutia along with a number of former TFA cadets. The other players are Subrata Pal, Praveen Rawat, Jerry Zirsanga, Noel Wilson, Carlton Chapman, Ajay Kumar Singh, KC Murmu, Kiran Khongsai, P´Manoharan, Gunabir Singh, Bungo Singh, Sanjay Parte.

Note-2: Calcutta's Mohammedan Sporting Club have signed their second foreigner of the season in Nigerian Okonji Onyelo Patrick D'Souza. Patrick had earlier played for Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile defender-cum-midfielder Anit Kumar Ghosh could be back with his former side East Bengal Club. Anit had a training session with the red-and-gold at the club's Maidan ground today and the club is looking to strenghen the team ahead of the national season.

Note-3: by Armstrong Vaz: The Chowgule Group of Companies have in the fore front in many an educational fields all over Goa. The Chowgule Group of Companies have now all set to have state of the art modern play ground, the first of its kind in south Asia. The mega project which involves laying of artificial turf playing surface at the existing Chowgule College ground at college campus.
The project involves a sum of Rs.2.5 crores and all the expenses will be taken care by the Chowgule Group of Companies informed one of the Director of Chowgule Group of Companies, Umaji Chowgule.
He informed that that the Chowgule Group of Companies are interested in improving the existing infrastructure at the college campus. He further disclosed that a health club and a science club are the other priorities of the management.
The artificial turf surface which is will be the first of its kind in India and also a first for south Asia, which will be imported from Canada. Sources informed that around nine containers loaded with the artifical grass will be making their way to Goa from Canada.
The artificial grass surface does not require any watering and according to information available is conducive to football and hockey. "We are checking whether Cricket can be played on these type of surface" informed Umaji. Umaji himself was a cricket player and is also into water sports participation.
Sources informed that the management of Chowgule Group of Companies have been in touch with the National Cricket Academy, Bangalore to test the feasibility of the prospect of playing cricket on the artificial grass.
College authorities informed that the soil testing has been done and a Pooja too has been undertaken informed sources.
Anil Kumar from Hyderabad will be working on the project while plans of the project include constructing natural slopping stands. The slopping stands will be like the stands one finds at cricket grounds in Australia and New Zealand. The stands will be constructed from mud generated from the digged surface of the existing 7000 square metres ground. The stands will serve as a sitting arrangements for the spectators who will come to witness the sporting action.
According to sources the work of digging the surface will get done this month and other allied works, the artificial grass will be installed.
According to experts from the field handling artificial grass, it was informed that the grass when it catches fire burns for one square metre and there after automatically stops the fire.
The campus around Chowgule college will undergo a drastic change once the project is completed. The college management is also planning to install full proof security once the mega project is completed.
The project is a non commercial one informed Umaji Chowgule. "Indian football team can use the services of this ground. The ground being one of its kind in India they are welcomed to use the ground with out being charged."

14. September
The latest FIFA World Rankings were released today with INDIA losing a couple of spots to be now 134th in the world amongst 205 nations affiliated to FIFA. In Asia INDIA remain in 25th spot.

Calcutta Premier League: Mohun Bagan AC 2-1 Eastern Railway SC - Goals: 1-0,2-1 Gley Yao Rodrigue (22',45+'), 1-1 Binoy Saha (30').
MOHUN BAGAN: Subrata Pal, Sanjay Parte, Dulal Biswas, Mehraj Din Wadoo, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Dharamjit Singh, Tomba Singh, Noel Wilson, Harvinder Singh, Manjit Singh (39' Jerry Zirsanga), Gley Yao Rodrigue.
ERSC: Tapan Kumar Karmakar, Dipyendu Panja (56' Biswajit Biswas), Subhankar Maity, Barun Kar, Dipankar Ghosh, Abhijit Mondal, Barun Kundu, Kuntal Biswas, Joydeep Bose (67' Samrat Roy Chowdhuri), Farid Ali Mollah, Binoy Saha.
YELLOW-RED CARD: Gley Yao Rodrigue (75' Mohun Bagan).

Mumbai Elite Division: Mumbai Customs 1-2 Air-India - Goals: 0-1 Haobijam Napoleon Singh (22'), 1-1 Augusto Conceicao (73'), 1-2 Suprith Jathanna (80').
MUMBAI CUSTOMS: Rajesh Bangera, Omkar Sawant, Milton Fernandes, Vikas Mangela, Chandramurthi Bharati, Hekmat Singh, Jitin Sahi, Siddarth Puthran, Stalin Mathew (68' Augusto Conceicao), Ravish D'Souza (86' Ashish Bhoir), Nigel D'Souza (69' Nitin Shetty).
AIR-INDIA: Raju Ekka, Stephen Hmar, Eldin Bothello, Haobijam Napoleon Singh, Santosh Koli, Paresh Shivalkar, Hringsolal Thomte, Javed Ansari, Noel Fernandes (81' Benoy Kuruvilla), Neil Gaikwad (73' Suprith Jathanna), Lawrence Dias (86' Henry Picardo).
YELLOW CARDS: Rajesh Bangera (21'), Jitin Sahi (36'), Nitin Shetty (82' all M.Customs); Neil Gaikwad (31'), Javed Ansari (36'), Lawrence Dias (81' all Air-India).

Chennai Senior Division: Indian Bank 3-1 Netaji SC - Goals: 1-0 Syed Shabir Pasha (8'), 2-0 James Singh (9'), 3-0 Ramesh (30'), 3-1 Zeelan Byder (34').
Goa Third Division: Anjuna Gymkhana 1-0 Chapora Yuvak Sangh; Quitual SC 1-1 Bicholim AFF; Eagles SC 9-3 Adarsh Yuvak Sangh; Merces Club 1-1 Sateri SC; Cortalim SC 5-0 Chicalim SC; St Anthony's Club, Colva (walkover) Fatorda FC; United Boys of Palolem - Agonda SC; Holy Cross SC - Holiday SC
Mumbai Women's Football League: Sea View SC 7-0 Colaba Young Stars; Bandra Packers 0-0 Fr Agnel SA (Blue); Bombay Gymkhana 0-1 Mumbaikar United
Punjab State Super League: Punjab Police - Punjab State Electricity Board = match postponed due to heavy rain
Punjab State 2nd Division League - Phase II: SGGSS FC, Jalandhar 4-0 Sikh National SC - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Manpreet Singh (14',48'), 3-0 Rupinder Singh (55'), 4-0 Mukhtiar Singh (75').
Punjab State 2nd Division League - Phase II: GS Parmar FC 0-0 Bassi FC - Goals: none.
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group A: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC 1-0 AGORC - Goal: 1-0 Sugandra (90').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group A: BEL SC 0-1 CIL - Goal: 0-1 Enian (61').

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: NF Railway SC 4-0 Northern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Eastern Railway SC 2-0 North-Eastern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Central Railway 24-0 Wheel & Axle Plant
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: South-East-Central Railway 0-1 West-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: Integral Coach Factory 11-0 Research Design & Standards Organisation, Lucknow
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: Chittaranjan Locomotive Works 0-0 South-Western Railway

Note-1: A PTI report: The name of the next coach of the Indian football team is likely to be declared in early October, the game's governing body in the country said today. "The expert committee to deliberate on the issue of the next coach will meet on September 30 and the name of the selected candidate is likely to be announced in the next couple of days," AIFF vice-president Subrata Dutta told PTI from Calcutta. The committee, comprising PK Banerjee, Chuni Goswami, CR Viswanathan and Dereyk DeSouza, will go through the applications received for the post and make their recommendations to AIFF President Dasmunshi who will announce the name of the next national coach within a day or two, Dutta said. The last date for receiving applications has also been extended by a day to September 18, sources in the AIFF said. The expert committee meeting was earlier scheduled for September 27 but was put back by three days as its members needed more time to scrutinise and deliberate on the various candidates, they said.

Note-2: The AIFF disciplinary committee will next meet in New Delhi on September 17. The five member committee will amongst other issues discuss the pending case of John Charles Dias, who had signed for Dempo SC and East Bengal Club after leaving Salgaocar SC. If the clubs are found guilty then they might face a penalty of Rs 300,000, while the player could be fined Rs 100,000 if he is found to have committed a mistake. Both concerned clubs are not happy with the situation and East Bengal is concidering legal action, if the case goes against their interests.

13. September
Calcutta Premier League: East Bengal Club 3-1 Tollygunge Agragami - Goals: 1-0 Manoj Das (3' - own Goal), 2-0 Bernard Pires (19'), 2-1 Prasanta Chakraborty (44'), 3-1 RC Prakash (89').
EAST BENGAL: Abhra Mondal, Surya Bikash Chakraborty, Debkumar Sashmal, Debjit Ghosh, Arun Malhotra, Soumik Dey, Jatin Singh Bisht (61' Kalia Kulothungan), Bernard Pires (45' Covan Lawrence), Shylo Malswam Tulunga, Syed Rahim Nabi, Alvito D'Cunha (72' RC Prakash).
TOLLYGUNGE: Pralay Dutta, Manoj Das, Nayan Dey, Mahesh Sarkar, Dibakar Roy, Sheikh Azim, Prasanta Chakraborty, Ajay Saha (45' Srikanta Das; 75' Sudip Banik), Surajit Chakraborty Jr, Abdul Rauf Khan (64' Tarak Basu), Ayan Chowdhury.

Chennai Senior Division: Chennai Customs 0-0 Madras Sporting Union - Goals: none.
Goa Third Division: Assagao YC 5-1 Vagator Parish YSC; Cristo Rei YC 5-0 Betalbatim SC; Arlem YA 0-2 YC Manora; St Sebastian SC, St Cruz 3-2 Odxel SC; CRC Chinchinim 4-1 Cuncolim Union; St Sebastian SC, Mapusa 0-0 Sirsaim SWC; Sinquerim SC 0-21 AA de Moira; Sirvodem SC 2-0 Enfermos SC
Mumbai Elite Division: Bengal Mumbai FC 1-1 H2K-Holy Family - Goals: 0-1 Camilo Rodrigues (23'), 1-1 Khalid Siddique (85').
Mumbai Super Division: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) - Union Bank of India = match postponed due to inappropriate ground conditions.
Punjab State Super League: JCT Football Academy 0-2 JCT Mills - Goals: 0-1 Praveen Kumar (5'), 0-2 Sunil Chetri (57').
Punjab State 2nd Division League - Phase I Group B: Bassi FC 0-0 International FC
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group B: Karnataka State Police 3-0 ADE - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Esmond (3',30'),3-0 Girish (67').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group B: Royals SC 1-3 LRDE - Goals: 0-1 Mahendra (27'), 0-2 Stalin (33'), Murali (62'), 1-3 Ajith (82')

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: Diesel Locomotive Works 0-2 Western Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: North-Central Railway - Metro Rail = postponed due to rain
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: South-Central Railway - East Coast Railway = postponed due to rain
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: Rail Coach Factory 4-0 Railway Board SC
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: East-Central Railway 1-1 Southern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: South-Eastern Railway - North-Western Railway = postponed due to rain

Note-1: A PTI report: Even as the date for the proposed appearance of national coach Sukhvinder Singh before AIFF draws near, confusion reigned supreme as neither the date nor the agenda of the meeting seems to have been decided as yet.
To make matters worse, Sukhvinder is yet to get an official intimation about appearing before the AIFF chief Das Munshi and what he needs to ‘explain.'
"I haven't received any communication from the federation and can't comment on what I am required to do at the meeting," Sukhvinder said over phone, adding "whatever I have heard in this regard is through the media only."

Note-2: The AIFF is still to decide who is to host the upcoming 27th Federation Cup. It will either be between Goa or Calcutta with Calicut as the alternative host venue for India's Premier knockout tournament. Calcutta has hosted the Federation Cup five times in the last decade, so Goa looks the likely first choice having organised the Fed Cup last in 1994, but the Goa FA has a stadium problem to sort, if it is to host the Federation Cup.
Goa FA secretary Savio Messias told us at IndianFootball.Com, "We are interested in hosting the Federation Cup but unfortunately we are unable to get the ground (Nehr Stadium, Margao) as the Goa Cricket Association has booked the ground for 4 months expecting to get an One-Day International. The BCCI has not allotted an ODI to GCA but strangely they continue to block the ground."
The Sports Authority of Goa control the Nehru Stadium and the GFA is trying to convince the SAG to allot it the ground, so it can host the Federation Cup and also Goa Pro League matches but the GCA still hopes to organise a ODI with BCCI elections on September 24. The AIFF meanwhile have set a September 15 deadline for the Federation Cup finalisation and the GFA hopes the national body will give them another 10 days to sort things out in Goa.

Note-3: The 45th Subroto Mukherjee Cup national school football tournament kicks-off tomorrow in the capital New Delhi. 66 state champion school teams will be taking part in the Under-14 and U17 tournaments. The month-long tournament, sponsored by the Canara Bank, will kick-off tomorrow at the Ambedkar Stadium amids a colourful opening ceremony organised by the Indian Air Force, who organise the tournament. Foreign teams from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal will be taking part.
The winning team of the U17 category will carry home Rs. 50,000, while the runner-up side will get Rs. 30,000. In the U14 category the winner will receive Rs. 30,000 and the losing finalist Rs. 20,000. Members of the winning teams in both age groups will also be awarded a cycle each. Besides, a blazer, a tie and a wristwatch will be presented to the winners and runner-up teams of both groups. There will also be individual prizes for the 'Best Player' and the 'Most Promising Player' in both categories. Further there will also be scholarships for talented players and good performers. Scholarship worth Rs. 10,000 each will be awarded to 30 players in the U17 section and 16 in U14 category.
The Tata Football Academy will be scouting for talented players at the tournament having joined hands with the organisers.
And to make sure that players are not overage the organisers have gone in for technology by getting a X-Ray machine for the first time to test "bone ossification" to judge how old a player is, if there is doubt.
The finals would be held on October 13 in the U14 category and a day later for the U17 boys.
UNDER-17 - Group I: Army Boys, Jharkhand, Orissa, IPSC, Andhra Pradesh. Group II: Nagaland, Chattisgarh, TAFS, NCC Orissa. Group III: Mizoram, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh. Group IV: Chandigarh, Gujarat, Sikkim, West Bengal. Group V: Car Nicobar, Jammu&Kashmir, Karnataka, Tripura, Delhi. Group VI: NCC North-East, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Sainik School, Maharashtra. Group VII: NEPAL, Jharkhand, Goa, Manipur, Haryana. Group VIII: BANGLADESH, Assam, Meghalaya, Kerala, SAI.
UNDER-14 - Group I: Uttaranchal, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana. Group II: Mizoram, Army Boys, IPSC, Andhra Pradesh. Group III: Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Jammu&Kashmir, SAI, Group IV: Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Karnataka. Group V: AFBB, Goa, Sainik. Group VI: SRI LANKA, Maharashtra, Sikkim. Group VII: NEPAL, Punjab, Nagaland, Car Nicobar. Group VIII: BANGLADESH, Assam, Madhya Pradesh.

Note-3: The Meghalaya FA will hold selection trials for it's State Under-16 boys team on September 16/17 at the Polo Ground, Shillong from 07.00 IST.

12. September
Franky Barreto, a former Indian international player, who is now based in Dubai has written his views in our IndianFootball.Com Guest Column on the sponsorship scenario in India under the title "Why Blame Cricket?".
Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - Franky Barreto .

Laishram Thambal Singh has written an interesting article under the title "Football, it is an Art!" where he looks at football as a game. We have published it in our IndianFootball.Com Guest Column section.
Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - Laishram Thambal Singh .

Mumbai Elite Division: Mahindra United 1-0 Bank of India - Goal: 1-0 Abhishek Yadav (88').
MAHINDRA: Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Peter Siddiqui, Rauf Khan, Sushanth Mathew (85' Shanmugam Venkatesh), Gouramangi Singh (62' Subhas Chakraborty), Steven Dias, Krishnan Nair Ajayan (55' Abhishek Yadav), Surajit Bose, Kutty Anees.
BoI: Raj N Mitra, Shymal Singhal, Prakash Mehra, Velu Karmagulam, Francis Dias, Sanjay Hazare, Munir Sheikh, Harish Bhoir, Kajol Das (81' Naveen Kotian), Shankar Thakur, Basheer Hussein.
YELLOW CARDS: Steven Dias (26'), Peter Siddiqui (54' both Mahindra); Prakash Mehra (3'), Munir Sheikh (15' both BoI).

Calcutta Super Division: West Bengal Police 1-0 Khidderpore Sporting Union - Goal: 1-0 Sumit Sur.
Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta Customs 0-0 SAIL - Goals: none.
Calcutta Super Division: Calcutta FC 0-2 Railway FC - Goals: 0-1 Surujit Karmakar, 0-2 Biplab Naskar.
Calcutta Super Division: Peerless SC 0-0 Mohammedan AC - Goals: none.
Chennai Senior Division: Dhinamani FC 2-1 AGORC - Goals: 1-0 Rajan (20'), 1-1 Muthu (29'), 2-1 Karthikeyan (61').
Delhi Senior Division - Group A: Indian Nationals FC 1-0 Shahdara Club - Goal: 1-0 Irfan Zaman.
Delhi Senior Division - Group A: Garhwal Heroes 0-0 Mughals Club = match abandoned after 50 minutes due to poor visibility. Remaining 40 minutes to be played.
Delhi Senior Division - Group B: Simla Youngs 2-0 Youngmen FC - Goals: 1-0 Dalip Bhandari, 2-0 Dharmender Kharola.
Delhi Senior Division - Group B: Tarun Sangha 7-2 Moonlight Club = match abandoned after 70 minutes due to poor visibility. Remaining 20 minutes to be played.
Goa Third Division: Nagoa Sporting Club 5-0 Sai Avtar SC; St Rock's YC 0-5 Rossman Cruz Nagoa SC; Parish Youth Nuvem 1-0 SCC Loutulim; Ambelim SC 2-1 SWC Zaino; Youth SC, Colvale 4-1 St Christopher SC; Vailankani FC 2-0 Saligao United; UC Benaulim 0-0 Varca SC; St Augustias SC 2-2 Penha de France SC; Pilerne SC 0-4 Nerul SC; UC Telaulim 6-1 Carmel SC; Club Sao Miguel de Taleigao - Sateri SC = match abandoned
Guwahati Super Division - Championship-leg: Assam Police Blues 2-1 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Suresh Das (72'), 1-1 Amulya Das (85'), 2-1 Digen Das (90+').
Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims - Akbar Travels = match postponed
Mumbai Women's Football League: Bandra (West) FA - Bodyline FC; Fr Agnel SA (Red) - Rhema FC; Khalsa College SA - Franco FC = none of the matches played due to inappropriate ground conditions.
Punjab State Super League: Punjab Police - Punjab State Electricity Board = match postponed due to heavy rain
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group A: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC 2-0 BEL SC - Goals: 1-0 Nanda Kumar (33'), 2-0 Praveen Arora (68').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group A: AGORC 2-0 MEG - Goals: 1-0 Santosh (30'), 2-0 Nigilraj (64').

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: NF Railway SC 0-0 Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Eastern Railway SC 5-0 Northern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: North-Eastern Railway 9-0 Wheel & Axle Plant
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: South-Western Railway 0-4 West-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: Chittaranjan Locomotive Works 0-6 Integral Coach Factory
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: South-East-Central Railway 16-0 Research Design & Standards Organisation, Lucknow

Note-1: Who is (going to) apply for the India coach job?
With the future of Sukhvinder Singh unsure, the new system of "aspiring coaches" asked to send in their application to the AIFF one wants to know, who is interested to take the Indian football hotseat.
As it looks at the moment a number of top Indian club coaches aren't really interested to take over or cannot due to club contracts.
You've been able to read here, Shabbir Ali and Savio Medeira are off the list, with others like Derrick Pereira (Mahindra United) and Bimal Ghosh (Air-India) also off.
But what about India's two most successful club coaches of the last few season? Both East Bengal's Subhas Bhowmick and Dempo's Armando Colaco find the selection process a little weird and uncalled for in football. And it looks like the two will not apply for the job. But the two could be proposed by AIFF vice-president of their respective zones.

Note-2: The Jharkhand state government along with Tata Steel are organising a charity match for the Jharkhand Drought Relief Fund at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur on September 16. A Jharkhand Invitational XI will take on the Tata Football Academy cadets.
The Jharkhand Invitational XI will be captained by India captain Baichung Bhutia and the team would also feature stars like IM Vijayan and former TFA cadet Renedy Singh. Further Jharkhand Sports and Home Minister Sudesh Mahto will play in the team, while the organisers hope that Indian cricketer MS Dhoni would also play.
The Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda would inaugurate the match, while former TFA director PK Banerjee and former international goalkeeper Peter Thangaraj would be the special guests.

11. September
Calcutta Premier League: Mohammedan Sporting Club 2-0 EverReady SA - Goals: 1-0 Suley Musah (2'), 2-0 Abdul Qadir (21').
MSC: Gopal Das, Rodingson Sangma, Madhusudan Majumdar, Bidesh Pal (61' Amjad Ali Khan), Kabijit Khotel, Jiten Rai, Palash Karmakar, Suley Musah, Satyajit Bose, Mohammed Nadeem (59' Raman Vijayan), Abdul Qadir (75' Sundarlal Hembram).
EVERrEADY: Shibram Dey (46' Manas Barua), Akshay Das, Surajit Chakraborty Sr, Amulya Mondal, Nilangshu Mitra, Crispin Chetri (78' Jamir Ali Mondal), Dhiman Sinha, Lal Kamal Bhowmick, Snehashis Chakraborty, Sheikh Habeeb Ali, Eugene Jlah Gray.

Chennai Senior Division: State Bank of India 1-0 SAI, Chennai - Goal: 1-0 Gunasekharan (41').
Goa Third Division: Our Lady of Fatima SCC 1-1 Agonda SC
Mumbai Elite Division: Indian Navy 1-2 Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers - Goals: 0-1 Atchuta Rao (14'), 0-2 Neville David (17'), 1-2 VK Mishra (22').
Mumbai Elite Division: Golden Gunners 2-0 Maharashtra State Police - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Soccor Velho (8',63').
Mumbai Women's Football League: Rhema FC - Khalsa College SA; Colaba Young Stars - Mumbaikar United; Bombay Gymkhana - Bandra Packers; Sea View SC - Fr Agnel SA (Blue) = none of the matches played due to heavy rains in Mumbai
Punjab State Super League: Border Security Force 1-0 JCT Football Academy - Goal: 1-0 Santosh Kujur (66').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group B: Karnataka State Police 2-1 LRDE - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Esmond Coria (17',62'), 2-1 Mahendra (87').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group B: SAI,Bangalore 0-1 ADE - Goal: 0-1 Shamjith (17').

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: Western Railway 3-1 South-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: Diesel Locomotive Works 0-2 Metro Rail
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group C: East Coast Railway 1-0 North-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: Rail Coach Factory 0-0 South-Eastern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: North-Western Railway 2-0 East-Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group D: Railway Board SC 1-3 Southern Railway

Friendly - Trivandrum: State Bank of Travancore 1-0 Titanium XI - Goals: 1-0 Asif Saheer (76').

Note-1: from the AFC: In the AFC Extraordinary Congress held yesterday under the Chairmanship of its President, Mohamed bin Hammam, members of the Asian Football Confederation unanimously ratified Australia as its 46th member. Present to witness this historic occasion was FIFA President, Sepp Blatter and FIFA Honorary President, Joao Havelange. The Australian delegation was led by its President, Frank Lowy.
With the Yemen FA under suspension, 44 members of the Asian football family who assembled at the Le Meridien Hotel, Marrakech (Morocco) approved several amendments to the AFC Statutes including the right of the Executive Committee to suspend any of its memebrs who are absent for three consecutive EXCO meetings or any six EXCO meetings.
"It's is not right for anyone who is elected and has won the support of the members, and then not to take the responsibility," Bin Hammam said in his opening address.
As part of the Confederation's call for more professionalisation among those involved in the game, the Congress also endorsed the formation of the AFC Coaches Association and the AFC Referees Association. Further, in support of fair play, the AFC Disciplinary Code and Code of Ethics were adopted.

10. September
Chennai Senior Division: Madras Sporting Union 1-2 Indian Bank
Goa Third Division: Anjuna Gymkhana - Vagator Parish YSC; Eagles SC 7-1 Guirim YCC; Tropa SCC (walkover) Holy Cross SC; PVC Association, Parra 2-1 Saligao Sporting Club; UB of Palolem (walkover) UBC of Ponsulem
Guwahati Super Division - Relegation-leg: Guwahati Town Club (walkover) Maharana AC
Mumbai Elite Division: Bengal Mumbai FC - Air-India = match postponed due to rain
Mumbai Super Division: Bank of Baroda - ONGC = match postponed due to rain
Punjab State Super League: Mahilpur FC 0-5 JCT Mills - Goals: 0-1 Baldeep Singh (3'), 0-2 Sunil Chetri (23'), 0-3 Jaswinder Singh (47'), 0-4,0-5 Sakatar Singh (77',79').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group A: BEL SC 1-2 MEG - Goals: 1-0 Aravind (16'), 1-1 Ramu (57'), 1-2 Gurumurthy (68').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group A: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC 1-1 CIL - Goals: 1-0 Sampath Kumar Kuttimani (71'), 1-1 Thomas (87').

62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Eastern Railway SC 1-1 Central Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: NF Railway SC 8-0 Wheel & Axle Plant
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group A: Northern Railway 2-0 North-Eastern Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: South-East-Central Railway 9-0 South-Western Railway
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: Chittaranjan Locomotive Works 5-1 Research Design & Standards Organisation, Lucknow
62nd Inter-Railway Trophy - Preliminary League - Group B: Integral Coach Factory 3-1 West-Central Railway

Note-1: by Armstrong Vaz: Salgoacar SC coach Shabbir Ali and coach Savio Medeira stated that both of them were not in race for India coach post if any vacancy arose and if the AIFF invited applications for the post of a football coach for the Indian national team.
The former India striker who has worked as assistant to various foreign and Indian coaches for the Indian senior, U21 & U23 team. Shabbir who was monitoring the training of the Salgoacar team in the close camp at Anjuna informed that he has a contract with the Salgoacar SC which extends to the entire season.
"It is definitely a honour to coach the Indian team but my present commitments cannot allow me to take over the post," he informed.
Another former international midfielder Savio Medeira who has been with Salgoacar who has displayed good coaching acumen while at being Salgoacar also expressed his inability to be with the Indian team. Savio along with Mahindra United coach Derrick Pereira are attending the four module AFC Pro Licence Coaching Course. The duo have already completed two of their modules and the third module is to be competed with the respective clubs.
The former internationals who played alongside each other for Salgoacar, Goa and India for several years will be leaving for Malaysia on November 13 and will end their final and fourth module in that country on December 3.
Savio when contacted disclosed that he is "concentrating on his coaching course and any national team assignment he will have an open mind after the course ends."
It may be recalled here that AIFF has invited applications for the post of India's football coach while the fate of Sukhvinder Singh hangs in the balance.

Note-2: The Indian Women will be taking part in a tournament in Vietnam for which a national camp will be held at the SAI Eastern Centre, Calcutta from September 15. Harjinder Singh has been named chief coach, while Shukla Dutta has been appointed as assistant coach.

Note-3: The All-Manipur FA will hold it's Annual General Meeting on October 9 at 09.00 IST at the AMFA Meeting Hall, Mapal Kangjeibung in Imphal. Topics of the AGM will be the confirmation of the last AGM and the special Vision India AGM; to receive and pass the annual report of the association; to receive and adopt the audited statements of accounts, to consider the annual budget and other business.

9. September
Mumbai Elite Division: Mahindra United 6-1 Mumbai Customs - Goals: 1-0 Surkumar Singh (10'), 2-0 Steven Dias (42'), 3-0,4-0 Surojit Bose (68',76'), 4-1 Jinto Jose (81'), 5-1 Subhas Chakraborty (86'), 6-1 Abhishek Yadav (90+1').
MAHINDRA: Sandip Nandy, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Peter Siddiqui, Rauf Khan, Sushanth Mathew (73' Krishnan Nair Ajayan), Subhas Chakraborty, Steven Dias (82' Manju Nanjangud Shivananju), Shanmugam Venkatesh, Gouramangi Singh (62' Abhishek Yadav), Surajit Bose.
MUMBAI CUSTOMS: Rajesh Bangera, Revelino Fernandes, Milton Fernandes (76' Jinto Jose), Omkar Sawant, Chandramurthi Bharat, Augusto Conceicao, Hekmat Singh, Siddarth Puthran, Jitin Sahi, Nigel D'Souza, Ashish Bhoir (77' Nitin Shetty).
YELLOW CARDS: Sushanth Mathew (52' Mahindra); Hekmat Singh (35' M.Customs).

Calcutta Premier League: Tollygunge Agragami 0-1 Calcutta Port Trust - Goal: 0-1 Kaushik Prasad (36').
Calcutta Premier League: Eastern Railway SC - George Telegraph SC - Goal: 0-1,0-2 MC Francis (74',82').
Goa Third Division: Chapora Yuvak Sangh 2-0 Assagao YC; Sirsaim SWC 0-0 YSC Colvale; St Cruz, Cavelossim 4-2 Carmona SC; Vailankani FC 0-2 Sangolda Lightning; Candolim SC 1-1 Calangute Association
Guwahati Super Division - Championship-leg: Assam Police Blues 1-0 SAI SC, Guwahati - Goal: 1-0 Arun Daimary (75').
Mumbai Women's Football League: Bandra Packers - Mumbaikar United; Sea View SC - Bombay Gymkhana; Fr Agnel SA (Blue) - Colaba Young Stars = none of the matches played due to heavy rains in Mumbai
Punjab State Super League: Border Security Force - Punjab State Electricity Board = match postponed due to rain
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group A: AGORC 0-1 CIL - Goal: 0-1 Krishna Kumar (32').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group A: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC 0-0 MEG

Note-1: At a time when in India discussions are on who should be the coach of the national football team, people are forced to realise what good job Englishmen Stephen Constantine did during his near three year stint with India. Now Stephen has got a break in English football joining Championship bottom side FC Millwall on a month's trial as coach, which means as understudy of manager Colin Lee. Stephen had been at the club for a week and impressed Lee, who took him on the trial. Lets hope the best for Stephen. The IndianFootball.Com Team wishes you the best!

Note-2: The 57th Independence Day Cup will be held at the Nurul Amin Stadium, Nagaon in Assam from September 19 to October 3. This year the organisers are unable to get any big team from Calcutta to take part due to the Calcutta Premier League being on. Otherwise some strong teams are taking part - Calcutta Super Division sides Mohammedan AC and Khidderpore Sporting Union; CRPF from Jalandhar; Mohun Bagan-SAIL Football Academy; SAI Centre, Cuttack besides Northeast power houses Oil India Limited, Nagaland Police, Assam Rifles, Langsning FC, SAI - Guwahati and Royal SC. The organisers are also taking to the Assam Regimental Centre, Shillong and Mizoram Police, while Assam State Electricity Board participation is unsure as the club has committed itself to play in the Sikkim Governor's Gold Cup, which will be held from September 24.

Note-3: At a press conference at the IFA offices in Calcutta today, the IFA informed the media that 19 districts would take part in the "Dendrite" Junior Inter District Football Tournament 2005. The tournament would be held from September 9 to 30, 2005 at four venue across the state - Kanchanjanga Stadium, Siliguri; Raigunj Stadium; Nabadwip Stadium and Barasat Stadium. The final would be held on September 30 at the Kanchanjanga Stadium, Siliguri. The winners would be richer by Rs 30,000, while the runners-up would get Rs 20,000.
IFA secretary Subrata Dutta said, "it is an important tournament for the districts and IFA has striven to continue it in order to retain the districts' youth to the game of football. This tournament brings to the limelight the talents of the districts and supports the overall development of the game."

8. September
We at IndianFootball.Com would like to congratulate Indian Tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi on winning the US Open 2005 Mixed Doubles title partnering Daniela Hantuchova from Slovakia!!!

Calcutta Premier League: East Bengal Club 2-1 EverReady SA - Goals: 1-0 Syed Rahim Nabi (29'), 1-1 Snehashis Chakroborty (66'), 2-1 Shylo Malswam Tulunga (70').
EAST BENGAL: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Arun Malhotra, Habibur Rehman Mondal (39' Debkumar Sasmal), Covan Lawrence, Dipankar Roy (74' Alvito D'Cunha), Shylo Malswam Tulunga, Saumik Dey, Sandip Das, Syed Rahim Nabi, RC Prakash (25' Kalia Kulothungan).
EVERrEADY: Shibram Dey, Akshay Das, Surajit Chakraborty, Amulya Mondal, Prasanta Sarkar, Dhiman Sinha, Subrata Guha (77' Niladri Chakraborty), Jamir Ali Mondal (46' Crispin Chetri), Snehashis Chakraborty (78' Siddhartha Thapa), Eugene Gray, Sheikh Habeeb Ali.

Calcutta Super Division: SAIL 3-0 Khidderpore Sporting Union
Calcutta Super Division: West Bengal Police 1-1 Railway FC
Calcutta Super Division: Peerless SC 0-0 Calcutta Customs
Calcutta Super Division: Mohammedan AC 0-0 Calcutta FC
Delhi Senior Division - Group A: New Delhi Heroes 1-0 Shastri Club - Goal: 1-0 Prem Lal (8').
Delhi Senior Division - Group B: Indian Air Force 1-1 Simla Youngs
Delhi Senior Division - Group B: Delhi Police 2-0 Raisina Sporting Union - Goals: 1-0 Jagyaram Boro (25'), 2-0 Abdul Muttaleef (30').
Mumbai Elite Division: Bank of India 1-0 Indian Navy - Goal: 1-0 Basheer Hussein (88').
Mumbai Super Division: Union Bank of India 8-0 Income Tax (reduced to 80 minute game due to time-constraints) - Goals: 1-0 Sudhir Kumar (6'), 2-0 Avinash Puthran (19'), 3-0 Santosh Powar (29'), 4-0,7-0 Vijay Thapa (44'-Penalty,71'), 5-0,6-0 Sushil Kawde (52'-Penalty,63'), 8-0 Santosh Powar (76').
Punjab State Super League: Mahilpur FC 0-1 JCT Football Academy - Goal: 0-1 Gurvinder Singh (88').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group B: SAI,Bangalore 1-1 Royals SC - Goals: 1-0 Satyaraja (5'), 1-1 Chandrashekhar (89').
Puttiah Memorial Trophy - Group B: LRDE 2-0 ADE - Goals: 1-0 Nityananda (42'), 2-0 Murali (85').
12th Upendra Nath Brahma Gold Cup, Udalguri - Final: Lajong SSC 0-2 Royals SC, Guwahati - Goals: 0-1 Ajit Kumar (5'), 0-2 J Kharlung (33').

Note-1: UNI report: Going by the inklings, national football coach Sukhvinder Singh has had his last assignment with the team but AIFF is trying to sugar coat the bitter pill to avert an unceremonious exit for him.
In a rare move in which the coach won't be shown the door in the crudest way, the AIFF has decided to pick the next man for the hot seat, taking a cue from its cricket counterpart BCCI.
"We did not follow BCCI. Football is an age-old game and we don't need to learn anything from anyone," shot back AIFF President Das Munshi after the Executive Committee meeting here yesterday.
Despite his denials, AIFF will be going the BCCI way and have decided to call all "aspiring coaches" to send their application by September 18 and the among them shortlisted one will be asked to appear before a four-member expert panel. Earlier this year, BCCI had invited four shortlisted candidates for Team India coach's post which eventually went to Australian Greg Chappell.
AIFF, however, made it clear that it was not considering a foreigner for the job. "Instead, we are thinking of roping in a Technical Advisor from abroad. I'm going to Morocco and on my return, we might identify someone and appoint him," Das Munshi said before flying for the FIFA Congress in Marrakesh.
Meanwhile, both Das Munshi and AIFF Secretary Alberto Colaco maintained that the Federation had not closed its door on Sukhwinder. "Sukhwinder won't be asked to appear for the interview. Instead, he would directly report to the AIFF President on September 15," Colaco said.
Das Munshi also refused to blame Sukhwinder alone for India's dismal show in the twin tour of Pakistan and Fiji.
The new coach's name would be announced by September 30, he said, adding "Till September 27, Sukhwinder will remain the coach and we will decide the new name on September 28 or 29. We want a coach who will build the team for the SAF and Asian Games. It was also decided that each zone can recommend two names for the coach's job through the Vice-Presidents."
AIFF Vice-President Subroto Dutta later told UNI that three coaches would be shortlisted after the interview before the federation takes a final decision.
Sukhwinder was under fire after India had lost the three-match series against Pakistan on goal average. Worse followed in Fiji as the S Ventakesh-led squad lost all their matches to the lower ranked rivals.

Note-2: The Guwahati Super Division has been made a farce by the cities top club's as three of the eight teams have not appeared for matches of the Championship and Relegation legs.
One of the clubs, NF Railway SC had a plausible reason of pulling out after having played one of their three Relegation-leg matches as the club is taking part in the Inter-Railway Trophy in Maharashtra & Chattisgarh and were not threathened to get relegated. But Assam Dynamo Club with no chance to win the title pulled out completely and Jewel Star Club saved from relegation decided not to field a team anymore against Guwahati Town Club, which resulted in the relegation of Maharana ACwhom they had beaten earlier. It is an unsporting way to decide the title and relegation, but this also shows were Indian football has it's general problem. Guwahati has only one stadium to play football plus most teams have a problem to find a suitable training ground, so finance is also a problem.

7. September
The AIFF executive committee met in the capital New Delhi to discuss a number of pending issues and spend most of it's time regarding the recommendations of the technical committee on the disappointing performances of the national team on it's tours to Pakistan (June) and Fiji (July).
AIFF president Das Munshi told reporters, "The much debated issue of the performance of our U23 team in Pakistan and Fiji disappointed us. It was most unfortunate and we probed in depth."
"The executive committee has decided to invite all aspiring coaches who can build up the team for the SAF and Asian Games to apply by September 18 the shortlisted candidates will be asked to appear before an expert panel on September 27 and the coaches named will be announced on September 28 or 29," he added.
Somehow it sounds like the AIFF wasn't able to take a proper decision on the national coach issue. It sounds like technically Sukhvinder Singh is still the national coach in-charge of affairs until the Asian Games, but still the AIFF has asked for applications for the national coach from "aspiring" Indian coaches. But Sukhi is not officially out yet. He has been asked to appear infront of AIFF president Das Munshi on September 15 to explain the two tours from his side. So Sukhi can fight for his job, still the AIFF has put together a panel of experts to conduct interviews with potential candidates on September 27 about their vision for Team India. CR Viswanathan, Chuni Goswami, PK Banerjee and Derek DeSouza will comprise that panel with two applications per Zone to be accepted. If no suitable candidate is found, then Sukhvinder will be asked to continue.
WHAT??? So far the national coach issue was being handled in a "somewhat weird" manner, now it is becoming even more complicated with a lot of if's and but's. Lets wait and see what happens, but we pray for the best for our national team...
Further decisions: