After their convincing victory over Air India, the Lajong FC boys are ready to take on Mohun Bagan.
On the eve of the match between Shilong Lajong FC and Mohun Bagan, IndianFootball.com talked to Stanley Rozario, coach, Shilong Lajong FC.
Stanley touch based on the following points:
Confidence factor in this match
- Our boys had a big win at home against Air India and we are ready to face Bagan.
- But all said Mohun bagan is after all Mohun bagan!
- Even though they are not getting the service of Barretto, yet they are a formidable side with competent bench strength.
- Also, their recent win at the Kolkata derby has boosted their morale.
High altitude home advantage
- I do not agree on the high-altitude thing, a match is a match, and the professional players have to perform.
- Bagan consists of many players from NorthEast. Surkumar Singh, James Singh, Tomba Singh, and Genius Zenith are all experienced in playing in high altitude condition.
- Moreover, the weather here is chilly unlike the any other I-League venues, and the players will be comfortable playing in such soothing condition.
Chief custodian Gumpe Rime’s absence
- Gumpe absense won’t deter much, our other goalies are also good.
- Marus Basutarari is an experience keeper and so is R Lalthuammawia, who has already played against Sporting Club de Goa in the I-League.
- Will take the decision on fielding either of these two keepers tomorrow, just before the match.
Mission to visit Kolkata to see Mohun Bagan’s game (at the derby match against East Bengal on Sunday, October 25
- Was there as a spectator (winks)!
- I always do that, like to take notes on the opposition. Have even done that before the Air India match (East Bengal - Air India match was played at Kolkata).
- I’ve shared my observation with the team and accordingly the team has worked on it.
- You can say that the planning part is done it is up to how the players execute in the field. (laughs)
Former India goalkeeper Debasish Mukherjee will be in charge of training Pune FC’s last line of defense.
Debasish Mukherjee has started his stint with the team today. On Thursday, October 28, Pune FC takes up the mighty challenge of the winner of the last edition, Churchill Brothers at the latter’s home turf at Goa.
Talking to the IndianFootball.com, Debasish Mukherjee sounded enthusiastic! He is just out from his initial training session with the PuneFC keepers.
He iterated that it too early and too difficult for him to comment on a subject which is just one session old. “Ideally it should take few sessions to comment on something”, said the former keeper.
The Pune FC management has not done any formal contract with Debasish Mukherjee till date. They want so see how Mukherjee integrates with the team and yields better result.
Talking to the IndianFootball.com, General Manager, Dr. B Ashok Kumar sounded optimistic, “We are definitely on the right direction. Paul stressed on having a full-time goal keeping coach and we have it in the form of Debasish.”
“Debasish will train the guys for few weeks, till November 13, (round 5 thru round 8)”, said Dr. Ashok Kumar.
Mukherjee, who was one of the most consistent performers for over a decade, had represented India in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Also, he holds the world record for clocking the longest time being undefeated under the bar.
Last season, Debasish Mukherjee had a similar stint with East Bengal. His association with India’s (and Pune FC’s) numero uno goalkeeper Subrata Paul goes a long way. Paul regards Mukherjee highly and considers him his mentor.
Earlier, when Subrata Paul was going through some torrid times, Debasish Mukherjee imparted technical and mental support, and now we have all witnessed how Subrata Paul has surfaced much better as a person and goalkeeper.
Come Sunday, August 30, Brazilian Eduardo Escober or popuarly Edu will don the black and white colors, and turn out for Mohammedan Sporting against Lajong F C, Shillong in the IFA Shield.
Edu played for JCT Mills, Ludhiana in the last two seasons. He was a goal machine for JCT Mills in his first season in the I-league 1st division, however, he failed to keep the same momentun in last season, and later released from JCT Mills.
Edu embarked in Kolkata two days ago and was waiting for his formal clearence from his previous club. He joined the practice session today and later completed the signing formalities in the IFA tent.
Edu exuded confidence in today’s practice session – be it converting goals from the dead ball situations or creating passes to his fellow strikers. He was quite satisfied with his own performance, but reckoned that it will take another month to reach to his prime form.
Coach, Shabbir Ali expressed his satisfaction in Edu’s form. In the IFA Shield, Mohammedan Sporting will go out to play with two foreigners, Brazillian Edu and Nigerian Peter Odafe.
Breather for Snehasis
The IFA, today reduced the penalty ammount of Snehasis from Rs. 200,000 to Rs. 50,000. He is now free to play for the Green and Maroon brigade. Earlier, in a highly debatable decision, the IFA Players’ Status Committee penalized the mid-fielder for forging his signature in the contract paper. Interestingly, Snehasis’ previous club, East Bangal was given a clean chit by the committee.
Jeje Lal Pekhlua, Lal Rozama, and Ajinkya Desai of Pune Football Club (FC) have been called up for the final selection of the junior camp to be held at Goa.
Senior Pune FC team members, Jeje Lal Pekhlua and Lal Rozama will attend the National under-19 camp and under-17 Pune FC team member, Ajinkya Desai will attend the National under-16 camp.
The under-19 team will participate in the AFC Championship qualifiers in November and the under-16 team will participate in the AFC Championship qualifiers at Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi in October this year.
Interestingly, all the 3 players have been a part of Pune FC since inception. This is indeed a great day for Pune FC, who has taken up the youth development program with utmost sincerity.
East Bengal started their initial practice match on the soil of Myanmar on a spoilt note.
East Bengal lost to Yadanarbon FC by 2-1, the match was played on Sunday, August 16 at the Bahtoo Stadium, Mandalay. The visitors were leading by a goal from Harmanjot Khabra, however, they failed to hold the lead and went on conceding two goals at the later part of second half.
In their second practice match on Wednesday, August 19, East Bengal will play against Yangon United FC at the Aung San Stadium, Yangon. This team is the current runner-up of the Myanmar National League Cup 2009.
East Bengal fans would sincerely hope Subhas Bhowmik’s boys would put up much better show ahead of the long football season.
Mohun Bagan won their 4th practice match against a local team on August 15 in Burdwan, 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Kolkata.
Chiddi Edeh (2) and Suraj Mondal scored for Bagan. The local team compromised of few footballers who play in the Kolkata Premier League.
Meanwhile, Mohun Bagan might shift venue for the second phase of their pre-season camp. Earlier, they had planned for a 5-day camp at Durgapur, 182 kilometers (113 miles) from Kolkata. However, Bagan coach Karim was not impressed by the ground conditions at Durgapur and requested the club management for a location close to Kolkata, which provides better quality ground.
Team might opt to practice in Shantiniketan, 180 kilometers (112 miles) from Kolkata.
Settling down on the plains after their pre-season camp at the hills in North Bengal, Mohun Bagan kicked-off their parctice match on a decent note.
Playing against the Army XI on Thursday, August 13, Mohun Bagan won by 3-0. The goal scorers were Chidi Edeh, Tomba Singh, and Suraj Mondal. Bagan was leading by a solitary goal in the first half.
Shantha Kumar and foreign recruit Chidi played well for Mohun Bagan. Chidi had put several crosses, which was wasted by the strikers.
Mohun Bagan played much better in the second half after the introduction of Tomba Singh, Snehasish Chakraborty, and Suraj Mondal.
On Tuesday, August 11, Mohun Bagan won their first practice match against Calcutta Customs by 2-0, Snehashis Chakraborty and Biswajit Saha scored the goals for Bagan.
Talking to IndianFootball.com, Coach Karim expressed his satisfaction over team’s performance. However, he recons there are areas of minor concern, which he would like to set straight before his team gets into the business in IFA Shield.
Squad for the first-half against Army XI: Sangram Mukherjee, Karan Atwal, Anandvasan, Sangram Mandi, Biswajit Saha, Ishfaq Ahmed, Manish Mathani, Subho Kumar, Santha Kumar, Kartick Kisku, Chidi Edeh.
As India gets ready to defend their title for the Nehru cup, the tournament has now reduced to a mere 5-team competition.
At first, it was Thailand who expressed their inability to send their senior team and requested the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to include their under-19 team for the tournament. However, AIFF rejected the idea, and roped in Palestine as the sixth team.
Now there was more twist in the tale - Palestine Football Association Association had different ideas, rather than fielding their full strength national squad they decided to field a club team. Quite understandably, AIFF dropped the Palestine team from the tournament.
This is an absolute insult to the tournament, which was once regarded as the best football tournament in Asia and ranked 18th in the World.
Nehru Cup was launched in 1982 with much fanfare. In the 80s, Nehru Cup truly lived up to its potential. Football lovers in India got a chance to see quality football from Argentina, Uruguay, Russia (erstwhile USSR), Poland, and Hungary.
World Cuppers like Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay, 1982), Jorge Luis Burruchaga (Argentina, 1984), Neri Pompidou (Argentina, 1984), Laszlo Kiss (Hungary, 1984), Rinat Dasayev (Russia) displayed their football skills in India.
India, though, most of the time was in the receiving end, but played some exemplary football against the tough opponents - against Uruguay in 1983, Argentina in 1984, and Poland in 1988.
Under the tutelage of great Yugoslav coach Ciric Milovan, India perhaps played the best ever football against Argentina in 1984. India was successful in defending the Argentine attack till the 79th minute. World Cup winning coach, Carlos Bilardo, coached the Argentine team. Apparently, it was the same team that formed the nucleus of the successful World Cup campaign in 1986. The Argentina team in the 1984 Nehru Cup had World Cuppers like Jorge Luis Burruchaga, Neri Pompidou, and Sergio Batista.
Another unforgettable match was against the mighty Poland team in 1988. Amal Dutta's team was dominating the proceedings and was leading by a goal in the first half. Poland somehow managed to level score at the later part of second half.
In the 90s, Nehru Cup started loosing its sheen as AIFF settled for relatively lesser known teams. Nehru Cup was an annual event till 1989, later it became a biennial event due to scarcity of funds. The tournament was shelved after 1997 owing to lack of sponsorship and other matters. The tournament resurfaced in 2007 as ONGC Nehru Cup.
It was our current national coach Bob Houghton’s influence that helped to revive the Nehru Cup in 2007 and India emerged victorious. However, the revived version had less ranked teams. Most people had seen this more of a deliberate ploy as to improve FIFA rankings. Rather than fighting and going down to the high-ranked teams, one would expect India to win against teams similar or lesser in FIFA ranking.
Teams like Thailand (117) and Palestine (177) does not have great FIFA rankings, yet AIFF has failed to plan and make use of the FIFA international calendar.
A new trend started in the last few seasons - Pre-season training camp. What is this training camp all about?
Currently, almost all the I-League teams, both the 1st and 2nd division second teams are going through the pre-season training camp. And guess what, most team prefers to carry out their pre-season training camp outside the regular places - locations where one would least expect a football team camping for couple of weeks.
So, if East Bangal chooses a serene beach resort in the outskirts of Puri, then the arch-rival Mohun Bagan chooses a hill resort encapsulated by fog, some 18 km away from the hill station Kalimpong. If Pune Football Club feels that the artificial grasses in Goa are good for their pre-season campaign, then Mohammedan Sporting feels that training on the loose sands of the Digha beach would help the players for the coming season.
I am not going to delve into the technicalities of pre-season training camp, but the basic essence of conducting a pre-season training camp are as follows:
- Fitness training
Players resume their club after a long vacation, it is important for them to be in good physical condition. This training enables them to bring back their fitness level in shape.
- Endurance training
A calculated way of exercising to increase the stamina. Endurance training strengthens and help build muscles. Classic example of endurance training would be a 5-km run across the beach or through the hilly terrains. - Team bonding
Another important aspect, which is highly emphasised these days. Different players embarking to the club from different parts of the country, globe, etc. This is the right time to understand each other and gel as a cohesive unit. Excellent off the field understanding among the players’ definetely helps the team in the field.
Apart from the technical aspects there are also other aspects involved when you are conducting a pre-season training camp outside the club – a strong sense of community bonding.
A classic example to this is Mohun Bagan pre-season training to Kalimpong. Nobody has ever heard that Kalimpong boasts of excellent football facilities. However, this hill town’s geographical location is ideal for fitness and endurance training. Team management wisely chose a resort, which is away from the Kalimpong city, idyll, and not visited by the tourists at this part of the year. Even after a strenuous training session, the team nicely integrated with the local folks. The locals celebrated Rakhi Dore, (Rakhsha Bandhan) with the team and presented local souvenirs to the team followed by some cultural program. A Kodak football moment of peace and integration!Later when Mohun Bagan turned out to play a friendly match against the local club, there were around 8000-odd spectators who flocked to the stadium ignoring heavy rain and stormy weather. Mohun Bagan club secretory, Anjan Mitra reciprocated a similar feeling by contributing the match gate fee for the development of football in Kalimpong.
As the team prepares to leave Kalimpong tomorrow, they have won the hearts of the locals. Now, it is up to the decision of the management to leverage the momentum generated by the pre-season camp. Maybe they can induct few local talents in their academy, MBSFA or play an exhibition match to encourage the local football.
Very similar thing was planned by Chirag United for their pre-season training camp at Murshidabad, local aspiring footballers would have benefited a lot. Unfortunately, their stay was reduced only to 3-days.Final take
Lest we get overboard with the *other aspects* of the pre-season training camps, it is football what matters. You make new friends, win the heart of locals, all that are fine. But, ultimately all boils down to a 90-minute game.Let’s hope the coaches and the footballers utilized the pre-season camp to the fullest. Players are refreshed, toned up, and fully fit and ready to display an entertaining game of football in the coming season.
You request for pension to the highest football body of the country and in response you get a grant of meagre Rs.25,000.
All the 9 surviving players out of the 18-member Indian football team, who helped India to reach through the semi-finals of the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne had decided to return their grant sent by the AIFF.
A couple of months back, the footballers from the golden-era had requested the AIFF to provide pension to the former footballers, very similar to the initiative taken by the highest cricket body of India, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). However, in return all the Olympians had received a cheque of Rs.25,000 as a grant from the AIFF Secretory, Alberto Colaco.
This action by AIFF has upset the veteran players, they are hurt by the use of the term "grant". The players feel that they have played for the nation and they do not require any kind of grant.
The surviving players who represented India at the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne are Samar (Bardu) Banerjee (Captain), Tulsidas Balaram, Nikhil Nandy, PK Banerjee, Krishna Chandra (Kesto) Pal, Ahmed Hussain, Shankar Narayan, Mohammad Zulfikaruddin, and Mohammad Abdus Salam.
Darling of the Mariners, Jose Ramirez Barreto's injury has forced himself to be out of the IFA Shield action.
Barreto had picked this calf-muscle injury on his right leg while he was in Brazil. At Kalimpong, during the pre-season he felt the pain again, didn’t want to aggrevate the injury, and refrained himself from practicing.
Coach Kareem does not want to take risk right at the start of the season and wants Barreto to take proper medical attention so that he will be fully fit for the long and exhaustive I-League.
Barreto returns to Calcutta today. He will go through a thorough medical test including few physiotherapy sessions.
Barreto is visibly upset about the entire incident, but he vouches that he will be back in action at the earliest for the sake of the team.
The Red and Golden brigade has opted for sea, the Mariners have opted for misty clad mountain, and now it is Bay of Bengal for the Black and White brigade.
Mohammedan Sporting has started phase two of their pre-season camp at Digha, a seaside town at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal, 183 km from Calcutta.
A couple of weeks back, Mohammedan Sporting had kicked-off their pre-season campaign at the club ground. However, to stress on the fitness level and the team spirit among the footballers the team management has decided to hold a residential camp.
This year's team is a heady mixture of youth and experience. Big club veterans, Dipendu Biswas, Dipankar Roy, and Sashti Duley will be turning out for Mohammedan Sporting this time along with foreigners Theodore Sunday Wrobeh and Peter Odafe. The team has almost retained the newcomers from last year.
"Training on the sand should increase the fitness level, also, the hotel is equipped with gymnasium and swimming pool", reckons Coach Shabbir Ali.
Old warhorse, Dipendu Biswas fully obliged to coach's view. He feels that such a camp of 12-14 days would do a world for good for the players.
After the Cobra training by East Bengal and Mongoose training by Mohun Bagan, let us wait and watch what's Shabbir's team up to!
What would a soccer player do at his spare time? Spend quality time with his family, help the football coaching camp at his neighbourhood, work as a commentator for a sports channel, or double up as a columnist for a news daily.
But one would never think of a translating a 280-odd-page book in his playing heydays and that too on a topic, which is remotely related to football. That’s Kalyan Chaubey for you, TFA graduate, former national keeper, and currently on the rolls of Mumbai FC.
Kalyan has translated an entire book from English to Bengali (his first language) on the daily life of Sai Baba of Shirdi, miraculous Guru and Yogi who is regarded by his followers as an incarnation of god. He has achieved this feat with any assistance from co-authors.
This is indeed a great achievement, may Sai Baba bestow his blessings to you!
Amidst much fanfare, the National Club of India celebrated Mohun Bagan day on July 29. The event also witnessed the Mohun Bagan Ratna being conferred to the Olympian, former captain of Mohun Bagan and National team, Samar (Badru) Banerjee.
Seemed like the football roads were all leading to the Mohun Bagan ground. It was a galaxy of sorts, where the current, budding, and former footballers from past seven decade blessed the occasion. Not to forget the thousands of Mohun Bagan fans who were present at the Mohun Bagan tent to celebrate the famous win of 1911.
This win naturally ignites the pride and passion among the players as well as fans over the years. 
The Mohun Bagan tent and the club lawn were all decked up for the occasion along with the bright green and maroon lights. A huge stage was put at at the right side of the ground, where the felicitation ceremony, cultural extravaganza, and dinner ceremony took place.
The event kicked off with a series of exhibition football matches. U-13 teams of Veterans Club and Mohun Bagan Club locked their horns. The match had all its excitement but ended in a goal less draw.
The next match was played between the former Mohun Bagan players, Shib Das Bhaduri XI vs Bijoy Das Bhaduri XI. Both football legends who had donned the colors of Mohun Bagan and above all the winning member of the epic 1911 IFA Shield. Such was the excitement of the match that a total of 85 footballers were divided into two teams. The players from the 50’s to the 90s, all exibited their fine skills and reminded of the glorious past of Calcutta football. Finally, Bijoy Das Bhaduri XI got the better of his sibling team, Shib Das Bhaduri XI, and worn the match 3-2.
The name of the few players who played the match includes, Kannan, Syed Nayeemuddin, Shibaji Banerjee, Jo Paul Ancheri, Pranab Ganguly, Abdul Khaleq, Achintya Belel, Sukhen Sengupta, Gouranga Banerjee, Sudip Chakraborty, Uttam Mukherjee, Hemanta Dora, Pradip Talukdar, Krishnagopal Chowdhury, Gunabir Singh, Amit Das, Saumitra Chakraborty. 
The final exhibition match was played between the Artist Forum XI and the Sports Journalist XI. Also, this match between the amateurs was a closely contested match, and ended in a 1-1 draw.
The members of the Mohun Bagan fans club had organized a photo exhibition of the club's history, former and current players along with some memorable moments of Mohun Bagan Ratna, Samar (Badru) Banerjee.
Football legends, Sailen Manna, P. K. Banerjee, and Chuni Goswami witnessed the entire proceedings. The legends rose to the stage to give away the much-coveted Mohun Bagan Ratna to Samar (Badru) Banerjee. Also, on the same stage the officials took the opportunity to introduce each of the players and the coaching staff for the current season to the fans and members. 
Also present in the occassion were the Mohun Bagan coach, Karim Benchariffa, IFA secretary Utpal Ganguly, CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya, and numerous other players who have made Mohun Bagan proud.
Photo courtesy: Tridip Sheet and Sumanta Mishra
What could have been a nice built up for the upcoming football season, turned out to be a damp squib. Chirag United's pre-season camp at the historic town of Murshidabad came to a pre-mature end and the team has shifted their base to Kalyani, 65 km from Kolkata.
Excessive power cut has been the main reason to shift the camp from Murshidabad to Kalyani. Chirag United will hold a four week camp at Kalyani; pre-season camp at Murshidabad lasted only for a week.
Team management chose to practice at the serene location of Lalbag, which lies close to the bank of river Baghirathi. However, after six hours of strenuous practice session (three hours each in the morning and evening), players were not able to sleep properly due to power cut. To top it up, there were disturbances from mosquitoes and other insects.
This decision has deprived the local budding talents, who could have learned a lot by witnessing the quality practice sessions from Chirag United.
The recent spate of controversies cannot be a good enough reason to dampen the spirits of the Mohun Bagan fans as they prepare themselves to celebrate Mohun Bagan day.
Though Mohun Bagan Athletic Club was established in the year 1889, but Mohun Bagan day is celebrated on July 29, the day when the club defeated the mighty East Yorkshire Regiment by 2 – 1 to lift the IFA Shield back in 1911. Mohun Bagan was the first Indian club to have won the IFA Shield.
This year’s Mohun Bagan Ratna will be conferred to Samar (Badru) Banerjee, footballer Olympian, former captain of India and Mohun Bagan.
The club is organizing the following exhibition matches to celebrate the occasion:
- Mohun Bagan under-13 Junior Team vs. Veterans Sports Club under-13 Junior Team
- Match between the former players of the club
- Calcutta Sports Journalists Club vs Artists’ Forum
The matches will start at 1 pm in the club ground.
Later in the evening, Mohun Bagan Ratna will be the main attraction along with other cultural programme. The proceedings will conculde with a sumptous gala dinner.
Come the month of August, the students of Mohun Bagan-SAIL Football Academy (MBSFA) will get a new coach in Jo Paul Ancheri. The former National Senior captain has agreed to take this assignment.
MBSFA, a joint venture between Mohun Bagan and Steel Authority of India is situated in Durgapur, West Bengal.
Ancheri started his football career with State Bank of Travancore (SBT) in 1992. Later he went on playing for almost all the leading football clubs in India, Mohun Bagan, JCT, FC Cochin, East Bengal, etc. He retired as a player few seasons back.
Recently, Ancheri has taken up football coaching and was associated with the National under-13 as an assistant coach and manager.
Ancheri entertained the football lovers by playing in various positions, defender, defensive midfielder, midfielder, and striker.
IndianFootball.com wishes him luck for the new endeavor. May many more Ancheris emerge under his tutelage!
The endeavor, which was started by the National Club of India, Mohun Bagan and the largest integrated iron and steel producer in India, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Mohun Bagan-SAIL Football Academy (MBSFA), celebrated their 6th anniversary on Monday, July 20.
Mohun Bagan is perhaps the only club in India to run a full-fledged residential football academy. MBSFA is located at the industrial town of Durgapur, 113 miles from Kolkata. 
The colorful celebration was kicked-off by the flag hoisting ceremony by Mr. Jeebesh Mishra, ED, Durgapur Steel Plant, SAIL.
Displaying academy’s bright future in coming days, the facility was decorated with sparkling green and maroon lights.
To encourage football among the local school wards, MBSFA organized a 2-day long inter-school football tournament. This tounament was divided in three groups, grade II, III, and IV.
General Secretory of Mohun Bagan club, Mr. Anjan Mitra, senior club official, Mr. Debasish Dutta, and various other club offcials and their families were present in this occasion.
Mr. Mitra encouraged the participants and the academy wards. The celebration concluded with a friendly football match between the academy officials and the guardians of the participating students.
MBSFA has produced players like Sankar Oraon, Reisangmi Vasum, Rahul Kumar, Sanjoy Boro, and Suman Bose who are currently playing for the top football clubs in India.
Association Sportive (AS) Douanes, Dakar is all set to play in the 114th edition of IFA Shield. This football club based in Dakar, capital of Senegal.
Per the players’ list sent to the organizers, IFA, this club from Senegal consists of national stars like Vito Badiane, Karamba Diallo, Mor Diouf, Sidy Ndiaye, and Malick Fall.
Douanes in French means Customs, AS Douanes is mainly sponsored by the Government Customs Authority, Senegal.
All set to witness quality African football in the century-old football tournament!
When I look at the progression of Pune Football Club (FC), one question always comes to my mind – after qualifying for the first division I-league, now what?
Within second year of formation, Pune FC has been promoted to the first division I-league. This indeed is a commendable achievement. My recent trip to Pune provided me an opportunity to visit their office and ask the officials about the same.
Backed by a corporate partner, Pune FC is probably the only club that runs a professional football club in India. In the era of professionalizing Indian football, one would get a true sense of how a professional club operates, when you visit their facility at Pune.
The reception center was flooded with youths that have come to enroll themselves for the under-17 trials.
Dr. Ashok Kumar, who is the general manager of Pune FC, since its inception shared his views about the team composition for the coming season and nurturing local talents as a part of the youth development program.
The team is almost set, however, the players list could not be disclosed until the official formalities are done. But definitely national keeper Subrata Paul is the prize catch. Team management is also finalizing the quota of overseas players. 3+1 formation (three overseas players plus one from the Asian origin) has provided them an opportunity to look out for a top quality Asian player.
New coach, Derrick Perrira has taken charge of the team. He has met the players, prepared training schedule, and handed over the schedule to each of the players. This will ensure that the players keep themselves fit during off-season.
Pune FC, will kick-off the training session in the first week of July. Two newly-laid pitches are prepared near Hinjewadi, outskirts of Pune. Come this season, the team will be practicing there. Later, July 13, they will move to Goa for the preconditioning camp. This training would involve practicing in the artificial pitches.
As a preparation to I-League, the team is pinning hopes on participating in the Western India Football Association (WIFA) initiated Maharashtra State league. This league would provide exposure to play with the top teams in the state. “I am hopeful the state league starts in this season”. Adds Dr. Ashok.
Later Pune FC will be participating in the IFA Shield, Durand Cup, and Federation Cup. This should give the team to play at least 9-10 matches. “Good built-up for going to the main stage – I-league”, recons Dr. Askhok Kumar.
“Team is mostly likely going to play their I-league home matches at the Balewadi Sports complex”, confirms Chirag Tanna. Only concern is the distance that the fans needs to travel, as the Balewadi Sports complex falls in one corner of the city
Pune FC is emphasizing a lot on youth development program. This year they are introducing an under-17 team, they already have under-15 and under-19 teams on board. However, team management felt that there is an utmost need to bridge the gap, hence forming a team for the intermediate level. There are not many tournaments for the under-15 team, once they come out of the age group, it becomes difficult to retain the skills till under-19 level.
The new under-17 team will ensure that the talent is not gone lost, they will be smoothly transitioned to under-19, and finally they will be graduated to play for the senior team. The current senior teams boasts of two such under-19 players. Also, the new under-17 team will participate in the local league B division.
Norbert Gonsalves is heading the youth development program, ably supported by former Pune FC player, Gift Raikan. The youth development program is fully focused on spotting local talents.
Professional outlook towards the game has not yet come here. But the Pune lads are intelligent and possess good game sense. However, they don’t take the game seriously at the later stage. Hopefully, the youth development initiatives would do a world of good to the rookies, and they too can dream of making it big to the national and international level.
The team footballers are slowly getting recognized among the masses, thanks for the consistent good show over the last year. Numbers of enrollments for the age group team trials are doubled this year.
All set for a bright football season!
Arjuna awardee, great servant of Indian football, Peter Thangaraj passed away at the age of 73 on November 24 at Bokaro, Orissa. He is survided by his wife, son, and a daughter.
Thangaraj was ailing for quite some time. In his long illustrious career, he represented India in the 1956 and 1060 Olympics. Also, represented India in the three Asian Games, Tokyo in 1958, Jakarta in 1962, and Bangkok in 1966. He was the key member of the gold winning football team of the 1962 Asian Games.
Thangaraj came into notice when he played for the Services team. Later, donned colors of Md.Sporting, Mohun Bagan, and East Bengal at Kolkata. He played for Railways for more than a decade.
He represented the all Asian Star team and honored with the goal keeper of the millennium by East Bengal club.
