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31. January
The AIFF today released an updated list of 27 probables and six players on stand-by for the 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers. The 27 probables have been asked to report to national coach Syed Nayeemuddin on February 6 in Delhi. The players on stand-by have been asked to be ready to join the camp whenever necessary.
While Mohun Bagan's midfielder Dharamjit Singh has been newly added to the probables list, Central Railway keeper Israt Kamal and Mohun Bagan defender Anbalath Suliman Firoze have been dropped. Also East Bengal midfielder Anbalath Suliman Firoze and Dempo striker Ishfaq Ahmed have been newly added to the list of players on stand-by, while keeper Bilifang Narzary plus Cedric Pixeito and Amulya Mondal no longer appear on the list.
Before starting their 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers campaign India is set to play against Sudan at home and then maybe in Hongkong on their way to Japan.
INDIA PROBABLES: Goalkeepers: Subroto Pal (Mohun Bagan AC), Sandip Nandy (Mahindra United), Kalyan Chaubey (JCT Mills), Felix D'Souza (Sporting Clube de Goa). Defenders: Irungbam Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Nanjangud Shivananju Manju (all Mahindra United), Muttath Suresh, Anupam Sarkar (both East Bengal Club), Sanjeev Kumar Maria (Mohun Bagan AC), Samir Naik (Dempo SC). Midfielders: Shanmugam Venkatesh, Steven Dias, James Singh, Krishnan Nair Ajayan (all Mahindra United), Mehtab Hussain, Mehraj Din Wadoo, Manjit Singh, Dharamjit Singh (all Mohun Bagan AC), Xavier Vijayakumar (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC), Jayanta Sen (East Bengal Club). Forwards: Baichung Bhutia, Syed Rahim Nabi (both East Bengal Club), MA Abdul Hakkim (State Bank of Travancore), Abhishek Yadav (Mahindra United), Praveen Kumar (JCT Mills), Shaji D'Silva (Indian Navy). On Stand-by: Rajat Ghosh Dasdidar (GK, East Bengal Club), Habibur Rehman Mondal (DF, East Bengal), Alvito D'Cunha (MF, East Bengal Club), Ishfaq Ahmed (FW, Dempo SC), Sampat Kumar Kuttimani (FW, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC), Nicholas L Rodrigues (FW, Sporting Clube de Goa).

10th Assam Club Championships - Pre-Quarterfinal: Moran Town Club, Charaideo (walkover) Uday Sangha, Nagaon
10th Assam Club Championships - Round 1: Global Academy, Gossaigaon 3-0 Behora Tea Estate, Bokakhat
Bangalore Super Division: Madras Engineering Group Centre 2-0 Royals SC - Goals: 1-0 Trijit Das (17'), 2-0 Ramu (90').
Bangalore 'A' Division: BEML (EM) 0-0 Railway Wheel Factory
Goa Women's League: Curtorim Gymkhana 1-0 Sporting Clube de Goa
Goa Women's League: Mangor SC 1-0 SAI Hostel

Note-1: It was a bad day for Indian referee's today.
Vikramjeet Singh from Delhi, who officiated in the controversial Fransa-Pax FC vs Mahindra United yesterday, has been called back by the AIFF from his duties in Goa. Vikramjeet was supposed to stay 10 more days in Goa and officiate in further matches, but now he has been called back to be out of the firing line.
In Goa this was seen as a first step in the right direction as the referee was seen to have made decisive mistakes in the match. Fransa-Pax FC have lodged an official complaint with the AIFF over the match and have threathened to pull out of the NFL, if the match is not replayed or the points shared. But officials within the AIFF are not taking the Fransa-Pax threat too seriously as Fransa-Pax president Mickky Pacheco has made such threats in the past.

Note-2: Saji Kurian from Kerala, who officiated in the Santosh Trophy quarterfinal league match between Manipur and Goa last November which resulted in much controversy and even led to a statewide agitation in Manipur, will remain off the field as long as the Asian Football Confederation does not send back it's report on the match. The AIFF will not name Kurian for any NFL asignment as long as the issue isn't sorted out.

Note-3: The Goa First Division ended yesterday with Corps of Signals winning the league with 30 points from 14 matches, the same as second-placed Velsao Pale SC but with a better goal difference. Corps of Signals will next year play in the Goa Professional League. Meanwhile Benny XI finished at the bottom of the table and were relegated.

30. January
10th National League - Goa: Fransa-Pax FC 1-2 Mahindra United - Goals: 1-0 Ivan Fiel da Silva (11'), 1-1,1-2 Jose Ramirez Barreto (20',pen;87',pen).
Mahindra United moved back to the top of the 10th National League standings through a lucky 2-1 victory against a fighting Fransa-Pax FC at the floodlit Nehru Stadium, Margao. The Jeepmen from Mumbai now have 10 points from four matches, while Fransa-Pax lie at the bottom of the table with only two points from the same number of matches.
Fransa-Pax would have deserved a point from today's match, but referee Vikramjeet Singh gave Mahindra United two penalties in the match with Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto netting both. On both occasions the referee wouldn't need to have blown his whistle, especially the second one seemed uncalled for. This later caused crowd trouble at the Nehru Stadium.
Mahindra had the first chance of the match with Ghanian striker Yakubu Yusif testing seasoned Virender Singh in the Fransa-Pax goal. Fransa-Pax then scored their first goal in this edition of the NFL with Brazilian striker Ivan Fiel da Silva scoring in the 11.minute off a pass from South African Sidney Bonginkosi Nkalanga. Mahindra got their first penalty when Peter Rodrigues made contact with Yakubu inside the box. The referee didn't seem 100% sure of his decision, but still gave a penalty. Jose Ramirez Barreto made no mistake to get Mahindra the equaliser in the 20.minute. Both sides thereafter had their chances until the controversial decision, which decided the fate of the match. It was once more Peter Rodrigues who was involved in the incident. This time Jose Ramirez Barreto tried to get past the Fransa-Pax defender, Peter feel down and Barreto tumbled over him. The referee called another penalty, though Peter had not obstructed Barreto from scoring. Barreto once more went-up to the spot to take the kick and gave Mahindra the winner three minutes from time.
FRANSA-PAX: 21-Virender Singh, 32-Ryan D'Souza, 5-Cresson Antao, 18-Akshay Das (64' 27-Marcus Peixoto), 11-Peter Rodrigues (88' 12-Savio Mascarenhas), 7-Roque Barreto, 19-Bello Rasaq, 16-Peter Carvalho (51' 15-Wesley Coutinho), 22-Surojit Roy, 26-Ivan Fiel da Silva, 6-Sidney Bonginkosi Nkalanga.
MAHINDRA: 1-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 27-Surkumar Singh, 3-Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, 14-Mahesh Gawli, 4-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 23-Steven Dias (90'+2 9-Surajit Bose), 16-Lukram James Singh (88' 29-Rauf Khan), 6-Shanmugam Venkatesh, 11-Subhas Chakraborty (63' 15-Abhishek Yadav), 8-Jose Ramirez Barreto, 10-Yusif Yakubu.
MAN of the MATCH: Virender Singh (Fransa-Pax).
YELLOW CARD: Ivan Fiel da Silva (78', Fransa-Pax).
REFEREE: Vikramjeet Singh (Delhi).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Trouble after the match - by Armstrong Vaz:
"If there is no re-match we are going to withdraw from the ongoing national football league," stated Fransa-Pax boss Francisco (Micky) Pachecho.
In fact the state minister has dashed a letter to the AIFF threatening to do such a move if the controversial match is not replayed in full.
Violence raised its ugly head yet again at Fatorda stadium. Referee Bikramjit P from Delhi played the spoil sport on the proceedings on the football field. The echoes, which found its way in the crowd. The crowd wenting its anger breaking chairs and breaking a few stones in the lower tier of the west stand. The targets were the dressing rooms and the referee's room.
The upper tier glass in the west stand which house the offices of the stadium manager and other officials were not spared.
An inadequate police force was left a helpless spectator. Surprisingly with the crowd waiting in wait for the Referees to come out of the referees room for more than hour the police did not fit to call in more reinforcements.
Incidentally Margao Town Police in charge Police inspector Santosh Dessai who was in civilian dress for the match tried to control things along with PSI Kapil Naik as match officials surrounded the Fransa coaching staff trying to reason out on the decision.
The spectators were angry over the decision and flung water bottles in the direction of the police and Zee Sports staff. One such missile hit Nimbus production staff Priyadarsani, who was seen writhing in pain.
One such spectator jumped the fence and pulled the corner flag and was running menacingly towards the referee. Fransa's Brazilian player Ivan saw sense and quickly grapped him and more Fransa players Cresson Antao and Rocky Barreto joined to send the spectator back to his place.
PI Santosh Dessai retuned to the trouble spot in his dress seeing that the police were having difficult in having control over the proceedings. Incidentaly PI Kapil Naik tried to chase a handful of spectators who were threatening to break into the lower west stand tier, chasing them single handily with his lathi in tow. The chase led to a few spectoators having a few false but Kapil did not hit the lathi.
At these Agriculture minister Francisco Pacheco came to the scene of action and warned that police should not do any body harm to any of the fans present at the venue.
GFA secretary Savio Messias too was heckled and pushed by the angry mob as he tried to ring in control over the angry crowd outside the referees room.
Outstation and local journalists too were not spared by the angry mob who passed nasty comments directed at both national and local media journalists.

10th Assam Club Championships - Pre-Quarterfinal: Sporting Union, Hailakandi 8-0 Young Star Club, Tinsukia
10th Assam Club Championships - Pre-Quarterfinal: Nehru Athletic Club, Nalbari (walkover) SAI-Golaghat
Bangalore Super Division: LRDE 0-2 ADE - Goals: 0-1 Dakshinamurthy (54'), 0-2 Praveen (90+').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Government Press 0-5 Southern Blues FC - Goals: 0-1,0-3 Udayakumar (15',42'), 0-2,0-4 Bhuvaneshwar (18',47'), 0-5 Satish (78').

Note-1: East Bengal's Nigerian recruit Mike Okoro left for Poland late last night after his clubs NFL match against Air-India. Okoro, who used to play in Poland, before he came the first time to India a few years ago, has been trying to get Polish citizenship for quite some time. Now his application seems to have run into some problem, so Okoro had to go to Poland as early as possible. East Bengal requested him to stay until February 6 for the clubs last match before the NFL break, but was now allowed to travel to Poland on humanitarian grounds. Okoro's salary would be deducted depending on how long he stays in Poland.
Meanwhile some people at the club are angry with Okoro that he did not inform the coach Philippe de Ridder that he had picked-up a hamstring injury before yesterday's match. Okoro took to the field and aggrevated the injury.

Note-2: Will Togolese striker Gley Yao Rodrigue be allowed to play for Mohammedan Sporting Club in the ongoing 10th National League? There have to be doubts about the strikers chances to play for Sporting due to the international transfer laws and the necessary "International Transfer Clearance". FIFA replied to the AIFF and the IFA that the Togolese FA would have to issue the ITC, if the player had sought a transfer back to Togo after leaving Mohun Bagan. And due to having then taken a transfer in the season already, Rodrigue could only return to Mohun Bagan and then be loaned to Mohammedan Sporting. But there are doubts, if Rodrigue actually did sign for a club back home in Togo, which has complicated matters even more.

29. January
10th National League - Calcutta: East Bengal Club 0-0 Air-India - Goals: none.
Former champions and title aspirants East Bengal Club were held to a goalless draw by promoted Air-India in the 10th National League at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. East Bengal now have nine points from five matches, while Air-India have four points from four matches.
It was not the same red-and-gold brigade which had scored an impressive win against Fransa-Pax FC only four days ago plus the defensive and organised approach by the Airmen from Mumbai did not help the Maidan giants cause. To add to all this Nigerian Mike Okoro had to leave the pitch just after half an hour of play due to a hamstring injury. It just wasn't East Bengal's day, still they could have kept the three points at home.
East Bengal started with their usual aggression with Mike Okoro in the thick of action having a couple of good chances in the first quarter. The Air-India defence kept a close eye on in-form Baichung Bhutia, especially former East Bengal recruit Suley Musah had a good day in the Air-India defence. The longer the match lasted the more the East Bengal team got frustrated, while Air-India also had their chances through their Nigerian striker Bashiree Mohammed Abbas.
EAST BENGAL: 1-Naseem Akhtar, 12-Anupam Sarkar, 16-Covan Lawrence, 26-Ngassa Ewane Guy Martial, 29-Soumik Dey (75' 8-Sasthi Duley), 28-Shylo Malswam Tulunga, 7-Jayanta Sen, 20-Ndem A Guy Kiyeck Herve, 19-Syed Rahim Nabi, 10-Mike Okoro (33' 30-Bernard Pires, 56' 11-Kalia Kulothungan), 15-Baichung Bhutia.
AIR_INDIA: 22-Sunder Raj Rajan, 2-Haobijam Napoleon Singh, 4-Benoy Kuruvilla, 27-Suley Musah, 28-Abiodun Kolawole Martins, 19-Santosh Koli, 26-Soccor Velho (81' 23-Suprith Jathanna), 5-Vijith Shetty, 20-Paresh Shivalkar (90'+2 24-Sumit Thapa), 11-Hringsolal Thomte (87' 9-Noel Fernandes), 30-Bashiree Mohammed Abbas.
MAN of the MATCH: Ndem A Guy Kiyeck Herve (East Bengal).
YELLOW CARDS: Benoy Kuruvilla (52', Air-India).
REFEREE: Syed Sujauddin (Jharkhand); replaced by Dinesh Nair (Gujarat) in 2nd Half due to illness.
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Goa: Dempo SC 1-1 Mohun Bagan AC - Goals: 1-0 Majekodunmi Bolaji (62'), 1-1 Mehtab Hussain (65',pen).
Defending champions Dempo SC were held to a one-all draw by three-time former champions Mohun Bagan AC in a bottom of the table clash in the 10th National League at the floodlit Nehru Stadium, Margao. Both sides remain winless after five matches, but left Fransa-Pax FC behind them on two points. Both sides now have gathered three points and have the same goal difference of -3, but with Dempo having scored more goals than Bagan they remain a place above them.
Both sides were looking for their first win in this seasons NFL today, especially the Armando Colaco coached Dempo SC. Both sides paid the price for not being able to score of their chances. In the first half the action was mainly confined to the midfield, but as the match progressed both sides had their chances. It was Bagan who had the first chance through their on loan recruit Akum Ao but his shot sailed over the bar after 25.minutes. Dempo's Nigerian striker Ranty Martins Soleye could have threatened the Bagan goal at the hour mark. Soon thereafter Dempo captain Stanley Colaco denied Akum Ao a sure goal when he made a risky goalline clearance. Before the breather Subrata Pal had to make a couple of saves from Ranty and Roberto Mendes Silva shots. It stayed goalless at the break.
After the breather the quality of the match did get better with more chances for both sides. Bagan captain Mehtab Hussain tested Dempo keeper Abhijit Mondal just before the hour mark. The move by Armando to play Nigerian Majekodunmi Bolaji in midfield paid-off when Bolaji shot Dempo into the lead in the 62.minute with a shot from just outside the box. Bolaji worked quite well in tandem with Brazilian Roberto Mendes Silva to marshall Dempo's middle third. But the lead was shortlived as Dempo defender John Charles Dias handled the ball in the 65.minute inside the box for referee N Mohan to have only one option, to show to the spot. Mehtab went-up to take the penalty kick but his attempt was blocked by keeper Abhijit still he was able to score of the rebound. It was Bagan's first goal in this seasons NFL, which did bring some relieve to the Bagan camp.
DEMPO: 1-Abhijit Mondal, 28-Dhanraj Ravanan, 4-Stanley Colaco, 3-John Charles Dias, 24-Melwyn Rodrigues, 6-Jules Alberto Dias, 2-Majekodunmi Bolaji (87' 14-Mauricio Freeman Peixoto), 11-Roberto Mendes Silva (56' 19-Johnny D'Cruz), 15-Clifford Miranda, 9-Ranty Martins Soleye, 22-Ishfaq Ahmed (74' 17-Joaquim Abranches).
MOHUN BAGAN: 12-Subroto Pal, 15-Dulal Biswas, 28-Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, 4-Anbalath Suliman Firoze, 16-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 7-Tomba Singh, 23-Mehtab Hussain, 8-Noel Anthony Wilson (46' 26-Mehraj Din Wadoo), 18-Dharamjit Singh (82' 14-Basudeb Mondal), 27-T Akum Ao (66' 19-Coffe Edem Agbessi), 9-Awudu Ibrahim.
MAN of the MATCH: Majekodunmi Bolaji (Dempo).
YELLOW CARDS: Roberto Mendes Silva (44', Dempo); Dulal Biswas (43'), Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda (56', both Mohun Bagan).
REFEREE: N Mohan (Services)
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th Assam Club Championships - Round 1: India Club, Silchar 5-0 Nepathya Club, Jorhat
10th Assam Club Championships - Round 1: Moran Town Club, Charaideo 1-0 Young Men's Club, Karimganj
Bangalore Super Division: CIL 4-3 AGORC, Bangalore - Goals: 1-0 Jayakar (15'), 1-1 Vinod (21'), 2-1 C Kanikaraj (34'), 2-2 Aravind (43'), 3-2 Murugan (49'), 3-3 Sendhil (57'), 4-3 Sebastian (86').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Dharmaraja Union 1-2 Nationals FC - Goals: 0-1,0-2 Sai (50',59'), 1-2 Rajan (88').
Goa Women's League: Sporting Clube de Goa 1-1 Mangor SC
Goa Women's League: SAI Hostel 1-1 Curtorim Gymkhana

10th M Chittamani Memorial Winners Cup, Imphal - Final Second-leg: YWC, Thambalkhong 2-1 Southern Sporting Union, Singjamei - Goals: 0-1 L Tiken Singh (2'), 1-1 Helun Haokip (44'), 2-1 Hemin Guite (56').
Southern Sporting Union win the 10th M Chittamani Memorial Winners Cup title on the away goal rule with the aggregate score at 2-2.

Note-1: As Zee Sports informed us at IndianFootball.Com today, tomorrow's rescheduled Round 5 match Fransa-Pax FC vs Mahindra United will be shown live by Zee Sports from 19.00 IST. The pre-match coverage will start at 18.30 IST.

Note-2: Tejinder Kumar, a former India captain and top level national player, has joined the Chandigarh Football Academy as a coach. Tejinder joins Harjinder Singh, another former India captain, and Jitender Sharma as coach of the CFA boys.
Tejinder, who hails from Mahilpur in Punjab, is a NIS football coaching diploma holder and has an AFC C Licence. Tejinder in his playing days had represented JCT Mills, Churchill Brothers SC, Dempo SC, FC Kochin and Indian Telephone Industries

Note-3: The 3rd "Sarajeevan" Tiddim Invitation Football Trophy will be organised by Tiddim Road Athletic Union, Kwakeithel. The tournament will be held from February 12, 2006. The winners would get Rs 50,000; while the runners-up can take Rs 25,000 home.

Note-4: SAS Bhagat Singh SC with the help of YFC and NRIs from USA ,UK and Canada is organising the 23rd Rurla Sports Tournament from January 31 to February 3 at Rurka Kalan, Punjab. Football will be the main attraction of the tournament. Punjab top sides like Punjab Police; Border Security Force; CRPF, Jalandhar; Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala will play against sides like Muslim Club, Malerkotla; Mahilpur XI;, YFC, Rurka Kalan; etc for the PD Gupta Challenge Trophy. Their will be village level and Sub-Junior level competition in the tournament. In the Sub-Junior level Chandigarh Football Academy, Rurka Kalan Football Academy. Malwa Academy, Thalla Academy will participate. The Club level winner will be awarded the Baba Bachint Singh Cup along with Rs 30,000 and the runners-up will be given Rs 20,000. Kabaddi, Bullock cart racing, Athletics and individual events will also be part of the four day sporting extravaganza. The tournament will be opened by Balyog Sandhu and Sukhjit Sandhu From USA.

28. January
10th National League - Calcutta: Mohammedan Sporting Club 2-1 JCT Mills - Goals: 1-0 Bijen Singh (26'), 2-0 Mohammed Mukhtar (71'), 2-1 Parveen Kumar (73', pen).
Promoted Mohammedan Sporting Club continued their impressive run in the 10th National League with a 2-1 victory against former champions JCT Mills at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. After their opening round defeat at the hands of East Bengal, Mohammedan Sporting have been able to remain unbeaten and to gather 10 points from the following four matches. Sporting are now at the top of the league with their 10 points after having played five matches. JCT Mills meanwhile remain in the middle of the NFL table with five points from five matches.
Sporting took the lead through striker Bijen Singh in the 26.minute. The chance had been set-up by Zimbabwean defender David Mkandawire who played the ball to the left wing to Madhab Das, who got the ball to Nigerian Okonji Onyelo Patrick in the box, who garded by two JCT defenders got the ball to Bijen to slot home. It remained 1-0 for Sporting until the breather.
After the break the action was initially mainly confined to the midfield. Sporting doubled their lead in the 71.minute when Patrick send a through ball to Bijen, but his shot was blocked by keeper Kalyan Chaubey's body for midfielder Mohammed Mukhtar to score of the rebound with a fierce left-footer. JCT were however able to reduce the margin a couple of minutes later when in-form striker Parveen Kumar scored of a penalty. Earlier Sporting defender Madhusudan Majumdar had brought down the Millmen's Brazilian midfielder Marcos Pereira from behind in the box. Referee P Bhaskar instantly showed towards the spot. But the goal was too late for JCT to fetch a point from the match.
MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING: 1-Gopal Das, 2-Palash Karmakar, 24-David Mkandawire, 26-Madhusudan Majumdar, 3-Madhab Das, 6-Bijoy Basfore, 8-Satyajit Bose, ?-Anit Ghosh (63' 20-Suman Dutta), 18-Mohammed Mukhtar, 7-Bijen Singh, 14-Okonji Onyelo Patrick.
JCT MILLS: 22-Kalyan Chaubey, 12-Daljit Singh, 24-Narinder Singh, 3-Julius Irabor Akpele, 23-Harish Sharma, 7-Sukhjinder Singh (58' 13-Baldeep Singh), 6-Sukhwinder Singh, 16-Marcos Pereira, 15-Rennedy Singh, 17-Parveen Kumar (77' 11-Sunil Chetri), 20-Johnson Segun Banner.
MAN of the MATCH: Mohammed Mukhtar (Mohammedan Sporting).
REFEREE: P Bhaskar (Tamil Nadu).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Goa: Sporting Clube de Goa 1-0 Salgaocar SC - Goals: 1-0 N Rajesh Meetei (2').
Super Cup winners Sporting Clube de Goa scored a lone goal victory against Goan rivals Salgaocar SC in a 10th National League match at the floodlit Nehru Stadium, Margao. Sporting Clube moved into second place with now nine points from five matches, from two wins and three draws. Salgaocar remained on four points from now four matches, suffering their second successive defeat.
Sporting Clube scored the winner two minutes into the match when N Rajesh Meetei scored of a freekick from the left of the Salgaocar goal. Salgaocar keeper Sangram Mukherjee injured himself in trying to safe the shot and had to be replaced soon after through Arijit Sengupta. Salgaocar did try to get back into the match with Brazilian Fabio dos Passos setting-up numerous chances for strikers Kumar Samson Singh and Bruno Oliveira but they couldn't score.
SPORTING CLUBE: 30-Luis Xavier Barreto, 21-Vincent Pires, 6-Philip Gomes, 24-David Leonel Suresh, 8-N Rajesh Meetei (90' 2-Ajay Diwadkar), 11-Nicolau Borges, 20-Adebayo Adewusi (84' 4-Vinu Jose), 23-Bibiano Fernandes, 25-Joe Rodrigues, 9-Chidi Edeh, 28-Alvito Rodrigues (80' 19-Nicholas L Rodrigues).
SALGAOCAR: 1-Sangram Mukherjee (9' 2-Arijit Sengupta), 12-Remus Gomes, 8-Agnelo Colaco, 22-Roberto Fernandes, 15-Manitombi Singh (42' 23-William Colaco), 14-Jerose Oliveira, 10-Fabio dos Passos, 25-Rocus Lamare, 7-A Jyothi Kumar (67' 30-Ashim Biswas), 11-Kumar Samson Singh, 28-Bruno Oliveira.
MAN of the MATCH: Kumar Samson Singh (Salgaocar).
YELLOW CARDS: Adebayo Adewusi (20'), Vincent Pires (75'), N Rajesh Meetei (86', all Sporting Clube); Remus Gomes (48', Salgaocar).
REFEREE: Chumchuk Lama (Sikkim).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th Assam Club Championships - Round 1: Sporting Union, Hailakandi 8-2 Dimakuchi Organ Club, Bhergaon
Bangalore Super Division: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 0-0 Sports Authority of India, South - Goals: none.
Bangalore 'A' Division: Postal Department 5-0 Railway Wheel Factory - Goals: 1-0 Xavier (4'), 2-0,3-0 Venkatesh (26',35'), 4-0 Santosh Kumar (45'), 5-0 Neslin (76').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Final: Manipur 1-1,4-2 Orissa [penalties] - Goals: 0-1 ?, 1-1 Asha Rani (59').

Note-1: The AIFF has announced 35 probables for the upcoming 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers. The preparation camp is set to kick-off on February 6 in the capital Delhi. Before travelling to Japan to take on the mighty Japan on February 22, India could play a couple of preparatory matches against Sudan. The matches against the African nation could be made possible by NFL sponsor's ONGC, who have business interests in Sudan.
INDIA PROBABLES:
Goalkeepers: Subroto Pal (Mohun Bagan AC), Sandip Nandy (Mahindra United), Kalyan Chaubey (JCT Mills), Felix D'Souza (Sporting Clube de Goa), Israt Kamal (Central Railway).
Defenders: Irungbam Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Nanjangud Shivananju Manju (all Mahindra United), Muttath Suresh, Anupam Sarkar (both East Bengal Club), Anbalath Suliman Firoze, Sanjeev Kumar Maria (both Mohun Bagan AC), Samir Naik (Dempo SC).
Midfielders: Shanmugam Venkatesh, Steven Dias, Lukram James Singh, Krishnan Nair Ajayan (all Mahindra United), Mehtab Hussain, Mehraj Din Wadoo, Manjit Singh (all Mohun Bagan AC), Xavier Vijayakumar (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC), Jayanta Sen (East Bengal Club).
Forwards: Baichung Bhutia, Syed Rahim Nabi (both East Bengal Club), MA Abdul Hakkim (State Bank of Travancore), Abhishek Yadav (Mahindra United), Parveen Kumar (JCT Mills), Shaji D'Silva (Services).
On standby: Rajat Ghosh Dasdidar (GK, East Bengal Club), Bilifang Narzary (GK, SAI-Guwahati), Cedric Pixeito (DF, Vasco SC), Habibur Rehman Mondal (DF, East Bengal), Amulya Mondal (DF, EverReady SA), Sampath Kumar Kuttimani (FW, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC), Nicholas L Rodrigues (FW, Sporting Clube de Goa).

Note-2: The Goan Women's League, revived after a gap of three years, will be played from tomorrow until February 9. It will be a four team affair with Curtorim Gymkhana; Mangor SC; SAI Hostel and Sporting Clube de Goa taking part in the double-leg league. For the first time the league will be played between registered clubs of the GFA.
The tournament will also be a scouting ground for the Goa Women's team for the 14th Women National Championships will be held in Bhilai, Chattisgarh

27. January
Bangalore Super Division: Madras Engineering Group Centre 2-2 BEL SC - Goals: 1-0 Sarath Singh (15'), 2-0 Naveen Kumar (41'), 2-1 Archan (66'), 2-2 Jayavendhan (77',Pen).
Bangalore 'A' Division: Oriental FC 1-2 Southern Blues FC - Goals: 0-1 Bhuvaneshwaran(50'), 1-1 Suresh (55'), 1-2 Uday Kumar (78').
10th M Chittamani Memorial Winners Cup, Imphal - Final First-leg: Southern Sporting Union, Singjamei 1-0 YWC, Thambalkhong - Goal: 1-0 L Tiken Singh (32').

Note-1: Due to the state of disrepair of the Cooperage ground field in Mumbai, the Mahindra United vs Fransa-Pax FC has been shifted to Goa. WIFA, GFA and AIFF officials have been able to negotiate to host the game originally scheduled for January 29 in Mumbai on the 30th in Goa. It will now be a home fixture for Fransa-Pax FC, and the return fixture will be played at a later date.

26. January

4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Semifinal: Manipur 1-0 Tamil Nadu - Goal: 1-0 Lalbhormoyui (68').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Semifinal: Orissa 1-0 West Bengal - Goal: 1-0 Sanjukta Tirkey (77').

25. January
10th National League - Calcutta: East Bengal Club 2-0 Fransa-Pax FC - Goals: 1-0 Mike Okoro (8'), 2-0 Baichung Bhutia (82').
An inexperienced Fransa-Pax FC side was crushed under the East Bengal Club juggernaut as it rolled on to occupy the top spot of the 10th National League 2005/06. Any dream that the young Fransa-Pax side had of upstaging the mighty East Bengal team went up in smoke as Nigerian Mike Okoro put the Calcutta giants ahead in the 8th minute of the match. A minor defensive error by Kuzhiyil Jiteesh allowed Ndem to take control of the ball. He put the ball on a platter for Mike Okoro who headed in much to the delight of the East Bengal fans. A plucky Fransa-Pax team tried to claw their way back into the match. In the 17th minute, new recruit Bello Rasaq thundered a left footed shot towards the opposition goalkeeper; Rajat fumbled but managed to recover in time to deny the advancing Brazilian Ivan da Silva an equaliser. East Bengal countered with their charismatic skipper, Baichung Bhutia who made a brilliant solo run from inside his own half but could not double the lead as his shot flew wide of the post. He was brought into action again near the half hour mark when he set up two chances for Mike Okoro but his strike partner squandered both the chances. In the 43rd minute, Shylo Malswam Tulunga gave a through pass to Baichung whose shot on goal was saved by Virender Singh. Mike Okoro received a ball inside the box from Ndem in the 45th minute but an advancing Virender thwarted his attempt on goal; the rebound resulted in Nabi facing an open goal with the ball at his feet but his inaccurate shot left everybody bemused. In spite of the early goal, the first half was entertaining as the Fransa-Pax side made up for their lack of skill and experience with a spirited effort. Baichung Bhutia was the cynosure in the first half and his performance in the first half alone could have won him the "Man of the Match" award. The half was marred by three cautions as East Bengal's Anupam Sarkar plus Fransa-Pax's Marcus Peixoto and Surojit Roy were flashed yellow for their illegal tackles.
It was the same story in the second half. Sasthi Duley came on for Soumik Dey in the 49th minute. Playing on the left, he seemed out of position and made numerous mistakes which culminated in Debabrata Roy replacing him in the 83rd minute. However, this tactical failure did not prevent the East Bengal team from attacking as Ndem had another attempt on goal in the 57th minute. Numerous advances by East Bengal were cut off just in time by the Fransa defence and these last ditch efforts by the defenders kept the scoreline respectable. The inevitable second goal came in the 82nd minute for East Bengal and it was their captain again who sealed the victory. After receiving a ball from the midfield, he deceived the defence feigning shots on goal and ultimately sent the ball impeccably past a diving goalkeeper into the net. The lack of experience of the Fransa defenders was obvious as they stood mesmerised by the striker's skill and allowed him too much time. The last few minutes were played out without further drama and East Bengal romped home with three predictable but nonetheless important points.
EAST BENGAL: 24-Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, 12-Anupam Sarkar, 16-Covan Lawrence, 26-Ngassa Ewane Guy Martial, 29-Soumik Dey (49' 8-Sasthi Duley, 83' 22-Debabrata Roy), 28-Shylo Malswam Tulunga, 7-Jayanta Sen, 20-Ndem A Guy Kiyeck Herve, 19-Syed Rahim Nabi, 10-Mike Okoro, 15-Baichung Bhutia.
FRANSA-PAX: 21-Virender Singh, 4-C Kuzhiyil Jiteesh, 5-Cresson Antao, 27-Marcus Peixoto, 19-Bello Rasaq, 11-Peter Rodrigues, 16-Peter Carvalho,7-Roque Barreto, 22-Surojit Roy, 6-Sidney Bonginkosi Nkalanga, 26-Ivan Fiel da Silva (81' 15-Wesley Coutinho).
MAN of the MATCH: Baichung Bhutia (East Bengal).
YELLOW CARDS: Anupam Sarkar (26' East Bengal); Marcus Peixoto (34'), Surojit Roy (41', both Fransa Pax FC)
REFEREE: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat)
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Calcutta: Mohun Bagan AC 0-2 JCT Mills - Goals: 0-1 Johnson Segun Banner (34'), 0-2 Parveen Kumar (38').
A lacklustre performance by former champions Mohun Bagan AC saw them plunge to the bottom of the league table after they lost 2-0 to JCT Mills at home at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta in the 10th National League 2005/06. With two points from four matches and a goal difference of -3, the Calcutta giants are facing the humiliation of being behind less fancied teams like Mohammedan Sporting and Air-India in the league table.
The first 15 minutes of the match was the only time that Mohun Bagan looked in control. Mehtab Hussain and Tomba Singh sent shots flying over the crossbar in the 4th and 8th minutes respectively. When Dharamjit Singh and Ibrahim hit the opposition goalkeeper in succession in the next few minutes, it seemed that JCT Mills were in for a hammering. However, far from getting trounced, JCT went for the jugular and were rewarded with the first goal of the match in the 33rd minute when Parveen Kumar received a pass from Julius Akpele and set it up for Johnson Segun Banner to come up with a cool finish. Within 4 minutes, the Mohun Bagan players received another rude shock as Parveen Kumar slotted home the second goal of the match. A precise pass from Renedy Singh allowed him to start a solo run towards the goal. Sanjeev Maria tried to run with him but was left helpless as the charging goalkeeper was beaten by the superb shot. The subsequent collision between Maria and goalkeeper Imran Khan resulted in a facial injury to Maria and he had to be substituted by AS Firoze in the 41st minute. Imran Khan saved further blushes when he pulled of a diving save to deny Marcos a goal from a free kick just before the break. At the break, the Mohun Bagan players trudged off as if they had woken up to find that the nightmare was actually reality.
The JCT coach introduced Baldeep Singh at the start of the second half. It was a great change as Baldeep's hard work in the midfield really made it difficult for Mohun Bagan to attack. A few chances came Ibrahim's way but the story of the tournament continued as the Mohun Bagan player failed to score once again. Agbessi came on for Sushil Singh in the 57th minute but could not influence the outcome of the match. Noel Wilson, after another workhorse performance for Mohun Bagan, tried shooting from the midfield in the 68th minute. However, there was no miracle and the shot went nowhere near the intended target. The derisive cheers from their loyal fans did not help the Bagan players and after the final whistle, there was widespread criticism of the tactics and performance of the team. The next hurdle for the off colour Bagan team is an away match against defending champions Dempo SC. With Dempo in 9th place, it will be an important match for both teams albeit at the wrong end of the table. After all, no team likes relegation looming large in the future so early in the tournament.
MOHUN BAGAN: 21-Imran Khan, 11-Rajib Ahmed (73' 10-Dipendu Biswas), 28-Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, 20-Sanjeev Kumar Maria (41' 4-Anbalath Suliman Firoze), 16-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 7-Tomba Singh, 8-Noel Anthony Wilson, 23-Mehtab Hussain, 18-Dharamjit Singh, 9-Awudu Ibrahim, 24-Sushil Kumar Singh (57' 19-Coffe Edem Agbessi).
JCT MILLS: 22-Kalyan Chaubey, 12-Daljit Singh, 24-Narinder Singh, 3-Julius Irabor Akpele, 23-Harish Sharma, 7-Sukhjinder Singh (46' 13-Baldeep Singh), 6-Sukhwinder Singh, 16-Marcos Pereira, 15-Renedy Singh, 17-Parveen Kumar, 20-Johnson Segun Banner (83' 11-Sunil Chhetri)
MAN of the MATCH: Marcos Pereira (JCT Mills).
YELLOW CARDS: Anbalath Suliman Firoze (47'), Subhashish Roy Chowdhury (90', both Mohun Bagan AC); Parveen Kumar (64', JCT)
REFEREE: Manuel Perera (Maharashtra)
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: Karnataka State Police 0-1 LRDE - Goal: 0-1 D Stalin (68').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Nationals FC 1-5 BEML (EM) - Goals: 1-0 Suresh (29'), 1-1,1-5 Vinod (42',88'), 1-2 Manoj Kumar (50'), 1-3 Arun Kumar (73'), 1-4 Gopinath (84').
10th M Chittamani Memorial Winners Cup, Imphal - Semifinal Second-leg: Southern Sporting Union, Singjamei 9-1 KYC, Churachandpur
10th M Chittamani Memorial Winners Cup, Imphal - Semifinal Second-leg: YWC, Thambalkhong 3-0 AMOFA, Moirang

24. January
10th National League - Calcutta: Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-1 Sporting Clube de Goa - goals: 0-1 Chidi Edeh (42'), 1-1 Bijen Singh (45+2').
Promoted Mohammedan Sporting Club held Sporting Clube de Goa to a one-all draw at the floodlit Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta to continue their good run in the 10th National League. Mohammedan Sporting remained in second spot with seven points from four matches, while Sporting Clube remained behind them unbeaten on six points from as many matches.
MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING: 1-Gopal Das, 2-Palash Karmakar (87' 6-Bijay Baspore), 24-David Mkandawire, 26-Madhusudan Majumdar, 3-Madhab Das, 25-Mir Farooq Hyder, 18-Mohammed Mukhtar, 20-Suman Dutta (82' 11-Nitin Pradhan), 15-Jiten Rai (23' 8-Satyajit Bose), 7-Bijen Singh, 14-Okonji Onyelo Patrick
SPORTING CLUBE: 30-Luis Xavier Barreto, 2-Ajay Diwadkar (66' 3-Mathew Gonsalves), 6-Philip Gomes, 24-David Leonel Suresh, 8-N Rajesh Meetei (74' 25-Joe Rodrigues), 11-Nicolau Borges (83' 21-Vincent Pires), 23-Bibiano Fernandes, 20-Adebayo Adewusi, 19-Nicholas L Rodrigues, 9-Chidi Edeh, 10-MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi
MAN of the MATCH: Gopal Das (Mohammedan Sporting).
YELLOW CARDS: Madhusudan Majumdar (36', Md Sporting); Chidi Edeh (39'), Joe Rodrigues (77', both Sporting Clube)
RED CARD: Mir Farooq Hyder (45'+3, Md Sporting).
REFEREE: Mrinal Kanti Roy (West Bengal).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: AGORC, Bangalore 0-3 Royals SC - Goals: 0-1 Wilfred (9'), 0-2 Dhanraj (32'), 0-3 Gubinder.
Bangalore 'A' Division: Dharmaraja Union 2-2 Government Press - Goals: 1-0 Karthikeyan (30'), 2-0 Rajan Wilsy (42'), 2-1 Vincent (55'), 2-2 Biju Babu (75').

23. January
Bangalore Super Division: CIL 1-0 ADE - Goal: 1-0 C Kanikaraj (24').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Railway Wheel Factory 0-1 Oriental FC - Goal: 0-1 Jerry (75').
10th M Chittamani Memorial Winners Cup, Imphal - Semifinal First-leg: KYC, Churachandpur 1-0 Southern Sporting Union, Singjamei
10th M Chittamani Memorial Winners Cup, Imphal - Semifinal First-leg: AMOFA, Moirang 1-1 YWC, Thambalkhong

22. January
10th National League - Calcutta: Mohun Bagan AC 0-0 East Bengal Club - Goals: none.
All the fanfare surrounding the great Calcutta derby in the 10th National League 2005/06 diminished to a silent growl as both sets of spectators went home dissatisfied with their teams' performance. This was more so for the East Bengal supporters as their team was up against a team which was yet to score in this year's edition of the NFL. The Mohun Bagan supporters could have felt the result to be more acceptable, coming as it did after their team's dismal start in the tournament; however, a draw is never fully satisfactory in this passionate derby.
The first half and indeed almost the entire second half as well, belonged to East Bengal. Most of the match seemed to be played in Mohun Bagan's half. In fact, the performance put in by the Mohun Bagan defenders should be a big positive for the team because without such a performance, the margin of defeat could have been embarrassing for them. In the opening minutes of the match, Imran Khan's goal was under constant threat as Soumik Dey, Baichung Bhutia and Mike Okoro tried their luck. Mohun Bagan countered by a shot from Mehtab Hussain but the East Bengal goalkeeper made a diving save. In the 21st minute, a penalty appeal against East Bengal was turned down as Agbessi was brought down by Covan Lawrence. Agbessi looked below par throughout the match and with Martial sticking to Ibrahim like superglue; it was not surprising that Mohun Bagan frequently tried scoring with long range efforts which did not trouble the opposition goalkeeper. The first half developed into a dull affair as neither side looked like scoring, most shots at goal not even on target. In the dying minutes of the first half, Ndem picked up the only caution of the match when his tackle on Mehraj was deemed illegal by the referee.
The second half saw two great scoring chances being squandered, one by each team. In the 59th minute, Anupam Sarkar set up a wonderful chance for his skipper after weaving through the Bagan defence. However, Baichung Bhutia missed the best chance of the game as his shot went wide of the target. The compliment was returned by Ibrahim in the 85th minute as he deflected a shot on goal from Firoz, almost acting as an East Bengal defender. That was the only chance that Bagan had of pulling off an unexpected victory. Ndem looked impressive for East Bengal but the team missed the services of Alvito D'Cunha, especially during the set-pieces. With very little time to recuperate from fatigue, it will be tough for the players to put in an impressive performance next week when they play their next match in the NFL.
MOHUN BAGAN: 21-Imran Khan, 20-Sanjeev Kumar Maria, 4-Anbalath Suliman Firoze, 28-Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, 7-Tomba Singh, 26-Mehraj Din Wadoo, 6-Manjit Singh (78' 14-Basudeb Mondal), 16-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury (53' 18-Dharamjit Singh), 23-Mehtab Hussain, 19-Coffe Edem Agbessi, 9-Awudu Ibrahim.
EAST BENGAL: 1-Naseem Akhtar, 12-Anupam Sarkar, 16-Covan Lawrence, 26-Ngassa Ewane Guy Martial, 29-Soumik Dey (69' 8-Sasthi Duley), 28-Shylo Malswam Tulunga, 7-Jayanta Sen, 20-Ndem A Guy Kiyeck Herve, 19-Syed Rahim Nabi, 10-Mike Okoro (89' 30-Bernard Pires), 15-Baichung Bhutia.
MAN of the MATCH: Baichung Bhutia (East Bengal Club).
YELLOW CARD: Ndem A Guy Kiyeck Herve (44', East Bengal)
REFEREE: Rizwan Ul Haq (Delhi)
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: Karnataka State Police 0-0 Madras Engineering Group Centre
Bangalore 'A' Division: Postal Department 4-0 BWSSB FC - Goals: 1-0,3-0 Nelson Xavier (37',55'), 2-0,4-0 Einstein (48',82').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group B: Orissa - Manipur
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group B: Maharashtra - Haryana

21. January
10th National League - Calcutta: Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-0 Salgaocar SC - Goals: 1-0 Nitin Pradhan (83').
MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING: 1-Gopal Das, 2-Palash Karmakar, 24-David Mkandawire, 26-Madhusudan Majumdar, 3-Madhab Das, 8-Satyajit Bose (63' 15-Jiten Rai), 25-Mir Farooq Hyder, 18-Mohammed Mukhtar, 7-Bijen Singh (72' 11-Nitin Pradhan), 20-Suman Dutta (82' 9-Raman Vijayan), 14-Okonji Onyelo Patrick.
SALGAOCAR: 1-Sangram Mukherjee, 12-Remus Gomes, 8-Agnelo Colaco, 22-Roberto Fernandes, 15-Manitombi Singh, 7-A Jyothi Kumar, 6-Micky Fernandes, 10-Fabio dos Passos (80' 3-Selwyn Fernandes), 25-Rocus Lamare (84' 21-Sachin Gawas), 30-Ashim Biswas (54' 11-Kumar Samson Singh), 9-Francis Andrade.
MAN of the MATCH: David Mkandawire (Mohammedan Sporting).
RED CARD: Micky Fernandes (Salgaocar)
REFEREE: Praveer Kumar Bose (Madhya Pradesh).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Goa: Dempo SC 0-2 Air-India - Goals: 0-1 Hamza Zaheer Abbas (62'), 0-2 Bashiree Mohammed Abbas (65').
DEMPO: 21-VP Satish Kumar, 5-Raju Singh, 3-John Dias, 28-Dhanraj Ravanan, 24-Melwyn Rodrigues, 6-Jules Alberto Dias (80' 19-Johnny D'Cruz), 7-Nacimento Silveira, 11-Roberto Mendes Silva, 15-Clifford Miranda (66' 22-Ishfaq Ahmed), 9-Ranty Martins Soleye, 17-Joaquim Abranches (46' Sebastiao Endro).
AIR-INDIA: 22-Sunder Raj Rajan, 2-Haobijam Napoleon Singh, 27-Suley Musah, 28-Abiodun Kolawole Martins, 19-Santosh Koli, 18-Hamza Zaheer Abbas (76' 23-Suprith Jathanna), 14-Javed Ansari (26' 11-Hringsolal Thomte), 5-Vijith Shetty, 20-Paresh Shivalkar, 30-Bashiree Mohammed Abbas (89' 3-Subhas Mondal), 10-T Narender Meetei.
MAN of the MATCH: Hamza Zaheer Abbas (Air-India).
YELLOW CARDS: Nacimento Silveira (58'), Roberto Mendes Silva (60', both Dempo); T Narender Meetei (51', Air-India)
REFEREE: Pradeep Kumar (Tamil Nadu).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: BEL SC 1-0 Sports Authority of India, South - Goal: 1-0 Jayavandhan (76', pen).
Bangalore 'A' Division: BEML (EM) 0-4 Southern Blues FC - Goals: 0-1,0-4 Bhuvaneshwar (41',78'), 0-2 Satish (59'), 0-3 Udaya Kumar (74').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group A: Tamil Nadu 1-0 Goa - Goal: 1-0 J Rani Prasanna (45').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group A: Bengal 0-0 Punjab

Note-1: East Bengal is facing several injury worries ahead of the big Calcutta-derby against Mohun Bagan tomorrow. Coach Philipe de Ridder has to wait for last tests before kick-off to decide, if Mike Okoro, Alvito D'Cunha, Kalia Kulothungan and RC Prakash are able to take part in the encounter.
Further star striker and India captain Baichung Bhutia is a doubtful starter due to a strain in his left thigh. The chances of his taking the field are 50-50, and a decision on his being in the starting-eleven will be taken just two hours before the match.
Baichung Bhutia: "It would be risky to play in this condition. But since it is a Mohun Bagan match, I would like to play."

Note-2: Videocon, one of India's biggest enterprises, has been announced as the official sponsors of the Kozhikode District League. There will be 54 teams participating in the tournament, which will be divided into the three divisons A, B and C.
This sponsorship deal comes as an surprise, as district leagues normally fail to attract big companies. It seems like, that the huge support of football in Kozhikode (Calicut) is the main reasons behind Videocon's engagement with this league.

20. January
The latest IndianFootball.Com Guest Column comes from Manish Uprety titled "South Asian Football - Dawn of New Horizons and Hopes for India in 2006", in which Manish looks at the possibilities of football development across south Asia and the synergies for India in doing too. Manish is president of the "South Asian Football Association", an organisation which is trying to promote football across south Asia.
Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - Manish Uprety .

10th National League - Goa: Mahindra United 2-1 JCT Mills - Goals: 0-1 Parveen Kumar (21'), 1-1 Krishnan Nair Ajayan (69'), 2-1 Jose Ramirez Barreto (89').
Title aspirants Mahindra United moved to the top of the 10th National League table with a 2-1 comeback victory against JCT Mills at the floodlit Nehru Stadium, Margao. After having both played three matches, Mahindra now have seven points while JCT Mills have only two points on their account.
Mahindra were forced to play their home game away in Goa due to their home ground, the Cooperage in Mumbai being in a terrible state.
Mahindra United started the game in full flow with their attack - Ghanian Yakubu Yusif and Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto - causing some problems to the JCT defence, but keeper Kalyan Chaubey stood tall. But after weathering the initial pressure from the Mumbai Jeepmen, the Phagwara Millmen themselves put some good attacks together. JCT actually went into the lead in the 20.minute when striker Parveen Kumar headed in a Renedy Singh freekick. Thereafter JCT's Nigerian striker Johnson Segun Banner had a couple of chances to double the lead, but he failed on both occasions. Mahindra earned a penalty in the 30.minute when JCT defender Jaspal Singh handled the ball in the area, but Yakubu shot the ball wide. Jaspal meanwhile received his marching orders from referee Benjamin D'Silva. JCT went into the break with the 1-0 lead.
After the breather Mahindra finally scored of their many chances. Mahindra first equalised in the 69.minue through a 30 yarder from Krishnan Nair Ajayan, who had a good match and was later named "Man of the Match". When it looked like the match was heading for a draw Brazilian Jose Barreto once more proved his class by scoring the winner just one minute from time.
MAHINDRA: 1-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 27-Surkumar Singh, 3-Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, 14-Mahesh Gawli, 4-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 23-Steven Dias (87' 29-Rauf Khan), 9-Surajit Bose (64' 11-Subhas Chakraborty), 6-Shanmugam Venkatesh (28' 16-Lukram James Singh), 28-Krishnan Nair Ajayan, 8-Jose Ramirez Barreto, 10-Yusif Yakubu.
JCT MILLS: 22-Kalyan Chaubey, 2-Jaspal Singh, 24-Narinder Singh, 3-Julius Irabor Akpele, 23-Harish Sharma, 7-Sukhjinder Singh, 16-Marcos Pereira, 6-Sukhwinder Singh, 15-Renedy Singh (75' 14-Ram Pal, 17-Parveen Kumar (79' 13-Baldeep Singh, 20-Johnson Segun Banner (85' 11-Sunil Chetri).
MAN of the MATCH: Krishnan Nair Ajayan (Mahindra).
YELLOW CARD: Kalyan Chaubey (66', JCT).
RED CARD: Jaspal Singh (30', JCT).
REFEREE: Benjamin D'Silva (Goa).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 2-1 LRDE - Goals: 1-0 Mahendra Mani (1'), 1-1 J Muralidharan (36'), 2-1 Nanda Kumar (48').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Government Press 3-1 Nationals FC - Goals: 1-0 Vincent (8'), 1-1 Mahesh (47'), 2-1 Vijay Babu (64'), 3-1 Venkatesh (80').
35th All-India FCI Inter-Zonal Football Tournament, Hyderabad - Final: North Zone 1-0 North-East Frontier Zone - Goal: 1-0 G Kamei.
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group B: Manipur 4-0 Haryana - Goals: 1-0,2-0 I Prameshwori Devi (8',17'), 3-0 Sanathoi Chanu (25'), 4-0 Lalvarmoi Hinar (38').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group B: Orissa - Maharashtra
All-India Major Port Football Tournament, Paradip - Final: Marmugao Port Trust 1-0 Calcutta Port Trust
44th Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy - Final: Punjab Police 0-1 JCT Mills B - Goal: 0-1 Amarinder Singh (55').

19. January
Bangalore Super Division: CIL 2-2 Royals SC - Goals: 1-0 Manoj Kumar (4'), 1-1 Wilfred (13'), 2-1 Gopalakrishnan (62'), 2-2 Roy (77').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Dharmaraja Union 3-0 Railway Wheel Factory - Goals: 1-0 Lawrence (9'), 2-0 Mugilan (42'), 3-0 Karthikeyan (49').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group A: West Bengal 3-0 Goa
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group A: Tamil Nadu - Punjab
44th Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy - Semifinal: Punjab Police 2-0 JCT Academy - Goals: 1-0 Harshdeep Singh, 2-0 Gurdeep Singh.
44th Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy - Semifinal: JCT Mills B 0-0,4-2 Punjab State Electricity Board [penalties]

Note-1: Further matches in the 10th National League have been rescheduled. Some dates of matches in Round 4 to 7 have been changed by the AIFF following requests from the clubs and broadcasting Zee Sports. And as reported earlier the Round 8 matches have been postponed to after the Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers on February 22 and March 1.

Note-2: The AIFF has issued a show cause notice to the Goa FA over security lapses during the NFL match between Sporting Clube de Goa vs JCT Mills on January 15 at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. The Match Commissioner Gulab Chauhan reported that a spectator had managed to enter the referees' room after the match which ended in a 1-1 draw and hurled abuse at the referees. Further another spectator had reportedly entered the referee's room after the 10th NFL inauguration Goa match on January 10. The GFA have been given until January 23 to send an answer.

Note-3: The 14th Women National Championships will be held from February 10 to 26, 2006 in Bhilai, Chattisgarh. A total of 24 women state teams are set to take part. 20 teams have been divided into six groups with defending champions Manipur, runners-up West Bengal plus Goa and Kerala being seeded into the quarterfinal league.

Note-4: Kerala's State Bank of Travancore won the Iron Ore Gold Cup held in Chattisgarh recently. They defeated Western Railway, Mumbai in the final in a 5-4 penalty shootout win. SBT's Asif Saheer was top scorer of the tournament with seven goals, while Jean Christian was chosen best goalkeeper and Abdul Basheer was named best defender.

Note-5: The Goa FA will hold selection trials for the Goa U21 team at the Nehru Stadium outside Ground, Fatorda, on January 23. Interested players born on or after January 1, 1985 should report to coach Ajay Acharya or team manager Savio Barreto , at the Ground, at 15.30 IST, with their full kit. Interested players are also asked to bring their original Birth Certificate along.

18. January
INDIA has climbed to 118th, nine places in the latest FIFA World Rankings. INDIA, the second highest climber this month behind neighbours Bangladesh, was able to make the highest position in years through their SAFF Cup triumph last month. INDIA gained 26 points to now tally 381 points.
In Asia INDIA jumped to 22nd spot ahead of Vietnam, Malaysia and Lebanon, just behind Turkmenistan and Hongkong.

10th National League - Goa: Sporting Clube de Goa 3-1 Air-India - Goals: 0-1 Haobijam Napoleon Singh (41'), 1-1,2-1 MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (68',70'), 3-1 Bibiano Fernandes (90+1').
Last years runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa score their first victory in the 10th National League with a 3-1 win against promoted Air-India at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. After having played three matches Sporting Clube now have five points, while Air-India are still to open their account after two matches.
For Air-India it was somewhat a repeat of their opeing round defeat at the hands of Salgaocar. In both matches the Airmen from Mumbai took the lead in the first half, but also in both games they conceeded three goals in the second session, to lose twice one goal to three. For Sporting Clube their captain and top scorer MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi was back amongst the goals and that will come as a great relief to coach Clifford Chukwama.
Air-India where impressive in the first half. They put a number of good combinations together, but they weren't able to score until the 41.minute when wingback Haobijam Napoleon Singh moved-up and took an attempt at goal which went in through the hands of Sporting Clube keeper Luis Xavier Barreto. Air-India took the one goal lead into the breather, but Chukwama made some changes to his team which paid off. He took of Joseph Pereira and replaced him with Bibiano Fernandes, who took charge of the Sporting Clube midfield, and changed the complexion of the game. A double strike by captain Dudu in the 68. and 70.minute turned the one goal deficit into a 2-1 lead and on both occations defenders set-up the chances for the Nigerian. First Dudu scored of a long ball from David Suresh and then a hard pass from Philip Gomes. Air-India were shocked but still had a chance to salvage a point, but Narender Meetei wasn't able to score. Substitute Bibiano, who brought the positive change to the Sporting Clube scored the final goal one minute into stoppage time off a pass from Chidi Edeh.
MAN of the MATCH: MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (Sporting Clube).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: ADE 1-2 AGORC, Bangalore - Goals: 0-1 Matthew (34'), 0-2 Arvind (40'), 1-2 Praveen (45').
Bangalore 'A' Division: BWSSB FC 1-1 Oriental FC - Goals: 1-0 Somesh (58'), 1-1 Jerry (90').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group B: Manipur 4-1 Maharashtra - Goals: 1-0,3-0,4-0 Lalvarmoi Hmar (16',56',72'), 2-0 Sanathoi Chanu (32'), 4-1 ??? (74').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Quarterfinal League Group B: Orissa 3-0 Haryana
44th Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy - Quarterfinal: JCT Academy 2-1 Border Security Force
44th Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy - Quarterfinal: Punjab State Electricity Board 2-1 Rail Coach Factory

Note-1: The Reuters news agency reports that India has confirmed it will challenge Iran for the right to stage the 2011 Asian Cup football tournament, aiming to become the first country from the sub-continent to host the tournament.
"We have bid for the 2011 tournament," an AIFF spokesman said on today.
The hosts for the event are expected to be announced at the end of the 2007 Asian Cup, which will be co-staged by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. India will be seen as favourites with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), who are eager to tap the country's potentially huge market. Iran hosted the Asian Cup in 1968 and 1976, winning both times.

17. January
10th National League - Goa: Dempo SC 3-4 Mahindra United - Goals: 1-0,2-1,3-2 Ranty Martins Soleye (16',34',57'), 1-1 Steven Dias (28'), 2-2,3-4 Yakubu Yusif (50',70'), 3-3 Jose Ramirez Barreto (62').
Champions Dempo SC suffered a 3-4 defeat at the hands of title contenders Mahindra United in a thriller at the floodlit Nehru Stadium, Margao in the 10th National League. Dempo remain on two points and winless after three matches; while Mahindra United scored their first win and have moved to four points after two outings.
After only 10 goals were scored in the first nine NFL matches, today's match yielded a total of seven goals. Dempo's Nigerian striker Ranty Martins Soleye even scored the first hattrick of this edition of the NFL, but it was in vain as Mahindra United always were able to equalise and in the end even went ahead to win the match.
It was a face-paced encounter with both teams playing an attacking game. With a number of his midfielders injured Dempo coach Armando Colaco decided to play Brazilian striker Roberto Mendes Silva in midfield. The move seemed to pay-off as Silva set-up Ranty Martins Soleye in the 16.minute to give Dempo the lead. Mahindra increased their efforts after going down and after a corner from Surkumar Singh, it was midfielder Steven Dias who scored with a fierce shot in the 28.minute. But Dempo went back into the lead in the 34.minute when once more Silva set-up a chance for Ranty. It stayed 2-1 for Dempo at the breather.
After the breather Mahindra equalised through Ghanian striker Yakubu Yusif in the 50.minute. Ranty completed his hattrick in the 57.minute to give his team once more the lead, but it was short lived as Brazilian Jose Ramirez Barreto equalised once more just five minutes later. The winner for Mahindra United came in the 70.minute with Yakubu scoring his second goal of the match. Thereafter Dempo just couldn't get back into the match.
DEMPO: 1-Abhijit Mondal, 16-Samir Naik, 2-Majekodunmi Bolaji, 2-Dhanraj Ravanan, 5-Raju Singh, 6-Jules Alberto Dias, 11-Roberto Mendes Silva, 7-Nacimento Silveira, 15-Clifford Miranda, 17-Joaquim Abranches (75' 26-Sebastiao Endro), 9-Ranty Martins Soleye.
MAHINDRA UTD: 1-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 27-Surkumar Singh, 3-Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, 14-Mahesh Gawli, 4-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 23-Steven Dias, 19-David Adjei (44' 9-Surajit Bose), 16-Lukram James Singh (72' 11-Subhash Chakraborty, 28-Krishnan Nair Ajayan (85' 7-Sushanth Mathew), 8-Jose Ramirez Barreto, 10-Yusif Yakubu.
MAN of the MATCH: Yakubu Yusif (Mahindra).
YELLOW CARDS: Ranty Martins Soleye (49'), Nacimento Silveira (82' both Dempo).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: Karnataka State Police 1-2 Sports Authority of India, South - Goals: 0-1 Arockiaraj Kenneth (60'), 1-1 Sameer Ahmed (61'), 1-2 Raghavendra.
Bangalore 'A' Division: Postal Department 2-0 Southern Blues FC - Goals: 1-0 Einstein (25'), 2-0 Srinivas (54').
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Final: Indian Bank 1-1,1-0 Netaji SC [extratime] - Goals: 0-1 Murugan (1'), 1-1 Amulraj (48'), 2-1 Mike Chinedu Obi (119').
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - 3rd Place Playoff: Integral Coach Factory - Chennai Customs = not played as Chennai Customs withdrew

Note-1: The AIFF has offered it's three home matches in the 2007 Asian Cup Group A to Delhi, Calcutta and Goa. Delhi has been asked to host the INDIA - Yemen match on March 1; Calcutta the INDIA - Saudi Arabia match on August 16 and Goa the INDIA - Japan match on October 11.
Kerala had hoped to host one of the three matches either in Kochi or Calicut. But none of the three state FAs have positively replied to the AIFF yet.

Note-2: Former Assam state footballer Reba Poddar died in Guwahati today aged 76. Poddar was a top striker of his time, who hailed from Jorhat and had his best time at Guwahati Town Club. He had also represented Assam in the Santosh Trophy.

16. January
Bangalore Super Division: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited 3-0 BEL SC - Goals: 1-0 Jenny Freddie (23'), 2-0 Rajendra Prasad (78'), 3-0 Raju (90+').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Government Press 1-1 BEML (EM) - Goals: 0-1 B Suresh (25'), 1-1 Venkatesh (28').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Maharashtra 14-0 Pondicherry
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Chhatisgarh 4-1 Kerala
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Haryana 2-0 Uttaranchal

15. January
10th National League - Goa: Sporting Clube de Goa 1-1 JCT Mills - Goals: 0-1 Johnson Segun Banner (11'), 1-1 Chidi Edeh (62').
Title aspirants Sporting Clube de Goa came from behind to hold former champions JCT Mills to a one-all draw in a 10th National League match at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. Both teams now have two points from as many matches.
Sporting Clube controlled most of the proceedings, but with their captain and last seasons NFL top scorer MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi still not having found his scoring boots, it was left to his fellow countryman from Nigeria Chidi Edeh to save the Goans from defeat with a 62.minute equaliser.
The Millmen from Phagwara had taken the lead in the 11.minute against the run of play, when midfielder Renedy Singh set-up striker Parveen Kumar inside the box. Parveen did see Nigerian teammate Johnson Segun Banner better placed, so he played the ball across with Johnson scoring with a solid left-footer. Thereafter it was a Sporting Clube chase for the equaliser. The JCT defence did stand it's ground, but when the Sporting Clube striker did break through there was Kalyan Chaubey in the JCT goal to avert danger. Sporting Clube did the equaliser through Chidi in the 62.minute and thereafter could have won the match keeping JCT under constant pressure. But it just wasn't enough on the day as both teams earned their second draw in their second match.
SPORTING CLUBE: 30-Luis Xavier Barreto, 21-Vincent Pires, 6-Philip Gomes, 24-David Leonel Suresh, 8-N Rajesh Meetei, 20-Adebayo Adewusi, 11-Nicolau Borges, 22-Joseph Pereira (89' 2-Ajay Diwadkar), 23-Bibiano Fernandes (73' 23-Nicholas L Rodrigues), 9-Chidi Edeh, 10-MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi.
JCT MILLS: 22-Kalyan Chaubey, 2-Jaspal Singh, 24-Narinder Singh, 3-Julius Irabor Akpele, 12-Daljit Singh (19' 13-Baldeep Singh), 7-Sukhjinder Singh (46' 8-Jaswinder Singh), 16-Marcos Pereira, 6-Sukhwinder Singh, 15-Renedy Singh (81' 23-Harish Sharma), 17-Parveen Kumar, 20-Johnson Segun Banner.
MAN of the MATCH: Chidi Edeh (Sporting Clube).
YELLOW CARDS: none.
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Calcutta: East Bengal Club 1-1 Salgaocar SC - Goals: 1-0 Baichung Bhutia (33'), 1-1 Fabio dos Passos (60').
East Bengal Club were held to a one-all draw by Salgaocar SC in a match of two former champions in the 10th National League at the floodlit Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. Both sides now have four points from two matches, but Salgaocar remain above East Bengal with a one goal better goal difference.
Baichung Bhutia is back in form and that is East Bengal's lifeline at the moment, for a team that by force started once more 100% Desi with Nigerian Mike Okoro only coming on as a substitute. The India and red-and-gold captain gave his team the lead in the 33.minute. Baichung after receiving a pass from Jayanta Sen broke free with a dashing run through the middle and beat the outstreched hands of his former teammate Salgaocar keeper Sangram Mukherjee. It stayed 1-0 for East Bengal at the breather.
Salgaocar posed some problems to the East Bengal defence throughout the match, but Covan Lawrence and Anupam Sarkar had another good match in the centre of defence. Still the duo couldn't help their team keep a clean sheet. Salgaocar equalised when a cross from substitute Samson Singh was headed in by Brazilian Fabio dos Passos at the hour mark. For his once more strong performance Fabio was later named "Man of the Match".
EAST BENGAL: 24-Rajat Ghosh Dasdidar, 19-Syed Rahim Nabi, 16-Covan Lawrence, 12-Anupam Sarkar, 29-Soumik Dey, 28-Shylo Malswam Tulunga, 7-Jayanta Sen, 9-Alvito D'Cunha (61' 6-Dipankar Roy), 11-Kalia Kulothungan (84' 10-Mike Okoro), 25-RC Prakash (79' 32-Gouranga Datta), 15-Baichung Bhutia.
SALGAOCAR: 1-Sangram Mukherjee, 12-Remus Gomes, 8-Agnelo Colaco, 22-Roberto Fernandes, 15-Manitombi Singh, 7-A Jyothi Kumar (85' 9-Francis Andrade), 6-Micky Fernandes, 10-Fabio dos Passos, 25-Rocus Lamare, 30-Ashim Biswas, 28-Bruno Oliveira (46' 11-Samson Singh).
MAN of the MATCH: Fabio dos Passos (Salgaocar SC).
YELLOW CARDS: Baichung Bhutia (35'), Kalia Kulothungan (45', both East Bengal); Ashim Biswas (45', Salgaocar).
REFEREE: Deepak Kumar Dey (Assam).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: Madras Engineering Group Centre 5-2 LRDE - Goals: 1-0,2-0 Sarath Singh (11',46'), 3-0,4-1,5-2 Lokeshwar (48',62',84'), 3-1 Sunil (52'), 4-2 Govinda (72').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Dharmaraja Union 1-1 Oriental FC - Goals: 0-1 Arun Pandey (36'), 1-1 D Vinod (52').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Uttar Pradesh 2-0 Andhra Pradesh
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Tamil Nadu 4-0 Assam
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Madhya Pradesh 1-1 Jammu&Kashmir
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Jharkhand 3-1 Delhi
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Semifinal: Chennai Customs 1-2 Netaji SC
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Semifinal: Indian Bank 3-0 Integral Coach Factory

Note-1: The AIFF has rescheduled the three postponed matches from Round 3 to be played in Calcutta. The Mohammedan Sporting Club vs Salgaocar SC match scheduled for January 20 has been postponed by a day. January 25 will see a double-header in the Saltlake Stadium with East Bengal Club vs Fransa-Pax FC at 17.00 h (originally January 18) and Mohun Bagan AC vs JCT Mills at 19.00 h (originally January 19).
Four Round 4 matches have received new dates and/or kickoff times. Mahindra United take on JCT Mills on January 20 in Goa instead of January 23 in Mumbai. Due to the bad state of the Cooperage ground in Mumbai the decision had to be taken. Meanwhile Dempo SC take on Air-India at 17.00 h on January 21 now; the Calcutta derby between Mohun Bagan AC and East Bengal Club a day later now takes place at 19.00 h. Mohammedan Sporting Club take on Sporting Clube de Goa a day later than planned on January 24.
Round 8 scheduled for February 8/9 has been postponed completely to allow the national team camp to begin on time ahead of the Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers on February 22 against Japan and on March 1 against Yemen.

Note-2: The 35th "Food Corporation of India" Inter-Zonal Football Tournament will be held at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, Hyderabad from January 16 to 20. The six FCI zones have been divided into two groups of three teams each with the top two sides making it into the semifinals.

14. January
10th National League - Goa: Dempo SC 0-0 Fransa-Pax FC - Goals: none.
NFL Champions Dempo SC were held to their second consecutive goalless draw by Goan rivals Fransa-Pax FC in a 10th National League match at the Nehru Stadium, Margao. Both sides now have two points from two matches without having scored or conceeded any goals so far.
Both teams should either thank or curse the goalkeepers Dempo's Abhijit Mondal and Fransa's veteran Virender Singh, who is back into form in his old days, for their outstanding performances. After the match Virender Singh was named "Man of the Match". In the first half Fransa looked the better of the two sides having some good chances through their foreign strikers Brazilian Ivan Fiel da Silva and South African Sydney B Nkalanga. Nkalanga was making his debut after having been cleared to play for Fransa on loan from East Bengal. Ivan was in better shape today than in earlier matches, but Mondal was rock solid in goal giving nothing away. In the second half Dempo had more of the chances, but Virender was there to deny Dempo's Nigerian sharpshooter Ranty Martins Soleye the winner on more than one occasion.
DEMPO: 1-Abhijit Mondal, 5-Raju Singh, 4-Stanley Colaco, 28-Dhanraj Ravanan, 24-Melwyn Rodrigues, 16-Samir Naik, 6-Jules Alberto Dias, 7-Nacimento Silveira, 15-Clifford Miranda, 9-Ranty Martins Soleye, 11-Roberto Mendes Silva (17-Joaquim Abranches).
FRANSA-PAX: 21-Virender Singh, 5-Cresson Antao, 4-C Kuzhiyil Jiteesh, 27-Marcus Peixoto, 14-Peter Pereira, 7-Roque Barreto, 11-Peter Rodrigues, 25-Santa Saikhom Singh, 16-Peter Carvalho, 26-Ivan Fiel da Silva, ??-Sydney B Nkalanga.
MAN of the MATCH: Virender Singh (Fransa-Pax FC).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Calcutta: Mohun Bagan AC 0-1 Mohammedan Sporting Club - Goals: 0-1 Okonji Onyelo Patrick (44').
Mohun Bagan AC suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands of smaller city rivals Mohammedan Sporting Club in a 10th National League match at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. With the win today Sporting opened their points account and now have three points from two matches, while Mohun Bagan remain on one point after having played the same number of matches.
Sporting's Nigerian striker Okonji Onyelo Patrick scored the winner a minute from the breather, once more proving what an asset and how important he is to his club in their fight for survival in the NFL. Mohun Bagan meanwhile will rue their missed chances, which could have easily won them the match. Both new strikers, Benin's Coffe Edem Agbessi and Ghanian Awudu Ibrahim, created chances, but just couldn't score or a strong Gopal Das was in the way in the Sporting goal. For his stellar performance Gopal Das was later was later named "Man of the Match". Bagan had a lot of good build-ups through captain Mehtab Hussain and Tomba Singh, but Agbessi and Ibrahim just didn't score. While Ibrahim had the first look at goal in the opening minutes thereafter Agbessi had a couple of good chances. It was in the 44.minute, after a Mehraj foul on Patrick, when Palash Karmakar's freekick deflected of Bagan keeper Subrata Pal's hand before hitting the crossbar and an alert Patrick slotting home the winner.
Bagan coach Jahar Das risked everything he had to at least get a draw. He brought on strikers Dipendu Biswas and Sushil Kumar Singh and ordered Brazilian defender Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda into a more attacking role, but it didn't bring the desired result. Bagan lost against Sporting, whom they had beaten three times this season so far and drawn once.
MOHUN BAGAN: 12-Subroto Pal, 28-Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, 4-Anbalath Suliman Firoze, 20-Sanjeev Kumar Maria, 7-Tomba Singh, 18-Dharamjit Singh (78' 24-Sushil Kumar Singh), 26-Mehraj Din Wadoo (63' 10-Dipendu Biswas), 8-Noel Wilson, 23-Mehtab Hussain, 19-Coffe Edem Agbessi (46' 25-Jerry Zirsanga), 9-Awudu Ibrahim.
MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING: 1-Gopal Das, 2-Palash Karmakar, 23-Kabijit Khotel (35' 6-Bijoy Basfore), 26-Madhusudan Majumdar, 3-Madhab Das, 25-Mir Farooq Hyder, 18-Mohammed Mukhtar, 7-Bijen Singh, ??-Surajit Chakraborty (81' 8-Satyajit Bose), 20-Suman Dutta, 14-Okonji Onyelo Patrick.
MAN of the MATCH: Gopal Das (Mohammedan Sporting).
REFEREE: Chumchuk Lama (Sikkim).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

Bangalore Super Division: AGORC, Bangalore 1-1 Sports Authority of India, South - Goals: 1-0 Vinod (6'), 1-1 Jay Kumar (86').
Bangalore 'A' Division: BWSSB FC 1-0 Nationals FC - Goal: 1-0 Kumar (19').

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Note-2: The Karnataka State FA will conduct a coaching and selection camp for the Karnataka State Women's team from January 16. Interested women & girls are asked to report to Mary Victoria at 7.30 IST on Monday morning at the Bangalore Football Stadium. The Karnataka Women are going to take part in the 14th Women National Championships in Bhilai, Chattisgarh.

Note-3: The Chandigarh FA is holding a preparatory coaching camp for 23 selected players from tomorrow to take part in the 14th Women National Championships in Bhilai, Chattisgarh.

13. January
Bangalore Super Division: ADE 1-2 Royals SC - Goals: 0-1 Thamarai (6'), 0-2 J Prasad (51'), 1-2 Elangovan (72').
Bangalore 'A' Division: Railway Wheel Factory 0-1 Southern Blues FC - Goal: 0-1 Raju (87').
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group A: Integral Coach Factory 1-1 Chennai Customs
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group B: Indian Bank 2-1 Madras Sporting Union
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group B: Netaji SC 5-0 Customs & Excise, Tiruchi

12. January
Bangalore Super Division: CIL 0-1 BEL SC - Goal: 0-1 Robert (66').
Bangalore 'A' Division: BEML (EM) 0-1 Postal Department - Goal: 0-1 Sunil (30').
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Tamil Nadu 5-0 Jammu&Kashmir
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Uttar Pradesh 1-0 Bihar
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Haryana 3-0 Chattisgarh
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Maharashtra 3-0 Rajasthan
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group A: Tuticorin Port 0-0 St Joseph's College

Note-1: The All-Manipur FA teams are back participating in All-India events. The Manipur U19 Girls' team is the first and it is going to take part in the 4th Girls' under-19 National Championships currently being held in Rourkela, Orissa. As defending champions they have been seeded into the Quarterfinal League.
MANIPUR U19 Girls': W Thabal Devi, Th Ranjita Devi, L Gangarani Devi, Kh Surbala Devi, O Roshini Devi, L Asharani Devi, Lalvarmoi Hmar, L Madhabi Devi, K. Rashi Devi, L Kiranbala Devi, A Romi Devi, O Bina Devi, A Sunita Devi, L Naobi Devi, I Prameshori Devi, Ch Sanathoi Devi, Ksh Ngoubi Devi, N Roma Devi.

Note-2: The 44th Principal Harbhajan Singh Memorial Football Trophy will be held from January 14 to 20, 2005 at Mahilpur, Punjab with 30 teams taking part in four different categories - club, college, school & women. The tournament is once more being organised by the Harbhajan Sporting Club.

11. January
10th National League - Calcutta: Mohun Bagan AC 0-0 Mahindra United - Goals: none.
Three time former champions Mohun Bagan AC held one of the title favourites Mahindra United to a goalless draw in their 10th National League opener at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. The match marked the return of Brazilian striker Jose Ramirez Barreto to Calcutta for the first time to face his former club Mohun Bagan, where he had had a number of successful seasons before leaving them in haste. Barreto was welcomed to the pitch by the Bagan fans as if he still was one of their players showing their appreciation for the Brazilian, who had won the club two of their NFL titles.
Lacklustre football was on display at the floodlit Saltlake Stadium as the home team took a defensive approach with coach Jahar Das having told his players to ensure that their former star Barreto did not get the ball in the danger zone. Mahindra was the better of the two sides on display with James Singh making a 30 yard effort in the 24.minute which was cleared by Bagan goalkeeper Subrata Pal. Pal had a good day under the bar, which will give him comfidence back after having been heavily criticised for a catastrophic display against East Bengal in the IFA-Shield in late-November. Bagan had their best chance in the 29.minute of a right-footer from captain Mehtab Hussain which went wide. Subrata Pal had to once more come into action when he in the 37.minute well covered the first post to disallow Jose Barreto a goal after he had beaten three Bagan players. Barreto could have sealed the match in the 74.minute, but once more was denied by towering Subrata Pal. In the end both sides played a cautious game with action confined mainly to the middle third.
MOHUN BAGAN: 12-Subroto Pal, 28-Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, 4-Anbalath Suliman Firoze, 20-Sanjeev Kumar Maria, 7-Tomba Singh, 16-Subashish Roy Chowdhury, 26-Mehraj Din Wadoo (76' 14-Basudeb Mondal), 8-Noel Wilson, 23-Mehtab Hussain, 19-Coffe Edem Agbessi (87' 10-Dipendu Biswas), 24-Sushil Kumar Singh (46' 9-Awudu Ibrahim).
MAHINDRA UTD: 24-Sandip Nandy, 27-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 3-Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, 14-Mahesh Gawli, 4-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 23-Steven Dias, 19-David Adjei (58' 28-Krishnan Nair Ajayan), 16-Lukram James Singh (88' 11-Subash Chakraborty), 6-Shanmugam Venkatesh, 8-Jose Ramirez Barreto, 10-Yusif Yakubu.
MAN of the MATCH: Subrata Pal (Mohun Bagan).
YELLOW CARD: Sanjeev Kumar Maria (87' Mohun Bagan).
REFEREE: Abdul Saleem (Delhi).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Goa: Fransa-Pax FC 0-0 JCT Mills - Goals: none.
Fransa-Pax FC held former champions JCT Mills to a goalless draw in their 10th National League opener at the Nehru Stadium, Margao.
It wasn't a match that many would like to remember with most of the action was confined to the midfield with little goalmouth action. Fransa-Pax seemed unable to create more chances, while JCT seemed happy with the one point in their opening match. JCT looked the more polished of the two sides, who did create some chances, but they were wasted. JCT striker Parveen Kumar, who had switched over to JCT from Punjab Police after many years with the Policmen, tested Fransa-Pax keeper Virender Singh on a number of occasions.
FRANSA-PAX: 21-Virender Singh, 5-Cresson Antao, 4-C Kuzhiyil Jiteesh, 27-Marcus Peixoto, 17-Augusto Monteiro, 11-Peter Rodrigues, 25-Santa Saikhom Singh, 10-Godwin Diego Franco, 16-Peter Carvalho, 9-Alex Mario Ambrose, 26-Ivan Fiel da Silva.
JCT MILLS: 22-Kalyan Chaubey, 2-Jaspal Singh, 24-Narinder Singh, 3-Julius Irabor Akpele, 12-Daljit Singh, 13-Baldeep Singh, 6-Sukhwinder Singh, 16-Marcos Pereira, 15-Renedy Singh, 17-Parveen Kumar, 20-Johnson Segun Banner.
MAN of the MATCH: Cresson Antao (Fransa).
YELLOW CARDS: none.
REFEREE: Subrata Sarkar (West Bengal).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Goa: Salgaocar SC 3-1 Air-India - Goals: 0-1 Sunil Thapa (9'), 1-1 Ashim Biswas (55'), 2-1 Samson Singh (69'), 3-1 Fabio dos Passos (79').
Former champions Salgaocar SC scored a comeback victory against promoted Air-India in a 10th National League match at the floodlit Nehru Stadium, Margao. It was the class of Salgaocar's Brazilian Fabio dos Passos, which made the turn around possible.
The Airmen from Mumbai, who a couple of weeks ago had won the Mumbai Super Cup against Mahindra United, took an early lead through striker Sumit Thapa of a pass from Paresh Shivalkar in the 9.minute. Air-India put the Salgaocar team initially under pressure and Salgaocar needed time to settle down. Things changed in the second half as Fabio took control of affairs in the middle. Salgaocar equalised in the 55.minute when striker Ashim Biswas headed in a cross from A Jyothi Kumar. It took them 14 further minutes to take the lead, when substitute striker Samson Singh headed in a Fabio cross from the right. Favio sealed the victory 11 minutes from time when he scored from just 20 yards out.
For new Salgaocar coach Savio Medeira it marked a successful return to his old club.
MAN of the MATCH: Fabio dos Passos (Salgaocar).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Chattisgarh 1-0 Uttaranchal
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Kerala 2-0 Himachal Pradesh
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Goa 2-0 Delhi
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group B: Indian Bank 6-0 Netaji SC
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group B: Madras Sporting Union 5-0 Customs & Excise, Tiruchi

Note-1: That lights go off during a football in India does seem to happen once in a while. The most famous one was the September 8, 2004 power failure in the 2006 World Cup qualifier between India and Japan. Thereafter the Saltlake Stadium lights went off once more during the 110th IFA Shield. This time the power failure happened at the Nehru Stadium, Margao in Goa.
With 13 minutes of play left in the 10th National League Goan-leg opener between champions Dempo SC and runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa yesterday, the lights went off in the tower over the West Stand. It took the engineer's over 20 minutes to get the lights on again before the match could be resumed. With many NFL matches to be held under lights in Goa, the GFA will try to ensure that such events do not reoccur, therefore they will hire a generator to keep on stand-by at the ground.

Note-2: Indian "Footballer of the Year" Climax Lawrence will be out for upto two month's due to a ligament tear. This is the result of Climax meeting Dr. Anand Joshi, India's No.1 sports medicine expert. For Dempo SC this is a further severe blow to their title defence campaign. Earlier injuries to Jose Colaco and Riston Rodrigues had already depleted the Dempo midfield, so coach Armando Colaco is forced to think about alternatives within the team.
Climax had injured himself in a Goa Professional League match against Churchill Brothers SC on December 29, 2005.

10. January
A lot of people have helped IndianFootball.Com become what it is today. We would like to thank all those people and have created an IndianFootball.Com Credits Page, where all people who have helped us since our humble beginnings in April 1998 are listed. We sincerely hope that we haven't forgotten anyone.
Some will surely question why have we put such a page together? It is quite simple, the IndianFootball.Com Team thought it should thank all those people who have made our daily work possible with useful inputs and have spend their time to enable us to keep you all uptodate. Also as a non-commercial operation we have never paid anyone any money for their help and support, while we spend our own money to keep the site running. And that all is for the love of the beautiful game of football!!!
Click here for the complete IndianFootball.Com Credits Page

10th National League - Calcutta: East Bengal Club 1-0 Mohammedan Sporting Club - Goal: 1-0 Baichung Bhutia (78').
Calcutta giants East Bengal Club began their 10th National League campaign with a somewhat fortunate victory over city rivals Mohammedan Sporting Club at the Saltlake Stadium as captain Baichung Bhutia turned saviour in the 78th minute with the only goal of the match. The all-important goal came after a defensive blunder by Wajid Ali allowed Baichung to gain possession of the ball and fire home the winner. The match got off to a colourful start when the referee S Suresh flashed the first yellow card in the 2nd minute of the match. Mohammedan Sporting troubled East Bengal repeatedly in the first half but squandered quite a few chances. The best chance of the half fell to Nigerian striker Patrick who had only the goalkeeper to beat but his shot sailed over the crossbar. Naseem Akhtar, the East Bengal goalkeeper, did not look comfortable at all and caused his team some chilling moments with a few schoolboy errors. Fortunately, no goal was conceded as a result of those errors. In the dying moments of the first half, with the Mohammedan goalkeeper Arindam Ghosh was stretchered off the ground, Gopal Das came to occupy his position under the crossbar. He was given a warm welcome by Jayanta Sen, RC Prakash and Syed Rahim Nabi in the form of incessant attempts on the Mohammedan goal.
In the second half, East Bengal took a firmer grip on the game with Alvito, Malswam Tulunga and Kulothungan making brilliant runs across the field. The deadlock was broken during one such attack when Baichung Bhutia capitalised on a mistake by Wajid Ali and scored the only goal of the match. However, just before the final whistle, Mohammedan Sporting got two chances to equalise following goalmouth scuffles but Fate was not on their side. Thus, East Bengal ended their opening match with three important points in the bag.
EAST BENGAL: 1-Naseem Akhtar, 19-Syed Rahim Nabi, 16-Covan Lawrence, 12-Anupam Sarkar, 29-Soumik Dey, 28-Shylo Malswam Tulunga, 7-Jayanta Sen, 9-Alvito D'Cunha, 11-Kalia Kulothungan, 25-RC Prakash (72' 32-Gauranga Dutta), 15-Baichung Bhutia.
MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING: 13-Arindam Ghosh (44' 1-Gopal Das), 2-Palash Karmakar, 16-Wajid Ali, 24-David Mkandawire (46' 26-Madhusudan Majumdar), 3-Madhab Das, 25-Mir Farooq Hyder, 18-Mohammed Mukhtar, 7-Bijen Singh, 15-Jiten Rai (70' 12-KP Zubair), 14-Okonji Onyelo Patrick, 8-Satyajit Bose.
MAN of the MATCH: Baichung Bhutia (East Bengal).
YELLOW CARDS: Jiten Rai (2'), Satyajit Bose (21'), Wajid Ali (66'), Madhab Das (88', all Mohammedan Sporting).
REFEREE: S Suresh (Tamil Nadu).
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

10th National League - Goa: Dempo SC 0-0 Sporting Clube de Goa - Goals: none.
Defending champions Dempo SC were held to a goalless draw by runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa in their opening 10th National League at the Nehru Stadium, Margao.
Sporting Clube where the better side on display today with Dempo missing a number of their key midfielders due to injury. But an impressive performance by Dempo goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal, who was later named "Man of the Match", denied Sporting Clube a sure win. Be it last seasons NFL top scorer and Sporting Clube captain MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi or his his fellow Nigerian striker Chidi Edeh, they found their master in Abhijit Mondal. Dempo had their best chance just before the breather when a Jules Alberto Dias shot was blocked by keeper Luis Xavier Barreto and Samir Naik's shot of the rebound was saved on the goalline by defender Vincent Pires.
It was the same after the breather with Sporting Clube missing chance after chance. Referee Komaleeswaran Shankar was forced to stop play 13 minutes before the end due to a power failure at the Nehru Stadium which forced one of the floodlight stands to go dark. After a more than 20 minute break the match continued, but the last 13 minutes were just played to be finished.
DEMPO: 1-Abhijit Mondal, 25-Pio Rodrigues (57' 5-Raju Singh), 2-Majekodunmi Bolaji (77' 4-Stanley Colaco), 28-D Ravanan, 24-Melwyn Rodrigues, 16-Samir Naik, 6-Jules Alberto Dias, 19-Johnny D'Cruz, 15-Clifford Miranda, 9-Ranty Martins Soleye, 11-Roberto Mendes Silva.
SPORTING CLUBE: 30-Luis Xavier Barreto, 21-Vincent Pires, 6-Philip Gomes, 24-David Leonel Suresh, 8-N Rajesh Meetei, 20-Adebayo Adewusi, 14-Wilton Gomes, 22-Joseph Pereira, 23-Bibiano Fernandes, 9-Chidi Edeh (77' 11-Nicolas Borges), 10-MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi.
MAN of the MATCH: Abhijit Mondal (Dempo).
YELLOW CARDS: Pio Rodrigues (10' Dempo); Wilton Gomes (14'), MacPherlin Dudu Omagbemi (86' both Sporting Clube).
REFEREE: Komaleeswaran Shankar (Tamil Nadu)
Detailed information and pictures are available at the >>IndianFootball.Com NFL Special.

5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group A: Integral Coach Factory 0-0 Tuticorin Port
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group A: Chennai Customs 6-1 St Joseph's College

Note-1: The AIFF president Das Munshi informed the media at the Saltlake Stadium today that the matches scheduled for the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta on January 18, 19 and 20 have been postponed indefinitely. The matches had to be postponed due to the West Bengal government unable to make police arrangements due to a CII Partnership Summit at the Saltlake Stadium complex. The concerned matches are East Bengal Club vs Fransa-Pax FC on January 18, Mohun Bagan AC vs JCT Mills on January 19, and Mohammedan Sporting Club vs Salgaocar SC on January 20.

Note-2: The Bangalore Super Division and 'A' Division leagues are both going to kickoff on Thursday, January 12. While the 10 team Super Division will end on February 25, the nine team 'A' Division will finish on February 18. All matches would be held at the Bangalore Football Stadium with 'A' Division matches to kickoff at 14.00 h and the Super Division matches at 16.00 h.
Click here for the Bangalore Super Division 2005/06 fixtures
Click here for the Bangalore 'A' Division 2005/06 fixtures

9. January
The start of the 10th National League is only a day away and IndianFootball.Com is happy to announce that our updated NATIONAL LEAGUE SPECIAL is finally online!
In the NATIONAL LEAGUE SPECIAL you will get all relevant infos on the NFL - news, teams, schedules, scores, pictures, etc.
So log on to the >>NATIONAL LEAGUE SPECIAL for full details.

10th National League preview:
India's top league is set to kickoff tomorrow for it's 10th season. A historic milestone for the NFL, which kicked-off under much fanfare in 1996 and had run through some difficult times and now it seems one can see the light at the end of the tunnel. With ONGC staying on as title sponsor and with Zee Sports coming in to cover the NFL extensively with at least 45 matches to be shown live, one can hope for better times ahead for Indian football and the NFL is the competition between India's top clubs which will hopefully work towards that goal. But if one sees the problems in the scheduling one would doubt if things are really looking better. One can only hope and pray for better times.
So who are the favourites to win the title? Who could get relegated?
For the first time in the NFLs history the Calcutta Maidan giants aren't amongst the top title contenders. This year all eyes will be on Mumbai giants Mahindra United, who have won the Federation Cup, India's version of the FA-Cup, earlier in the season. The Jeepmen are favourites to finally put their name on the NFL title roaster list. The club has the highest budget in India, it is professionally run with a solid management, a good and qualified coach in Derrick Pereira, and the best talent available is in the squad. Only Mahindra will have to prove that they can win a marathon league which runs over four month's. Mahindra's likely rivals are set to be Goan sides Dempo SC and Sporting Clube de Goa. The defending champions Dempo SC will want to prove that the title last year wasn't fluke, while Sporting Clube want to get rid of the chokers tag after loosing out on three possible titles at the last moment.
Who else could trouble those top sides is difficult to say. East Bengal would normally belong to the creme of Indian club football, but a not set team and then a new foreign coach cast a lot of doubts about their campaign. Archrivals Mohun Bagan are no better with foreign players coming, and going and things not really going right after an impressive start to the season with the Calcutta Premier League title. Punjab's lone entrant JCT Mills has strengthened their squad compared to last season, but the lack of competitive match practice and playing five away matches initially could make it tough. Salgaocar SC and Fransa-Pax FC are in somewhat similar situation as their Calcutta rivals. A team with potential, but unimpressive performances in the Goa Pro League have cast doubts about what they can achieve in this NFL. The one or the other of the above mentioned teams could have to fit relegation.
On the other side of the table promoted Mohammedan Sporting Club and Air-India are likely to fight for survival from the start of the league. Mohammedan Sporting sadly once more is embroiled in problems between management, coaching staff and players with unwanted interference from club officials. Air-India have a young, balanced side still they will need to pull up their socks, if they are going to stay in the NFL, but maybe they could be the surprise package of this league.
The 10th edition kicks-off with a match at the Saltlake Stadium between former champions East Bengal Club and promoted Mohammedan Sporting Club. The league will be inaugurated by the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya with a cultural programme to follow before the ball starts rolling. Later in the day, the top two sides from the last NFL edition, champions Dempo SC and runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa face-off at the Nehru Stadium, Margao in Goa.
The AIFF meanwhile was prepared to carry out random dope tests during the 10th NFL with the samples going to be send to Malaysia for testing. Which matches and players would be asked to come to the test was kept secret as otherwise it wouldn't be a random test.

4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Goa 2-2 Uttar Pradesh
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group B: Indian Bank 3-2 Customs & Excise, Tiruchi
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group B: Netaji SC 5-1 Madras Sporting Union

Note-1: Mohun Bagan AC after their preparatory camp in Durgapur announced a 24 member squad for the upcoming 10th National League. The club registered two new foreigners in Coffe Edem Agbessi from Benin and Ghanian Ibrahim from Abahani Krika Chakra in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bagan coach Jahar Das also included Mohun Bagan-SAIL Academy player Abhiraj Singh in his 24 member squad.
Meanwhile Chirag Computer has been signed by Mohun Bagan as co-sponsor for the rest of the 2005/06 season.
MOHUN BAGAN AC: Imran Khan, Subrata Pal, Prasanta Dora, Eduardo Chacon Coelho Lacerda, Anbalath Suliman Firoze, Sanjeev Kumar Maria, Abhiraj Singh, Manas Das, Subashish Roy Chowdhury, Dulal Biswas, Rajib Ahmed, Tomba Singh, Noel Wilson, Mehraj Din Wadoo, Mehtab Hussain, Dharamjit Singh, Chinmoy Sarkar, Manjit Singh, Basudeb Mondal, Dipendu Biswas, Jerry Jirsanga, Sushil Kumar Singh, Coffe Edem Agbessi, Ibrahim.

Note-2: Air-India coach Bimal Ghosh has strengthened his team ahead of the 10th National League opening match on July 11 in Goa against Salgaocar SC with two interesting signings. Ghanian utility man Suley Musah, who can play in defence and midfield, has signed for the Airmen after having been released by Mohammedan Sporting and not found good enough at his former club East Bengal. Also Air-India have been able to sign talented striker Soccor Velho on loan from Mumbai league rivals Golden Gunners.

8. January
4th Girls' under-19 National Championships, Rourkela - Group ?: Haryana 10-0 Kerala
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group A: Integral Coach Factory 2-1 St Joseph's College
5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament - Group A: Chennai Customs 2-2 Tuticorin Port

Note-1: The start of the 10th National League is a couple of days away. Three time former champions East Bengal Club face local rivals Mohammedan Sporting Club in the inaugural match at the Saltlake Stadium, Calcutta. The red-and-gold named their 20 member initial NFL squad including Anupam Sarkar, who has come on loan from EverReady SA; while seasoned IM Vijayan is missing and coach Philippe de Ridder left two foreigner spots open. Only Nigerian Mike Okoro is part of the NFL squad at the moment.
EAST BENGAL CLUB: Naseem Akhtar, Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Soumik Dey, Covan Lawrence, Debjit Ghosh, Anupam Sarkar, Debabrata Roy, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Sasthi Duley, Bernard Pires, Alvito D'Cunha, Kalia Kulothungan, Jayanta Sen, Gauranga Dutta, Dipankar Roy, Mike Okoro, Shylo Malswam Tulunga, Baichung Bhutia, Syed Rahim Nabi, RC Prakash.

Note-2: Promoted Mohammedan Sporting face an acid test when they face city rivals East Bengal in the 10th National League opener. Sporting today also nominated their 20 member squad including Zimbabwean defender David Mkandawire and Nigerian striker Okonji Onyelo Patrick.
MOHAMMEDAN SPORTING CLUB: Gopal Das, Arindam Ghosh, Kabijit Khotel, Bijay Basfore, Wajid Ali, David Mkandawire, Madhab Das, Madhusudan Majumdar, Mir Farooq Hyder, Mohammed Mukhtar, Palash Karmakar, Satyajit Bose, Bijen Singh, Anit Ghosh, Suman Dutta, Jiten Rai, Okonji Onyelo Patrick, Raman Vijayan, KP Zubair, Nitin Pradhan.

7. January
Note-1: The AIFF today announced the names of 28 probables for the INDIA U20 preparatory camp to be held at the SAI Southern Centre, Bangalore from tomorrow. The camp would be held under the watchful eyes of India Junior chief coach Islam Akhmedov. India will be hosting the Asian U20 Championships in October 2006, so as hosts special emphasis is being laid on the preparations of the INDIA U20 boys.
Coach Akhmedov has picked some of the very talented INDIA U17 boys like midfielder Hiralal Chetri and striker K Thoi Singh.
INDIA U20 Probables: Goalkeepers: Arindam Bhattacharjee (Tata Football Academy), Pawan Kumar (Chandigarh Football Academy), Avijit Ghosh (Tata Football Academy); Defenders: Hirohito Elangbam (Tata Football Academy), Rino Anto (Tata Football Academy), Rakesh Masih (Tata Football Academy), Naveen Kumar (Tata Football Academy), Poibang Poshna (Mohammedan Sporting Club); Midfielders: Hiralal Chhetri (Tata Football Academy), Bimal Minz (Tata Football Academy), Lalramluaha Hmar (Tata Football Academy), Lavino Fernandes (Goa), Lalramluaha (Mizoram), Baldeep Singh (JCT Football Academy), Baljit Singh (JCT Football Academy), Ong Tshering Lepcha (Sikkim); Forwards: Branco Vincent Cardozo (Tata Football Academy), Beevan D'Mello (Salgaocar SC), Clifton Rodrigues (Goa), Khangembamthoi Singh (Manipur), Shafique (Kerala); Unknown positions: John Rodrigues (Goa), Lakshmikant Kattimani (Goa), Reisenga Vasum (Manipur), Zaidinmavia Hmar (Mizoram), Ajay Kherwa (Haryana), Babu Prakash (Karnataka), Jagabandhu Mopi (Orissa).

6. January
Note-1: The AIFF president Das Munshi was in Kochi, Kerala today and held a press conference were he informed the media about a few things regarding Kerala.
The AIFF is said to be looking at Kochi or Calicut as potential venues to host Saudi Arabia in the Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers on August 16 this year. Elsewhere the cities of Delhi and Bangalore have been named as potential venues for the three Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers Group A homes matches.
The Kerala FA proposal of setting-up an international standard Football Academy has been approved by the AIFF, but the project could only take-off if the Kerala State Government gave the required land. About six acres of land would be needed for the project and the AIFF would be willing to bear 50 percent of the project costs. The Kerala Sports Minister, who happened to be there at the press meet, said that the State was willing to give the land in Kochi for the project and that it would identify an appropriate plot.

Note-2: Today, Mahindra United appointed a Team Analyst for their upcoming campaign in the 10th National League, informed us their Manager Henry Menezes. Mumbai-based Sujay Sharma, who is also an IndianFootball.Com editor, will be executing this role for the Jeepmen. "This should help us to assess and improve our own performances, and at the same time get more insights into our opponents," said Mr. Menezes.

Note-3: The 5th Tamil Nadu State Ranking Tournament will be held in Chennai from January 8 to 17, 2006. The eight participating teams have been split into two groups of four teams each. Former NFL side Indian Bank are the defending champions.
Group A: Integral Coach Factory, Chennai Customs, Tuticorin Port, St Joseph's College (Tiruchi). Group B: Indian Bank, Madras Sporting Union, Netaji SC, Customs and Excise (Tiruchi).

Note-4: The 10th Assam Club Championships will be held from January 28 to February 11, 2006 in Hailakandi. The tournament had been postponed from it's original dates of late-December/early-January due to the festive season. In total 18 teams from across Assam will be taking part with the four teams - Assam State Electricity Board, Assam Rifles, Oil India Limited and Assam Police Blues being seeded into the quarterfinals. The other 14 teams are Behora TE (Bokakhat), Global Academy (Gossaigaon), India Club (Silchar), Nepathya Club (Jorhat), Dimakuchi Club (Bhergaon), Sporting Union (Hailakandi), Young Star Club (Tinsukia), Uday Sangha( Nagaon), YMC (Karimganj); Moran Town Club (Charaideo); Nehru Athletic Club (Nalbari), SAI SC (Golaghat), Town Club (Titabar), 2nd Assam Special Reserve Force (Karbi Anglong).
The opening match would be between Sporting Union, Hailakandi and Dimakuchi Club.

5. January
At a press conference in the capital New Delhi today the AIFF president Das Munshi informed the media about the upcoming 10th National League. Oil major ONGC will continue to be the title sponsor of the 10 team NFL with the sponsorship amount being around Rs 50 million. The league will be played under the name "ONGC Cup National Football League" with the total prize money remaining at Rs 11 million (approximately USD 250,000) for the top six teams. The champions would take home Rs 4 million, the runners-up would get Rs 2,2 million, while the third place team would receive Rs 1,6 million. Further the fourth placed team would get Rs 900,000, the fifth-placed team Rs 600,000 and the sixth-placed team Rs 300,000. Further each league win would bring the participating teams Rs 30,000 with the Fair Play Trophy worth Rs 100,000. The highest goal scorer would get the golden boot award and Rs 50,000.
With the NFL reduced to 10 teams this season only 90 matches would be played in two phases. In the first phase from January 10 to February 9 the Rounds 1 to 8 would be played, 40 matches in total; while the second phase would be held from March 12 to May 14 with the remaining 50 matches of the Rounds 9 to 18 played in the two month period. The five week break was necessary due to international commitments of the national team and the AFC Cup matches of Dempo SC and Mahindra United.
The opening day fixtures have two local derbies in Calcutta and Goa on the cards. In the inaugural match of the league on January 10 East Bengal Club take on Mohammedan Sporting Club infront of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Calcutta, while defending champions Dempo SC face runners-up Sporting Clube de Goa in Goa.
At per current plans matches would be played in Calcutta, Goa, Mumbai and Ludhiana; but if matches cannot be held, then matches would be held at the neutral/alternative venues Delhi, Bangalore and Calicut. Mumbai seems to be a major problem due to the state of the Cooperage ground and the AIFF president said he was talking to the Cricket Club of India president Raj Singh Dungarpur to allow football matches to be held at the Brabourne Stadium, where normally Cricket is held.
After having covered the Federation Cup and Santosh Trophy live, Zee Sports will continue to show Indian football matches live. The channel plans to show at least 45 of the 90 matches live with the high quality it has shown so far. But the AIFF president Das Munshi added that he hoped that Doordarshan would show some of the matches as well.

We at IndianFootball.Com have also been able to get our hands on the fixtures of the Rounds 1 to 8 of the 10th NFL released by the AIFF. A heavy schedule of eight matches in about a month's time for all 10 participating clubs.
There are slight chances to the fixtures in Mumbai due to the state of the Cooperage ground.