HAL defeats Pune FC

It was a day to remember for the football fans of Bangalore. City giants HAL, defeated Pune FC, and entered the final rounds of the Federation Cup 2008. It was a combined effort of tight defence, operating midfield, and sharp attack to overcome the challenge of Pune FC.

HAL got the better of their opponent in every department the game. They dominated the proceeding right from the beginning. Veteran war horse, RC Prakash scored the most important goal in the 38th minute of the match. Local lad, RC Prakash, who is back to Bangalore after playing eight seasons for different clubs in Kolkata and Goa, started his career for ITI.

The combination of captain, Xavier Vijay Kumar and RC Prakash really played well and entertained the crowd. Pune FC tried hard to come back to the game with some goods work from hard working Kamal Thapa. Mid fielder, Asim Hassan tried some lovely long rangers, which missed the goal by a whisker.

Teams
HAL: 30-Amar Deb; 8- Xavier Vijay Kumar (90'+4', 15-Satish Jr), 6-Satish Kumar; 14-Rajendra Prasad; 9-Dada Nabeel; 18-Goutam Debnath; 17-RC Prakash (75', 7-Karthigayan); 2-Sumit Thapa; 4-Naveen Babu; 26-Joseph Femi Adeola; 10-Fredrik Okwagbe

Pune FC: 1-Balaji Narsimhan; 2-Othallo Tabia; 3-Caitano Costa; 4-Kamal Thapa; 6-S Venkatesh; 7-M Sudeesh (61', 18-Crispin Chettri) 8-Asim Hassan; 10-Jeje Lalpekhlwa; 15-Lalrojama (59' 9-Santa Kumar); 27-Chika Wali; 28-Gobin Sewaram (79' Sandesh Gadkari)

Yellow card: 85' Kamal Thapa

Referee: G Thambiraj
Assistant referee: Nazir Ahmad, Kamil

Salgaonkar through to the next round

Salgaonkar overcame the challenge of BEML and entered the final ofpreliminary round. Enjoying the home support, the local outfit BEMLstarted well by taking a lead with Prakash's goal. Salgaonkar cameback strongly after conceding the goal. The equalizer, an outcome ofexcellent one touch football by the center-half and the forwards,fooled BEML's defence, and finally Bijen Singh netted the ball to thegoal.

BEML exerted pressure at the begining of the of the second half.Winger Gopi mand some excellent moves with many goal-mouth centers.Jotin Singh's powerful shot was saved by keeper Moraes in the 55thminutes. Coach Bhowmik made a clever move, by replacing tired Bungo Singh with Anthoy. The winner for Salgaonkar came in the 59th minute,Bijen Singh's powerful center addressed to Antony, and striker IvenD'Silva made no mistake to place Antony's cross to the goal. IvenD'Silva later displayed some amazing touches and missed a sitter in84th minute.

Team
Salgaonkar: 31-Moares; 28-Du; 8-Agnelo Colaso; 18-Denzil Franco;17-Biju Kumar; 7-Bungo Singh (57', 9-Anthony); 30-Francis (84',14-Jerosu); 16-Bijen Singh; 10-Iven Da'Silva (90+2', 11-Anil Kumar);27-Beevan Demello; 32-Cajetn F
BEML: 22-Rajan; 2-Ricky Joy; 3-Shivamani; 4-Obinna Winners; 9-Prakash;7-Gopi; 6-Md. Dadakhalandar; 8-Sanath Kumar; 10-Jotin Singh (66'15-Govinda); 11-Samuel Jackson; 17-Deepak (78', 13-Wilfred);
Yellow cards:
Salgaonkar: Francis, Bijen Singh
BEML: Obinna Winners, Gopi, Jotin Singh, Wilfred

Refree: Thambiraj
Assistant Refree: Amjad Khan, Nazir Ahmad

BEML beats Indian Bank, through to the next round

A spirited display of attacking football in the second half ensured local outfit, BEML to go through to the semi final of the Federation Cup 2008 group A qualifier.
The first half proved to be a dull affair with both the teams tried to gain lead by taking futile long rangers. However, the last minute of the first half, almost proved fatal for Indian Bank when a valiant move from BEML import, Samuel Jackson, who passed the ball to Ramana Kumar, and Ramana's shot only found the woodwork.
The second half belonged to BEML as they displayed attacking football right from the start. Orchestrated by Samuel Jackson, BEML made repeated attempts to the goalmouth but failed to convert one. It was only in the 65th minute, when the opportunistic Md. Dadakhalandar scored the opener. Two minutes later, another goal from Gopi sealed the game for BEML. Bankmen tried hard to come back into the game in the dying moments, but in vain.
BEML will meet Salgaocar Sports Club on Saturday, November 22
Teams:
BEML, Bangalore: 22-Rajan; 2-Ricky Joy (81', 15-Govinda); 3-Shivamani; 4-Obinna Winners; 9-Prakash; 7-Gopi (87', 12-Wilfred); 6-Md. Khalandar; 8-Sanath Kumar; 14-Tiken Singh; 10-Jotin Singh; 11-Samuel Jackson
Indian Bank, Chennai: 30-Udayshankar; 2-Prathiban; 21-Ignatius Sanga Satish; 19-Hemanta Singh; 16-Bengkok Nameirakpam; 8-Gunasekhar; 5-Manikandan (70', 14-Rocky Philem); 9-David (89', 24-Kartikayan); 6-Nirmal Kumar (80', 3-Rajasekhar); 10-Elamueragan; 7-Fredy
Refree: Amjad Khan
Assistants refree: Md. Kamil, Nazir Ahmad

Football action returns to Bangalore

There is some good news for the football lovers in Bangalore. After making news for all sorts of wrong reasons, the Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA) league is going all set to start in December.

But before that the soccer fans would witness some national-level football action when the top clubs lock horns for the 30th Federation Cup qualifier. Bangalore Football Stadium will host the qualifying matches for Group A and B from November 20 to 28.

Issuing a press release on Tuesday, the Karnataka State Football Association (KSFA) general secretary, Krishna Narayana stated that the state association is apparently trying hard to kick-start the football activity.

The release further stated that the office of the newly constituted BDFA committee met the KSFA officials to discuss the BDFA league including Super, A, B, and C divisions scheduled to commence from December.

Meanwhile, Krishna Narayana also said that the new committee headed by M P Swamy will meet shortly and KSFA has assured full support.

KSFA announced that football activities in the state would kick-start with the inter-district football tournament to be held in Mangalore from Nov. 13-18.