News for the month of November:
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30. November
49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier Round 2: MBSU, Wahengbam Leikai 0-0,3-1 OSA, Oinam [penalties] - Goals: none.
7th Goa Governor's Cup - Semifinal: Dempo Sports Club 2-1 Raia Sporting Club - Goals: 1-0 Babatunde Badmus (42'), 2-0 Ishfaq Ahmed (?'), 2-1 Christopher Nwaordu (80').
4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Final: Border Security Force 2-0 Punjab Police - Goals: 1-0 Kamal Kishore (62'), 2-0 Kawal Singh (87').

41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Uttaranchal 3-0 Himachal Pradesh

29. November
111th IFA-Shield - Quarterfinal League Group A: Mohun Bagan AC 1-0 Mohammedan Sporting Club - Goal: 1-0 Gley Yao Rodrigue (37').
MOHUN BAGAN: Imran Khan, Sanjay Parte, Anbalath Suliman Firoze, Sanjeev Kumar Maria, Rajib Ahmed, Sushil Singh (20' Manjit Singh), Basudeb Mondal (23' Chinmoy Sarkar), Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Dharamjit Singh, Gley Yao Rodrigue, Akeem Abul Alem (66' Dipendu Biswas).
MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING: Gopal Das, Bijay Basfore, Wajid Ali, Rodingson Sangma, Mir Farooq Hyder, Suman Datta, Satyajit Bose, Mohammed Yasin (89' Bilal Ahmad Wani), Okonji Onyelo Patrick D'Souza, Bijen Singh (46' Mohammed Mukhtar), Mputu Bolwe.
MAN of the MATCH: Okonji Onyelo Patrick D'Souza (Mohammedan Sporting Club).
YELLOW CARDS: Mohammed Yasin (36'), Okonji Onyelo Patrick D'Souza (54', both Mohammedan Sporting Club), Sanjeev Kumar Maria (43' Mohun Bagan).
REFEREE: Chumchuk Lama (Sikkim).

After his team was knocked out of the IFA Shield, Mohun Bagan coach Amal Dutta seemed reluctant to attend the press conference. However, when he did attend, he was soon in his elements and made the following points:

  • "The only positive we got out of this match was the joy of a one-nil win."
  • "We missed Basudeb Mondal but it provided a good opportunity to players like Chinmoy Sarkar and Imran Khan, who passed the acid test with flying colours. * I think we would have gone through to the semis if I had one good striker in my team. Rodrigue has improved a lot but he needs some support up front. I have tried many players but I am still not satisfied."
  • "I am not thinking about the Durand Cup because I am concentrating on the NFL. However, without another striker, we can't win the NFL."
  • "I don't know if Barretto's presence would have helped but I didn't like his method of playing when he was here."
  • "Now I have to bear the burden of Subrata Pal's mistakes in the previous match."
  • "We just needed an extra player on the field to win this match."
  • "Patrick is not a good striker. He shouldn't have been voted the Man of the Match. I have so many players like him in my reserve team."
  • "The club just got Akeem because he didn't cost the club much."

    Jagdish Ghosh, the newly appointed coach of Mohammedan Sporting Club, opened his account with a defeat at the hands of city rivals Mohun Bagan AC. However, any grief due to the loss was totally absent because his team marched into the semis on the basis of their superior goal difference over Mohun Bagan. His remarks to the media at the press conference:

  • "The pressure on the players was not much. Team is all right after the departure of the previous coach. I have coached this team previously also so I had no problems settling in."
  • "I was satisfied with my players' performance but I expected a little more resistance from them."
  • "It was a tactical game. We had zonal marking and stuck to it throughout the game."
  • "Gopal Das was outstanding. He said that he had made a mistake by not coming out for the corner which led to the winning goal."
  • "I think we should have got two penalties and won the match."
  • "I am not worried about meeting Bayern Munich II in the semis. Either of us may win."
  • "Mohun Bagan played well, especially Imran who made some good saves."
  • "My players are ready for the NFL. Probably, we will get some good players to provide depth to the team before the NFL starts."

    111th IFA-Shield - Quarterfinal League Group B: JCT Mills 0-0,3-4 EverReady SA [penalties] - Goals: none.
    JCT MILLS: Karanjit Singh, Baldeep Singh, Jaspal Singh, Julius Irabor Akpele, Daljit Singh, Sukhjinder Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Johnson Segun (113' Harish Sharma), Renedy Singh (46' Sunil Chetri; 99' Jaswinder Singh) , Praveen Kumar, Marcos Alexandro de Carvalho Pereira.
    EVERREADY: Shibram Dey, Akshay Das, Anupam Sarkar, Amulya Mondal, Muzaffar Rehman, Crispin Chetri, Dhiman Sinha, Lal Kamal Bhowmick, Snehashis Chakroborty (75' Ratan Das), Chibueze Francis Maduako, Theodore S Wrobeh.
    MAN of the MATCH:
    YELLOW CARDS: Theodore S Wrobeh (91' EverReady SA).
    REFEREE: Abdul Salim (Delhi).

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier Round 2: DSA, Chandel 1-1,2-3 PYA, Kairang [penalties] - Goals: 0-1 Mohammed Ajad Shah (35'), 1-1 Tongsin Sisi (70').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Army Green 1-0 SAIL, Calcutta
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Indian Air Force XI 2-0 Hindustan Club
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal: Appeteez Football Club - Vasco Sports Club
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Semifinal: Border Security Force 1-0 Jammu&Kashmir Bank - Goal: 1-0 Gurjit Singh Atwal (88').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Semifinal: Punjab Police 1-1,2-0 Punjab State Electricity Board [extratime] - Goals: 0-1 Gurpreet Singh (1'), 1-1 Vijay Pal (85'), 2-1 Parminder Singh (96'), 3-1 Amarjit Singh (110').
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Semifinal: Naga Boys Club 0-2 Nagaland Police A - Goals: 0-1 Vizoru (14'), 0-2 Imliyanger (44').

    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Chandigarh 2-1 Haryana
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Jammu&Kashmir 1-0 Delhi

    Note-1: The FC Bayern contingent arrived safely in Calcutta this mid-day, and checked into their team hotel. Following some interactions with the media there and lunch, they proceeded to the Salt Lake Stadium to watch the second game of the day in the IFA Shield 2005, being played between Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting.
    The Bayern team soaked in the atmosphere at the flood-lit stadium, while the passionate supporters of either team cheered their players on to make it through to the semifinals. The Bayern coaching staff answered further questions put across to them there by the media, as they were almost mobbed upon their entry into the Press Box.
    The electronic scoreboard too welcomed the FC Bayern Munich II team to Calcutta during the half-time interval. The stadium visit in the end would definitely prove fruitful for them, as it will be Mohammedan Sporting whom Bayern II will face in the second semi-final of the tournament on Friday, 2nd December.
    Click here to go to the >>fcbayern.de/IndianFootball.Com Joint Special

    Note-2: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has appointed the officials for the SAFF Cup 2005 to be held in Karachi, Pakistan from December 7 to 17, 2005.
    Fouad Abdul Karim Jaroudi of Lebanon has been appointed as the Match Commissioner, while the referees during the 15-match tourney will be Abdul Hannan Miron (Bangladesh), Suresh Srinivasan (India), Raja Shrestha Gyanu (Nepal), Hettikamkanamge Dilan Perera (Sri Lanka), Khodadad Afsharian (Iran), Mukhtar Al Yarimi (Yemen), Asif Kiyani and Imtiaz Ali Shah (both Pakistan).
    Ka Yu Fung (Hong Kong), Reza Sokhandan (Iran), Raja Haja Maidin B.A.Peer Mohd (Singapore), Hasson Hussain Kurma (Yemen AR), Tshering Chophel (Bhutan), Ibrahim Thauffeq (Maldives) and Hidayat Ullah (Pakistan) will act as assistant referees.

    28. November
    L. Santosh Singh, who is lecturer at the Don Bosco College, Panjim (B.P.E., M.P.Ed, N.I.S. (Football)) has written an article on women's football his home state of Manipur for our IndianFootball.Com Guest Column section. Read and enjoy!
    Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - L Santosh Singh .

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier Round 2: USA, Khurai 3-1 HKSA, Thoubal - Goals: 1-0 L Dhanachandra (16'), 2-0 Pritamkumar (19'), 3-0 S Sumarjit (57'), 3-1 L Bikram (73').
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal: Sporting Clube de Goa 3-0 Churchill Brothers SC - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Chidi Edeh (2',78'), 2-0 MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (61').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: CRPF, Jalandhar 0-0 Punjab Police - Goals: none.
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Rail Coach Factory 2-2 Jammu&Kashmir Bank
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Semifinal: Nagaland Police B 0-1 Phek Veteran Sporting Club

    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Punjab 8-0 Himachal Pradesh

    Note-1: The IFA has announced its U-19 squad for the upcoming matches in the 41st Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy qualifiers.
    Bengal U-19 squad: Bhaskar Adhikary, Arunava Das, Rakesh Prasad, Pintu Manna, Bapi Saha, Bijoy Das, Sudipta Das, Abhisek Aich, Akhil Rajbansi, Paban Das, Ashim Das, Dipak Dolui, Biswajit Kundu, Antony Soren, Sumit Mondal, Ehtesham Baksh, Suman Dutta, Mithun Dey, Nirapada Mondal, Ayan Chowdhury (Captain).
    Coaches: Balai Mukherjee, Subhankar Ghosh.
    Manager: Rabi Karmakar

    27. November
    111th IFA-Shield - Quarterfinal League Group A: East Bengal Club 4-1 Mohun Bagan AC - Goals: 1-0 Chandan Das (9'), 1-1 Akeem Abul Alem (14'), 2-1 Mike Okoro (29'), 3-1,4-1 Alvito D'Cunha (43',90+3').
    EAST BENGAL: Naseem Aktar, Sasthi Duley, Covan Lawrence, Arun Kumar Malhotra (67' Gurpreet Singh), Muttath Suresh, Soumik Dey, Bernard Pires (85' Kalia Kulothungan), Chandan Das, Alvito D'Cunha, Mike Okoro, Sydney B Nkalanga (77' Shylo Malswam Tulunga).
    MOHUN BAGAN: Subrata Pal, Sanjay Parte, Anbalath Suliman Firoze, Sanjeev Kumar Maria, Rajib Ahmed, Noel Wilson (18' Basudeb Mondal), Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Dharamjit Singh, Harvinder Singh (39' Jerry Zirsanga), Gley Yao Rodrigue, Akeem Abul Alem (82' Dipendu Biswas).
    MAN of the MATCH: Alvito D'Cunha (East Bengal).
    YELLOW CARDS: Mike Okoro (21'), Sasthi Duley (70' both East Bengal).
    REFEREE: Subrata Sarkar (West Bengal).

    Match Report:
    East Bengal confirmed their qualification into the semi-finals of the 111thIFA Shield with a surprisingly facile 4-1 victory over arch rivals Mohun Bagan. Additionally, the win now transfers the pressure-burden, which was on East Bengal to improve their run of results, onto Mohun Bagan, who now need to beat Mohammedan Sporting by at least two clear goals to confirm their passage into the semis.
    East Bengal coach Subhash Bhowmick rung in the changes, dropping half the line-up from the start that lost to Mohammedan. Also, East Bengal went from a four-man defence to a five-man defence for this derby game, and the strengthening definitely proved successful. Chandan Das, given the reins to run the midfield from deep for the red-and-gold, scored the opener in the 9 th minute itself, off a 30 yard free-kick. The shot was low, powerful, and accurate, and flummoxed both the wall and the badly placed Subrata Pal in goal.
    The early goal probably helped to open up the game-play. Against the run of play, Mohun Bagan equalised within 5 minutes, as Akeem Abul Alem caught M Suresh napping, accelerated towards goal, and accurately slotted home.
    The needling and physicality in the game was present as always, but the good finishing on show, along with the tournament scenario, made the whole contest fascinating to watch. Referee Subrata Sarkar controlled the game immaculately, ensuring the game never got out of hand. This included giving Okoro a yellow card in the 21st minute itself for going down too easily in the Bagan box. Still, it was Okoro himself who restored East Bengal's deserved advantage on 29 minutes, as he headed home an inswinging Alvito free-kick from the right, while the Bagan defence went to sleep and Subrata stayed rooted to his line. The impressive Chandan Das had earned the free-kick.
    East Bengal were by far looking the more comfortable in possession and sharp in passing and movement, specially with Bernard Pires involved too. The wholesale changes seemed to have done the trick. Bagan on the other hand, hardly retained possession, and the midfield-attack gap seemed too large at times till then. Their captain Noel Wilson's early substitution must have contributed to their woe, and Jerry's introduction too in the first half looked a catalyst-inducing move.
    However, it was East Bengal who were celebrating soon. On 43 minutes, Subrata's howler of a clearance bounced off his unsighted defender onto Alvito's path. Alvito calmed himself and slotted home well with a neat finish from outside the box. It was not until first half added time that Bagan created a noteworthy chance with good build-up, as substitute Basudeb Mondal curled a left-footer just wide on the stroke of the half-time whistle.
    Bagan came out a bit more effective in the second half, as Gley was working well. Akeem too dropped deeper to link up play. The Bagan full-backs Rajib Ahmed and Sanjay Parte had switched post-half-time. As had Alvito and Bernard. On 57 minutes, Alvito's low cross was headed by Sydney on target from 4 yards, but Subrata somehow got down to it and blocked from point-blank. In fact, Alvito's switching flanks was proving effective for him. 68 minutes on, the impressive Naseem Akhtar maintained the two goal advantage as he pulled off a spectacular save from a Dharamjit Singh free kick. Then with East Bengal looking to counter, Alvito's threat seemed to increase. Also, Suresh's presence added an assuredness to the defence that was lacking from their first game, with the result that Gley and Akeem never were threatening despite playing well.
    Finally in the 3rd minute of added time, insult was added to injury for Bagan, as Alvito's cross-shot on the break looped over the haplessly-positioned Subrata.

    A beaming Subhash Bhowmick made his way to the press conference, obviously elated that his team had confirmed their progress into the semifinals. His statements to the gathered media:

  • "I am feeling ok. If the team loses against Mohun Bagan next time, the upbeat situation will be changed again because every match we have the same responsibilities."
  • "Chance factor is always present. When it works, it works. On Thursday, it didn't work. Today it did."
  • "Players were under pressure to perform. They gave their hundred percent and they have done it."
  • "The situation before the match was suffocating. I'm grateful to the club officials and supporters for encouraging us. I hope the players get confidence after this victory."
  • "I'm not surprised by the ease of the victory because I am not surprised by anything in football. Football is like life and you don't always know what can happen."
    He signed off with the remark: "At half-time, I told my boys to score 5 goals and break the 1975 record."

    Mohun Bagan coach Amal Dutta sported a dejected look as he came down heavily on the performance of his goalkeeper Subrata Pal, whose unacceptable schoolboy errors, according to Mr. Dutta, cost Mohun Bagan the match.
    His remarks: "The loss was not an accident."

  • "I was surprised with Subrata's performance. I am responsible for making him what he is today, even stood by him through the Cristiano incident and saved his career from a premature end. He seemed to make basic mistakes. He has been repeatedly told to come out for corners and today he didn't which resulted in Okoro's goal. How the ball landed at Alvito's feet following Subrata's clearance, I don't know but he told me at half-time that it had slipped and spun out. Still, in football, we always throw out towards the sides so that any shot on goal can be avoided. Why he didn't do it, I don't know. Probably, I should have changed my goalkeeper at half-time because he was looking too nervous but with my team trailing by two goals, I had to concentrate on the attacking force."
  • "The loss of Noel early in the match was also a big blow."
  • "In other leagues like the EPL or La Liga also, sometimes good teams lose by three or four goals. What hurt me was that in those matches, good football is played while here only one person was responsible. I don't think that my defenders were liable for the heavy defeat."

    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Salgaocar SC 1-1,5-6 Vasco SC [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Agnelo Colaco (62'), 1-1 Remedios Barreto (72').
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal: Raia Sporting Club 3-0 Raitura SC - Goals: 1-0 Rehman Cardozo (25'), 2-0 Santan D'Cruz (75'), 3-0 Cristovam Colaco.
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: JCT Academy 0-1 Punjab State Electricity Board - Goal: 0-1 Harjinder Singh (19').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Border Security Force 5-0 Tata Steel, Jamshedpur - Goals: 1-0 Amarjit Singh (50'), 2-0 Gurjit Singh Atwal (66'), 3-0 Gurminder Singh (76'), 4-0 Santosh Kujur (82'), 5-0 Kamal Kishore (85').

    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Jammu&Kashmir 1-3 Haryana
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group A: Chandigarh 1-3 Delhi

    Note-1: The Manipur state team returned to a hero's welcome back home in Imphal today. The Manipur Students' Federation hosted a public reception at the Khuman Lampak main Stadium for the 10 players, coach Ekendra Singh and manager Dinamani. After landing in Imphal the squad was garlanded and taken to the stadium for the reception, which was attended by a large gathering.
    After the incidents surrounding the Manipur-Goa quarterfinal league match, which resulted in strikes and public protest across the state culminating in a general strike on November 21. Therefore a political delegation travelled to Delhi to talk to the AIFF president Das Munshi and other government officials.

    26. November
    Exhibition Match - Mumbai: INDIA U20 1-2 AC Milan U18 - Goals: 0-1,1-2 Enrico Travaini (18',45+'), 1-1 Shafique (24').

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier: MBSU, Wahengbam Leikai 3-0 AJSA, Jiribam - Goals: 1-0 O Ingocha Singh (35'), 2-0 Joy Kabui (67'), 3-0 L Boipu (84').
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier: KLASA, Keinou 4-0 FSC, Kakching - Goals: 1-0 Laldingthara (23'), 2-0,4-0 T Basanta (33',78'), 3-0 Achung Chiru (74').
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal: Dempo SC 2-1 Fransa FC
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Tata Steel, Jamshedpur 0-1 JCT Academy - Goal: 0-1 Sunil Kumar (87').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Jammu&Kashmir Bank 0-2 Punjab Police - Goals: 0-1 Parminder Singh (42'), 0-2 Vijay Pal (72').
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Quarterfinal: Nagaland Police A 3-0 Kuki FC

    Note-1: The first-ever Northeast Himalayan Invitational Football Championship would be held in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh from December 10 to 20 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. More than 15 teams, which reputed clubs from across the Northeast, would participate in the tournament, which is being organised by The Rising People Society under the aegis of Arunachal Pradesh Football Association. The champions would get Rs 100,000, while Rs 50,000 would be given to the runners-up.

    Note-2: The Delhi Soccer Association has named defender Arif Ansari as captain of the state U19 team to take part in the 41th Dr. BC Roy Trophy (under-19) North Zone qualifiers to be held at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh from November 27 to December 7, 2005.
    DEHLI U19: Goalkeepers: Jitender Kumar Yadav, Pronoy Roy, Shahnwaj Khan; Defenders: Deepak Dogra, Meraj Ahmed, Shorab Khan, Arif Ansari (Captain), Trilok Singh, Vajshasta Singh, Narinder Singh; Midfielders: Kamal Singh Rawat, Tatir Hassan, Rashid Ali, Sourav Mitra; Forwards: Kulbhushan, Rajiv Karmakar, Chander Mohan, Ashwani, Arif Ali, Mohit Negi.

    25. November
    Sujay has written this month's IndianFootball.Com Editors Column titled "FC Bayern II coming to India" where he as a member of IndianFootball.com, an FCB Fanclub member and fan of the club writes about the expectations in India about the upcoming visit.
    Read the complete write-up here >>FC Bayern II coming to India .

    Also our Sujay, as a diehard FC Bayern Munich fan, has already made his way from Mumbai to Calcutta to cover the complete 111th IFA-Shield for IndianFootball.Com. He is being helped in a big big way by Swagatam Banerjee, who is for the time being our "IFA Shield Correspondent". Thanks for your help Swagatam!

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier: DSA, Chandel 1-1,4-2 Sadar Hills XI [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 TS Suresh (48'), 1-1 Lunte (76').
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier: AFA, Thoubal 0-1 OSA, Oinam - Goal: 0-1 W Danit Singh (24').
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Churchill Brothers SC 5-0 Young Boys of Tonca - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Freddy Mascarenhas (62',86'), 2-0,4-0 Savio Monteiro (84',88'), 5-0 Donald Rocha (90+2').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Border Security Force 1-0 Punjab State Electricity Board - Goal: 1-0 Deepak Kumar (87').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Rail Coach Factory 1-1 CRPF, Jalandhar - Goals: 0-1 A Chauhan (54'), 1-1 Amandeep Singh (66').
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Quarterfinal: Phek Veteran Sporting Club 2-1 Ziekezou Sporting Club

    Note-1: The 118th edition of the Durand Cup, India's oldest and the world's third oldest football tournament, would kickoff at the Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi on November 28 with a 16 team knockout qualification round from which two teams would make it to the 12 team quarterfinal league.
    The qualifiers would see amongst others seven-time champions Border Security Force, Bangalore giants Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC, Calcutta Super Division side SAIL, Bordoloi Trophy champions Assam Regimental Centre from Shillong in action.
    The two qualifiers would join the defending champions East Bengal, runners-up Mohun Bagan AC besides other National League sides Dempo SC, Sporting Clube de Goa, Mahindra United, JCT Mills, Air-India, Mohammedan Sporting Club plus Tata Football Academy and Army XI in the quarterfinal league.
    The quarterfinal league would kickoff on December 7 with the four group winners making it to the semifinals to be played on December 14 and 15. The final is slated for December 17. The winners would take home Rs 500,000 with the runners-up getting Rs 200,000, while the semifinalists would get Rs 100,000.

    Note-2: Intikhab Ashraf, a former Delhi state, died in the capital today after a brief illness. Intikhab had played for Delhi league sides Indian National FC, City Club and Youngmen Club in the 1960s and 70s.

    24. November
    We at IndianFootball.Com are proud to announce the launch of the joint fcbayern.de/IndianFootball.Com Special on the FC Bayern Munich II Teams trip to Calcutta to take part in the 111th IFA-Shield.
    IndianFootball.Com, India's Premier Football Site, is proud to announce the start of an official media partnership with German giants and reigning Bundesliga champions FC Bayern Munich.
    IndianFootball.Com has been and is supporting FC Bayern with all needed information, expertise and media coverage as an official partner of the tour!
    IFC's Arunava Chaudhuri will accompany the team as the official FC Bayern Munich II media officer.
    Click here to go to the >>fcbayern.de/IndianFootball.Com Joint Special

    111th IFA-Shield - Quarterfinal League Group A: East Bengal Club 2-3 Mohammedan Sporting Club - Goals: 0-1 Patrick Okonji Onyelo (42'), 1-1 Chandan Das (66'), 1-2 Satyajit Bose (69'), 1-3 Mputu Bolwe (77'), 2-3 Shylo Malswam Tulunga (86').
    EAST BENGAL: Abhra Mondal, Shasti Duley, Covan Lawrence, Gurpreet Singh, Debabrata Roy, Shylo Malswam Tulunga, Debjit Ghosh (46' Liswa Nduti, 66' Kalia Kulothungan), Chandan Das, Dipankar Roy (81' RC Prakash), Mike Okoro, Sydney B Nkalanga.
    MSC: Arindam Ghosh, Bijay Basfore (74' Kabijit Khotel), Wajid Ali, Madhusudan Majumdar, Mir Farooq Hyder, Jiten Rai (47' Mohammed Mukhtar), Suman Dutta, Satyajit Bose, Patrick Okonji Onyelo, Mputu Bolwe (78' Bilal Ahmed Wani), Mohammed Yasin.
    MAN of the MATCH: Patrick Okonji Onyelo (Md Sporting).
    YELLOW CARDS: Debjit Ghosh, Dipankar Roy (47' both East Bengal); Satyajit Bose (47' Md Sporting).
    REFEREE: S Suresh (Tamil Nadu).

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier: HKSA, Thoubal 3-0 RACC, Rengkai - Goals: 1-0,2-0 M Priyokumar, 3-0 Y Sebastian.
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier: PYA, Kairang 3-0 KFC, Kakching - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Azad Shah (30',79'), 2-0 M Ronel Singh (51').
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Qualifier: Vasco SC 0-0,3-1 Velsao Pale SC [penalties]
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Sporting Clube de Goa 4-0 Goa Police SC - Goals: 1-0,4-0 Chidi Edeh (1',90'), 2-0,3-0 Reagan Fernandes (8',85').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Tata Steel, Jamshedpur 0-2 Punjab State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Dalip Kumar (30'), 0-2 Sandeep Saini (65').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Rail Coach Factory 1-3 Punjab Police - Goals: 0-1 Harshdeep Singh (20'), 0-2,1-3 Amarjit Singh, 1-2 Kulwinder Singh (55').
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Quarterfinal: Naga Boys Club 1-0 Zelaingrong Village SC - Goal: 1-0 Visakholie (50').

    Note-1: Following drama on the field in which unfancied Mohammedan Sporting Club upset the East Bengal Club apple-cart in this 111th IFA Shield opener, there was greater mayhem off it, as the victor coach Biswajit Bhattacharjee stunned the gathered media by announcing his resignation then and there, in response to the treatment meted out to him over time by certain club officials. Mr. Bhattacharjee had the following words to say: "First let me clarify that full credit for the victory goes to the players. I've finished my job. I'm leaving Mohammedan Sporting as of now. I've tried to, and built a secular team during my tenure as coach. I tried to do a lot. The club needs to now appoint a good strong-willed person as the coach, who'll be able to fight his way to implement his ideas. But first I have to leave. I've been criticised a lot by the officials - for the matches in the league, the Federation Cup, and so on. Copies of my letters of resignation are on the table." An emotional Mr. Bhattacharjee left immediately upon delivering these words. In the resignation letter, Mr. Bhattacharjee explained his thinking, highlighting the fact that he was being mal-treated despite his successes in obtaining the Clubs' promotion to the Premier Division of the National League.

    Note-2: Meanwhile East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick admitted frankly the below-par performance of his team, highlighting the need for the team to up their ways for the crucial tie against Mohun Bagan this Sunday, that now takes on an even greater significance. Some excerpts of his post-match reactions to the asembled media:
    "We played badly and lost in a bad way."
    "It was a bad day at the office. We have to pull up our socks. It's now a do or die situation in the tournament. We've to work very hard."
    "Our defence was a bit off. Debabrata Roy was fit before the match. But he couldn't do his all. The centre-backs found it difficult also. We need to work on our defence."
    "The Mohammedan Sporting players came out more agressive than our players. I admit it. No excuses."
    "It was the best possible line-up available to me that I selected, and I wouldn't have changed that."
    "Suresh, Alvito, Arun Malhotra, Bernard Pires - all were unable to play as they were only available late."
    "I'm sure once we have our full contingent available, things will settle down and we will do better."
    "Right now, we just have to do it come the next match. I'm just concentrating on it, nothing beyond."

    Note-3: The Punjab FA has finalised their U19 state squad, which will take part in the 41th Dr. BC Roy Trophy (under-19) North Zone qualifiers to be held at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh from November 27 to December 7, 2005.
    PUNJAB U19: Goalkeepers: Altaf Suleman, Kamalpreet Singh; Defenders: Amandeep, Chandandeep Singh, Harjinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Sarabjit, Manjit Singh Dharamsot; Midfielders: Dilshad Ahmed, Amritpal Singh, Hari Singh, Sehij Pal Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Navtej Singh, Gurpinder Singh; Forwards: Amandeep Singh, Amandeep Singh Bains, Sameer Kumar, Ashok Singh Kalakoti.
    Coach: Ali Hassan; Manager: S Gurpreet Singh.

    23. November
    The latest FIFA World Rankings were released today with INDIA dropping down three places to 135th amongst the 205 ranked nations and territories. In Asia INDIA remain 25th in the rankings.

    Exhibition Match - Calcutta: Bengal U21 2-1 AC Milan U18 - Goals: 1-0 Rajiv Ahmed (41'), 2-0 Lalkamal Bhowmick (52'), 2-1 Emanuelle Orlandi (76' Penalty).
    The Bengal state U21 team scored a 2-1 upset win against the visiting AC Milan U18 team, which had been strengthened by former Milan star and Brazilian World Cup winner Leonardo. The Milan boys are in India as part of the "Festa Italiana 2005", but today infront of an empty Saltlake Stadium, the Bengal boys proved that Indians can play football, though surely the age and big venue factor went their way.
    BENGAL U21: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, Rajiv Ahmed, Soumik Dey, Surajit Chakraborty Jr, Sheikh Azim, Lalkamal Bhowmick, Tapan Maity (67' Snehashish Chakraborty), Ratan Das (85' Sheikh Habeeb Ali), Shyam Mondal, Surojit Bose (68' Joydeep Bose, 90+4' Mithun Naha), Ayan Chowdhury (89' Subhasish Banerjee).
    MILAN U18: Daniel Offredi, Harco Bersamini, Luca Ronchi (70' Mattia Longoni), Davide Lionetti (76' Mattia Abbiati), Andrea Gritti, Emanuelle Orlandi, Ferdinando Vitofrancesco, Alessandro Candi, Enrico Travaini (63' Alesandro Pecorini), Flavio Vivarini, Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo (38' Enrico Daros).
    To See Match pictures >>Click here .

    Post match comments:
    The AC Milan U-18 teams' coach, Alessandro Mussico, had the following statements to offer in response to the various questions put forward to him at the post-match press-conference:

  • "Bengal played a very good match. We played a strong match too, to honour the great hospitality we've received here."
  • "Any AC Milan team always plays to win, and so did we today. But today we have to admit the good quality of our opponents. Still, a draw would have been a better result."
  • "Professional players should play in any conditions provided. Pitch was good - no complaints. The atmosphere was good too. These were young players not used to playing in such an atmosphere."
  • "I would say that the Bengal goalkeeper, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, was the best player / man of the match."
  • "My teams' best player was Emanuele Orlandi."
  • "I think the referee made a mistake in not sending off the goalkeeper during the penalty incident."
  • "This match was very good for our young players. They are getting a good opportunity experience a different culture, and playing in a very different environment compared to what they experience regularly in AC Milan, and this will be useful for them to grow in their career as a professional footballer."
  • "We did little mistakes during the match. We were also tired with all the hectic traveling. But it was important to put the players through this, and they have to cope with it, as they must learn such things can happen in pro football."
  • "The Indian football standard was pretty impressive. Still, we need to play more competitive games to make a better idea of Indian football."
  • "I would say the Indian players need to develop on their physical side. They are fast and have good skill."

    Leonardo was undoubtedly the star-draw for the assembled media at the post-match press-conference. He was bombarded with all sorts of questions form all sides, all of which probably must have convinced him then, if he hadn't been earlier, of the attachment the Bengali football fan has for a Brazilian football legend. Excerpts of his reactions to the gathered press on Indian football, India, and the days match:

  • "I could feel the positive atmosphere in the stadium and on the pitch, as it is there right now in this room. I've seen the football level here. They all want to play football. Their style of football is good."
  • "India is pretty similar to Brazil, for it is a large country both in terms of size, and population. But of course India's population is much more. People in both our countries have a natural happiness, despite the many big problems facing the common people."
  • "We Brazilians are proud that there are so many players from our country playing in India. I know Barretto who was successful here in Kolkata. I had also heard about Cristiano Junior's unfortunate incident."
  • "The Bengal team today played very fast. They need to learn how to manage the game more, to construct the game and the match, play to strategies. Maybe they should have kept possession, shifted the ball around. They should be fast sometimes, but not all the time. For, you have to be competitive, and not only play good football."
  • "I was impresses by Ayan Chowdhury, who's a good player. He played the match as a lone striker, and still did very well. The whole Bengal team had a vey similar characteristic, and all of them were aggressive."
  • "As regards possible future initiatives by AC Milan, the important thing is to create relationships in football, to exchange people."
  • "Personally, I loved to come here. We know people here follow us in detail. We can't confirm, but we definitely want to do something in the youth development in this country."

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier: USA, Khurai 1-0 SAI RC, Imphal - Goal: 1-0 S Rojen Singh (75').
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Qualifier: Salgaocar SC 5-1 Goa Velha SC - Goals: 1-0,2-0,4-0,5-1 A Jyothi Kumar (12',23',35',62'), 3-0 Sachin Gawas, 4-1 Joe Vaz.
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Fransa FC 5-1 Benny XI SC - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Muhammed Nisam (8',?'), 2-0,5-0 Peter Carvalho (28',63'), 4-0 John Barreto, 5-1 Rakshak Naik (90').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Border Security Force 1-1 JCT Academy - Goals: 1-0 Santosh Kujur (10'), 1-1 Hardeep Singh (25').
    4th Sri Guru Gobind Singh Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: CRPF, Jalandhar 0-1 Jammu&Kashmir Bank
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Quarterfinal: Puliebazde Club 2-4 Nagaland Police B - Goals: 0-1,1-3,2-4 Renthango (18',65',90+'), 0-2 Malo (20'), 1-2 Makingai (50'), 2-3 Khriesaneilie (82').
    1st Panth Rattan Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra Memorial Football Tournament, Patiala - Final: Punjab Police 2-0 Punjabi University, Patiala - Goals: 1-0 Parwinder Singh (27'), 2-0 Amarjit Singh (77').

    Note-1: The Assam FA has released the squad list of it's U19 team for the 41th Dr. BC Roy Trophy (under-19) NorthEast Zone qualifiers to be held at Belonia, Tripura from November 25.
    ASSAM U19: Prasanta Gogoi, Babu Singh, Pradip Basumatari, Premjit Singha, Abdul Rahim, Pabitra Boro, Pratap Basumatary, Palash Dewri, Dinesh Basumatary, Mainu Dehenmei, Prakash Brahma, Rishikesh Medhi, Mithun Goyari, Issac Tirkey, Fwjwbswrang Wary, Aronjeet Brahama, Pratap Chandra Brahma, Sunny Gurung, Jayanta Basumatary, Achinta Basumatary (Captain). Bidhan Das will be the coach and Subir Dey will be the manager.

    22. November
    5th All-India BSNL Football Cup - Calicut - Final: Karnataka 2-0 West Bengal - Goals: 1-0 Kathiravan (55'), 2-0 Ifthikar.
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Dempo SC 5-2 Sesa Football Academy
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Western Sumi Sports Association 2-2,4-5 Ziekezou Sporting Club [penalties]

    Note-1: At a press conference in Calcutta today, the IFA secretary Subrata Dutta announced that the 111th IFA Shield 2005, termed as the Club Championship of the country, would be held from November 24 to December 4 at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. It would be a six team affair with the second team of German Bundesliga giants FC Bayern Munich being the star attraction. As the Germans could only play two matches, they have been directly seeded into the semifinals, while five teams would fight for the three other semifinal places.
    Group A would consist of the three Maidan giants - East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting with the winner and runners-up making it to the semifinals. The Group A runners-up would have the honour of taking on the FC Bayern Munich II team. In Group B former shield winners JCT Mills from Punjab would take on local side EverReady SA in a knockout match for a place in the semifinals, where they would face the winners of Group A.
    British-born referee Dave Roberts, who normally blows the whistle in Singapore, returns to Calcutta to officiate in the semifinals and final of this years IFA-Shield after having officiated in the seasons first Calcutta derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan in August. The referees will also not only officiate in the IFA-Shield, but are part of an interesting experiment with the referee wearing a one-way radio microphone, where his voice and those of players closely are transmitted to the TV production room, where the matchday producer can decise what to put live on air or not.
    In the group stage matches would kickoff at 14.30 and 17.00 IST, while the semifinals and final would kickoff a little later at 17.45 IST. The semifinals and final would be shown live on TV by Star Sports.
    The champions would take home Rs 500,000, while the runners-uo would get Rs 250,000. The IFA is very happy to have received more than Rs 10 million as sponsorship from corporate sponsors plus Rs 15 million from broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports. This years sponsors include Allahabad Bank, Chirag, Playwin, Sangbad Pratidin, SWC, Hotel Hindustan International, Hindustan Times and Apollo Gleneagles Hospital.
    Click here for the final 111th IFA-Shield 2005 draw .

    Note-2: As part of the Festa Italiana 2005 the AC Milan U18 squad has come down to India to play three exhibition matches. As face of the AC Milan contingent the 1994 World Cup winning and former Milan midfielder, Brazilian Leonardo, has come along. Today the U18 boys with Leonardo playing for them took on a combined Mumbai Celebrities/Bombay Gymkhana XI, which they beat rather easily 7-1. The Italians tomorrow plays the Bengal U21 at the giant Saltlake Stadium, while on November 26 they take on the INDIA U20 at the Bombay Gymkhana.

    21. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Final: Maharashtra 1-1,0-2 Goa [extratime] - Goals: 1-0 Soccor Velho (73'), 1-1 Philip Gomes (74'), 1-2 Nicholas L Rodrigues (105'), 1-3 Joaquim Abranches (115').
    MAHARASHTRA: Israt Kamal, Santosh Koli, Rauf Khan, Clifford Kilmo, Douzy Godinho, Hekmat Singh, Vijith Shetty (79' Nirmal Deep Singh), Paresh Shivalkar, Steven Dias, Soccor Velho (108' Javed Ansari), Reuben D'Souza.
    GOA: Felix D'Souza, Philip Gomes, Mahesh Gawli, Marcus Pexeito, John Baretto, Nicholas L Rodrigues, Climax Lawrence, Micky Fernandes (77' Joaquim Abranches), Freddy Mascarenhas (75' Nacimento Silveira), Anthony Pereira, Nicolas Borges.
    REFEREE: Shaji C Kurien (Kerala).
    Man of the Match: -
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    5th All-India BSNL Football Cup - Calicut - Semifinal: Karnataka 5-0 Tamil Nadu
    5th All-India BSNL Football Cup - Calicut - Semifinal: West Bengal 3-0 Kerala
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Raitura SC 2-1 Marmugao Port Trust SC - Goals: 1-0 Newton Dias (25'), 1-1 Lyold Mascarenhas (61'), 2-1 Cruz Gomes (78').
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Kuki FC 10-0 Zunheboto Sports Council

    Note-1: Phagwara-based JCT Mills confirmed today to us at IndianFootball.Com that they will be taking part in the 111th IFA-Shield. The 1996 Shield champions will come with a 20 member squad plus coach Parminder Singh and manager Sukhvinder Singh. For a number of JCT players the Shield will be a homecoming of sorts as they have played for Calcutta clubs in the past.
    JCT Mills: Goalkeepers: Kalyan Chaubey, Karanjit Singh; Defence: Baldeep Singh, Jaspal Singh, Julius Irabor Akpele, Daljit Singh, Harish Sharma, Narinder Singh, Taranjit Singh; Midfielders: Sukhjinder Singh, Sukhwinder Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Renedy Singh, Bimanyu Bimal Birua, Yadwinder Singh; Forwards: Johnson Segun Banner, Marcos Pereira, Sunil Chetri, Parveen Kumar, Gyan Moin Thapa.

    Note-2: UNI report: A "Controversial" goal that sealed fate of Manipur in the National football tournament for Santoh trophy at Kochi, Kerala, rocked the state as Manipur Students' Federation (msf) called 26-hour protest bandh here from 5.00 pm Monday.A protest rally was organsied today to condemn the "controversial decision" in the quarter final match between Manipur and Goa.
    Large numbers of sport persons took part in the rally organised by 15 students bodies and civil organisations of the state. Slogans demanding punishment of the allegedly biased refereeing.
    Banners were carried which read, we want justice, punish the referee, stop discrimination in sports. The protest rally started at the Khuman Lampak sports stadium and passed through various parts of the city and converged at the Bhagyachandra open air theatre (boat).Hundreds of sportspersons and sports lovers took part in the protest.

    20. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - 3rd Place Playoff: Kerala 2-1 Punjab - Goals: 1-0 NP Pradeep (57'), 1-1 Narinder Singh (68'), 2-1 T Asif Saheer (79').
    Man of the Match: T Asif Saheer (Kerala).
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    28th Senior National Women's Football Championships, Dhanbad - Final: Bihar 1-1,5-5,1-0 Jharkhand [sudden death] - Goals: 1-0 Edhi Kumari (15'), 1-1 Sushila Kerketta (60').

    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Raia Sporting Club 2-1 Corps of Signals - Goals: 1-0 Augusto Monteiro, 2-0 Raymond Cardozo (89'), 2-1 Sanjay Yadav (90+').

    Note-1: The Punjab FA informed IndianFootball.Com that the following PFA approved tournaments will be held in the state in the month of January 2006.

  • The 44th Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Tournament will be held in SGGS Khalsa College, Mahilpur from January 14 to 20, 2006.
  • The All Open Shaheedi Football Tournament, is being organised by Village Youth Club, Kahma at Village Kahma, District Nawanshahr from January 20 to 25, 2006.

    Note-2: The situation in Manipur after the state team were eliminated from the 60th Santosh Trophy on Thursday has remained tense with general protest in the state growing. A major public rally will be organised in the state capital Imphal tomorrow, which is being organised by 15 civil and students organisations of the state. The date has been choosen as it is the day of the Santosh Trophy final.
    In addition to the above, the Manipuri Students' Federation has called a general strike with effect from 19.00 tomorrow until 05.00 the next day.
    The All-Manipur FA meanwhile has decided to pull it's state teams out of the AIFF-organised U14 and U19 Nationals, and it would even go to the extend to leave the AIFF, if it was needed. The state thinks that Goa was favoured by the referee after in a similar situation in 2002 Manipur was favoured as it hosted the tournament then.

    19. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Semifinal: Punjab 0-2 Goa - Goals: 1-0 Peter Carvalho (14'), 2-0 Nicholas L Rodrigues (48').
    PUNJAB: Karanjit Singh, Sunil Kumar, Parminder Singh, Taranjit Singh, Surjit Singh (46' Yadwinder Singh), Ram Paul (64' Dilbag Singh), ?, ?, ?, Gyan Moin Thapa (77' Charanjit Kumar), Gurpreet Singh.
    GOA: Felix D'Souza, Philip Gomes, Mahesh Gawli, Marcus Peixoto, John Barreto, Nicholas L Rodrigues, Climax Lawrence, Peter Carvalho, Micky Fernandes, Freddy Mascarenhas (89' Alvito Rodrigues), Anthony Pereira (63' Joaquim Abranches).
    Man of the Match: Nicholas L Rodrigues (Goa).
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Naga Boys Club 3-0 Dimapur Youth Club
    Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Akbar Travels 3-0 Bank of Baroda - Goals: 1-0 Siraj Kanjode (41'), 2-0 Bijumon Kaiparath (72'), 3-0 Dhanraj Sumesh (78').

    Note-1: The 111th IFA-Shield will be held without Malaysian club side Perlis FC, who have pulled out just a few days ahead of the tournament. The reason given was an earlier launch of the Malaysian League, but the IFA is not at all happy with the news communicated to them and have placed a protest/complaint with the AIFF, who will forward it to the Asian Football Confederation. The likely replacement at the moment seems to be Punjabi side JCT Mills, as Mahindra United have no team to play with, while Goan clubs are busy with local engagements.

    18. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Semifinal: Kerala 0-1 Maharashtra - Goal: 0-1 Reuben D'Souza (50').
    KERALA: MV Nelson, K Jasser, Vinu Jose (73' Bijesh Ben), Abdul Basheer, Muttath Suresh, NP Pradeep, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, KM Abdul Noushad (82' IM Vijayan), M Lanel Thomas, M Mohammad Rafi (68' T Asif Saheer), MA Abdul Hakkim.
    MAHARASHTRA: Israt Kamal, Santosh Koli, Rauf Khan, Clifford Kilmo, Jinto Jose, Hekmat Singh, Vijith Shetty, Paresh Shivalkar, Steven Dias, Soccor Velho (77' Nirmaldeep Singh), Reuben D'Souza (90+1' Mohammed Shahid Ansari).
    Man of the Match: Reuben D'Souza (Maharashtra).
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Nagaland Police B 3-2 Kuki Youth Club
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: Phek Veteran Sporting Club 5-2 Etiquette Club

    Note-1: New national coach Syed Nayeemuddin has named 29 probables for the selection camp for the 4th SAFF Cup to be held in Karachi, Pakistan from December 7 to 17, 2005. After much speculation in the media, Baichung Bhutia finds a place amongst the probables while the comeback of IM Vijayan has been put off at least for the time being. The camp would start on November 22 in the capital New Delhi. Interesting to note is that a number of players, who have played regularly for India in the last year or so have not been called-up, while some players find places in the camp after good performances in the Fed Cup and/or the Santosh Trophy.
    INDIA PORBABLES: Goalkeepers: Sandip Nandy (Mahindra United), Israt Kamal (Central Railway), MV Nelson (Kerala State Electricity Board), Felix D'Souza (Sporting Clube de Goa); Defenders: Surkumar Singh (Mahindra United), Samir Naik (Dempo SC), Nanjangud Shivananju Manju (Mahindra United), Mahesh Gawli (Mahindra United), NP Pradeep (State Bank of Travancore), Parminder Singh Sr (JCT Mills), Philip Gomes (Sporting Clube de Goa), Marcus Pexeito (Fransa-Pax FC); Midfielders: Steven Dias (Mahindra United), Climax Lawrence (Dempo SC), Krishnan Nair Ajayan (Mahindra United), KM Abdul Noushad (State Bank of Travancore), Shanmugam Venkatesh (Mahindra United), Mehtab Hussain (Mohun Bagan AC), James Singh (Mahindra United), Tomba Singh (Mohun Bagan AC), Mehraj din Wadoo (Mohun Bagan AC); Strikers: Syed Rahim Nabi (East Bengal Club), MA Abdul Hakkim (State Bank of Travancore), Joaquim Abranches (Dempo SC), Baichung Bhutia (East Bengal Club), Soccer Velho (Golden Gunners, Mumbai), Xavier Vijayakumar (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC), Anthony Pereira (Vasco SC), Reuben D'Souza (Golden Gunners, Mumbai).

    Note-2: The disciplinary committee of the 60th Santosh Trophy has recommended action against four Manipur state players for their inproper conduct during the Quarterfinal League match against Goa. The accused players are goalkeeper Oinam Ingobi Singh, defender Manitombi Singh, midfielder Dharamjit Singh and striker Samson Singh, who were leading in the teams protest against an early restart after scoring a goal, which resulted in another goal.
    Meanwhile an official protest filed by Manipur late on Thursday was rejected today. The Manipuris had demanded a replay of the match against Goa due to the referee's decision to restart the match so quickly.

    17. November
    Asian Sub-Junior Cup 2006 Qualifiers - Group G - New Delhi: INDIA U17 2-3 Tajikistan U17 - Goals: 0-1,0-3 Ulugbek Karaev (28',43'), 0-2 Samad Shohzukhurov (33'), 1-3 Arjun Tudu (74'), 2-3 Khangembamthoi Singh (79').
    The INDIA U17 boys team lost out on a place in the Asian Sub-Junior Cup 2006 to be held in Singapore with a 2-3 loss against the Tajikistan U17 team at the Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. After trailing 0-3 at the breather the INDIA boys came back strongly in the second half, but it wasn't enough to earn a draw, which would have meant qualification.

    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group B: Punjab 2-0 Tamil Nadu - Goals: 1-0 Gyan Moin Thapa (51'), 2-0 Charanjit Kumar (83').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group D: Manipur 1-1 Goa - Goals: 1-0 Tomba Singh (87'), 1-1 Climax Lawrence (89').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Round 1: TTYO 2-5 Zeikezou SC
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Pre-Quarterfinal: New Market Youth Organization 0-1 Zeliangrong Village
    Mumbai Super Division: Bank of Baroda 3-0 Income Tax (walkover as Income Tax couldn't put a team of 11 players together)

    Note-1: An AFC release: The draw for the maiden AFC Challenge Cup which will be co-hosted by Nepal and Bangladesh was held on November 11, 2005 at the AFC House. The tournament features 16 'emerging' countries, divided into four groups, and will run from March 25 to April 9, 2006.
    Group A comprises India, Chinese Taipei, the Philippines and Afghanistan while co-hosts Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Brunei are in Group B. Co-hosts Bangladesh are alongside Palestine, Cambodia and Guam in Group C while two the Central Asian countries of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been drawn in Group D with Pakistan and Macau. Groups A and B will be played in Nepal while the matches of Groups C and D will be held in Bangladesh.
    The match schedule will be issued shortly.
    THE GROUPS:
    Group A: India, Chinese Taipei, Philippines, Afghanistan.
    Group B: Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Brunei.
    Group C: Palestine, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Guam.
    Group D: Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Macau.

    Note-2: The schedule of the 60th Santosh Trophy has been changed again. The first semifinal between Kerala and Maharashtra would now take place tomorrow at 19.00 IST instead of the rescheduled following day.

    Note-3: The Manipur Vs Goa semifinal at the 60th Santosh Trophy ended in turmoil today as the Manipuri players were not happy with the decision by referee Shaji Kurian (Kerala) to restart the match seconds after the Manipuris had scored the lead and they were celebrating that lead, which would have meant Manipur move into the semifinals, but with Goa able to equalise seconds after that it meant the Goans moved into the semifinals. The referee had to get security cover as Manipur players and officials wanted the referee to change his stance.

    16. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group A: Kerala 3-0 Delhi - Goals: 1-0 Krishnan Nair Ajayan (43'), 2-0 MA Abdul Hakkim (53'), 3-0 NP Pradeep (67').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group C: Services 2-3 West Bengal - Goals: 1-0 Jayanta Sen (26'), 2-0 Raman Vijayan (51'), 2-1 L Danny (71'), 2-2 Shaji D'Silva (73'), 3-2 S Ramesh (85' - own Goal).
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Round 1: Friends Club 1-9 Dimapur Youth Club - Goals: 0-1,0-2,1-4,1-6 Lipok (15',17',37',53'), 0-3 Tiasnuep (25'), 1-3 ? (36'), 1-5,1-8 Lemtong (51',70'), 1-7 Aben (62'), 1-9 Tongpang (90').
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Round 1: Thizama Teens 0-3 Kuki FC - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Seikhophao Tuboi (36',86'), 0-3 Haopu Neishel (87').
    Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims 2-0 Sea View SC - Goals: 1-0 Mathias Cotinho (56'), 2-0 Francisco Salin (89').

    Note-1: With the Mumbai Super Division slowly coming to a close, it has been decided who will get relegated. The clubs Sea View SC and Dena Bank will go down, while the promotion to the Elite League will be decided in a Super Six Playoff League.

    15. November
    It was INDIA Day at Soccerex 2005 for us today as we met many people involved directly or indirectly with Indian football or having some sort of connection to the game in our country. It came as a complete surprise to us, but it was good to see some old faces and to add the face to others, whom we have been in touch with for ages, but have never met.
    The quote of the day comes from Gary Lovejoy, Zee Sports COO, "It is worth the investment" after being asked in a podium discussion by moderator Peter Hutton (Ten Sports), if Indian football is worth the hassle. We all hope for the best.
    People in the football industry are interested in Indian football and in the coming days we will tell you more about that interest, but after a day of nearly non-stop talking, telling people about the Indian game, we have only updated the pictures with infos on the convention coming as soon as possible for us.
    For the Daily Notes & Pictures go to >>IndianFootball.Com LIVE.

    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group A: Uttar Pradesh 2-0 Delhi - Goals: 1-0 Bhuvan Krishna Joshi (17'), 2-0 Prahlad Singh Rawat (32').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group B: Tamil Nadu 0-1 Karnataka - Goal: 0-1 Amrutharaja (48' - own Goal).
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group C: Maharashtra 2-0 West Bengal - Goals: 1-0 Reuben D'Souza (58'), 2-0 Paresh Shivalkar (64').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group D: Assam 0-6 Goa - Goals: 0-1,0-4,0-5,0-6 Anthony Pereira (12',26',45',53'), 0-2 Climax Lawrence (16'), 0-3 Clifford Miranda (25').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Round 1: Nagaland Police B 1-0 United Club - Goal: 1-0 Rengthungo (90+').
    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Round 1: Etiquette Club 6-1 Citizens Club - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Zeu Kire (29',36'), 2-1 Kedelelhou (41'), 3-1 Neilhoukholie (45'), 4-1 Vibeizotuo (56'), 5-1,6-1 Sedengulie (67',87').
    Mumbai Super Division: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) 1-2 Bank of Baroda - Goals: 0-1 Atish Ruke (11'), 1-1 Chirag Sheikh (28'), 1-2 Arshad Ansari (76').

    14. November
    All matches of the 60th Santosh Trophy 2005 scheduled for today have been postponed due to very heavy rains in the Kochi area. Due to the heavy rains the organisers were forced to reschedule all remaining matches of the tournament. Today's matches, which where postponed would be held tomorrow, but not all at the Nehru Stadium but two also at the FACT grounds at nearby Udyogamandal, which was deemed matchfit by the organisers and the team managers. Meanwhile the matches scheduled for tomorrow and day after have been pushed back by a day. The semifinals would now both be held on November 19 with the final going to be played on November 21, a day later than originally planned.

    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group A: Uttar Pradesh - Delhi = postponed to tomorrow due to heavy rains
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group B: Tamil Nadu - Karnataka = postponed to tomorrow due to heavy rains
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group C: Maharashtra - West Bengal = postponed to tomorrow due to heavy rains
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group D: Assam - Goa = postponed to tomorrow due to heavy rains
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup - Round 1: New Market XI 5-0 Agri-Foest - Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-0,4-0,5-0 Kekhriesituo (10',21',40',65',80').
    Mumbai Super Division: Central Bank of India 2-0 Sea View SC - Goals: 1-0 Aditya Gaikwad (62'), 2-0 Jacinto D'Silva (79').
    Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims 0-1 Union Bank of India - Goal: 0-1 Suresh Mendon (75').

    Note-1: by Zafar Ali Khan: Brazilian football legend Leonardo Nascimento de Araujo will accompany the AC Milan under-18 team that will play three matches during their tour to India later this month. This was disclosed at a press conference in Calcutta by Agostino Pinna, the Consul General of Italy in Calcutta. The Italians will play their first match against a Celebrity XI in Mumbai on November 22, while the following day they will play against the Bengal U21 side ,who are the U21 National Champions of India, under floodlights at the Saltlake Stadium in Calcutta. The last match would be again in Mumbai, this time the Milan boys would face the INDIA Junior boys.
    AC MILAN U18: Goalkeepers: Nicolo De Vecchi, Daniel Offredi; Defenders: Marco Bergamini, Luca Cardani, Davide Lionetti, Matteo Mandelli, Alessandro Pecorni, Flavio Vivarni; Midfielders: Alesandro Candi, Andrea Gritti, Mattia Longoni, Francesco Mauri, Luca Ronchi, Stefano Russo, Marco Benelli, Ferdinando Vitofrancesco; Forwards: Mattia Abbiati, Enrico Da Ros, Emanuele Orlandi, Enrico Travaini; Coach: Alessandro Mussico; Manager: Roberto Monti.

    Note-2: In a poll conducted by the Malayala Manorama, a Kerala vernacular, about the best footballer from Kerala in the last five decades IM Vijayan was declared the winner at a function in Kochi today. The paper had also asked an expert panel to put together a state Dream Team, which was also announced.
    IM Vijayan, who currently plays for East Bengal and is set for a possible national team comeback, was presented with a golden ball.

    13. November
    We got ourselfs registered and accredited in the morning at the 'Madinat Jumeirah', the conference/convention venue here in Dubai. And what can I say, it is a dream venue like in "1001 Arabian Nights" with a beautiful surrounding scenary where you have marvelous buildings and also look at the "Burj Al Arab" hotel. Just have a look at the great outside venue pictures that Chris has taken.
    For the Daily Notes & Pictures go to >>IndianFootball.Com LIVE.

    Asian Sub-Junior Cup 2006 Qualifiers - Group G - New Delhi: INDIA U17 9-0 Pakistan U17 - Goals: 1-0,4-0,5-0,6-0 Khangembamthoi Singh (10',29',30',44'), 2-0 Mohammed Moazzam (13'), 3-0,9-0 Malswamdangliana (16',78'), 7-0 Lallamzualaa (45'), 8-0 Mintu Boro (55').
    The INDIA U17 boys team made an impressive start into the Asian Sub-Junior Cup 2006 Qualifiers - Group G with a 9-0 trashing of neighbours Pakistan at the sadly empty 85,000 seater Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. The Indian boys lead by TFA boy Hiralal Chetri were leading 7-0 at halftime infront of a mere 300 spectators. India U17s top scorer was striker Khangembamthoi Singh with four goals in the first half, where the Indian boys were all over the place. In the second half Pakistan did give the boys a tougher time, but they where still control of the game and added two more goals.
    It once again showed that Uzbek coach Islam Akhmedov can get the best out of an Indian junior team, if he is given the time and proper exposure.
    Click here for detailed information at the >>Indian National Team Special

    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group A: Uttar Pradesh - Delhi = postponed to tomorrow due to heavy rains
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group B: Punjab 2-2 Karnataka - Goals: 1-0 Taranjit Singh (27'), 1-1 Shanmugam Venkatesh (62'), 2-1 Yadwinder Singh (71'), 2-2 Rajendra Prasad (84').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group C: Maharashtra - West Bengal = postponed to tomorrow due to heavy rains
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    Mumbai Super Division: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) 4-4 Dena Bank - Goals: 1-0 Chirag Shaikh (9'), 1-1,2-4 Tarique Ansari (15',60'), 2-1 Manoj Nair (30'), 2-2 Asif Ansari (35'), 2-3 Hamza Ansari (52'), 3-4 Mohammed Khan (75'), 4-4 Tabrej Sayyed (82').
    Mumbai Super Division: Akbar Travels 2-1 Bank of Baroda - Goals: 0-1 Atish Ruke (35'), 1-1 Sheril P Kudakattil (65'), 2-1 Vijesh P Vijayan (71').

    Note-1: by Xavier Rutsa: The 17th Kohima Royal Gold Cup will kick start tomorrow and conclude on December 1. All the matches will be played at local ground, Kohima, except the grand finals (December 1), which would be played at Indira Gandhi Stadium.
    Briefing the mediamen in Kohima a few days ago, T Abao Kire, Kohima Royal Club president said that this year edition coincided with the state government declarations of year of youth empowerment and only local teams were invited for the championships. He said this would give impetus to the local teams and be given a chance to them, to be selected and play at national level championships.
    The president T Abao Kire however assured that from next edition outstation teams would be invited for the championships, adding "this year too the Club got several phone from calls from others states, enquiring about the tournament".
    The Royal Club, Kohima informed that so far 20 teams have confirmed their participations and they were expecting some more.
    The prizes for the championships are as follow the winning team will get Rs. 100,000 cash, runner-up, the-runner-up team will get Rs. 60,000 and the losing semifinalists will get cash Prize of Rs.20,000 each. The chief guest for the inaugural function will be P Atuo Mezhur, AIFF vice president.
    With the day coinciding with Children's Day, the Royal Club, Kohima has urged the upon the school authorities in and around Kohima to send their students for the opening match, which will start at 13.30 IST, adding sweets will be given to the students. On the inaugural day, the publics are allowed to watch the match without tickets.
    Meanwhile by virtue of being defending champions DGP XI (A) Nagaland, which is importantly know, as Nagaland Police are directly seed in the quarterfinals. The tournament will be played on knockout basis, with a national referee officiating matches, who would be dually assisted by local referees.

    12. November
    Merhaba from sunny and warm Dubai!
    Sorry for no proper updates yesterday, but as we were travelling there was no chance to do updates. We are back to our normal self from now on again...
    We wanted to inform you all that we have arrived safely after a six hour flight from Duesseldorf to Dubai and are getting ready for the start of Soccerex 2005 tomorrow.
    We have uploaded some pictures of the journey and the place around our hotel to you to see. Many more pictures are coming in the next few days along with reports and more...
    For the Daily Notes & Pictures go to >>IndianFootball.Com LIVE.

    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group B: Punjab - Karnataka = postponed to tomorrow due to heavy rains
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group D: Manipur 3-1 Assam - Goals: 1-0 Sushil Kumar (23'), 2-0 Samson Singh (70'), 2-1 Sanjiva Rongpi (83'), 3-1 Dharamjit Singh (90+1').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    Mumbai Super Division: Central Bank of India 0-2 Income Tax - Goals: 0-1 Rassul Campus, 0-2 Camilo Noronha.

    Note-1: Punjab Selection Committee (Junior Teams), headed by former Asian Allstar & JCT xoach Parminder Singh, has selected the following 32 youngsters for the prepartory camp of the Punjab U19 football team. The camp will start on November14 at the JCT Football Stadium, Phagwara.
    Punjab Probables: Goalkeepers: Kanwaljit Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, Altaf Suleman. Defenders: Dharminder Singh, Maninder Singh, Harpreet Singh, Sarabjit, Chandandeep Singh, Amandeep, Sarabjit Singh, Navdeep Singh, Bikram Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Manjit Singh. Midfielders: Amritpal Singh, Navtej Singh, Dilshad Ahmed, Kulwinder Singh, Gurpinder Singh, Avinash Kumar, Charanpreet Singh, Preetjot, Sukhbir Singh, Daljit Singh, Rajiv Kumar. Forwards: Sumeer Kumar, Sehajpal Singh, Amandeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Ashok Singh, Jagdish Singh.
    Coach : Ali Hassan. Manager: S Inderpal Singh Bal.

    11. November
    Soccerex 2005 - The global business convention for football worldwide will be held from November 13 to 15, 2005 at the Madinat Jameirah, Dubai and IndianFootball.Com as an official media partner will be there to cover the event. So Chris and myself (Arunava) fly out of Germany to Dubai today to be there for those three days.
    Soccerex is the largest football industry gathering each year, which is used for networking and we hope many will want to hear from us about Indian football and the chances that it has. We hope to generate interest and that people look at our country!
    Click here for more on >>Soccerex 2005

    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group A: Kerala 1-0 Uttar Pradesh - Goal: 1-0 MA Abdul Hakkim (71').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Quarterfinal League Group C: Services 3-5 Maharashtra - Goals: 1-0,2-1,5-3 Abhishek Yadav (28',37',77'), 1-1,4-3 L Danny (33',70'), 3-1,4-1 Soccor Velho (41',49'), 4-2 A Thirunavukarasu (67').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    1st Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy - Final: Guru Gobind Singh College, Mahilpur 0-0,6-5 Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar [penalties]
    1st Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy - 3rd Place Playoff: GN Nav Bharat College, Panchhat 1-4 JCT Football Academy
    Mumbai Super Division: Sea View SC 1-0 Dena Bank - Goal: 1-0 Sebastian Fernandes.

    Note-1: The AIFF clarified today that Baichung Bhutia will not play for Bengal in the 60th Santosh Trophy. The player was not registered on time and no exception would be made for him. The same rules apply for all according to the AIFF.

    Note-2: Seasoned Sylvester Ignatius from SBT and KSEB's K Bineesh were left out of the 20 member Kerala squad. Unhapyy with the decision Ignatius called it a day and will no long represent his state Kerala in any tournament. The coach M Peethambaran said that Ignatius was not in the squad as he was not found fit enough to play for the team.

    10. November
    The 60th Santosh Trophy preliminary phase finished yesterday in Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut with the eight group winners moving into the quarterfinal league. There was only one big upset with Assam throwing out Railways, while Tamil Nadu needed a late equaliser against Jharkhand to move on and Bengal had to stop the spirited and attacking men from Mizoram. Otherwise the expected group heavy weights moved on. The most impressive of the lot where Goa, who scored 32 goals in three games and conceeding none.
    In the quarterfinal league hosts and defending champions Kerala, runners-up Punjab plus Services and Manipur are waiting as the seeded sides in the four groups. The tournament now also moves to Kochi, where the Nehru Stadium would host the matches but the planned colourful opening function has been called off due to the death of former President KR Narayanan yesterday.
    The Kerala FA President KMI Mather has said that the preparations for the tournament have been completed and that the KFA has tied-up with the United India Insurance on insurance matters, be it stadium, players, officials or spectators.
    The hosts Kerala are the favourites to retain the Santosh Trophy title, but they will surely face tought competition. Goa has been impressive so far, while Bengal seem to have found their touch at the right time plus teams like Manipur, Punjab, Maharashtra and Karnataka will also fancy their chances, and then there are teams like Services, Assam, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh who can cause the one or the other surprise

    1st Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy - Semifinal: Guru Gobind Singh College, Mahilpur 1-0 GN Nav Bharat College, Panchhat
    1st Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy - Semifinal: Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar 0-0,3-1 JCT Football Academy [penalties]
    Mumbai Super Division: Union Bank of India 0-0 Akbar Travels - Goals: none.

    Note-1: With the Indian national camp to start in about a weeks time, the clubs will be without they key local players for the Durand Cup, Rovers Cup and the IFA-Shield. East Bengal has placed a request to the AIFF to allow the clubs to play three instead of two foreigners in the three Blue Riband tournaments and the AIFF is likely to accept the request.

    Note-2: The Punjab FA informed IndianFootball.Com that the following PFA approved tournaments will be held in the state in the coming weeks until the end of the year.

  • The first-ever Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy is currently bing held in Langroya Village, Nawanshahr district with the final slated for tomorrow.
  • The Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha Football Tournament will be held at Sarabha (Ludhiana) from November 13 to 16, 2005.
  • The first-ever Panth Ratan Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra Memorial Football Trophy will be held at the Polo Ground, Patiala from November 19 to 23.
  • The 8th edition of the Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Memorial Football Trophy will be held at the Sikh National College, Banga (Nawanshahr) from December 5 to 10.
  • The S Santa Singh Bhaur Memorial All Open Football Tournament, (Government Senior Secondary School) Phagwara, will be held from December 15 to 18.
  • The Sant Baba Bhag Singh Memorial Football Tournament, Village Khiala, PO Padhiana (near Adampur), Jalandhar district will be held from December 27 to 31.

    9. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster III: Maharashtra 4-0 Orissa - Goals: 1-0 Paresh Shivalkar (48'), 2-0 Soccor Velho (55'), 3-0,4-0 Abhishek Yadav (66',71').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster V: Tamil Nadu 1-1 Jharkhand - Goals: 0-1 Mirja Besra (38'), 1-1 Jegan (88').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VI: Karnataka 1-1 Haryana - Goals: 1-0 Xavier Vijayakumar (17'), 1-1 Praveen Arora (36').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VII: Tripura 3-0 Rajasthan - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Sathyajit Dev Roy (34',52'), 2-0 Shyamal Bhowmick (51').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VII: Goa 10-0 Sikkim - Goals: 1-0 Anthony Pereira (8'), 2-0 Nicholas L Rodrigues (33'), 3-0,4-0,5-0,10-0 Climax Lawrence (36',40',45+1',85'), 6-0 Nicolas Borges (48'), 7-0,9-0 Joaquim Abranches (61',83'), 8-0 Samir Naik (76').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VIII: Andhra Pradesh 1-1 Nagaland - Goals: 1-0 Mohammed Fareed (67'), 1-1 Leipakchao (81').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VIII: West Bengal 1-1 Mizoram - Goals: 1-0 Raman Vijayan (58'), 1-1 Pachau Lalam Puia (74').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    1st Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy - Quarterfinal: GN Nav Bharat College, Panchhat 2-1 Sikh National College, Banga
    1st Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy - Quarterfinal: Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar 1-0 Amardeep Shergill College, Mukandpur
    Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims 0-2 Central Railway (Mumbai Division) - Goals: 0-1 Ammiruddin Ansari (11'), 0-2 Manoj Nair.

    Note-1: Mumbai giants Mahindra United will not participate in the upcoming 111th IFA-Shield. The Jeepmen have turned down a request from the IFA with the main reason being that the India probables camp for the SAFF Cup will be on at the time and most of Mahindra's Indian players are likely to be at that camp. Now it looks likely that local side EverReady SA will replace them.

    Note-2: Less than a week ago the Mizoram U16 boys defended the 28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. On their return journey to the Northeast from central India, the team was invited to play two friendly matches, one against the Mohun Bagan Academy in Durgapur and then against the Tata Football Academy in Jamshedpur.
    The Mohun Bagan Academy coach Johar Das invited the Mizo boys to Durgapur and the hosts won the match 3-2 on November 7, while a day later the tired Mizo boys were beaten 3-0 by the TFA boys. Both the academies are said to be interested to take in some of the Mizoram state sub-junior boys with the Mohun Bagan Academy said to have decided to take in three boys.
    The Mizo boys return to their home state on November 12 and the Mizoram FA will host a big reception for them that day itself in Aizawl.

    Note-3: There will be selection trials for the Punjab U19 team, which will take part in the Dr BC Roy Trophy (U19) National Championship North Zone qualifiers in Uttar Pradesh at the end of November. The trials will take place at 09.00 IST on November 12 at JCT Football Stadium, Phagwara. Eligible are only players born on or after January 1, 1987.

    Note-4: Guwahati Young Star Football Coaching Centre will hold it's silver jubilee celebrations in the Assam capital from December 28 to 31. The celebrations would include an East Zone Inter-Coaching Centre Football Tournament, felicitation of former players and a football symposium.

    8. November
    That FC Bayern Munich II will take part in the 111th IFA-Shield had been reported by us a while back, now the club has send a representative to Calcutta to have a look at things.
    For four days the head of International Relations at FC Bayern Munich, Martin Haegele, is in India first in New Delhi and then Calcutta to get a feel of the travelling included from Munich via New Delhi to Calcutta and also have a look at the venue, facilities, accomodation, transport and any other related issue plus talk face-to-face with the IFA and their marketing agents Total Sports Asia.
    Mr. Haegele, a former journalist himself, talked to the media in Calcutta today and gave them some infos on who might be coming and what was behind the idea of the Munich side was to accept the offer from the IFA. The FCB II team is the reserve-cum-developmental side of the current German champions. A number of current first team player have played for FCB II before making it big like Bastian Schweinsteiger or Owen Hargreaves. At the moment the teams composition is unknown and will only be decided closer to the arrival date. Meanwhile for FCB the Calcutta trip is a goodwill tour, where the team wants to win the trophy, but also show themselves infront of the football fans in India and also for the team it is a big learning experience for the future about a new country and their culture.
    The team is coached by Hermann Gerland, while his assistant is Gerd Mueller. And Mueller, one of the greatest strikers of all times, is set to be the biggest attraction of the travelling party who arrive in Calcutta on November 29.
    IndianFootball.Com is already helping and assisting FC Bayern in the planning and implementation of the tour. In what way we are working together with the German giants and how we will cover the tour will be officially announced in the next couple of days.

    Meanwhile after much speculations, the IFA has finally announced the groupings and schedule of the Shield this year. In Group A the Maidan trio of East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting will face each other, while in Group B Malaysian side Perlis FC face newly crowned Federation Cup champions Mahindra United in a knockout match. If Mahindra pull out then local side EverReady SA would take their place. The winners of the two groups would face each other in the first semifinal, while the second-placed team in Group A would take on FC Bayern II, who have been seeded directly into the semifinals. The final is slated for November 24.
    Click here for the complete 111th IFA-Shield 2005 draw .

    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster I: Madhya Pradesh 1-2 Uttar Pradesh - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Bhuvan Krishna Joshi (67',84'), 1-2 Anuj Pratap Singh (90+').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster II: Delhi 2-0 Bihar - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Sumit Thapa (32',52').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster III: Jammu&Kashmir 2-2 Meghalaya - Goals: 1-0 Bilal Ahmed Wani (28'), 1-1 Rogesterwell Basaiawmdit (55'), 1-2 Freddy Kharpran (77'), 2-2 Mehraj Din Wadoo (89').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster III: Maharashtra - Orissa = due to heavy rain the match has been postponed until tomorrow.
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster IV: Pondicherry 1-3 Chhattisgarh - Goals: 1-0 Anas (24'), 1-1,1-2 Kulwant Singh (40',43'), 1-3 Krishna Naidu (90').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster IV: Railways 1-2 Assam - Goals: 0-1,1-2 Sanjiva Rongpi (40',61'), 1-1 Kasif Jamal (54').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    1st Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy - Quarterfinal: Guru Gobind Singh College, Mahilpur 0-0,5-4 Guru Nanak College, Phagwara [penalties]
    1st Kavi Kartar Singh Charkha Memorial Trophy - Quarterfinal: JCT Football Academy 2-0 DAV College, Jalandhar
    Mumbai Super Division: Income Tax 1-2 Mumbai Port Trust - Goals: 1-0 Neil D'Costa (30'), 1-1 Regan D'Souza (60'), 1-2 Umesh Shetty (75').
    Mumbai Super Division: Central Bank of India 3-0 Dena Bank - Goals: 1-0 Chris Fernandes (31'), 2-0 Vijay Lokegaonkar (43'), 3-0 Nelson Cardoz (84').

    3rd Kanwar Harbans Lal Memorial Football Tournament - Final: Chandigarh Football Academy 2-1 St Stephen High School - Goals: 0-1 Jashanpreet Singh (24'), 1-1,2-1 Rinku (74',77').

    Note-1: Will Baichung Bhutia play for West Bengal in the ongoing 60th Santosh Trophy?
    Baichung's "International Transfer Clearance" was received today in Calcutta by the IFA, but a new problem has now cropped-up. As per the rules and regulations of the Santosh Trophy all players of a team have to be registered before their teams first match, but with Baichung not being a registered player in India until today, he could not be registered earlier at the Santosh Trophy.
    But the IFA is working on the case. The IFA secretary Subrata Datta has sought special permission from the AIFF to allow Baichung to play for the state. The AIFF is looking into the matter.

    Note-2: The Kerala FA today announced its state team for the Santosh Trophy 2005. The hosts will be captained by keeper MV Nelson, while striker MA Abdul Hakkim has been named vice-captain. 10 ofthe players are from State Bank of Travancore, while only four outstation players have been included in the final squad.
    A number of players who were part of the Santosh Trophy winning squad last season like Shabbir Ali, Naushad Pari, T Usman, MK Suneer, VM Girish have been left out, while newcomers Jinish Thomas, K Dhanarajan, Martyn John and PK Anil Kumar made the squad after a nearly month long preparatory and selection camp.
    KERALA: Goalkeepers: MV Nelson (KSEB), Jean Christian (State Bank of Travancore), Jinish Thomas (Kochin Port Trust); Defenders: K Jasser (KSEB), Vinu Jose (Sporting Clube de Goa), Abdul Basheer (State Bank of Travancore), Muttath Suresh (East Bengal Club), K Dhanarajan (Viva Kerala), K Bineesh (KSEB), Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (State Bank of Travancore); Midfielders: Krishnan Nair Ajayan (Mahindra United), KM Abdul Noushad (State Bank of Travancore), M Lanel Thomas (State Bank of Travancore), Bijish Ben (Central Excise), Silvester Ignatious (State Bank of Travancore), Martyn John (State Bank of Travancore); Forwards: Ebin Rose (Titanium), T Asif Saheer (State Bank of Travancore), M Mohammad Rafi (State Bank of Travancore), PK Anil Kumar (KSEB), MA Abdul Hakkim (State Bank of Travancore), IM Vijayan (East Bengal Club).
    Coach: M Peethambaran. Manager: Patrick A Pereira. Technical Instructor: KP Sethumadhavan. Physio: Jiji George

    7. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster V: Jharkhand 2-2 Gujarat - Goals: 0-1 Vishnu Chauhan (5'), 1-1,2-1 Vimal Pariyar (48',85'), 2-2 Mehul Rana (86').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VI: Chandigarh 1-0 Haryana - Goal: 1-0 Sameer Singh (15').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VII: Goa 15-0 Tripura - Goals: 1-0 Clifford Miranda (8'), 2-0,11-0 Anthony Perreira (17',55'), 3-0,4-0,5-0,8-0,9-0,10-0 Freddy Mascarenhas (18',22',29',39',42',54'), 12-0,13-0,14-0 Nicholas Rodrigues (63',70',83'), 6-0,7-0 Nicolas Borges (35',38'), 15-0 Alvito Rodrigues (90').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VII: Sikkim 4-1 Rajasthan - Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-1 Birbahadur Pradhan (4',32',72'), 2-1 Rajesh Shyam (56'), 4-1 Milan Lepcha (83').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VIII: West Bengal 3-0 Andhra Pradesh - Goals: 1-0 Dipendu Biswas (8'), 2-0 Sasthi Duley (64'), 3-0 Syed Rahim Nabi (89').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VIII: Nagaland 1-3 Mizoram - Goals: 1-0 Yapong (18'), 1-1 Jerry Zirsanga (32'), 1-2 Vanlal Rova (59'), 1-3 Shylo Malswam Tulunga (60').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    Goa Third Division - Playoff Final: Curtorim Gymkhana 3-3,5-3 St Sebastian SC, Fatorda [penalties]
    Mumbai Super Division: Sea View SC 1-0 Bank of Baroda - Goal: 1-0 Muktar Pavaskar (70').

    Note-1: The 10th National League is set to start in January 2006, but the number of teams, format and venues are either undecided or could prove a problem. On the venues the AIFF is acting having called a meeting in New Delhi yesterday to discuss the scenario at the venues in Calcutta, Goa, Mumbai and Ludhiana, and what alternatives could be used. While Calcutta's Saltlake Stadium and the Nehru Stadium in Margao might not be there to use for most of the NFL; the Cooperage ground, Mumbai and the Guru Nanak Stadium, Ludhiana are not upto standard for Zee Sports to do coverage.
    The Saltlake Stadium pitch, which has been in a mess for a few years is going to be relayed properly from February to May according to plans of the West Bengal government. The IFA has said that it has potential alternative venues from February in the Kanchanjunga Stadium, Siliguri, the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in Calcutta along with the Howrah Stadium and Barasat Stadium, but if these stadiums will be accepted by Zee Sports is unknown at the moment.
    In Goa the problem is different. The Nehru Stadium is under the jurisdiction of the Sports Authority of Goa, a stadium where both football and cricket can be played. Now the Goa Cricket Association has applied to host a One-Day International between India and England in April, which it has been granted, so they need to prepare the pitch and outfield for which they say they would need around three month's. This would mean no football action at the Nehru Stadium from January to April, a catastrophy for football as four NFL sides are from Goa. And Goa at the moment does not seem to have an alternative match venue as the Tilak Maidan in Vasco is being rejected by the AIFF.
    The Cooperage ground in Mumbai meanwhile is the way it is and the less said the better, but why the Guru Nanak Stadium is being rejected is unknown. The stadium had been revamped and upgraded for the 2001 National Games. A good stadium as such, but if it lacks the necessary facilities then it could surely be brought upto standard. Otherwise one would deprive Punjabi football fans NFL action, which the Punjab FA would surely object. An idea to ask JCT Mills to shift to Delhi as it has done in the past is no option as the Ambedkar Stadium there is surely not a suitable alternative venue.

    6. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster I: Uttar Pradesh 2-0 Uttaranchal - Goals: 1-0 Shamshi Raza (31'), 2-0 Amit Singh (62').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster II: Bihar 3-0 Himachal Pradesh - Goals: 1-0 Upendra Kumar (32'), 2-0 Manoj Raman (81'), 3-0 Awdhes Kumar (89').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster III: Maharashtra 1-1 Jammu&Kashmir - Goals: 0-1 Bilal Ahmed Wani (11'), 1-1 Mehraj Din Wadoo (70' own Goal).
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster III: Meghalaya 1-4 Orissa - Goals: 0-1,0-3,1-4 Gyan Ranjan Samal (2',33',59'), 0-2 Rajendra Prasad Singh (24'), 1-3 Rogesterwell Basaiawmdit (46').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster IV: Railways 8-0 Pondicherry - Goals: 1-0,2-0,4-0,6-0 Ashim Biswas (2',4',17',37'), 3-0,7-0,8-0 Kasif Jamal (14',57',84'), 5-0 PV Vinoy (28').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster IV: Chhattisgarh 1-10 Assam - Goals: 0-1,0-3,1-10 Manikanta Brahma (14',33',90+1'), 0-2,0-4,1-8 Sanjiva Rongpi (31',37',74'), 1-4 Laxmendra Kumar (52'), 1-5 Khirod Das (57'), 1-6 Rahajuddin Ahmed (59'), 1-7 Nitu Narzary (68'), 1-9 Thong Tham Kom (87').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    Goa Third Division - Playoff Final: St Mathew's SC 4-0 Nauxim SC
    Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims 0-2 Akbar Travels - Goals: 0-2 Vijesh P Vijayan (48'), 0-2 Kiran Mohite (71').

    Note-1: Bengal started their campaign yesterday only with a two-all draw against Nagaland and that without their captain Baichung Bhutia and midfielder Mehtab Hussain. While Mehtab is busy with an office asignment, Baichung is awaiting his International Transfer Clearance from Malaysia. And that is taking longer than Baichung and Bengal coach Aloke Mukherjee would have hoped. It looks unlikely that Baichung can join the Bengal team before the quarterfinal league starts on November 11, if Bengal qualify, with his registration having also to go through.

    Note-2: Gujarat goalkeeper George Mathew has been suspended for the duration of the Santosh Trophy by the tournament disciplinary committee. This decision was taken after Mathew had knocked down the referee C Krishnan (Kerala) in yesterday's match between Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

    5. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster V: Tamil Nadu 2-0 Gujarat - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Kalia Kulothungan (44',64').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VI: Karnataka 1-0 Chandigarh - Goal: 1-0 Shanmugam Venkatesh (30').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VII: Goa 7-0 Rajasthan - Goals: 1-0 Anthony Pereira (27'), 2-0,4-0,6-0 Freddy Mascarenhas (37',59',79'), 3-0 Climax Lawrence (51'), 5-0 Mahesh Gawli (61'), 7-0 Joaquim Abranches (90+2').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VII: Tripura 1-1 Sikkim - Goals: 1-0 Amarjit Singh (12'), 1-1 Bigen Tamang (72').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VIII: West Bengal 2-2 Nagaland - Goals: 1-0 Dipendu Biswas (12'), 1-1 Temjen Kibang (44'), 2-1 Syed Rahim Nabi (45'+1), 2-2 Vizorü Peseyie (76').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster VIII: Andhra Pradesh 2-2 Mizoram - Goals: 1-0 Mohammed Quizar (14'), 1-1 Shylo Malswam Tulunga (25'), 1-2 Pachau Lalam Puia (67'), 2-2 MD Fareed (73').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    Mumbai Super Division: Income Tax - Mumbai Port Trust = match has been rescheduled for November 8.

    Note-1: Hosts Kerala are preparing hard for the 60th Santosh Trophy which kicked-off yesterday. As defending champios Kerala have been seeded into the Quarterfinal League, which starts on November 11 in Kochi.
    35 player are at the camp going on at the FACT grounds, Udyogamandal in Kochi under the watchful eyes of coach Peethambaran. Joining the camp yesterday where East Bengal duo - veteran striker IM Vijayan and defender Muttath Suresh, while Sporting Clube de Goa defender Vinu Jose joined the camp a few days ago. The final 20 member squad will be announced on November 7 or 8.

    Note-2: The Assam FA has selected 47 probables for the state U19 boys team. The selection trials would be held in Tezpur from November 10. The Assam U19 boys will take part in the NorthEast qualifiers of the 41th Dr. BC Roy Trophy (under-19) in Belonia, Tripura from November 25.

    Note-3: The 26th All-India Petroleum Sports Control Board Trophy will be held from November 7 to 12 in Dhaligaon, Assam. The tournament will be hosted by Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited.

    Note-4: The 5th All-India BSNL football tournament will be held in Calicut from November 17 to 22. In total 18 circle teams will be taking part, amongst them defending champions Karnataka and runners-up Kerala.

    4. November
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster I: Madhya Pradesh 1-2 Uttaranchal - Goals: 0-1 Sidharth Thapa (13'), 0-2 Kundan Kanwal Singh (15'), 1-2 Praveen Nair (27').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster II: Delhi 7-0 Himachal Pradesh - Goals: 1-0,2-0,5-0,7-0 Praveen Rawat Singh (10',59',87',89'), 3-0,6-0 Sumit Thapa (62',88'), 4-0 Ricky Chakchanak (85').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster III: Maharashtra 2-0 Meghalaya - Goals: 1-0 Abhishek Yadav (57'), 2-0 Soccor Velho (61').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster III: Jammu&Kashmir 1-2 Orissa - Goals: 0-1 Bijay Ray (28'), 1-1 JK Ishfaq Ahmed (70'), 1-2 Antu Murmu (84').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster IV: Railways 4-0 Chhattisgarh - Goals: 1-0,4-0 Kasif Jamal (32',90+3'), 2-0 PV Vinoy (40'), 3-0 S Suresh Kumar (78').
    60th Santosh Trophy 2005 - Cluster IV: Pondicherry 0-5 Assam - Goals: 0-1 Nitu Narzary (17'), 0-2,0-3 Rahajuddin Ahmed (31',35'), 0-4 Manikanta Brahma (61'), 0-5 Thomson Langthasa (86').
    Click here for detailed information and pictures at the >>Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U-16) - Final: Mizoram 2-1 West Bengal

    Goa Third Division - Playoffs: St Mathew's SC 2-2,4-3 St Sebastiao SC, St Cruz [penalties]

    Note-1: Air India Express, the low cost wing of the national carrier, will be the title sponsor of the 60th Santosh Trophy, which kicked-off today with the Cluster round in Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut. The tournament will now be known as "Air India Express Santosh Trophy" after Air India Express signed a contract with TV rights holders Zee Sports and their marketing partners Nimbus Sports.
    This was announced at a press conference in Kochi where Kerala FA president KMI Mather, Zee Sports business head Himanshu Mody and Air India deputy commercial director Darius Chibber were present.
    Zee Sports also announced today that it would beam 16 matches of the Santosh Trophy live from the Quarterfinal League stage in Kochi. The coverage would be as extensive as they were from the Federation Cup last month.

    Note-2: Punjab, who were a finalist last year, have announced their 20 member Santosh Trophy squad to be lead by seasoned Ram Pal as captain.
    PUNJAB: Goalkeepers: Karanjit Singh (JCT Mills), Bhupinder Singh (PSEB); Defenders: Sunil Kumar (JCT Mills), Parminder Singh (JCT FA), Narinder Singh (JCT Mills), Taranjit Singh (JCT Mills), Gurinder Pal Singh (JCT FA), Rahul (JCT FA), Kuldip Singh (JCT Mills); Midfielders: Surjit Singh (JCT Mills), Parminder Singh (JCT Mills), Sarabjit Singh (PSEB), Shivraj Singh (JCT Mills), Dilbag Singh (PSEB), Yadwinder Singh (JCT Mills), Ram Paul (JCT Mills, Captain), Sukhwinder Singh (BSF); Forwards: Gyan Moyon (JCT Mills), Gurpreet Singh (PSEB), Charanjit Kumar (JCT Mills).
    Coach: Jagir Singh. Manager: Balbir Singh. Technical Director: Kesho Kirpal Singh.

    Note-3: by Xavier Rutsa: The Royal Club, Kohima today announced that the opening match of the 17th Royal Gold Cup 2005 on November 14 at local ground, Kohima at 13.30 IST will be a "free Entry" as it coincides with Children day. In a release, T Abao Kire, tournament committee convenor informed that all students in uniform are requested to be seated at the East Side of the stadium, which will be kept reserved for them. Photography, sweets distribution etc are included in the day's programme.

    3. November
    Goa Third Division - Playoffs: Curtorim Gymkhana 4-1 Parish Youth Nuvem
    Mumbai Super Division: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) 0-4 Union Bank of India - Goals: 0-1,0-3 Avinash Puthran (21',54'), 0-2 Suresh Mendon (45'), 0-4 Dean Pereira (84').

    Note-1: The 60th Santosh Trophy will kickoff tomorrow at two venues, in two cities - Thiruvananthapuram and Calicut - in the state of Kerala where 27 States and the Railways face each other in eight groups of the preliminary Cluster round.
    The Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram will host the matches of Clusters II, III, V and VIII. A number of problems were sorted out before the start of the tournament like availability of the stadium for the six days to host a total of 18 matches plus power supply from the KSEB to ensure that the six floodlit matches can be hosted. The Kerala Finance Minister, Vakkom Purushothaman, will inaugurate the tournament in the state capital with Delhi taking on Himachal Pradesh. Three matches will be held a day at 7.00, 14.00 and 16.00 IST.
    The Municipal Corporation Stadium in Calicut will host the matches of Clusters I, IV, VI and VII. The Mayor of Calicut M Bhaskaran will inaugurate the Cluster league in his city with Madhya Pradesh taking on Uttaranchal in the opening match. In Calicut the three matches a day will be played at 8.00, 14.00 and 16.00 IST. Ticket prices in Calicut have been reduced from the regular Rs 25 to Rs 10 to enable as many people as possible to watch the matches.
    In Thiruvananthapuram the focus will be on the Bengal team which is being led by Baichung Bhutia. With Bhutia missing the Federation Cup and having had a bad year so far on Indian soil for his own high standards, he will want to prove a point that he still is one of the best players in India. In Calicut Goa will be the main attraction with a number of top players in their squad.
    The eight winners of the Cluster League will make it to the Quarterfinal League, where the semifinalists of last years Santosh Trophy join the tournament. Here the tournament shifts to Kochi, which will also host the semifinals and the big final showdown.

    Note-2: Former Assam state and Guwahati Town Club player Akhil Deka died today in the afternoon in Guwahati aged 68. Deka had cancer detected April last year and was since then fighting for his life. He is survived by his wife, daughter and son.

    2. November
    The 60th Santosh Trophy will kickoff on Friday in Trivandrum and Calicut simultaneously with 28 teams in preliminary round action.
    IndianFootball.Com has put together a new IndianFootball.Com Santosh Trophy 2005 Special, where you will get the latest news, stats and infos on India's State Championship.
    Click here for the revamped >>IndianFootball.Com Santosh Trophy 2005 Special

    CORRECTION: We reported yesterday that former Mohun Bagan defender and coach Subrata Bhattacharjee would be coaching Nagaland. That was sadly wrong as Jaydeep Basu from the HT-Delhi kindly pointed out us, this Subrata is not "Bablu" but another one who is known as "Potla" on the Calcutta Maidans.

    28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U-16) - Semifinal: Mizoram 2-1 Karnataka
    28th Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy (U-16) - Semifinal: West Bengal 0-0,4-3 Punjab [penalties]

    Mumbai Super Division: Akbar Travels 5-0 Income Tax - Goals: 1-0,4-0,5-0 Gireesh Madan (7',70',75'), 2-0 Dhanraj Sumesh (50'), 3-0 Siraj Kanjode (54').

    Note-1: India will be hosting the 2006 Asia Youth Championships but the venues for the event to be held in late-2006 has not been finalised. The AIFF had forwarded Delhi as one of the venues, but lack of interest and infrastructure in the capital has made the AIFF rethink. Now Kochi seems to be a potential choice. A technical team of the Asian Football Confederation will be coming to Kochi on November 10 to inspect the facilities, while they travel to Chennai on November 14/15 to inspect the Nehru Stadoum there. Other potential venues are Calcutta, Goa and Bangalore.

    1. November

    !!! IndianFootball.Com wishes you all a Happy Festive season on the occasion of Diwali/Deepawali !!!

    6th NSF Martyr Trophy, Kohima - Final: Puliebadze Club 1-1,1-0 New Reserve Youth Organisation [extra time] - Goals: 1-0 Lipok (51'), 1-1 Imli (61'), 2-1 Aheizo (120').
    A Xavier Rutsa report: Ahiezo's strike in the dying seconds of extra time guided Puliebadze Club, Jotsoma to lift the 6th NSF Marty's Memorial Trophy edging out minnow New Reserve Youth Organization 2-1 in the finals here at local ground Kohima, Nagaland on Tuesday. Both teams remained 1-1 draw till the stipulated time of 90 minutes.
    Pulibadze Club found the lead in the 51.minute through striker Lipok, after the NRYO's defenders were caught in terrible mixed up. NRYO's found the equalizer in the 61.minute through a brilliant freekick shot by Imli, who eventually as predicted by this writer won the player of the tournament award.
    Both the teams played their hearts out in a soggy ground conditions but failed to break the deadlock, with the match went into extra time. It was Aheizo, who scored the winner in the last seconds off a header from Lipok, which was chipped in by Yanger, to give its maiden title for Puliebadze Club. The winners walk away with cash Rs.70, 000, running trophy and certificates.
    Earlier in the first half, in the 14.minute, Puliebadze Club wasted a scoring opportunity with Khriesaneilie Sote missed his shot inside the danger zone. The side bar denied NRYO's real chance, as the header of Solomon hit the side post in 40.minute. Towards the closing stages, NRYO's two real golden chances in 83. and 84.minute shot of Kenilo and Yaren were brilliant saved by custodian Akhavi on both occasions. The runner-up team (NRYO) had to contend with cash Rs.35,000, running trophy and certificates. Guest of honour KV Pusa (MLA), who donated Rs.20,000 to the organizers, also distributed the prizes. The individual prize carries a cash of Rs.1000, a trophy and a certificate

    Note-1: Milan Lepcha will lead the Sikkim Santosh Trophy squad in the absence of Sikkim's best known footballer Baichung Bhutia, who decided to play for Bengal. Sikkim take on Goa, Rajasthan and Tripura in Cluster VII.
    SIKKIM: Milan Lepcha (Captain), Sonam Pintso, Anil Pradhan, Pradip Gurung, Anup Sewa, Dup Tshering, Sonam Thendup, Prabat, Gurung, Steve Lepcha, Bigen Tamang, Deepak Gurung, Birbahadur Pradhan, S Ansari, Thupden Bhutia, Wangchuk Bhutia, CP Subba, Tshering Lepcha, L Sherpa, Nitish Gurung
    Coach: Suresh Mukhia. Manager: Munna Pradhan.

    Note-2: The Nagaland Santosh Trophy squad has signed a chief guest coach in Subrata Bhattacharjee. Subrata has a talented young squad at his disposal with the players mostly playing across the Northeast. The team has a tough opening match against Bengal on November 5.
    NAGALAND: Goalkeepers: William, Chubawati, Aselie; Defenders: Lanusanen, Beilie, Kedithundo, Asou; Midfielders: Chodevi, Yanger, Kethokhrietuo, Vizakie, Viza Seyie, Vileibeizo, Medose, Bokato, Aongunsghi (Captain), Temjen(vice-Captain); Forwards: Leipakchao, Vizorü Peseyie, Visakholie.
    Chief guest coach: Subrata Bhattacharjee. Team manger: Ruopfu Meysae.

    Note-3: The first A Borchand Singh Memorial U13 Inter-District Football Festival, in memory of the late A Borchand Singh, will be held from November 9. The tournament will be organised by the All-Manipur FA as part of their youth development programme.

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