News for the month of December:
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31. December
49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Quarterfinal League Group Y: NEROCA 0-1 NACO - Goal: 0-1 Jamkhotinlen (64').
Goan Professional League: Vasco SC 1-1 Dempo SC - Goals: 1-0 Anthony Fernandes (16'), 1-1 Joaquim Abranches (73').
Goan Professional League: Salgaocar SC 2-2 Fransa-Pax FC
Inter-Coaching Football Tournament, Guwahati - Final: SAI Centre, Guwahati 2-1 Mohun Bagan-SAIL Academy - Goals: 0-1 Partha Karmakar (31'), 1-1 Anupam Chetia (44'), 2-1 Bijoy Borgohain (78').

30. December
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Semifinal: Jharkhand 1-0 Uttaranchal - Goal: 1-0 Gautam Kujur (15').
49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Quarterfinal League Group X: Manipur Police SC 4-0 Citizens' Club - Goals: 1-0,3-0,4-0 I Nilakumar Singh (45+2',64',78'), 2-0 Kh Sanaton Singh (49').
Goan Professional League: Sporting Clube de Goa 4-0 MPT Sports Council - Goals: 1-0 Wilton Gomes (11'), 2-0 Nicolas Borges (64'), 3-0 Adebayo Adewasi (73'), 4-0 Simon Borges (90').

Note-1: The AIFF has choosen Gabriel Joseph as it's Director of Coaching. Joseph, who is an AFC Coaching Instructor, was the assistant coach to Syed Nayeemuddin of the SAFF Cup 2005 winning India squad.

Note-2: G.O.A Maroons were crowned champions of the 16th NYC Rolling Trophy in Kuwait City organised by the Navelim Youth Centre under the auspices of the Kuwait Indian Football Federation and officiated by Indian Football Referees Association when they beat seasoned campaigners AVC Overseas Association by a solitary second half goal in the final played at Soor Ground. A large number of spectators attended the finals.
Mr. Tareq Al Shumamari, Accounts Expert - Ministry of Justice was the chief guest on the occasion. Mr. M. P. Dalbehera, General Manager - The City International Exchange Co W.L.L., (Official Sponsors of NYC Football Team for 2005-06) was the guest of honor among other distinguished guests.
Navelim Youth Centre (NYC) President Agnello A.S. Fernandes thanked everyone who helped in making the tournament a grand success.
Goan Overseas Association Maroons: Roman Anthony (goalkeeper), Ian D' Souza, Jaime Figuera, Jerry D'Souza, Regi Rodrigues, Sudha Swamy, Terence Carvalho, Manuel Dourado, Sidique, Augustine Sequira, James Rebello ( Substitutes: Caje, Julio, Seby, Sebastiao, Jadav, Felix, Joseph). Coach: Gajendra Pillai. Team Manager: Assumption D'Sa
A.V.C Overseas Association: Jose Fernandes( goalkeeper), Vincy Pereira, Francis Fernandes, Peter Crasto, Elvis Camelo, Eduado Dias, Braulio Rodrigues, Edwin Fernandes, Steven Rodrigues, James Goveia, Molvit Mascarenhas (Substitutes: Alvaro, Ronnie, Nicolas, Alexander, Basheer, Diago). Coach: Alvaro Dias. Team Manager: Donald Colaco

Note-3: The Army XI football team, which caused an upset by winning the 118th Durand Cup 2005 earlier this month, have been named as one of the special awards recipiants by the Bangalore Sports Writers Association at it's annual awards.

29. December
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Semifinal: Goa 2-0 Orissa - Goals: 1-0 Savio Carniero (15'), 2-0 Lavino Fernandes (35').
49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Quarterfinal League Group Y: Southern Sporting Union 3-0 NACO - Goals: 1-0 N Uttam Singh (5'), 2-0 Charan Rai (83'), 3-0 L Tiken Singh (90+2').
Delhi Women's League: Growing FC 1-0 Girls United - Goal: 1-0 Shabnam (42').
Delhi Women's League: Garhwal Heroes 1-0 Eve's Club - Goal: 1-0 Nargis.
Goan Professional League: Dempo SC 2-2 Churchill Brothers SC - Goals: 1-0 Joaquim Abranches (8'), 1-1 Chanambam Jatin Singh (13'), 1-2 Sujoy Dutta (32'), 2-2 Ranty Martins Soleye (55').
Inter-Coaching Football Tournament, Guwahati - Semifinal: Mohun Bagan-SAIL Academy 4-0 SAI, Shillong

Note-1: The 4th Girls' under-19 National Football Championships will be held in Rourkela, Orissa from January 8 to 28, 2006. The Manipuri U19 girls are the defending champions.

28. December
49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Quarterfinal League Group X: Tiddim Road AU 3-1 Citizens' Club - Goals: 0-1 Th Ibomcha Singh (3'), 1-1,3-1 L Olenkumar Singh (22',90+'), 2-1 S Sanatomba Singh (32'),
Delhi Women's League: Eve's Club 1-1 Hans FC - Goals: 0-1 Deepika, 1-1 Bisha.
Goan Professional League: Salgaocar SC 0-1 Sporting Clube de Goa - Goals: 0-1 Alvito Rodrigues (68').
Inter-Coaching Football Tournament, Guwahati - Semifinal: SAI Centre, Guwahati 4-1 Guwahati Young Star Football Coaching Centre
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Final: Tata Football Academy 3-0 Jammu&Kashmir Bank - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Pachau Lalam Puia (3',18'), 3-0 Robert Lalthalma (34').

Mumbai Elite Division - Super Cup: Mahindra United 2-2,10-11 Air-India [on penalties] - Goals: 0-1 Anthony Fernandes (11'), 0-2 Narendra Meetei (32'), 1-2 Jose Ramirez Barreto (38'), 2-2 Abioduh K Marthias (80', own goal).
Penalty Shootout: Javed Ansari (miss) 0-0, Jose Ramirez Barreto 1-0, Bashiru Mohammed Abbas 1-1, Steven Dias 2-1, Paresh Shivalkar 2-2, L James Singh (miss) 2-2, Abioduh K Marthias 2-3, Surajit Bose 3-3, Anthony Fernandes 3-4, Yusuf Yakubu 4-4, Haobijam Nepoleon Singh 4-5, Irungbam Surkumar Singh 5-5, Sunder Raj Rajan (miss) 5-5, K Anees (miss) 5-5, Benoy Kuruvilla 5-6, Krishnan Nair Ajayan 6-6, Vijith Shetty 6-7, Mahesh Gawli 7-7, Noel Fernandes 7-8, Deepak Kumar Mondal 8-8, Santosh Koli 8-9, Sandip Nandy 9-9, Bashiru Mohammed Abbas 9-10, Jose Ramirez Barreto 10-10, Haobijam Nepoleon Singh 10-11, Steven Dias (miss) 10-11.
MAHINDRA: Sandip Nandy, Irungbam Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Rauf Khan (40' Surajit Bose), Steven Dias, James Lukram Singh, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, Subhas Chakraborty (78' K Anees), Jose Ramirez Barreto, Yusuf Yakubu.
AIR-INDIA: Sunder Raj Rajan, Hringsolal Thomte (87' Haobijam Nepoleon Singh), Benoy Kuruvilla, Abioduh K Marthias, Noel Fernandes, Javed Ansari, Vijith Shetty, Paresh Shivalkar, Narendra Meetei (85' Bashiru Mohammed Abbas), Anthony Fernandes, Santosh Koli.
YELLOW CARDS: H Thomte (69'), Anthony Fernandes (79', both Air-India); Krishnan Nair Ajayan (73'), Mahesh Gawli (76', both Mahindra United).

Mumbai Elite Division - Championship Final: Western Railway 0-0,3-4 Maharashtra State Police [on penalties] - Goals: none.
Penalty Shootout: Subhash Adlikar 1-0; Parag Sawant (miss) 1-0; Inam-ul-Haque 2-0; Vaibhav Kadam 2-1; Poly Cherian 3-1; Santosh Telang 3-2; Aldrin Monteiro (miss) 3-2; Faraz Sheikh 3-3; Jayesh Martin (miss) 3-3; Uday Badkar 3-4
WR: Partha Das, Inam-ul-Haque, Sumit Das (78' Subhas Adilkar), Jayesh Martin, Suvendu Hui, Anil Pawar, Sajid Sheikh, Gurunath Reddy (?' Aldrin Monteiro), Willy Joy (63' Shakir Ahmed), PV Vinoy, Poly Cherian.
MSP: Sailesh Naik, Vaibhav Kadam, Sachin Jaiswal, Parag Sawant, Santaji Chavan, Santosh Telang, Javed Pathan (78' Sushant Pawar), Feroze Ali (48' Faraz Sheikh), Pankaj Deshmukh, Uday Badkar, Sandeep Badkar (69' Riaz Sheikh).
YELLOW CARDS: Uday Badkar (27'), Sachin Jaiswal (58', both MSP).

Note-1: The 10th National League tentative fixtures are set to be redrawn as clubs have responded to the AIFF that the schedule is too cramped and the gap between matches is too short for the regeneration of players. The NFLs opening matchday scheduled for January 7 might also be pushed back by a few days.

Note-2: In the H2K MDKA Senior Division, Kenkre Academy beat D'Assisi SC 3-2, thereby winning the division. Thus, Kenkre Academy will be promoted to the MDFA Super Division as winners, and New India Assurance will be promoted too, them being the runners-up in the Senior Division. D'Assisi SC could have won promotion at the expense of Kenkre Academy with a draw, in this the final game of the league that is in effect the third tier of Mumbai football.

27. December
IndianFootball.Com would like to officially announce the addition of Swagatam Banerjee to our editorial team as our new Calcutta correspondent!
Those of you who are regular visitors will already have seen Swagatam's work, as he has been reporting for IndianFootball.Com from the IFA-Shield and will continue to do so from the City of Joy.
So welcome to the IndianFootball.Com team: SWAGATAM!!!

On Thursday, December 22 the yearly "Match against Poverty" was held at the LTU-Arena in Duesseldorf between two teams, which were led by the Real Madrid CF teammates Brazilian striker Ronaldo and France midfielder Zinedine Zidane. The duo led two teams of world football stars and German stars from other walks of life onto the pitch. . IndianFootball.Com Editors-in-Chief Arunava and Chris were at the matches and have put together a report plus have taken loads of pictures from and around the match in Duesseldorf.
For the report&pictures on the "Match against Poverty" to go >>IndianFootball.Com LIVE.

41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Tamil Nadu 0-3 Goa - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Lavino Fernandes (2',70'), 0-3 Joy Francisco Ferrao (89').
Delhi Women's League: Garhwal Heroes 1-0 Girls United - Goal: 1-0 Tisha Deb (39').
Goan Professional League: MPT Sports Council 0-4 Churchill Brothers SC
Goan Professional League: Raia Sporting Club 1-2 Vasco SC
Goan Professional League: Fransa-Pax FC 0-1 Dempo SC
Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Union Bank of India 0-1 Akbar Travels - Goal: 0-1 Zubin Ankilesaria (90').

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh: Chandigarh (Harmanpreet) 1-0 Mizoram; Haryana (Mandeep) 1-0 Goa; Sikkim (Sanjit Subba, Asish Chettri, Robin Pradhan, Prakit Pradhan, Suzan Rai) 5-0 Pondicherry; Delhi 0-0 Meghalaya

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh - Day's Round-up: Sikkim rounded of their programme in a majestic style by annexing the Fair Play Trophy after routing Pondicherry by 5-0 in their last match on the concluding day of the AIFF Under-14 Football Festival which was organized by the Chandigarh FA under the technical supervision of the federation at the Punjab Engineering College ground in Sector 14 here today.
The talented Sikkim players secured 60 points from green cards awarded to their team and individual players during the eight-day competitions and various skill tests.
Dominating the proceedings, Sikkim even did not allow Pondicherry to have a close look at their goal. Sanjit Subba, Ashish Chettri, Robin Pradhan, Prakit Pradhan and Sujan Rai contributed one goal for Sikkim.
Hosts Chandigarh, who beat Mizoram by one goal scored by Harmanpreet Singh, and Kerala were declared joint runners-up with 55 points each. Delhi and Pondicherry finished joint third with an identical score of 50 points. Delhi today were held goalless by Meghalaya.
Chattisgarh and Uttaranchal were tied with 40 points apiece for the fourth position. Haryana got fifth position with 30 points. A solitary goal scored by Mandeep Singh helped Haryana defeat Goa by 1-0.
Jharkhand, MIzoram and Punjab gave disappointing performance, both on and other the field. They were penalized for fielding overage players or securing yellow cards during the competitions. Jharkhand topped the dubious 'Merit List' with minus 75 points. Mizoram got minus 70 points. Punjab, who fielded two overage players, remained at deficit with minus 45 points.
Chandigarh Joint Director Sports JPS Sidhu was the chief guest and distributed the Fair Play Trophy and individual prizes. Speaking on the occasion he promised to provide full help to the AIFF and the CFA for organizing the National Coaching camp in preparations for India’s participation in the Asian Football Confederation Under-14 Festival to be held from March 24 next year in Iran. The national coaching camp is scheduled from the last week of February next year.
Chandigarh FApresident Principal Ravinder Talwar was also present on the occasion.
Twenty five states and Union Territories reported on the opening day but three states, including Jammu&Kashmir, were debarred as their three or more players were found overage by a three-member medical commission appointed by the organizers.

Fair Play Trophy: 1 Sikkim 60 pts; 2 Chandigarh and Kerala 55 pts each; 3 Pondicherry and Delhi 50 each; 4 Chattisgarh and Uttaranchal 40 pts each; 5 Haryana 35 pts.
Those states who finished with minus points due to yellow cards or fielding overaged players: 1. Jharkhand -75; 2. Mizoram -70, 3. Punjab -45.
Skill tests: Goalkeeper: 1 S Kamruddin (Orissa); 2 Vivian Singh Sahi (Delhi); 3 Chewang Bhutia (Sikkim).
Target competition: 1 Sampil P (Kerala); 2 Ashish Chettri (Sikkim); 3 Simranjit Singh (Chandigarh).
Football-tennis competition: 1 Uttaranchal (D Negi, Gaurav Sharma); 2 Bengal (Pahwn Biswas, Chitta Sen); 3 Chandigarh (Harpreet Bedi, Dharambir Singh).
Penalty competiton: 1 Sikkim (Sujan Rai, Kamal Pradhan, Dawa Shipra); 2 Chandigarh (Baljinder Singh, Vikas Gulia, Manjit Singh); 3 Haryana (Vishal, Ravi, Sonu).
Juggler competitions: 1 Arshpreet Singh (Chandigarh) 12:06; 2 Satpal Singh (Punjab) 9:11; 3 Nikhil Negi (Uttaranchal) 2:11.

Mumbai Elite Division 2005 Final - Preview: On the eve of the H2K MDFA Elite Division 2005 Final for the Harwood Trophy, IndianFootball.com Editor Sujay Sharma had a chat with the respective coaches of this year's surprising finalists - Dr. Ganesh Rao of Maharashtra State Police, and Mr. Koushik Pal of Western Railway - on what they think, of tomorrow's encounter, the year that was for their teams, where they go from here, and the such.
Dr. Ganesh Rao (MSP): For tomorrow's Final, psychologically, we should have an edge, as we beat them 3-0 just this last Saturday. However, we have to be careful, as they are a good team in their own right. My players should not get over-confident. I have made this clear to them in the two practice sessions I have conducted recently.
The season has been long and good for us. A sort of a "dream-run" you might say. At the start of the season I didn't expect this obviously. Once we got promoted earlier this year, the first question people were asking was whether we could stay up. Then once we confirmed survival, we targeted the championship play-offs. Once through to that, in which we won our first game, we then targeted reaching the final. And now we hope to win it.
It's been a long and rewarding season, but the players have been fit and committed and good. They've shown excellent work-rate. The key to our success this season has been the preparation. We've gone in a very systematic way about conducting the pre-season, during one and a half months of it. Also we've approached each game with good and varied strategies. We started off with no star-players, and now, on the flip side, all of them are stars. It has been a complete squad effort, as I've rotated my players during this long season.
I don't know whether it's good for whole of Mumbai football AI and MU pulling out, but it is good for MSP and WR, as we can now win the trophy. I personally would have preferred for my players to have gained exposure and experience by having played against these two superior teams. But I'll take the compensation of an opportunity to contest the final for the Trophy.
The MSP institution has obviously been key, with its vastness of available resources and good players' pool from the whole of Maharashtra, to cherry-pick from to make a squad. Once picked, there then remains the task of preparing and polishing them for competition. I'd also like to highlight the contribution of our manager, Inspector Pramod Sail, who contributes so much with his enthusiasm and experience. I'm hoping that the performance of the players in tomorrow's final will go further towards them being rewarded for their efforts.
We have now qualified for the NFL 2nd Division qualifiers, and it will be a much tougher outing. For it, we'll need even better preparation and facilities.
Finally, I would say that we should win tomorrow. Despite there being a few injury concerns on our part, I believe our squad is big and strong enough to overcome that. I would accept a victory of any kind, as a 'Final' in a league, seems sort of an artificial juxtaposition. And we have, technically, finished 'top' of the league.
Mr. Koushik Pal (WR): MSP are a very good team. They are playing good organized football with team spirit, and have great endurance and fitness. I would label them as the favourites no doubt. We did lose to them both times in the league. Our first defeat was during a very hectic schedule in October after our return from the Inter-Railway trophy in Bilaspur. Our defeat this Saturday was down to the players approaching the game too casually. I'm sure my players won't make the same mistake this time around.
The league's continuous modification and scheduling problems have affected the feel of it. If Mahindra United and Air India would have played, we smaller teams would have given our best for second and third place. Even if we win the trophy tomorrow, we will not feel like champions, as the players wouldn't have got anything out of it by not competing against the best. But we will of course give it our all tomorrow. A victory would do well in our recruitment drive and in our longer-term team-building efforts, and I reckon given our constant improvement in the Harwood League over the years, in a couple of years time we will have a good strong team.

Note-1: Akbar Travels confirmed their promotion from the Super to the Elite Division of the H2K MDFA Leagues with a late victory over fellow promotion contenders Union Bank of India. Second half-substitute and local Colaba-lad Zubin Ankilesaria nodded in the winning goal off a corner in the 90th minute, to leave ecstatic the entire Akbar Travels team, and their vociferous supporters in the stands. They have been one of the dominant teams in Mumbai outside the top boys in the Elite Division, and even reached the semifinals of the Nadkarni Cup earlier in the season. They comprise mostly of Keralites, veteran captain Vijesh P Vijayan one of the such, being brought over from NFL-relegated SBT at the start of the season to bolster the squad. Added to this a spicing of cosmopolitan 'Mumbai-kars', and a team inclined to play with an attractive brand of football, on top of being followed by passionate supporters (a rarity for Mumbai), one looks forward to them making their mark in the top rung of Mumbai football from next year.

Note-2: According to information we received from Africa Zimbabwean defender David Mkandawire is set to join Mohammedan Sporting Club ahead of the National League on a six month contract. Mkandawire had nearly joined Mohun Bagan about two years ago after a strong performance in the 2003 Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad, but the deal failed due to Mkandawire's club then Amazulu demanding too much as transfer fee.

Note-3: The 49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy is set to restart tomorrow with defending champions TRAU facing Citizens' Club in a Quarterfinal League Group X match.

26. December
38th All-India Baba Zorawar Singh and Fateh Singh Football Trophy - Final: Rail Coach Factory 0-0,2-1 Border Security Force [penalties] - Goals: none.
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Uttar Pradesh - Jharkhand
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Assam - Orissa
Delhi Women's League: Growing FC 1-0 Hans FC - Goal: 1-0 Melody (19').
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Semifinal: Titanium XI 1-2 Tata Football Academy - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Pachau Lalam Puia, 1-2 Jackson Sebastian.
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Semifinal: State Bank of Travancore 1-2 Jammu&Kashmir Bank - Goals: 1-0 Asif Saheer (1'), 1-1 Jitender Singh (9'), 1-2 Deepak Sangral (48').
Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Union Bank of India 0-0 ONGC - Goals: none.
Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) 1-1 Bank of Baroda - Goals: 0-1 Arshad Ansari (5'), 1-1 Zaheer Sheikh (31').

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh: Chandigarh (2xVikram, Jony Sharma) 3-0 West Bengal, green cards for both; Mizoram (Bieparysa, Malsawmfela, Lalmuansanga) 3-0 Jharkhand, green card for Jharkhand; Uttar Pradesh (2xMukesh, Biru, Subhash, Ekhlakh, MZ Khan, Sharad Chaudhary, Ankit) 8-0 Chattisgarh; Tripura 0-0 Orissa; Punjab (Neeraj Singh) 1-1 Uttaranchal (Gaurav Sharma), green card for both teams; Haryana 12-0 Pondicherry, green cards for both teams; Meghalaya (2xDaman Guha, Honey Mawa) 3-2 Kerala (Mithun Kumar, VV Nair), green card for Kerala; Sikkim (NW Lepcha, 2xB Roy, 2xAshish Chettri) 5-0 Goa, green card for Sikkim, Delhi (Vipin Negi) 1-0 Maharashtra, green cards for both teams.

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh - Day's Round-up: Top favourites Sikkim and unpretentious Kerala were leading on the penultimate day of the AIFF Under-14 Football Festival being conducted by the Chandigarh FA under the technical guidance of the AIFF at the Punjab Engineering College ground here today.
The victory in a match will have no bearing to decide the Fair Play Trophy. A State winning maximum number of green cards will be declared the winners. According to Vision Asia Director Shaji Prabhakaran, points in four matches would be counted before deciding to give the custody of the Fair Play Trophy. Some of the teams will play six matches. Points will be deducted for yellow cards and fielding overage player.
The Sikkim players are good in physique and skills in comparison to other teams. Today they were pitted against Goa whom they defeated by 5-0. NW Lepcha, B Roy (2) and Ashish Chettri (2) were the winners scorers. However on the basis of their skill display, both teams were awarded green cards.
Meghalaya overcame a stiff challenge from Kerala by 3-2 in a hotly contested match. Daman Guha (15',44') and Honey Mawa (69') fashioned Meghalaya's thrilling win. Mithun Kumar and VV Nair scored in the 34' and 50' minutes, respectively, to reduce the margin for Kerala. Both teams secured important green cards.
Vipin Negi scored the all-important goal as Delhi eked out a narrow 1-0 triumph over Maharashtra. Green cards were awarded to both teams.
Punjab were running into minus points as their two players were declared overaged by the medical panel. Punjab today drew with Uttaranchal by sharing two goals. While Neeraj Singh gave Punjab the lead in the 14' minute, Gaurav Sharma restored parity for Uttaranchal in the 23' minute. Both teams secured green cards.
Hosts Chandigarh could not prevent West Bengal from getting a green card despite registering a 3-0 verdict. Chandigarh also obtained a green card. Vikram opened the account for Chandigarh in the 34' minute and Jony Sharma made it 2-0 in the 44' minute. Vikram himself rounded of the winners' tally with a fine goal in the 70' minute.
Mizoram got a 3-0 win and their rivals Jharkhand a green card. Mizoram's marksmen were Bieparysa (35'), Malsawmfela (42') and Lalmuansanga (47').

Note-1: India will compete in the Asian Football Confederation Under-14 Festival to be held in Iran from March 24 next year. The hosts are entitled to field two teams. India, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan will compete in the AFC U-14 Festival.
The AIFF will select 40 probables from the ongoing AIFF U14 Football Festival being conducted by Chandigarh FA under the patronage of the AIFF at the Punjab Engineering College ground, Chandigarh.
The AIFF spotters Mariano Dias (Goa), Syed Shabir Pasha (Tamil Nadu) and Satheevan Balan (Kerala) are here since the Festival began on December 20. Vision Asia Director Sahji Prabhakaran said that besides the probables selected here, five to six players of Indian Under-13 team who could not play here due to some reasons would be invited to the coaching camp.
However, some football experts wondered the decision for inviting the players who did not compete here. They argued that the players might be out of form or on the injury list. "It would be better to concentrate on only those who are selected here. More than 22 states and Union Territories are competing for the Fair Play Trophy being played in Chandigarh," opined the experts.
The coaching camp is likely to be held in Chandigarh. Chandigarh FA secretary Rakesh Bakshi said the CFA had agreed to play host to the coaching camp. Shaji indicated that the camp would be held in North but a final decision would only be taken on January 10, 2006.

Note-2: Striker Gley Yao Rodrigue from Togo has send in a written complaint to world governing body FIFA about his release by Mohun Bagan AC which he claims was forced on him by the club. Copies of the three page letter have been send to the Asian Football Confederation, the AIFF, IFA and Mohun Bagan. Hailed a new hero after Gley helped Bagan beat archrivals East Bengal twice in the Calcutta Premier League, Yao's performance dipped the longer he stayed with the club with the Federation Cup and IFA-Shield performances forcing the club to act.
Meanwhile rumours in Calcutta say that Gley might return to Calcutta for the 10th National League and play for Bagan rivals Mohammedan Sporting, who are looking to strengthen their squad of the tough league.

Note-3: After releasing DR Congo's defend Liswa Nduti a few day's ago, East Bengal Club today released South African striker Sidney Bonginkosi Nkalanga on his own personal request. Nkalanga is currently injured and was unwilling to stay with the red-and-gold, so the club released him. New coach Philippe de Ridder is searching for replacements and might have found them in his native Belgium and in Brazil.

25. December

!!! THE IndianFootball.Com TEAM WISHES YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Uttaranchal 1-0 Tamil Nadu - Goal: 1-0 BS Bora (11').
Delhi Women's League: Eve's Club 5-0 Girls United
Delhi Women's League: Growing FC 2-0 Garhwal Heroes
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Jammu&Kashmir Bank 1-0 Simla Youngs - Goal: 1-0 Satnam Singh.
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Eastern Railway SC 0-1 Titanium XI - Goal: 0-1 Rafi Jacob (48').

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh: West Bengal 5-0 Jharkhand; Orissa 3-0 Chattisgarh; Uttaranchal 1-1 Tamil Nadu; Gujarat 1-1 Himachal Pradesh; Uttar Pradesh 2-0 Tripura

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh - Day's Round-up: West Bengal, known as Mecca of soccer in India, demonstrated their prowess against Jharkhand in Format II 70-minute duration affair in the AIFF Under-14 Football Festival being conducted by the Chandigarh FA under the technical supervision of the AIFF at the Punjab Engineering College ground here today.
The young crop from West Bengal easily demolished the challenge of their rivals with a 5-0 thumping margin. Virtually it was a one-man demolition team of Bishwajit Dutta which scored all the five goals after a barren first session. Dutta scored his goals in the 49th, 56th, 64th, 67th and 69th minutes. Jharkhand, however, had the consolation of getting green cards along with West Bengal. Green cards will determine the winners in the AIFF U-14 Football Festival.
Another player to hold the spotlight today was Chandersekhar who also performed a three-in-a-row feat as Orissa routed Chattisgarh by 3-0. Chandersekhar netted his goals in the ninth, 11th and 46th minutes. Both team, however, were awarded green cards.
Uttaranchal played a one-all draw against Tamil Nadu in the third match of the day. Uttaranchal were given the lead in the 13th minure and S Vijay Kumar restored parity for Tamil Nadu in the 27th minute. Gujarat were held to a one-all draw by Himachal Pradesh. ZH Baloch put Gujarat ahead with a 34th minute goal while Abhishek Thakur of Himachal Pradesh neutralized the lead for his team in the 40th minute. No team could obtain a green card in this match. Uttar Pradesh defeated Tripura by 2-0. Ekhlaq Ahmed and Subhash scored for the winners in the 39th and 70th minutes respectively. Tripura, however, secured a green card.
Later in the evening, the participants were treated to a variety of cultural programme

24. December
21st Airlines Gold Cup, Burnpur - Final: Mohammedan Sporting Club 0-1 Mohun Bagan AC - Goal: 0-1 Sushil Kumar Singh (70').
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Uttar Pradesh 0-3 Orissa
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Jharkhand 4-0 Assam
Goan Professional League: Churchill Brothers SC 2-0 Raia Sporting Club - Goals: 1-0 Freddy Mascarenhas, 2-0 Drupesh Desai.
Goan Professional League: Sporting Clube de Goa 0-1 Fransa-Pax FC - Goal: 0-1 Peter Rodrigues.
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: Tata Football Academy 2-0 Punjab Police - Goals: 1-0 Parminder Singh, 2-0 Goutam Debnath.
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: State Bank of Travancore beat Shastri Club
Mumbai Elite Division - Championship-leg: Western Railway 0-3 Maharashtra State Police - Goals: 1-0 Sandeep Badkar (5'), 2-0 Santosh Telang (47'), 3-0 Riyaz Sheikh (71').
Mumbai Elite Division - Championship-leg: Golden Gunners 2-4 Central Railway - Goals: 1-0 Rashid Sheikh (42'), 1-1 Aziz Qureshi (45'), 1-2 Sagar Amin (48'), 1-3 Arshad Ansari (74'), 1-4 Kasif Jamal (78'), 2-4 Souvaid Ansari (87').
Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Union Bank of India - Central Railway (Mumbai Division) = match not played

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh: Delhi 2-1 Kerala; Goa 7-0 Pondicherry; Haryana 1-0 Sikkim; Meghalaya 1-0 Maharashtra; Rajasthan 2-0 Himachal Pradesh

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh - Day's Round-up: Delhi scored a hard-fought 2-1 triumph in the 70-minute duration Format II match in the AIFF Under-14 Football Festival being conducted by the Chandigarh FA under the technical supervision of the AIFF at the Punjab Engineering College ground here today.
Delhi owed their triumph to Pankaj Negi who accounted for both goals first in the 27th and second in the 31st minutes. Mushin reduced the margin for Kerala in the 39th minute. It was an action-packed encounter played on ground number 1. Delhi were awarded three individual and one team green cards for a total of 20 points from the encounter. Kerala secured two individual and one team green cards for a total of 15 points. The team which logged maximum number of points will be awarded the Fair Play Trophy.
Today, the highest number of goals were scored by Goa who routed Pondicherry by 7-0. In the one-sided match, Goa and Pondicherry were awarded three green cards each. Ramond Rodrigues booted home three goals in the 6th, 27th and 30th minutes. Sallan Pirez accounted for two goals (63rd and 66th minutes). Nevielle and Shallan Piraz scored one goal each in the 18th and 60th minutes.
Haryana were awarded two green cards against Sikkim whom they beat by a solitary goal scored by Mandeep. Haryana were also given a yellow card for deduction of points from their Fair Play Trophy points tally. Sikkim earned three individual green cards and one yellow.
Meghalaya prevailed over Maharashtra by one goal netted by Richardshon Pathan. Meghalaya bagged one green card.
In another match, Rajasthan beat Himachal Pradesh by 2-0. Raj Krishan Saini and Meghraj Singh got one goal each. HP collected one individual and one team green cards. Rajasthan also got three green cards.
Meanwhile Ashpreet Singh of Chandigarh excelled in juggling skills competitions. He won the first position in 12:6 minutes. The second place went to Satpal Singh of Punjab who clocked 9:11. Nikhil Regmi of Uttaranchal and Raj Krishan Saini of Rajasthan received third and fourth positions, respectively.

23. December
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group B: Uttaranchal 1-1 Goa
49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Quarterfinal League Group X: Tiddim Road AU - Citizens' Club = postponed due to heavy rains
Delhi Women's League: Hans FC 1-1 Girls United - Goals: 0-1 Roshini, 1-1 Deepika.
Goan Professional League: Vasco SC 2-0 MPT Sports Council - Goals: 1-0 Anthony Pereira, 2-0 Francis Fernandes.
Goan Professional League: Dempo SC 2-1 Salgaocar SC - Goals: 1-0,2-1 Ranty Martins Soleye (18',42'), 1-1 Fabio dos Passos (21').
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Jammu&Kashmir Bank 1-0 Eastern Railway SC - Goal: 1-0 Kamaljeet Kumar (87').
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Titanium XI 3-2 Simla Youngs - Goals: 0-1 Dalip Bhandari (16'), 1-1 Jackson Sebastian (33'), 2-1 Vijesh Kumar (34'), 3-1 T Usman (46'), 3-2 Ogbedeie Aminawon Austin (65').
Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Bank of Baroda 0-2 ONGC - Goals: 0-1 Raju Mondal (10'), 0-2 Dhananjoy Tandel (90+1').

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh: Chandigarh 10-0 Jharkhand; Tripura 2-0 Chattisgarh; Orissa 0-0 Uttar Pradesh; Punjab 1-0 Tamil Nadu

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh - Day's Round-up: It was virtually a massacre of innocents as hosts Chandigarh thrashed Jharkhand by 10-0 in Format II match in the AIFF Under-14 Football Festival being hosted by the Chandigarh FA under the technical supervision of the AIFF at the Punjab Engineering College ground in Sector 14 here today.
The highlight of the one-sided 70-minute duration match played under Format II, Harpreet Bedi and Vikram camping inside the Jharkhand territory and scored at will. Both Chandigarh strikers netted five goals each. However, Vikram had the distinction of registering the first three-in-a-row feat in the Under-14 National Soccer Festival. Chandigarh were also awarded a green card which carries five points to determine the winners of the Fair Play Trophy.
Chattisgarh got two green cards and their rivals Tripura one. Tripura scored a 2-0 victory over Chattisgarh and both goals were scored by Anant Kishore.
Orissa, who played a goalless draw against Uttar Pradesh were awarded two green cards. In another goalless affair between Mizoram and West Bengal, the latter were awarded a green card.
Taranjit helped Punjab eke out 1-0 triumph over Tamil Nadu who were awarded a green card.
Earlier Under Format I, the duration of each match was 30 minutes.
Skill tests were conducted in penalty shootout. Teams from all 23 states and Union Territories competed in the skill tests. A team comprised a goalkeeper and two defenders. After preliminary round matches, Sikkim and Chandigarh qualified for the final. The Sikkim team consisting of goalkeeper Sujan Ray and defenders Kamal Pradhan and Dawa Shipra outplayed hosts Chandigarh team consisting of goalkeeper Manjit Singh and defenders Vikas Gulia and Baljinder Singh. While Sikkim netted five goals, Chandigarh could not secure any goal.
For the third and fourth positons, Haryana (goalkeeper Sonu and defenders Ravi and Vishal) defeated Gujarat (goalkeeper Mitul Patel and defenders Mahir Desai and Jaid Baloch) by five goals to two.

Note-1: The 49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy this year seems to be played under no good star. Today once more the tournament had to be postponed indefinitely as heavy rains slashed Manipur causing unplayable ground conditions. When the tournament would continue is unknown at the moment.

Note-2: The Delhi SA today mourned the death of former players Rashid and Bhagwan Das.
Rashid died after a short illness at 71. Rashid had played for Youngsters FC, Youngmen Club, Indian Nationals FC and Calcutta giants Mohammedan Sporting Club; while Bhagwan had played for New Delhi Heroes.

22. December
21st Airlines Gold Cup, Burnpur - Semifinal: Mohun Bagan AC 3-0 George Telegraph SC - Goals: 1-0 Akeem Abul Alem, 2-0 Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 3-0 Sushil Kumar Singh.
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Uttar Pradesh 1-1 Assam
41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - Quarterfinal League Group A: Jharkhand - Orissa
49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Quarterfinal League Group X: Tiddim Road AU - Citizens' Club = postponed due to heavy rains
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: State Bank of Travancore 0-0 Punjab Police
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: Tata Football Academy 4-1 Shastri Club
Mumbai Elite Division - Championship-leg: Western Railway 2-1 Central Railway - Goals: 1-0 Subhash Adilkar (45+2'), 2-0 Gurunath Reddy (86'), 2-1 Kasif Jamal (90+3').
Mumbai Elite Division - Championship-leg: Golden Gunners 0-0 Maharashtra State Police - Goals: none.
1st OIL Challenge Gold Cup, Duliajan - Final: Oil India Limited 0-0,6-5 Assam Police Blues [penalties] - Goals: none.

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh: Bengal 1-0 Chandigarh 1-0 (Scorer: Biswajeet Dutta); Jharkhand 0-0 Mizoram; Uttar Pradesh 2-0 Chattisgarh (Shane Parkash, Rakesh) both teams got green cards; Orissa 1-0 Tripura (Santosh KR Behra) green cards to both teams; Punjab 0-0 Uttaranchal. Green card to Uttaranchal; Goa 1-1 Sikkim 1-1 (Goa: Remend; Sikkim: Daibhugua Raj Sharma); Haryana 10-0 Pondicherry (7xMandeep, Mandir, Rajwinder, Vivek) Green card to Pondicherry; Meghalaya 1-0 Kerala 1-0 (Newstarborn Nohgbri) green cards to both; Delhi 0-0 Maharashtra 0-0. Green cards to both; Gujarat 1-0 Rajasthan (Akshay Mall). Green cards to both teams.

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh - Day's Round-up: Haryana owed their runaway 10-0 triumph against Pondicherry to Mandeep who netted seven goals to becoming the leading scorer on the third day of the AIFF Under-14 Football Festival being conducted by the Chandigarh FA under the technical supervision of the AIFF at the Punjab Engineering College ground in Sector 14 here today.
The match between Punjab and Uttaranchal ended in a goalless draw. However, Uttaranchal were awarded a green card. It may be recalled that two Punjab players were found overage and were debarred from competitions. Haryana forced Pondicherry to play a second fiddle role. The tussle virtually became between Mandeep vs Pondicherry. Depite a cakewalk win, Haryana could not clinch a green card which is worth five points. The green cards will determine the winners for the Fair Play Trophy. Pondicherry were awarded the green card against Haryana. The winners other scorers were Rajwinder, Mandir and Vivek (one each).
The technical committee also awarded green cards to Delhi and Maharashtra who played a goalless draw. Goa and Sikkim were held 1-1. No team was awarded green card. A solitary goal scored by Biswajit Dutta helped West Bengal to beat Chandigarh by 1-0. However, no team displayed extraordinary skills to obtain green card.
Skill tests were conducted in the tennis football competitions and the Uttaranchal team comprising Dinesh Negi and Gaurav Sharma emerged winners by beating West Bengal duo of Dhawan Biswas and Chikka Sen by 2-1. Hosts Chandigarh (Harpreet Bedi and Dharamvir) finished third.

Note-1: We had speculated about the possibility of alternative venues yesterday in the news and today the AIFF decided that the named venues Delhi's Ambedkar Stadium, Calicut's Municipal Corporation Stadium or Bangalore's Sree Kanteerava or Football Stadium's could host National League matches, if Calcutta, Goa, Mumbai or Ludhiana are unable to do so.
This was one of the results of the AIFF meeting in New Delhi today with the 10 teams in taking part in the upcoming National league and the local state FAs of the participating teams present. Also the clubs and state FAs have been given a tentative schedule to go through and get back to the AIFF, if the schedule is okay to them or not and then make suggestions and corrections where they feel necessary.

Note-2: The inaugural "Delhi SA" Women's Football League will kickoff tomorrow with a match between Hans FC and Girls United at Janaki Devi Memorial College grounds. The Women's league will be a five team affair with Garhwal Heroes, Eves FC and Growing FC being the other participating sides.

21. December
IndianFootball.Com, India's Premier Football Website, earlier today crossed the 600.000 single User HITs mark!!!
Another milestone for India's oldest football website...

21st Airlines Gold Cup, Burnpur - Semifinal: Mohammedan Sporting Club 4-1 SAIL
49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Quarterfinal League Group Y: Southern Sporting Union 2-0 NEROCA - Goals: 1-0 Charan Rai (30'), 2-0 Kabir (58').
Goan Professional League: Churchill Brothers SC 1-1 Fransa-Pax FC - Goals: 0-1 Alex Ambrose (40'), 1-1 Savio Monteiro (65').
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Jammu&Kashmir Bank 1-4 Titanium XI - Goals: 1-0 Deepak Sangral (5'), 1-1 T Usman (33'), 1-2,1-3 R Rajesh (54',58'), 1-4 Jackson Sebastian (71').
4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group A: Eastern Railway SC 0-0 Simla Youngs - Goals: none.

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh: Chandigarh 0-0 Mizoram; Jharkhand 1-1 West Bengal; Uttar Pradesh 0-0 Tripura; Orissa 1-0 Chattisgarh, Punjab -walkover- Karnataka; Uttaranchal 1-0 Tamil Nadu; Haryana 1-0 Goa, Sikkim 4-0 Pondicherry; Delhi 1-1 Meghalaya; Maharashtra 1-0 Kerala; Himachal Pradesh 1-1 Gujarat

2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh - Day's Round-up: It was a victory celebration in the Kerala camp soon after diminutive Sameel hit the crosspiece in the tie-breaker to crown himself with the top target hitter among 23 competitors, one selected from each state, in the AIFF U14 Football Festival being conducted by the Chandigarh FA under the technical guidance of the AIFF at the Punjab Engineering College ground here today.
After the preliminary and final round, youngest and smallest competitor Sameel of Kerala was tied with well-built Ashish Chettri of Sikkim with 15 points each. Five shots each were given to Ashish and Sameel to resolve the deadlock. Ashish muffed all his tries, hitting over the crosspiece and failed to garner any point. Sameel also frittered his first try but hit the crosspiece for five points and the title.
Immediately his colleagues invaded the ground and lifted him and danced to celebrate the triumph. However, the rest of the Kerala players were asked to leave the ground to complete his three more shots. He hit once again to the roar of the team mates. However, no points were awarded. It was just done on the demand of the teams taking part in the tournament.
Sameel was declared the winners with 20 points and Ashish runner-up with 15 points. Chandigarh's Simranjit Singh finished third with 10 points.
After the preliminary round, Simarnjit Singh, Ashish Chettri, Sameel, Romelp Patel (Gujarat) and Anirban Das (Tripura) had qualified for the final round. Anirban and Patel were eliminated as they failed to hit any of the three different targets given to them for hitting with volley.
For hitting the crosspiece, five points are awarded and hitting the pole will fetch a competitor four points. If a player hits the chairs placed under the bar will be entitled for three points. However, all competitors went to hit the crosspiece.
Those selected (one from each participating teams) for the target-hitting competitions were: Simranjit Singh (Chandigarh), Sunil Mahto (Jharkhand), Malsawmfela (Mizoram), Soumay Saha (West Bengal), Ekhlakh Ahmed (Uttrar Pradesh), Sushanta Kumar Jena (Orissa), Suraj Sehgal (Chattisgarh), Anirban Das (Tripura), Sehnaj (Punjab), S Vijay Kumar (Tamil Nadu), Sankar Bist (Uttaranchal), Shallum Pires (Goa), Parivallal (Pondicherry), Ashish Chettri (Sikkim), Sanjay Saini (Haryana), Hendry Marnboh (Meghalaya), Shilton D'Silva (Maharashtra), Sameel (Kerala), Aditya (Delhi), Rakesh (Himachal Pradesh), Chand Sigh (Rajasthan), Romelp Patel (Gujarat).

Friendly - Mumbai: Air-India 1-2 Appeteez FC, Nigeria - Goals: 1-0 Javed Ansari (31'), 1-1 Onyeka (63'), 1-2 Robinson (73').

Note-1: The latest FIFA Women's World Rankings were released today by the world governing in which our Indian Women climbed a spot to be 56th in the world.

Note-2: The AIFF, likely to be represented by it's president Das Munshi and secretary Alberto Colaco; representatives of the 10 participating National League clubs; and officials from the IFA (West Bengal), Goa FA, WIFA (Maharashtra) and Punjab FA will sit down tomorrow in New Delhi to work out the fixtures and discuss possible venues for the 10th National League, which is set to kick-off in early-January 2006.
Venues could be a major stumbling block with problems in Goa, Calcutta and Mumbai.

  • In Goa the problem is that the Nehru Stadium in Margao is set to be used for a One-Day International Cricket match between India and England in early-April 2006. For that the Goa Cricket Association needs time to prepare the pitch and outfield. In Goa the GFA is trying to work out a solution that it can use the ground until early-February so that a number of matches can be held by then as four of the 10 NFL sides come from Goa. Goa has no alternative venues available which meet security standards and are acceptable for Zee Sports for the TV coverage.
  • In Calcutta the Saltlake Stadium pitch is set to be relaid. The turf is in a bad state and needs urgent repair as well as the underground drainage system. For this cause the West Bengal government needs three to four month's to relay the pipelines and a lay a new pitch. The work is set to start in February/March 2006. The IFA luckily has named two, maybe even three alternative venues. It has named the Kanchanjunga Stadium in Siliguri and the Barasat Stadium as potential venues besides maybe the Howrah Stadium (an excellent ground, used by FC Bayern II for training) and the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium.
  • In Mumbai the Cooperage ground is in bad shape. The ground has few patches of grass on it left and the ground is not suitable for TV coverage of matches. Officials are trying to get the Brabourne Road Stadium as an alternative venue.
  • The only venue likely to get a nod without any problems is the Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, Ludhiana which continues to be the home venue of JCT Mills.
  • In it's efforts to spread football across India, the AIFF might have to look at options of playing NFL matches in other parts of the country. e.g. Delhi's Ambedkar Stadium, Calicut's Municipal Corporation Stadium or Bangalore's Sree Kanteerava or Football Stadium's would surely welcome some NFL action.

    Note-3: From tomorrow TEN SPORTS will be showing some matches of the just concluded SAFF Cup 2005, which took place in Karachi, Pakistan. Here the TV timings for you:
    Dec 22 - 1500-1700 IST Maldives vs Sri Lanka (Group A match), to be rebroadcast on Dec 23 at 1035-1230 IST.
    Dec 24 - 1830-2030 IST Bangladesh vs India (Group B match), to be rebroadcast on Dec 25 at 0830-1030 IST.
    Dec 25 - 1800-2000 IST Maldives vs India (1st Semifinal)
    Dec 25 - 2000-2200 IST Bangladesh vs Pakistan (2nd Semifinal)
    Dec 26 - 1500-1700 IST India vs Bangladesh (Final), to be rebroadcast on Dec 28 at 1130-1330 IST, again on Jan 1 at 1400-1600 IST, and Jan 1 - 2230-0130 IST.

    Note-4: The 10th Assam Club Championships was set to kickoff on December 25 at Hailakandi, but with clus reluctant to participate in the festive season and over New Year, the tournament start has been postponed until January 3, 2006.

    Note-5: The Goa FA today announced their squad for the 41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy to be held in Varanasi from tomorrow. Goa have been grouped with Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu and Manipur with Manipur's participation being unclear at the moment.
    GOA Squad: Beevan Karol D'Mello (Captain) , Cavin Peter Lobo, Nitesh Nagvenkar, Laximikant Kattimani, Santana Rodrigues, Ashley Fernandes, Raymond Marques, Joyson Noronha, Milagres Melwyn Gonsalves, Savio Diogo A Carneiro, Edison Benicio Sequeira, Alvito Remedios Pereira, Anthony Crispino D'Souza, Sidroy Alfonso, John Rodrigues, Lavino Fernandes, Joy Francisco Ferrao, Cajetan Henriques Mascarenhas, Terence Leo Lobo. Coach: Agustine Dias; Manager: Fabian D'Souza.

    20. December
    6th Bodoland Martyrs' Gold Cup, Kokrajhar - Final: Border Security Force 1-0 Kokrajhar - Goal: 1-0 Amarjit Singh (47').
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Quarterfinal League Group X: Manipur Police SC 3-1 Tiddim Road AU - Goals: 1-0 Th Rohen Singh (24'), 2-0 Kh Sanaton Singh (27'), 2-1 T Shyamo (59'), 3-1 I Nilakumar Singh (90+3').
    Goan Professional League: MPT Sports Council 0-1 Dempo SC - Goal: 0-1 Ranty Martins Soleye.
    Goan Professional League: Raia Sporting Club 0-0 Sporting Clube de Goa - Goals: none.
    4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: Shastri Club 0-6 Punjab Police - Goals: 0-1 Vijay Pal (8'), 0-2,0-3,0-4 Gurpreet Singh (29',36',81'), 0-5 Harnek Singh (86'), 0-6 Parminder Singh (90').
    4th Lt. Governor's Cup - Quarterfinal League Group B: State Bank of Travancore 1-0 Tata Football Academy - Goal: 1-0 AG Mohammed Aslam (68').
    Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Bank of Baroda - Income Tax = match not held as Income Tax pulled out of playoffs.
    Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) 0-4 ONGC - Goals: 0-1,0-4 Dhananjoy Tandel (51',81'), 0-2 Bir Singh (58'), 0-3 Amit Mandal (66').
    1st OIL Challenge Gold Cup, Duliajan - Semifinal: Oil India Limited 2-1 AIM, Manipur

    2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh: Uttar Pradesh 0-0 Orissa; Chandigarh 2-0 Jharkhand; Mizoram 1-0 West Bengal; Chattisgarh 0-0 Tripura; Uttaranchal -walkover- Karnataka; Goa 2-0 Pondicherry; Sikkim 1-0 Haryana; Meghalaya 2-0 Maharashtra; Delhi 3-0 Kerala; Himachal Pradesh 1-0 Rajasthan

    2nd AIFF U14 Football Festival, Chandigarh - Day's Round-up: Goalkeeping skills test was the main attraction on the inaugural day of the AIFF Under-14 Football Festival at the Punjab Engineering College ground here today. One goalkeeper from 22 states and Union Territory displayed their goalkeeping as well as scoring abilities.
    The competitors were divided into two groups. In the preliminary contests Orissa topped Group A with 15 points. Tripura finished runners-up in group A with 14 points. Delhi and Sikkim were leaders and runners-up with 15 and 14 points, respectively, in group B. Custodians from these four states qualified for the final skill tests in goalkeeping. S Kumaruddin of Orissa displayed better anticipation and reflexes under the bar to be adjudged the best in the lot. Vivian Singh Sahi of Delhi and Chewang Bhutia of Sikkim finished second and third best goalkeepers, respectively.
    Shaji Prabhakaran, Director Vision Asia, said that target hitting contest would be conducted tomorrow.
    After Chandigarh Olympic Association secretary general Principal Ravinder Talwar, who is also president of the Chandigarh FA, inaugurated the Festival aiming to providing opportunity to attract youngsters at the grass root level, 11 matches were conducted at four different grounds of PEC.

    Note-1: Income Tax have pulled out of the Mumbai Super Division Championship Play-offs citing lack of sufficient players due to injury and other concerns. Hence the Super Division Championship Play-offs will be now a five team round-robin league.

    Note-2: The 19th Phagwara Cup will be held from January 2 to 7, 2006 in the home town of National League club JCT Mills. In total eight top teams from across Punjab will be taking part, but due to the start of the NFL the JCT Mills A team will be missing from the tournament

    19. December
    INDIA's SAFF Cup triumph has translated into a considerable rise in the FIFA World Rankings. In the latest rankings released today INDIA now are 127th amongst 205 ranked nations and territories in the world, eight places up from last month with four wins and a draw in five matches in Karachi. INDIA now have 355 points, 31 more than last month. Meanwhile in Asia INDIA moved-up a place to 24th in the ranking.

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Pre-Quarterfinal: KLASA, Keinou 0-4 NACO, Nambul Mapal - Goals: 0-1 Seijalal Haokip (22'), 0-2 Jamkhotinlen (27 '), 0-3 N Jimmy Singh (38'), 0-4 Th Lukhoi Singh (65').
    Goan Professional League: Vasco SC 0-0 Salgaocar SC - Goals: none.
    1st OIL Challenge Gold Cup, Duliajan - Semifinal: Assam Police Blues 1-1,6-5 Assam State Electricity Board - Goals: 0-1 Sanjiva Rongpi (60'), 1-1 Lakhan Goyari.

    Friendly - Mumbai: Mahindra United 0-1 Appeteez FC, Nigeria - Goal: 0-1 Robinson (85').
    Mumbai's Mahindra United were surprisingly beaten by a late solitary goal by the young Nigerian guns of Appeteez FC, here at the Cooperage today. Their most impressive captain, with childish looks, Onyeka, provided the killer pass in the penalty box from the right in the 85th minute, which substitute Robinson slotted in at the near post following a pirouette move and a touch-line dribble.
    Mahindra United fielded four foreigners amongst their starters, with Jose Baretto's brother, Junior Ramirez, slotting alongside in midfield, behind the striking duo of Gabriel and Yakubu. Junior however played the more deep-lying role, with Jose advancing more. Anees on the left, and Sushanth on the right made up the flank midfielders. Samson and Rauf were the right and left full-backs, while Deepak Mondal and captain Peter Siddique made the central defensive duo. Goalkeeper for this game, Purusahothaman, would have expected a better game from himself, despite not being worked on many occasions. Specially the goal, when the ball passed in through his near-post.
    It was a closely contested match right until the end, and it seemed it would end nil-nil. United worked the giant opposition goalkeeper Robo quite a few times. First he reflex-saved from Sushanth in the 32nd minute after good show-boating and a cross by Yakubu, and then a Gabriel long-ranger in the 54th. Robo was also mightily alert when his own defender Kenneth headed back off an Anees cross. Purushothaman was meanwhile hardly called upon to display his reflexes, though he was a bit slow in coming off his line to collect crosses. He was given a let off in the 81st minute, when Robinson shot over after being given time and space to turn and shoot from 8 yards.
    The Nigerians displayed good individual skill, commitment, pace and strength. They adapted surprisingly well to the alien conditions, in fact seeming better so than the local outfit. However their youthful exuberance was visible as their decision-making let them down at times, and they didn't make the most of the concrete opportunities they could have created. Mahindra on the other hand, seemed lesser than the outfit that dominated the Federation Cup. Justifiably so, to an extent, considering their depleted and tiring squad. Moreover, they probably also didn't press full-throttle, saving up for the upcoming Super-Cup clash against Air-India, and the commencement of the National League. However, the manner of the loss will, and should hurt them. It will hopefully make them vary to the necessity of fighting it out and concentrating for the whole duration of 90 minutes in the crucial games that come up now.
    MAHINDRA: TG Purushothaman, Samson Fernandes, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Peter Siddique, Rauf Khan, Aldo Junior Ramirez, Sushanth Mathew, Kutty Anees (67' Surajit Bose), Jose Ramirez Baretto, Yusif Yakubu, Gabriel Umeh.
    APPETEEZ: Robo, Marcel, Moses, Gift, Kenneth, Marasowe, Blessing, Onyeka, Nelson (Robinson), Buchi, Azuka.
    CARDS: none.

    Note-1: A "shocking" PTI report: Legendary footballer PK Banerjee, who was the manager of the Indian team for the SAFF championship in Karachi, today recounted his horrors of being detained at the airport by non-cooperating officials. Banerjee said he was not allowed to board a flight to Abu Dhabi, with Pakistani officials lending a deaf ear to him.
    "The officials at the airport were very rude to me and did not pay heed to any of my requests and arguments," Banerjee told reporters after returning to India along with the team which won the South Asian Football Federation championship beating Bangladesh 2-0 in the final.
    "May be they had such great love for me that they did not want to leave me," the former India captain said sarcastically.
    "I know that there are certain rules and regulations to be followed but the officials could have been a little courteous," the football stalwart said.
    Also, an Indian referee, who went to officiate in the tournament was not allowed to board the plane for his return journey.
    Indians visiting Pakistan have to report to the local police station about their stay there unless granted exemption. Banerjee, apparently, was unaware of this formality.
    "In any case, it is not possible to report always as we were there on a sporting assignment and our full concentration was on that," he said.
    "The whole episode has caused me a great shock and distress as I had to go to the United States for the convocation of my daughter, who has completed doctorate in English literature. I have missed a once-in-a-lifetime occasion," the manager said.
    "When I told the official that they would not have been so rude to a cricket star, they retorted 'You talk a lot'," Banerjee said.
    The police officer on duty also consulted with his superior on a walkie-talkie, who, on being told that the person concerned was an Indian, gave instructions to "stop him", he said.
    Banerjee said one of the Indian referees, who had gone to officiate in the tournament, was not allowed to return. "S Suresh had to stay back as the Pakistani officials did not let him board the plane. I do not know when he will be back," the manager said.
    The All India Football Federation has been apprised of the situation and they would take the issue up with their Pakistani counterparts. "AIFF President Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, who is also a senior cabinet minister, would take it up with the Pakistan Football Federation as well as at the government level," Banerjee said.
    The football stalwart did not have many kind words about the role of the Indian High Commission in this matter either. "During our stay, the High Commission officials did not meet us even once. Even when we were facing this problem, we did not get any help from them."
    "We realise that they are very busy people. But they should have spared some time for the Indian football team who have brought glory to the country," Banerjee said.
    This is not the first instance that Pakistan officials have put Indian nationals to discomfort citing various regulations.
    Indian journalists have often been denied visas for covering sports events in the neighbouring country. Less than a fortnight ago, two correspondents from prominent Bengali dailies were denied visa to cover the SAFF tournament. They eventually went after the AIFF took up the matter with the Pakistan Football Federation.

    Note-2: The second AIFF U14 Football Festival will be held from tomorrow until December 27 at the Punjab Engineering College, Sector 12 in Chandigarh. The festival, being organised by the Chandigarh FA, has the aim to encourage, promote and develop the game at the grass root level.
    24 states where supposed to take part divided into groups but with no tables and standings involved, but the three states of Jammu&Kashmir, Bihar and Assam have been debarred from taking part due to too many overaged players. The three-member AIFF medical panel found 27 players overage. Nine of the overage players were from Assam; six each from Jammu&Kashmir and Bihar; two each from Punjab and Mizoram; and one each from Goa and Orissa. If three or more players are found overage then the team is thrown out.
    The trio of Satheevan Balan (Kerala), Mariano Dias (Goa) and Syed Shabir Pasha (Tamil Nadu) will be the talent spotters at the event. The aim of the spotters is to find 30 to 40 talented boys for a camp, who are capable of representing India at next years AFC Under-14 Festival in Iran.

    Note-3: The Army football team, which surprisingly won the 118th Durand Cup a couple of days ago were felicitated at a function in New Delhi. Amongst others the Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee was present on the occasion.

    18. December
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Pre-Quarterfinal: Sagolband United 1-2 Citizens' Club - Goals: 1-0 Meikingai Kabui (29'), 1-1 Th Eshworjit Singh (38' - own Goal), 1-2 Th Sanjoy Singh (45+2').
    Mumbai Super Division: Rizvi Mumbai Muslims 0-0 ONGC - Goals: none.
    Mumbai Super Division - Super Six: Central Railway (Mumbai Division) 1-3 Akbar Travels - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Dhanraj Sumesh (6',61'), 0-3 Vijesh P Vijayan (78'), 1-3 Ammiruddin Ansari (89').

    Note-1: Each player of the SAFF Cup 2005 winning squad will receive Rs 120,000 as prize money from the AIFF. This was announced by the AIFF president Das Munshi after the end of the federations AGM. The AIFF will contribute Rs 70,000 to the proposed prize money while the rest of the amount will come from an undisclosed industrial house.
    The AIFF decided to hand the players a prize money after suggestions received from coach Syed Nayeemuddin and captain Baichung Bhutia that this would lift the teams morale for the future.
    The Indian contingent is set to fly into New Delhi tomorrow and they will be fecilitated after their return.

    Note-2: After the end of the AIFFs Annual General Meeting in New Delhi, the AIFF informed the media about the results.

  • The 10th National League which is set to begin in early-January will be a 10 team affair. The AIFF did not bow down to pressure from relegated National League sides who wanted to the retained in the league after good performances in the Federation Cup this season. The relegated NFL sides will have to fight it out in the 2.Division to remain promotion to the National League
  • A third Division would also be finally launched but the formalities were being worked out so nothing much could be said about it.
  • A new tournament, the President's Cup, would be held on an experimental basis from next year onwards. The tournament would be an eight team event with relegated NFL sides plus new rising sides, who have done well in the Durand Cup, IFA Shield and other zonal tournaments.
  • The AIFF has decided to set up a Players Welfare Fund of Rs 10 Million.
  • On the Santosh Trophy quarterfinal league match between Manipur and Goa the AIFF has decided that things will stay the way they are, meaning Goa remain Santosh Trophy champions. Also no action would be taken against the Manipuri players who had been named in the match report, while the AIFF requested the All-Manipur FA to rejoin in national football activities.

    Note-3: India and Dempo SC midfielder Climax Lawrence has been chosen as the "Player of the Year 2005". This was decided at the AIFF Annual General Meeting in New Delhi last night.
    Climax has been a consistant performer on the national circuit for a number of years and a regular for India. He has played for Salgaocar SC and East Bengal Club before switching to Dempo SC this season.

    Note-4: The 4th Lt. Governor's Cup will be held from December 20 at the Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi. Eight non-National League sides will play in the invitational tournament in two groups of four sides each with former NFL side State Bank of Travancore, the Tata Football Academy and Kerala side Titanium Xi being the star attraction. The champions would be richer by Rs 200,000, while the finalist would get Rs 100,000. Shastri Club will play Punjab Police in the opening match on December 20.

    17. December
    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Final: INDIA 2-0 Bangladesh - Goal: 1-0 Mehraj din Wadoo (34'), 2-0 Baichung Bhutia (81').
    INDIA have won their third SAFF Cup title!!!
    India's 2-0 final victory against Bangladesh at Karachi's Peoples Sports Complex ensured that India has regained its supremacy in south Asia winning back the title from Bangladesh. The winning goals where scored by midfielder Mehraj din Wadoo and striker Baichung Bhutia, who later was chosen as "Most Valuable Player" of the tournament.
    Infront of over 30,000 spectators Bangladesh had the first chance of the match through striker Ariful Kabir Farhad, but thereafter India took control of the match and made a number of good build-ups with sadly the finishing missing. Syed Rahim Nabi, Climax Lawrence and Krishnan Nair Ajayan wasted chances before Mohun Bagan midfielder Mehraj din Wadoo opened the scoring in the 34.minute. Mehraj was opportunistic with his shot on goal from just outside the box after the ball had dangerously hoovered around infront of the Bangladesh goal from a Shanmugam Venkatesh from the right. Bangladesh could have equalised just two minutes later, but Alfaz Ahmed's header of Ariful Kabir went wide off left post. India took a 1-0 lead into the lemon break.
    India continued to have the better share of the match, but initially just couldn't increase the lead. Mehraj had a good chance in the 52.minute with a long-range shot and then Bangladesh had another chance to equalise through Ariful Kabir in the 65.minute. But India ensured victory in the 81.minute when substitute MA Abdul Hakkim broke free on the left to centre for captain Baichung Bhutia to tap in past Bangladesh keeper Aminul Haque.
    After the referee blew the final whistle it was celebration time for the Indian team and fans. Baichung Bhutia received the SAFF Cup and a USD 50,000 cheque from Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz plus the "Most Valuable Player" of the tournament award. For Baichung it was a return to the top of south Asian football after some difficult months as it was the third SAFF Cup title after 1997 and 1999 for him. Interesting to note is that new coach Syed Nayeemuddin initially did not want to pick Baichung amongst his probables, but he proved his class and Nayeemuddin won his second SAFF Cup title as coach in the process.
    INDIA: Sandip Nandy, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, Muttath Suresh, Mehraj din Wadoo, Climax Lawrence, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, Baichung Bhutia, Syed Rahim Nabi.
    REFEREE: Khodadad Afsharian (Iran)
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    SAFF Cup 2005 stats:

  • 'MVP' Award: Baichung Bhutia (India).
  • 'Fair-Play' Award: Bhutan.
  • 'Golden Boot' Award: Ali Ashfaq, Ibrahim Fazeel and Ahmed Thariq (all Maldives).

    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Final: Sporting Clube de Goa 0-0,4-5 Army XI [penalties] - Goals: none.
    Penalty Shootout: Army XI: MG Ramchander, Thirunavukarusu, Birendra Bodra, Binod Bantava, Raghu Kumar
    Sporting Clube: Chidi Edeh, Nicholas L Rodrigues, Rajesh N Meetei, Hardeep Singh Saini, MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (miss)
    Underdogs Army XI for the first time clinched the 118th Durand Cup title at India's oldest football tournament!
    SPORTING CLUBE: Luis Xavier Barreto, N Singh (Vincent Pires), Rajesh N Meetei, Mathew Gonsalves, Bibiano Fernandes, Vinu Jose, Wilson Gomes (Hardip Singh Saini), Nicolau Borges (Nicholas L Rodrigues), Adebayo Adewusi, MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi, Chidi Edeh.
    ARMY XI: Robi Janta Singh (Abungobi Singh), Vijay Thapa (Binod Bantava), Irudaya Raj, S Ramesh, KP Kaboi, Hemant Lama (Raghu Kumar), Birendra Bodra, Samuel, Thirunavukarusu, Ibrahim, MG Ramchander.

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Pre-Quarterfinal: NEROCA, Laipham Khunou 3-0 YWO, Oinam - Goals: 1-0,2-0 H Amarjit Singh (29',38'), 3-0 ?.
    Goan Professional League: Dempo SC 4-0 Raia Sporting Club - Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-0 Joaquim Abranches (14',25',30'), 4-0 Ranty Martins Soleye (90+').

    Note-1: India have been placed in Pot D for the draw of the qualification rounds of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the AFC House on January 4, 2006. The team classifications and pot allocations were approved by the AFC Competitions Committee.
    The 24 teams have been divided into four pots (A-D) of six each. The draw, which will be held in the presence of the representatives of the teams, will slot four teams each into six groups (A-F), with the top two teams from each group advancing to the final round. Teams from the same pot will not face each other.
    The four hosts - Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand - automatically qualify for the tournament proper.
    The Pots:
    Pot A 1. Japan, 2. China, 3. Iran, 4. Bahrain, 5. Uzbekistan, 6 Jordan.
    Pot B 7. Korea Republic, 8. Iraq, 9. Oman, 10. Kuwait, 11. Saudi Arabia, 12. Qatar.
    Pot C 13. United Arab Emirates, 14. Yemen, 15. Syria, 16. Lebanon, 17. Singapore, 18. Hong Kong.
    Pot D 19. Palestine, 20. Sri Lanka, 21. Chinese Taipei, 22. Pakistan/Bangladesh, 23. India, 24, Australia.

    Note-2: The H2K MDFA Elite League structure has been modified, with Mumbai giants Mahindra United and Air-India pulling out of contesting for the Elite Championship. With the Elite Division Championship Play-offs due to resume from today, Mahindra and Air-India representatives expressed their unwillingness to risk injuries and fatigue to their squads, while they prepared in earnest for the commencement of the National League early next month. This message was conveyed at a meeting last evening where also present were the MDFA officials and representatives of the other four clubs (Central Railway, Western Railway, Maharashtra State Police, and Golden Gunners) in the Elite Play-offs. The MDFA and other clubs accepted the decision. The remaining four clubs will complete their respective round-robin fixtures, following which the top two finishers will contest the Elite Final, and importantly, will both book their places in the National League Division II qualifiers. Mahindra United and Air-India, on the other hand, will contest a "Super-Cup" match, tentatively scheduled for the same day as the Elite Final. It seems a reasonable solution for all parties concerned, not least for the other four clubs, who will now have a chance to have their name etched on the prestigious Harwood League Trophy.

    Note-3: After releasing striker Yao Gley Rodrigue from Togo and Nigerian Akeem Abul Alem Mohun Bagan AC are on the lookout for strikers to strengthen the squad ahead of the upcoming 10th National League. The clubs president Swapan Sadhan Basu today informed the media that a new 20 year old striker named Coffi Edem Agbessi from Benin would join the team likely next week. The youngster according to his CV that the club received has played for the Benin national team and at the 2005 Youth World Cup in the Netherlands.

    16. December
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Pre-Quarterfinal: Southern Sporting Union 5-0 KYC, Churachandpur - Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-0,5-0 R Banny Chiru (57',72',76',88'), 4-0 Charan Rai (80').
    Goan Professional League: Salgaocar SC 1-2 Churchill Brothers SC - Goals: 1-0 Milagres Gonsalves (5'), 1-1,1-2 Savio Monteiro (8?',88').
    Mumbai Super Division: Central Bank of India 0-2 ONGC - Goals: 1-0 Raju Mondal (31'), 2-0 Krishna Ahmed (48').

    Note-1: The Goa FA and Hutch Mobile have signed on sponsorship contract for the Goa Professional League and the first Division, which would start from on with the leagues now being called "Hutch" Goa Professional League and "Hutch" first Division. For cellular operator Hutch it is the first venture into football sponsorship in India after already sponsoring the Indian Rugby national team and the Delhi half-marathon.

    Note-2: WIFA has announced their 18 member squad to represent Maharashtra at the AIFF U14 Football Festival to be held from December 20 to 27 in Chandigarh.
    MAHARASHTRA: Shilton D'Silva, Karan Sawhney, Leon D'Souza, Gallagher D'Souza, Reed Santos, Mithilesh Patil, Siddarth Chaubal (all Mumbai), Faizan Akhtar, Sharukh Khan, Mohammed Shoeb Ansari, Alween George, Kunal Tiwaskar (all Nagpur), Abu Talah (Aurangabad), Irshad Ahmed Mujawar (Sangli), Syed Lal (Parbhani). Cocach Zubair Ullah Khan (Nagpur); Assistant Coach: Badruddin Siddique (Aurangabad).

    15. December
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Round 1: KLASA, Keinou 3-2 PYC, Phoudel - Goals: 0-1 L Benjamin Kom (4'), 0-2 T Suraj (48'), 1-2 Ng Tomba Singh (53'), 2-2,3-2 L Jiten Singh (58',76').
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Pre-Quarterfinal: Manipur Police SC 4-0 PYA, Kairang - Goals: 1-0 Kh Romen Singh (19'), 2-0,3-0 I Nilakumar Singh (42',73'), 4-0 Ch Ojit Singh.
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Semifinal: Army XI 0-0,5-4 JCT Mills [penalties] - Goals: none.
    Goan Professional League: Fransa-Pax FC 1-1 Vasco SC - Goals: 1-0 Ryan D'Souza (80'), 1-1 Anthony Pereira (87').

    Note-1: Belgian coach Philippe "Indi" de Ridder has been appointed as the new East Bengal Club coach. In a historic first, the red-and-gold, have appointed a foreign coach for the first time for a Calcutta Maidan club. Philippe has been given a two year contract and will try to improve the performance of his team to be successful on the national level with the first asignment being the upcoming 10th National League. Philippe, a coach who uses new ideas in his training, will try to implement his "Creative Football Training" methods.
    Interestingly Philippe was introduced to Indian football by the IndianFootball.Com team. As part of his 360 Degrees World Tour we helped Philippe on his India-leg. We got him in touch with the IFA to train the IFA-CSF Academy boys in Haldia, West Bengal and he also interacted with the football franity in Calcutta.
    We wish our friend Indi all the best!!!

    Note-2: The Nigerian club side, Appeteez FC, will be playing two friendlies in Mumbai at the Cooperage ground - against National League outfits Mahindra United and Air-India - tentatively scheduled for December 19 and 21 respectively, subject to Appeteez's arrival to Mumbai on time. Currently the Nigerians are in Goa playing friendlies there.

    14. December
    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Semifinal: Maldives 0-1 INDIA - Goals: 0-1 Nanjangud Shivananju Manju (38').
    INDIA have reached the finals of the 4th SAFF Cup 2005 with a lone goal victory against Maldives at Karachi's Peoples Sports Complex. The goal of the day was scored by defender Nanjangud Shivananju Manju with a diving header from the left in the 38.minute following a corner from midfielder Shanmugam Venkatesh which couldn't be cleared by the Maldivian defence.
    Maldives were the better side initially causing problems to the Indian defence. In one situation a Maldives goal was disallowed due to a foul on Indian goalkeeper Sandip Nandy. As the match grew older, the more balanced the affair got with India slowly taking control of proceedings. After the breather India had two goal disallowed by the Yemenite referee and then Indian midfielder Mehtab Hussain was red carded due to a harsh tackle.
    INDIA: Sandip Nandy, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, Muttath Suresh, Mehtab Hussain, Climax Lawrence, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, Baichung Bhutia, Syed Rahim Nabi.
    REFEREE: Mukhtar Al Yarimi (Yemen).
    RED CARD: Mahtab Hussain (India).
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Semifinal: Bangladesh 1-0 Pakistan - Goal: 1-0 Mohammad Sujan (45+').

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Round 1: Sagolband United 1-1,5-3 USA, Khurai [penalties] - Goals: 0-1 Adarsh (34'), 1-1 L Bijukumar (64').
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Round 1: NACO 3-0 MBSU, Wahengbam Leikai - Goals: 1-0 Jamkhotilen (18'), 2-0 Paolin (60'), 3-0 Nepolian Mangte (62').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Semifinal: Sporting Clube de Goa 3-0 Assam Rifles - Goals: 1-0 Bibiano Fernandes (33'), 2-0,3-0 MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (88',90').

    Note-1: The Goa FA has released the fixtures of the pending Goa Pro League matches. The Goa Pro League will finish on January 5, 2006.
    Click here for the Goa Professional League 2005 fixtures

    Note-2: The 59th Punjab State Senior Football Championship 2005/06 will be held from December 20 to 24, 2005 at the Football Ground of Government Senior Secondary School, Village Chabbewal, District Hoshiarpur with 16 districts from across the state taking part. The Punjab FA has made the fixtures available to us at IndianFootball.Com .
    Click here for the 59th Punjab State Senior Football Championship 2005/06 fixtures

    Note-3: The All-Manipur FA will felicitate the "State Player of the Year 2005" both for men and women on December 30 at the Khuman Lampak Main Stadium, Imphal, the day of the final of the 49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy.

    13. December
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Round 1: NEROCA 4-1 USBA, Mantak - Goals: 1-0,2-1 M Robin Singh (19',38'), 1-1 K Nilen Kom (25'), 3-1 S Manimohan Singh (49'), 3-1 H Doren Singh (54').
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Round 1: Citizens' Club 1-1,7-6 AMOFA, Moirang [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Saikhohao Tuboi (72'), 1-1 M Bidyasagar (75').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group D: East Bengal Club 1-2 JCT Mills - Goals: 0-1 Parveen Kumar (33'), 1-1 Mike Okoro (57'), 1-2 Renedy Singh (63').
    Goan Professional League: MPT Sports Council 1-1 Salgaocar SC - Goals: 0-1 Sebio Barreto (8'), 1-1 Casmiro Peixoto (15').

    Note-1: Barclays and the Premier League carried out the first-ever global survey of Barclays Premiership fans. Every person who completed the survey had the chance to win an all-expenses-paid VIP trip for two to watch the Barclays Premiership team of their choice.
    IndianFootball.Com supported the survey, while you - our visitors - were also offered a chance to take part in this global survey.
    Barclays and the Premier League has forwarded the results of the Indian votes to IndianFootball.Com.
    Click here to see the >>BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE - GLOBAL FANS SURVEY - RESULTS

    Note-2: For those of you based in Germany or able to watch German TV: The regional Baverian TV channel (Bayern 3) will be showing a half-an-hour feature on the India trip of FC Bayern Munich II in it's Saturday sports programme from 16.05 to 17.30 CET on Saturday, December 17, 2005.

    Note-3: Do you remember Omolaja Olalekan? Yes, it the Nigerian striker who successful played with Goans Salgaocar SC in the late-1990s and then later came back to play in India for East Bengal Club. Currently Omolaja, who had his best time in India, is looking to come back to India to play in the upcoming 10th National League.

    12. December
    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group B: Bangladesh 1-1 INDIA - Goals: 0-1 Climax Lawrence (17'), 1-1 Zahid Hasan Ameli (77').
    Three time winners INDIA were held to a one-all draw by title holders Bangladesh in their last Group B match at Karachi's Peoples Sports Complex. With this draw both India and Bangladesh finished on seven points, but due to a one goal better goal difference Bangladesh top the group. Both teams now move into the semifinals, where Bangladesh face hosts Pakistan, while India have to fight it out against a so-far impressive Maldives for a place in the finals.
    REFEREE: Hettikamkanamge Dilan Perera (Sri Lanka).
    YELLOW-RED CARD: Mehraj din Wadoo (42' India).
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group B: Nepal 3-1 Bhutan - Goals: 1-0 Surendra Tamang (10'), 2-0 Basanta Thapa (16'), 3-0 Bijay Gurung (29'), 3-1 Bikash Pradhan (47').

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Round 1: Southern Sporting Union 3-0 Eastern Sporting Union - Goals: 1-0 Charan Rai (1'), 2-0 L Tiken Singh (68'), 3-0 Kabir Ahmed (83').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group A: EverReady SA 0-3 Sporting Clube de Goa - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Chidi Edeh (4',20'), 0-3 MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (61').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group C: Mohammedan Sporting Club 0-3 Mahindra United - Goals: 0-1,0-2,0-3 Yakubu Yusif (2',80',87').
    Goan Professional League: Raia Sporting Club 2-1 Fransa-Pax FC - Goals: 1-0 Augusto Monteiro (60'), 2-0 Wesley Coutinho (65'), 2-1 Emmanuel Offremoh (80').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers - Final: Maharashtra 0-3 Goa - Goals: 0-1,0-3 Santan Rodrigues (8',50'), 0-2 Anthony D'Souza (15').

    Note-1: The 44th Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy will be held from January 14 to 20, 2006 in Mahilpur, Punjab. At the tournament organising committee meeting today it was decided that the winners of the club category would get Rs 50.000, while the runners-up would be richer by Rs 40.000. The week-long tournament would also see action in the college category and for the first time a women's competition would be held.

    11. December
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group B: Dempo SC 1-1 Air-India - Goals: 1-0 Agnelo Martins (13'), 1-1 Benoy Kuruvilla (64').

  • With Army XI & Dempo SC level on points and goal difference, Army XI moved into the semifinals through the draw of lots
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group D: East Bengal Club 2-0 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 1-0 RC Prakash (7'), 2-0 Jatin Singh Bisht (22').

    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group A: Pakistan 0-0 Maldives - Goals: none.
    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group A: Sri Lanka 1-2 Afghanistan
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    Note-1: Oil India Limited based in Assam has been and is trying to promote football in it's state. Now the oil company has decided to hold the first OIL Challenge Invitation Gold Cup Football Tournament at the Nehru Maidan, Duliajan from December 15 to 22. The tournament would be an eight team affair. Besides hosts OIL invitations have been send to Assam Police Blues, Assam State Electricity Board, SAI SC - Guwahati, 2nd Assam Special Reserve Force, Manipur XI, Assam Regimental Centre - Shillong and Assam Rifles. The winners would get Rs. 50,000 while the runners-up would receive Rs 30,000.

    10. December
    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group B: INDIA 3-0 Bhutan - Goals: 1-0 Baichung Bhutia (44'), 2-0 Mahesh Gawli (52'), 3-0 MA Abdul Hakkim (66').
    INDIA moved into the semifinals of the 4th SAFF Cup 2005 with a convincing 3-0 victory against Bhutan in a Group B league match at Karachi's Peoples Sports Complex. INDIA completely controlled proceedings but had to wait until a minute before halftime for captain Baichung Bhutia to score the lead with a perfectly placed shot past Bhutan goalkeeper Jigme Singye after he had received a long ball. India doubled the lead in the 52.minute when defender Mahesh Gawli headed in a corner before substitute MA Abdul Hakkim rounded of the tally in the 66.minute.
    India now face neighbours Bangladesh in their last group match on Monday to decide the Group B winners.
    INDIA: Sandip Nandy, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, NS Manju (Mehraj din Wadoo), Muttath Suresh, Mehtab Hussain, Climax Lawrence, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, Steven Dias (Syed Rahim Nabi), Alvito D'Cunha (MA Abdul Hakkim), Baichung Bhutia.
    REFEREE: Hettikamkanamge Dilan Perera (Sri Lanka).
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group B: Bangladesh 2-0 Nepal - Goals: 1:0 Rokonuzzaman Kanchan (27'), 2:0 Rokonuzzaman Kanchan (87').

    8th Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh Memorial Football Trophy - Final: Border Security Force 1-0 International FC, Phagwara
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group A: EverReady SA 0-0 Tata Football Academy - Goals: none.
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group C: Mahindra United 0-2 Assam Rifles - Goals: 0-1,0-2 T Akum Ao (31',45').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers: Goa 8-0 Daman & Diu - Goals: 1-0,5-0 Anthony D'Souza (12',56'), 2-0 Milegres Melwin Gonsalves (33'), 3-0 Raymond Marques (36'), 4-0,7-0 Lavino Fernandes (44',83'), 6-0 Sidroy Alfonso (64'), 8-0 Savio Carneiro (88').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers: Maharashtra 7-1 Gujarat - Goals: 1-0 Raju Gaikwad (27'), 1-1 Azhar Ansari (28'), 2-1 Keegan Pereira (31'), 3-1,4-1 Francisco Salin (38',45'), 5-1 Zahid Ansari (57'), 6-1 Stalin Kuruvilla (78'), 7-1 Clayton D'Souza (86').

    Note-1: The 10th Assam Club Championships will be held in Hailakandi from December 25, 2005.

    9. December
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group B: Dempo SC 2-2 Army XI - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Ranty Martins Soleye (36',53'), 2-1 Raghu Kumar (74'), 2-2 MG Ramchander (89').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group D: JCT Mills 4-0 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - Goals: 1-0,2-0,4-0 Parveen Kumar (9',30',65'), 3-0 Sukhwinder Singh (58').

    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group A: Pakistan 1-0 Afghanistan - Goal: 1:0 Muhammad Essa (55').
    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group A: Maldives 2-0 Sri Lanka - Goals: 1:0 Ali Ashfaq (15'), 2:0 Ali Umar (82').
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    Note-1: Former East Bengal coach, Subhas Bhowmick, was released on bail today against a bond of Rs. 10,000. However, he has been ordered not to leave the country. He was caught red-handed last Friday taking a bribe of Rs. 150,000 ($3,250) from a businessman. A large horde of East Bengal supporters was present outside the building where the hearing was held. The former coach was greeted with energized chants of "Long Live Subhas Bhowmick" and "We are with you". Whether he will return as coach of East Bengal after the Durand Cup only time will tell.

    8. December
    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group B: INDIA 2-1 Nepal - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Mehtab Hussain (6',27'), 1-1 Basanta Thapa (10').
    INDIA started their 4th SAFF Cup 2005 campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Nepal in a Group B league match at Karachi's Peoples Sports Complex.
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group B: Bangladesh 3-0 Bhutan - Goals: 1:0 Ariful Kabir Farhad (42'), 2:0 Ariful Kabir Farhad (59'), 3:0 Zahid Hossain Emily (88').

    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group A: Sporting Clube de Goa 2-2 Tata Football Academy - Goals: 1-0,2-0 MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (6',59'), 1-2 Vimal Pariyar (81'), 2-2 Pachuau Lalam Puia (89').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group C: Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-1 Assam Rifles - Goals: 1-0 Patrick Okonji Onyelo (15'), 1-1 Ajit K Singh (72').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers: Goa 2-0 Madhya Pradesh - Goals: 1-0 Clifton Gonsalves (15'), 2-0 Bevan D'Mello (27').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers: Rajasthan 0-6 Maharashtra - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Francisco Salin (13',25'), 2-0,5-0 Zahid Ansari (19',60'), 4-0 Hamza Ansari (42'), 6-0 Dane Pereira (69').

    Note-1: IndianFootball.Com's Sujay Sharma had an extensive interview with Mahindra United's successful young coach Derrick Pereira.
    Pereira just returned from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, having successfully completed the AFC Pro-License Coaching Certificate. His current tenure with Mahindra United has already proved successful, with success in the Federation Cup and the MDFA Elite Preliminary League. Now his team embarks on their Durand Cup campaign, following which their holy grail of the National Football League, and also the AFC Cup, take place.
    Click here to read the >>Derrick Pereira interview

    7. December
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Group B: Air-India 1-1 Army XI - Goals: 1-0 Paresh Shivalkar (8'), 1-1 Samuel (85').

    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group A: Pakistan 1-0 Sri Lanka - Goal: 1-0 Imran Hussain.
    SAFF Cup 2005 - Karachi, Pakistan - Group A: Maldives 9-1 Afghanistan - Goals: 1-0 Ali Umar (11'), 2-0 Ibrahim Fazeel (27'), 3-0 Ali Ashfaq (32'), 3-1 Bashir Ahmed Saadat (39'), 4-1 Ibrahim Fazeel (46'), 5-1 Ahmed Thariq (47'), 6-1 Ahmed Thariq (48'), 7-1 Ibrahim Fazeel (60'), 8-1 Ahmed Thariq (86'), 9-1 Ali Ashfaq (88').
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Final: Uttaranchal 1-0 Haryana

    Note-1: Mahindra United manager Henry Menezes annouced the 21 member squad that will make its way to Delhi for the Durand Cup. The final 20 players will be confirmed on the day before United's first match, he told IndianFootball.Com. The team leaves for Delhi this evening.
    Mahindra United squad:
    Goalkeepers: Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, TG Purushothaman, Lihaz Koya.
    Defenders: Peter Siddiqui, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Samson Fernandes, Rauf Khan, Jinto Jose.
    Midfielders: Sushanth Mathew, Hekmat Singh, Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, Subhas Chakraborty, Ishan Rawlley Singh, Anees Kutty, Jayesh Suvarna.
    Forwards: Surojit Bose, Jose Ramirez Barreto, Yakubu Yusif, Gabriel Umeh, Craig D'Souza, Keegan Pereira.

    Note-2: Jahar Das has been appointed as Mohun Bagan coach until the end of the 10th National League. Assisting Das, who was brought over from the Mohun Bagan-SAIL Academy in Durgapur, will be new goalkeeper coach Pratap Ghosh. As a first step by Das Togoan striker Yao Gley Rodrigue has been released by the club.

    6. December
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 2-1 Army Green - Goals: 0-1 K Nellian (38'), 1-1 Mashangva Genius Zenith (66'), 2-1 M Satish Kumar (89').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers: Madhya Pradesh 2-3 Gujarat - Goals: 0-1,0-2,2-3 Gurudayal Yadav (36',52',90'), 1-2 Pankaj Gorkha (67'), 2-2 Waseem Khan (84').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers: Rajasthan 0-1 Daman & Diu - Goal: 0-1 Prashant Krishnabhai Tandel (17').

    Note-1: Mohun Bagan coach, Amal Dutta, resigned from his post today. He had been unhappy over the appointment of a goalkeeping coach and a physical instructor to assist him. Probably, apprehension about their interference forced him to take this decision. His popularity with the fans was at an all-time low following his club's defeat by a three goal margin at the hands of arch rivals East Bengal in the recently concluded 111th IFA Shield.

    5. December
    We are happy to announce the launch of our SAFF Cup 2005 special. The SAFF Cup 2005 will take place in Karachi, Pakistan and the Indian team will face Nepal on December 8.
    Click here to go to the >>IndianFootball.Com SAFF Cup 2005 Special

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Pre-Quarterfinal: Eastern Sporting Union - Southern Sporting Union = tournament suspended
    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Pre-Quarterfinal: NEROCA - USBA = tournament suspended
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Assam Rifles 2-1 Border Security Force - Goals: 1-0,2-0 T Akum Ao (31',58'), 2-1 Deepak Kumar (66').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Semifinal: Punjab 0-1 Haryana

    Note-1: The FIFA coaching instructors course started in Goa today. FIFA instructor Rodrigo Kenton from Costa Rica said the main objective to organise FIFA Futuro-III coaching instructors course in Goa was to teach the football coaches to develop the game in Asian countries. Rodrigo, who has 15 years of professional experience in the field, said football is a warming game, and it is pogressing appreciably all over the world. FIFA will definitely invest in India to develop football and share knowledge among the participting instructors during the 12-day course, he added.
    The course, hosted by All India Football Federation (AIFF) and coordinated by the FIFA Development Office at Colombo, Sri Lanka was inagurated today by Goa Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao.
    Course coordinator Mohammed Mushiseen Ariff from Sri Lanka and All India Football Federation (AIFF) secretary Alberto Colaco were present on the occasion.
    The theory and practical sessions will be attended by instructors from eight Asian countries - Singapore, Korea republic, Japan, China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Iran and India. The course will include model training, teaching techniques, dribbling, evaluation of the game, observation, various trends in the development of football, criteria for a game analysis, player's development in different age groups and others.

    Note-2: The ongoing 49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, one of Manipur's most prestigious football tournaments, has been suspended indefinitely due to the state-wide sporting protest against the referee's decision during the Manipur-Goa Santosh Trophy match on November 17. The Committee for Implementation of People's Decision in Manipur has decided that Manipur would not take part in any sporting event, be it national or international, for one month in protest of the referee's decision. The state's sports minister Govindas Konthoujam is trying to convince the committee to take back the decision.

    4. December
    111th IFA-Shield - Final: EverReady SA 1-5 FC Bayern Munich II - Goals: 1-0 Lal Kamal Bhowmick (22'), 1-1 José-Luis Ortiz (28'), 1-2 Michael Stegmayer (51'), 1-3 Stefan Maierhofer (54'), 1-4 Georg Niedermeier (59'), 1-5 José-Luis Ortiz (84').
    EVERREADY: Shibram Dey (58' Nasibul Haque), Akshay Das, Anupam Sarkar, Amulya Mondal, Muzaffar Rehman, Crispin Chetri, Dhiman Sinha, Lal Kamal Bhowmick, Snehashis Chakroborty, Chibueze Francis Maduako, Theodore S Wrobeh (49' Ratan Das).
    FC BAYERN II: Jan Schlösser, Philipp Rehm, Georg Niedermeier, Christian Saba, Markus Steinhöfer, Matthias Zimmermann (46' Michael Görlitz), José-Luis Ortiz, Fabian Müller (46' Stephan Fürstner), Michael Stegmayer, Rainer Storhas, Stefan Maierhofer.
    MAN of the MATCH: Lal Kamal Bhowmick (EverReady SA).
    YELLOW CARDS: Chibueze Francis Maduako (50', EverReady SA); Philipp Rehm (46', FC Bayern II).
    REFEREE: Dave Roberts (England).

    EVR MATCH STATISTICS FCB II
    4 Shots 21
    0 Corners 4
    1 Offsides 2
    17 Fouls comitted 21

    Match Report:
    In a contest of two youthful sides, FC Bayern Munich II overcame EverReady SA with expected ease to lift the 111th IFA Shield, thereby becoming the second foreign team in succession to do so. They are also the second European team to win this competition. History was also created as Bolivian José-Luis Ortiz became the first foreigner to score more than one goal in the IFA Shield Finals.
    After their late victory over Mohammedan SC in the semifinals, it was assumed that having adjusted to the conditions, FC Bayern II would steamroll the unfancied EverReady. However the Germans' performance in the first half left much to be desired. Compared to their start in the semis, they weren't as aggressive in their pressing of the opponents, and didn't pass the ball with characteristic fluency. Even though they did hold the marginal upper hand in possession till then, EverReady's game-opening goal therefore didn't seem as shocking. It was a composed finish by central midfielder and 'Man of the Match' Lal Kamal Bhowmick in the 22nd minute, after Chibueze Francis Maduako laid-off the ball to him with the scrambling Bayern II defence all over the place on an EverReady counter-attack.
    Bayern II were somewhat fortunate in their equaliser within six minutes, as a long-punt from defence flicked on by target-man Stefan Maierhofer, was messed up by EverReady central-defender and captain Anupam Sarkar, only for the alert José-Luis Ortiz to capitalise and finish off calmy. EverReady must have been ruing their luck, for following the equaliser, their star-striker Theodore S Wrobeh limped around carrying an injury, that hampered their attacking options. Also, their impressive goalkeeper Shibram Dey was suffering from time to time with a strain.
    However, they soldiered on till half-time, as Bayern II struggled to get into their rhythm, with coach Hermann Gerland getting ever-more frustrated on the touchline with his teams' lack of penetration.
    The entire scenario took a turnaround after the lemon-break. Coach Gerland admitted to threatening his players with dire consequences as regards their winter holidays at half-time. He also made two substitutions, bringing on the young and impressive scorers in the semi-finals, Michael Görlitz and Stephan Fürstner, thereby highlighting his aggressive intent. EverReady coach Anjan Nath would have only wished for some luck to remain with him for the duration of the match, and hesitated substituting Wobeh.
    However it was not to be. In a second-half blitzkrieg lasting 14 minutes from kick-off, the score read 4-1 to Bayern II, as the impressive Michael Stegmayer from a 30 yard free-kick, Stefan Maierhofer following a one-two with José-Luis Ortiz, and Georg Niedermeier from a thumping in-swinging Michael Stegmayer corner-kick, scored, and put the result beyond doubt. After that, Bayern II almost toyed around with their hapless opponents till full-time, with the Ever-Ready attack rendered all but fruitless following the substitution of Wobeh with the comparatively ineffective Ratan Das.
    José-Luis Ortiz thumped in one for the statisticians in the 84th minute.
    One disappointment to the evening was the lack of crowd presence. Despite it being the final and a Sunday, and entry-being free with word going around that the police were requesting passers-by on the roads to fill up the stands, the total attendance mustered only reached around 10.000. This disappointment occured despite the best efforts by the organisers and the media to create interest and awareness, the many interesting upsets in the tournament, and the good football on show.

    Even after their thumping victory over the Kolkata underdogs, EverReady SA, the FC Bayern II coach Hermann Gerland seemed dissatisfied with the team's performance. At the post-match press conference, he said:

  • "It is not good enough to play good football for 45 minutes only. Since the aim of these players is to play in the Bundesliga, they must learn to play good football for 90 minutes. For that, lots of improvement is essential."
  • "I told my players, especially the foreign players, at half-time, that if they didn't play well in the second half, they wouldn't be allowed to return home for Christmas and New Year."
  • "Our opponents took advantage of the only chance they got in the first half and scored the opening goal."
  • "My team was physically stronger, faster and quicker than the opponents but technically, Indians are not bad."
  • "I think the referee should have been a bit tougher."
  • "It was disappointing that there was no flare inside the stadium. It helps players if they get the appreciation of a large crowd."
  • "I was stunned that none of my players was awarded the 'Man of the Tournament' award. It is usually the custom to give that award to a member of the winning team. In any case, we would have donated the prize money and the motorbike (which were given to the 'Man of the Tournament') to charity; we would have taken neither home with us to Germany."

    After the inevitable defeat at the hands of the FC Bayern II team, EverReady SA coach Anjan Nath said at the post-match conference:

  • "They were quicker than us with and without the ball. We didn't have any reply to their power play."
  • "Their striker, Stefan Maierhofer, was too tall for my defender, Muzaffar Rehman."
  • "They got the first goal due to a defensive error by Anupam Sarkar."
  • "My main difficulty was that our main striker, Theodore Wrobeh, left the field with an injury. I tried to keep him on the field as long as possible so that we could have a hold on the game."
  • "The goal we conceded from the free kick was simply superb."
  • "My goalkeeper, Shibram Dey, had to be taken off due to an injury. This also hampered our chances."

    FC Bayern Munich II's José-Luis Ortiz has become the first foreigner ever to score more than a goal in the final of the IFA-Shield.

    'Chirag Computers' Man of the Tournament: Okonji Onyelo Patrick D'Souza (Mohammedan Sporting Club)
    'Hero Honda' Man of the Tournament: Lal Kamal Bhowmick (EverReady SA)
    'BP PODDAR-IFA / KICK-OFF' Best Player Award: Shibram Dey (EverReady SA)
    'BP PODDAR-IFA / KICK-OFF' Best Coach Award: Anjan Nath (EverReady SA)
    Each of the awardees was presented with a cash award of Rs.5000/- by Mr. Arun Kumar Poddar, the IFA President.

    Click here to go to the >>fcbayern.de/IndianFootball.Com Joint Special
    Click here to go to the >>Picture Gallery

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Round 1: Manipur Police SC 1-1,4-1 YWC, Thambalkhong [penalties] - Goals: 0-1 Helun Haokip (8'), 1-1 Th Rohen Singh (67').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 1-0 Garhwal Heroes - Goal: 1-0 Sampath Kumar Kuttimani (11').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Army Green 1-0 Indian Air Force - Goal: 1-0 Kuki (19').
    23rd All-India RBI Sports Meet - Football Final: New Delhi 1-0 Mumbai - Goal: 1-0 Rakesh Rawath.
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Semifinal: Chandigarh 0-5 Uttaranchal
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers: Goa 7-1 Gujarat - Goals: 1-0,3-0,4-0,5-1 Lavino Fernandes (16',24',31',57'), 2-0 Sidroy Alfonso (18'), 4-1 Azar Ansari (38'), 6-1 Milegres Melwin Gonsalves (75'), 7-1 Beevan D'Mello (80').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - West Zone Qualifiers: Maharashtra 4-0 Daman & Diu - Goals: 1-0 Raju Gaikwad (5'), 2-0 Stalin Kuruvilla (7'), 3-0 Francisco Salin (30'), 4-0 Zahid Ansari (74').

    Note-1: The All India Football Federation has announced the Indian national squad for the SAFF Cup 2005. The team will leave from Mumbai to Karachi on Tuesday. If India wins the SAFF Cup they will receive Rs.10 Lakhs as cash prize. This was announed by AIFF president Priyaranjan Das Munshi on a press conference.
    India squad:
    Goalkeepers: Sandip Nandy (Mahindra United), Kalyan Chaubey (JCT Mills), Felix D'Souza (Sporting Clube de Goa).
    Defenders: Irungbam Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Manju Nanjangud Shivananju (all Mahindra United), Muttath Suresh (East Bengal Club), Rajib Ahmed (Mohun Bagan AC), Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (State Bank of Travancore).
    Midfielders: Shanmugam Venkatesh (Vice-Captain), Steven Dias, James Lukram Singh, Krishnan Nair Ajayan (all Mahindra United), Alvito D'Cunha (East Bengal Club), Mehtab Hussain, Mehraj Din Wadoo (both Mohun Bagan AC), Climax Lawrence (Dempo SC).
    Forwards: Baichung Bhutia (Captain), Syed Rahim Nabi (both East Bengal Club), MA Abdul Hakkim (State Bank of Travancore).
    Chief Coach: Syed Nayeemuddin.
    Manager: PK Banerjee.

    Note-2: Bikash Panji was named as the East Bengal coach for the upcoming Durand Cup. This followed the arrest of ex-India striker Subhas Bhowmick, coach of East Bengal Club, after he was caught red-handed on Friday taking a bribe of Rs. 150,000 ($3,250) from a businessman.

    Note-3: EverReady SA have got direct entry into the Durand Cup based upon their impressive perfomance in the IFA Shield after city rivals Mohun Bagan AC pulled out of India's oldest football tournament.

    3. December
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Assam Rifles 1-1,5-4 Indian Navy [penalties]
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Border Security Force 3-1 Simla Youngs
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Final: Dempo Sports Club 1-3 Sporting Clube de Goa - Goals: 0-1,1-3 MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (7',87'), 1-1 Ranty Martins Soleye (19'), 1-2 (71').
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - NorthEast Zone Qualifiers - Final: Assam 10-9 Tripura [penalties]

    Note-1: fcbayern.de and IndianFootball.Com are happy to present you the first pictures of FC Bayern Munich II India tour. The pictures are now available on IndianFootball.Com and some will be used also on the joint special by fcbayern.de/IndianFootball.Com.
    Click here to go to the >>Picture Gallery
    Click here to go to the >>fcbayern.de/IndianFootball.Com Joint Special

    Note-2: Mahindra United manager Henry Menezes informed IndianFootball.Com about the team having loaned former United duo of Jinto Jose and Hekmat Singh from fellow Mumbai Elite league outfit Mumbai Customs for the remainder of the 2005/2006 season. Both Jinto and Hekmat had switched to Mumbai Customs at the beginning of this football season as they had been offered permanent jobs in the organisation, which they accepted. However, with the new regulations in place concerning the loaning of players, it allowed scope for the duo to continue playing high-level football. Mumbai Customs have already completed their programme for the year in the local MDFA Leagues and Cup, as Jinto and Hekmat helped the struggling outfit to avoid relegation by finishing top of the MDFA Elite division relegation league.
    Henry Menezes: "Both Jinto and Hekmat are good players. They have experience with the Mahindra set-up, and will settle in very well in the team. They also had an outstanding Santosh Trophy, in which they contributed greatly to Maharashtra's good run. So they are proven players at this level.
    We've taken this decision so as to add to our squad-strength for the upcoming heavy schedule of the Durand Cup, National League, the AFC Cup, and the incomplete MDFA Elite Division.
    At a time we have several players in the national and state camps, both in the senior and youth teams. So we need such a squad to compete successfully on all fronts. So loaning these two players makes sense. Moreover, we'll let them play for Mumbai Customs in the short-duration Inter-Customs tournament, whenever it might be. All the nitty-gritty have been sorted."
    IndianFootball.Com's Sujay Sharma also caught up with the duo, who are delighted with the move, and have already commenced training in earnest with the Mahindra squad at their training ground in Kandivali.
    Jinto Jose: "My only aim is to help Mahindra win the NFL. Whatever contribution is required of me, I'll do it readily. Be it playing one game or twenty games. I have played for this club before, and know the atmosphere and the players. Some of us have grown up playing together in various age-group teams. So I'm completely comfortable. I just want to give it my all."
    Mahindra United vice-captain Abhishek Yadav too expressed his delight with the duo, who are his good friends, in joining up with the team.
    Yadav: "These are good players. They proved that to everyone at the Santosh Trophy. They have been my pals since I was young, and it'll be great to have them on board again."
    This move by United does seem prudent, as eight players are in the SAFF Cup 2005 Camp. Other youngsters like Keegan Pereira have been called up for the youth national and state teams. With their tight schedule and heavy travelling coming up, acquiring players of the calibre and experience of Hekmat and Jinto should help them get through any squad-shotages that might arise.

    Note-3: A REUTERS report: A prominent soccer coach was remanded for six days in jail by a court on Saturday while police investigate a bribery charge related to his job as a government tax officer.
    In a case unrelated to soccer, ex-India striker Subash Bhowmick, coach of the nation's most popular East Bengal Club, was caught red-handed on Friday taking a bribe of 150,000 rupees ($3,250) from a businessman, police said.
    "He was arrested with the money. He punched one of our officers in the face and tried to flee," a federal police official D.K. Thakur said.
    Following a tax raid, Bhowmick had told the businessman that there were irregularities and further action would follow unless he paid a bribe, police said.
    A local court remanded him to jail until it resumes hearing the case next Friday.
    The affair has come as a shock to millions of sports fans in India, particularly in the soccer-mad eastern state of Bengal.
    The East Bengal Club is based in Kolkata, capital city of Bengal, and some of its games attract more than 100,000 fans.
    Bhowmick was been praised for introducing modern coaching and fitness drills to help the club win many domestic titles. Lack of a proper system is largely attributed to the Indian team's lowly world ranking of 135.
    The club called for an urgent meeting on Saturday to discuss whether to find a new coach.
    "The club officials are holding an urgent meeting today to decide what to do after this," Babu Bhattacharya, a club official told Reuters.

    Note-4: The Western India Football Association (WIFA) today felicitated the Maharashtra state team that lost to Goa 1-2 in the final of the 60th Santosh Trophy. Each team member received a cash prize of Rs 28,000. This included Coach Irenio Vaz, Assistant Coach Ashok Yadav, Technical Director Dereyk de Souza, and Kitboy Abid Shaikh. Further, Israt Kamal, Reuben D'Souza, Paresh Shivalkar and Soccor Velho got special cash prizes for their outstanding performances in the latter stages of the tournament.
    Mr. Praful Patel (Member of Parliament), President of WIFA, did the honours in distributing the prizes to the team members. Before the ceremony, he addressed the gathered players, officials, and media.
    Preceding and following the luncheon event, IndianFootball.Com gathered the views and opinions of the Maharashtra coach Mr. Vaz. He said, "My hope before the tournament proved successful. The young squad did well. They would have learnt a lot. But I think we could have won the tournament too. In the final, we missed Abhshek Yadav's aerial presence to utilise Steven's crossing. Also, Jinto, my key playmaker from the right, was missing due to suspension. We even took the lead, but lost our concentration on the corner following it, as all the players crowded the box. As to if we could have won if we had been provided a better squad, that is hypothetical. One only notices beauty of the final piece of contruction after it is finished, and not in the process of building. Similarly with my team. Who knows how a star-studded team would have performed? What impressed me most was the attitude of the young boys over the duration of the tournament. For example Reuben - I told him to wait, and that he'd get his chance. And he got it, and he took it. Now he's in the national camp. But I wouldn't have minded having a few more recognised defenders in the squad. Coming to the point of how we progress from here, I would think having more high-quality friendlies against top club sides, more preparation time for the team to gel, and an inter-state tournament consisting of the best sides, regularly against each other, could definitely be helpful, as it would give good exposure to fringe players who would otherwise never get the chance to show their mettle at the top level, as they are dutibound to play for their smaller teams in the local leagues - players like Hekmat and Jinto for example. A regards the tournament in general, I was pretty impressed with the high-standard this time round. Our toughest match was against Kerala in the semi-final of course, but the team that really impressed me was the small north-east one of Meghalaya. They really caused a fright to all in our qualifyig group."

    Note-5: The WIFA announced the Maharashtra state team for U-19 BC Roy qualifiers.
    Maharashtra U-19 squad: Lakshat Shetty, Ryan Koya, Madhusudan Phadale, Raju Gaikwad, Sanjay Nair, Ramchander Mali, Aaron Fernandes, Keegan Pereira, Dane Pereira, Mathew Stalin, Cleophus Fernandes, Hamza Ansari, Bhagwa Phadi, Mathias Coutinho, Franciso Salim, Clayton D'Souza (all MDFA), Saket Dongre (Pune DFA), Nitin Ghadge (Sangli DFA) Zahid Ansari (Nagpur DFA).
    Coach: Adib Kenkre (Mumbai DFA).
    Assistant Coach: Vivek Nagul (Pune DFA).
    Manager: Raju V Choughule (Kolhapur DFA).

    2. December
    111th IFA-Shield - Semifinal: FC Bayern Munich II 2-0 Mohammedan Sporting Club - Goals: 1-0 Stefan Fürstner (82'), 2-0 Michael Görlitz (90').
    FC BAYERN II: Jan Schlösser, Michael Stegmayer, Georg Niedermeier, Christian Saba, Philipp Rehm, Matthias Zimmermann, José-Luis Ortiz (46' Michael Görlitz), Rainer Storhas, Markus Steinhöfer, Fabian Müller (63' Stephan Fürstner), Stefan Maierhofer.
    MOHAMMEDAN: Gopal Das, Bijay Basfore, Wajid Ali, Suley Musah, Mir Farroq Hyder, Suman Datta, Satyajit Bose, Palash Karmakar, Jiten Rai (51' Mohammed Mukhtar; 90'+1 Bilal Ahmad Wani ), Okonji Onyelo Patrick D'Souza, Mputu Bolwe.
    MAN of the MATCH: Christian Saba (FC Bayern Munich II).
    YELLOW CARDS: Palash Karmakar (14'), Bijay Basfore (26', both Mohammedan Sporting), Philipp Rehm (36'), Michael Stegmayer (71'), Christian Saba (78', all FC Bayern II)
    YELLOW-RED CARD: Palash Karmakar (38', Mohammedan Sporting).
    REFEREE: Dave Roberts (England).

    FCBII MATCHSTATISTICS MSC
    31 Shots 6
    10 Corners 0
    2 Offsides 2
    13 Fouls comitted 15

    Match Report:
    As the referee blew his whistle to kick-off the FC Bayern II campaign in Calcutta, their opposition Mohammedan SC knew that they were in for a tough battle. It did not prove otherwise, as the Bayern II team started attacking from the word "go". They rattled the woodwork as early as the 8th minute itself, and only a superb save from outstanding goalkeeper Gopal Das denied José-Luis Ortiz a goal from a free-kick in the 15th minute.
    FC Bayern II gained an early advantage in the match, as a second yellow card for Palash Karmakar reduced Mohammedan to ten men in the 38th minute itself. However, Mohammedan Sporting pulled up their socks and fought a hard battle. They only relented once the first goal came from the boot of substitute Stephan Fürstner in the 82nd minute. Until then, Bayern II had missed chance after chance after chance to score, as their shots either flew wide, or were blocked by Gopal Das.
    After conceding the first goal, Mohammedan Sporting had to abandon their strategy of counter-attacks, and threw players forward. This opened up gaps at the back which the FC Bayern II team took full advantage of, and sealed the victory with a goal from the other substitute, Michael Görlitz, in the 90th minute.
    The organisation of Bayern II proved too much for Mohammedan Sporting, but the Indian players went home satisfied that they had given a tough fight to a visibly superior team.
    Christian Saba was voted man-of-the-match for his impressive defensive performance combined with threatening regular forays upfield. After watching the match, EverReady SA coach Anjan Nath said that FC Bayern II was a very good team. Come Sunday, his team unfancied Calcutta underdogs will face this mighty German team in the final of the 111th IFA-Shield 2005 final.

    After the FC Bayern II team performed as expected in their first match in the IFA Shield, coach Hermann Gerland made these remarks at the press conference:

  • "We were superior to them throughout the match. It never looked as if we were going to lose the match."
  • "We missed many chances but the second goal gave us a sort of insurance at the end."
  • "We are Bayern Munich, the best team in Germany; we have to play attacking football. We always face teams adopting a defensive approach against us. Our strategy is to always play attacking football to win the match. We adopted the same strategy today. "
  • "The red card helped us but Mohammedan Sporting played well. Patrick, their striker, impressed me today."
  • "There was no problem with the climate. Some of my players got better as the match progressed. For the next match, we'll have the advantage of knowing the conditions because of today's experience."
  • "It is difficult to judge from one match but I think Indian football has made some progress since the last time I was here."
  • "There was no problem with the heavy tackles from the opponent. After all, football is a man's game."

    Mohammedan Sporting coach Jagdish Ghosh realised his team had been outplayed today. He said at the press conference:

  • "I think we could have defeated them but the red card disrupted our plans."
  • "They had the physical advantage and perhaps more stamina than my players."
  • "I think they were much more organised and having a superstar like Gerd Muller with them helped them a lot."

    Click here to go to the >>fcbayern.de/IndianFootball.Com Joint Special
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    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 3-1 Corps of Signal, Goa
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Garhwal Heroes 3-2 AOC, Secunderabad
    41.Dr BC Roy (under-19) Trophy - North Zone Qualifiers - Group B: Punjab 2-1 Uttaranchal

    Note-1: A rediff.com report: East Bengal football coach Subhas Bhowmick was arrested on Friday by Central Bureau of Investigation sleuths for allegedly accepting a bribe. The famed former Indian football team striker was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 150,000 from a businessman near Calcutta South Club, in southern Kolkata, CBI sources said. Bhowmick is an employee of the anti-evasion department of Central Excise. He has been sent to CBI custody and would be produced in the court on Saturday. Acting on a complaint from the businessman that Bhowmick had demanded a bribe for favouring him in connection with a raid on November 30, the CBI sleuths laid a trap for Bhowmick and arrested him.

    Note-2: Kerala Sports Minister Dominic Presentation has confirmed that Kerala will host the 2006 Asian Junior Cup and 2011 Asian Cup. Kochi will host the 2006 Asian Junior Cup in Novemember.

    Note-3: Selection trials for induction into TFA will be held from 1st to 3rd February 2006 and from 22nd to 24th March 2006. Candidates born after 1st January 1991 may appear for any one of the above trials only. Those interested are requested to collect the application form from the GFA's office, which is to be filled and returned to GFA by the 20th of December 2005. Any additional information can be obtained on the phone during office hours.

    Note-4: The WIFA will felicitate the Maharashtra state team that lost to Goa 1-2 in the final of the 60th Santosh Trophy today. Each team member will receive a cash prize of Rs 28,000 each.
    Further Israt Kamal, Reuben D'Souza, Paresh Shivalkar and Soccor Velho will get special cash prize for their outstanding performances.

    1. December
    111th IFA-Shield - Semifinal: East Bengal Club 1-2 EverReady SA - Goals: 1-0 Kalia Kulothungan (3'), 1-1,1-2 Chibueze Francis Maduako (24',90'+2).
    EAST BENGAL: Naseem Aktar, Sasthi Duley, Covan Lawrence, Gurpreet Singh (52' Shylo Malswam Tulunga), Muttath Suresh, Soumik Dey, Bernard Pires (80' Debjit Ghosh), Kalia Kulothungan, Alvito D'Cunha, Mike Okoro, Sydney B Nkalanga.
    EVERREADY: Shibram Dey, Akshay Das, Anupam Sarkar, Amulya Mondal, Muzaffar Rehman, Crispin Chetri, Dhiman Sinha, Lal Kamal Bhowmick, Snehashis Chakroborty (74' Ratan Das), Chibueze Francis Maduako, Theodore S Wrobeh.
    MAN of the MATCH: Chibueze Francis Maduako (EverReady SA).
    YELLOW CARDS: Sydney B Nkalanga (85' East Bengal); Akshay Das (5'), Muzaffar Rehman (55'), Anupam Sarkar (68'), Shibram Dey (90'+3' all EverReady SA).
    REFEREE: S. Suresh (Tamil Nadu).

    Anupam Sarkar, the skipper of EverReady accompanied the victorious coach, Anjan Nath, to the press conference. The delight of a massive upset was unmistakable in their voices.
    Anjan Nath:

  • "My strategy was to defend a bit and hit them mainly on the counterattacks. I told my players to be calm and not attack too much."
  • "Francis was told to sit back a bit but for the final ten minutes, I told him to move up and help Theodore."
  • "I knew East Bengal had experience on their side but my team played "total football" and won the match."
  • "Bayern Munich is a renowned club and if we meet them in the final, we will have to formulate a special game plan for them."
  • "The fact that a smaller club has reached the final will help football in this state to develop in the future."
    Anupam Sarkar:
  • "I always believe that 'fortune favours the brave'. We were brave today and were rewarded with this victory."
  • "I took my mother's blessings before leaving my house today and that helped me in today's match."
  • "I want to fulfil my dream of meeting the Bayern Munich II team in the final. So, I want them to win tomorrow."

    A frustrated East Bengal coach Subhash Bhowmick could only rue the chances his players had squandered today.
    At the press conference, he said:

  • "We played good football but had to pay for the chances missed by the players."
  • "Lack of discipline cost us the match."
  • "I tried to break the tradition of East Bengal losing a match after an emphatic victory but I failed."
  • "The EverReady player, Francis, played really well and scored a brilliant goal."
  • "I cannot blame any individual player. Both the defence and the attack were responsible for the defeat."
  • "My players and I can only regret missing what may turn out to be a chance of playing a great team like Bayern Munich II in the final."

    49th Churachand Singh Invitation Football Trophy, Imphal - Qualifier Round 2: LSC, Churachandpur 0-2 KLASA, Keinou - Goals: 0-1 T Basanta (54'), 0-2 L Jiten (78').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Simla Youngs 1-1,5-4 Assam Regimental Centre [penalties] - Goals: 1-0 Ogbeide B Austin (25'), 1-1 Lalding Liana (89').
    118th Durand Cup 2005 - Delhi - Qualifiers Border Security Force 7-0 Shastri Club
    7th Goa Governor's Cup - Semifinal: Sporting Clube de Goa - Vasco SC
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