NEWS FOR THE MONTH OF June 2008
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"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Final Phase: West Bengal Police 2-1 Bengal-Nagpur Railway
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Final Phase: Calcutta Port Trust 1-3 SAIL
::: INDIA U16 team leaves for West Virginia exposure trip :::
The INDIA U16 national team consisting of 24 players and six officials will leave India tonight for a four week exposure-cum-training tour to West Virginia in the United States. For the team the trip to the US is part of their exposure ahead of the Asian U16 Championship finals to be held in October 2008. The trip has been made possible by FS Sports WV LLC based in West Virginia.
INDIA U16: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Raegan Albarnas, Ashish Chetri, Vishal Kumar Ravindra Kumar, Akshay Vimal Kumar Mall, Harpreet Bedi, Shallum Pires, Jayanta Paul, Ashfaq Ali, Deepak Devrani, Ravi Kumar, Sumit Rawat, Taranjit Kumar, Tanmoy Ghosh, Bikramjit Singh, Biru Yadav, Milan Singh, R Lalrindika, Subhojit Majumdar, Tirthankar Sarkar, Abhishek Das, Malsawmfela, Manandeep, Prem Kumar.
Officials: Colin Toal (Chief Coach/Technical Director), Sanjoy Sen (Assistant Coach), Narayana Menon (Assistant Coach), Tanumoy Basu (Goalkeeper Coach), Ankur Dutta (Manager), Chandru Jayaraman (Physiotherapist).
Match Schedule in West Virginia:
July 6: INDIA U16 - Metro FC (Ohio)
July 7: INDIA U16 - NCAA Blast FC (Ohio)
July 12: INDIA U16 - West Virginia Rowdies
July 13: INDIA U16 - Columbia United (South Carolina)
July 18: INDIA U16 - West Virginia Olympic Development Team
July 19: INDIA U16 - West Virginia Olympic Development Team
July 24: INDIA U16 - West Virginia United
::: Indian girls learn from Asian football festival in Vietnam :::
IANS report: Twenty-two under-13 Indian women footballers who landed here last night after taking part in the seven-nation AFC Festival in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, are satisfied with their first ever exposure abroad. Being a developmental children's football festival, it was not strictly competitive in nature. No points for victories or draws, but only green cards for fair play. And if these green cards were any yardstick, then the Indian girls, captained by Tanvi Bhargava, emerged number two with 24 green cards, one behind China.
Assistant coach RK Amausana Devi of Manipur told IANS that the Indian contingent was surprised to find teams like China and Japan fielding players who appeared older than the stipulated age of 13 years. But out of politeness none thought of pointing out such things, leave alone protest. To do that would have gone against the festival nature of the tour. The duration of the matches was shortened to two halves of 30 minutes each, said Amausana.
Asked about Indian players, who did well in the festival, Amausana said: "For a first exposure the girls in general fared well. Still, if one had to pick a few who stood out, they were Lhienghitin of Manipur, Orissa girl Suva Prava Rout and Tanvi."
Tanvi said the Ho Chi Minh City exposure was a good experience. The Class VIII girl from Mayo College, Ajmer, said that the players managed to strike up new friendships and camaraderie after overcoming initial difficulties because of the language problem.
Tanvi of Chandigarh, a striker, endorsed her assistant coach's view that some Chinese girls appeared "overage." After the first format was over the girls, divided in groups of four or five, underwent a skills test.
June 29 |
IndianFootball.Com congratulates Spain on winning Euro2008!!! |
::: IndianFootball.Com LIVE: Visiting the USA vs Argentina friendly match :::
IndianFootball.Com correspondent Rana Datta on June 8 visited the USA vs Argentina friendly match at the Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey. And Rana really enjoyed himself at the match. Get to know that in his report and pictures!
Rana's report and pictures from the match are now online in the IndianFootball.Com LIVE section...
Go to the IndianFootball.Com LIVE .
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European Championships 2008 - Final
Venue: Ernst Happel Stadium, Vienna; Austria
Germany 0-1 Spain
Goals: 0-1 Fernando Torres (33')
GERMANY: 1-Jens Lehmann; 3-Arne Friedrich, 17-Per Mertesacker, 21-Christoph Metzelder, 16-Philipp Lahm (46' 2-Marcell Jansen); 8-Torsten Frings, 15-Thomas Hitzlsperger (58' 22-Kevin Kuranyi); 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger, 13-Michael Ballack [C], 20-Lukas Podolski; 11-Miroslav Klose (79' 9-Mario Gomez).
SPAIN: 1-Iker Casillas; 15-Sergio Ramos, 5-Carlos Puyol, 4-Carlos Marchena, 11-Joan Capdevila; 19-Marcos Senna; 21-David Silva (66' 12-Santi Cazorla), 10-Cesc Fΰbregas (63' 14-Xabi Alonso), 8-Xavi Hernandez, 6-Andrιs Iniesta; 9-Fernando Torres (78' 17-Daniel Gόiza).
MAN OF THE MATCH: Fernando Torres (Spain).
YELLOW CARD(S): Michael Ballack, Kevin Kuranyi (both Germany); Iker Casillas, Fernando Torres (both Spain).
REFEREE: Roberto Rosetti (Italy).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Alessandro Griselli (Italy), Paolo Calcagno (Italy).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Peter Frφjdfeldt (Sweden).
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::: 4th Nripendra Narayan Bhattacharjee Trophy in July :::
The Guwahati season opening tournament will be the 4th edition of the Nripendra Narayan Bhattacharjee Trophy to be played from July 2 to 15 at the Nehru Stadium. The tournament will see 14 Guwahati Super and 'A' Division teams in action. The inaugural match of the tournament will be played between Guwahati Town Club and Green Valley SC.
::: INDIA to tour Portugal from July 1 to 15 :::
Team INDIA will tour Portugal from July 1 to 15 ahead of the AFC Challenge Cup. According to information received by IndianFootball.Com from Portugal the team would stay in the City of Gouveia from July 1 to 6 and then in the City of Vieira de Leiria from July 7 to 15.
Three matches have been planed for the tour on July 5, 9 and 13. The match details and further information would be released next week after the team arrives on the Iberian peninsula.
::: NOA asks Nagaland FA to conduct Football league :::
by Xavier Rutsa; Press secretary to Chief Minister and Joint Secretary Nagaland Olympics Association Abu Metha today said that the NOA has directed the Nagaland FA to find out modalities and conduct a football league in the state.
In an interview with this writer, Abu Metha said this decision was conveyed to the NFA officials on Friday and stated that the first football league be started in Kohima, the state capital of Nagaland.
"They (NFA) also expressed difficulties in organizing, but we ask to form modalities," Abu Metha disclosed.
It may be mentioned that the state chief minister Neiphiu Rio asked that the department of Youth Resources and Sports, to direct the NOA, called meeting with the NOA and Nagaland FA on June 27 for a joint meeting to discuss what actual went wrong with the football team during the recent Santosh trophy at Jammu&Kashmir and the function of the NFA.
Mr. Abu said that the NFA officials led by President Atuo-o Mezhur and general secretary K Neibou Sekhose attended the meeting and brief the performances of the Nagaland football team. Nagaland lost 0-8 to Services in the first match, but in the second match it drew with former champions Manipur 0-0 and in the last match it also drew with Orissa 2-2.
The Press Secretary to CM also said that the state government and NOA were very keen to promote football in the state and "this (football) game is the world's most popular sports and played by all countries of the world."
"We also asked the NFA to be more sincere in their activities and conduct the coaching, training and hold regular tournament in the state," Mr. Abu disclosed and revealed that the state government was even willing to bring private coaches to train the upcoming footballers in the state.
"The June 27 meeting was very important considering the fact that there were lots of write-up by various people on of Football and Table Tennis in the state," Mr. Abu said and hoped things should improve for now.
The officials who attended the meeting included KT Sukhalu, Secretary Youth Resources and Sports; Beiu Angami, director Youth Resources and Sports; and Dr. Nicky Kire, MLA and joint secretary NOA.
CK Sarma Invitation Football Tournament, Dibrugarh - Final: Oil India Limited 4-1 Green Valley SC, Guwahati
::: Delhi to host "Yakult Danone" U12 Nations Cup football :::
The inaugural Indian national qualifiers of the "Yakult Danone" U12 Nations Cup will be held in New Delhi on July 11/12 at the Ambedkar Stadium. 12 teams/academies - JCT Football Academy; Simla Young FC, Delhi; Salgaocar SC; PSNA Football Academy, Dindigul; Olympian Rahman Memorial Academy, Calicut; Chandigarh Football Academy; Sikkim Football Academy; Dhau FC, Manipur; Hindustan Football Academy; Mumbai FC; Rohit Football Academy, Cuttack; Tata Football Academy, Jamshedpur - will be seen in action. The winning team of under-12 boys will get a chance to play in the finals of the Yakult Danone Nations Cup, to be held in Paris from September 4 to 7 at the Parc des Prince stadium, home of French club side Paris Saint-Germain.
The teams have been divided into four groups of four teams each. In the preliminary stage, they will play each other once and the group winners will qualify for the semifinals, followed by the final. The matches will be of 15 minutes duration and will be played on one half of a regular football field. Each team can field nine players.
Global food-product company Danone in association with the AIFF is organising the event which will give the winning boys a chance to rub shoulders with teams from across the globe. For the AIFF the tournament is another addition to the youth football scene and the tournament is a good addition to the Under-15 Manchester United Premier Cup.
Announcing the first Yakult Danone Nations Cup in India Danone India MD Jochen Ebert remarked, "Conceptualized to promote the game of football among children, this tournament gives them an opportunity to get international exposure very early in their life. It is not just about the game of football, it is about giving kids an opportunity to believe in their dreams."
In his statement AIFF president Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said, "Football is fast gaining popularity all over India. It is our endeavour to promote interest and nurture young talent in this sport. Events such as these will not only increase interest in the game, they will also put India on the football map internationally."
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group A: Calcutta Port Trust 4-0 Calcutta FC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group B: Railway FC 1-1 Victoria SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group C: George Telegraph SC 1-0 Rajasthan Club
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group D: Peerless SC 1-1 Muslim Institute
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group F: Mohammedan AC 2-0 Sporting Union
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group G: Police AC 2-1 Salkia Friends
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group H: Taltala Institute 0-2 Mouri SC
::: Coach Houghton's checklist for Indian football :::
IANS report: India's football coach Bob Houghton feels the next edition of the professional I-League will provide the roadmap for the future of Indian football with infrastructure and youth development components being the key factors.
Houghton's credentials are impeccable. He played for English club Fulham, coached Swedish club Malmo to the European Cup final. He was also the coach of the best Asian club from Saudi Arabia, Ittihad in the '90s. He then took China to the World Cup finals. In between he dabbled with American football clubs. Here he does not want to talk about setting a time frame for India playing in the quadrennial event, but he has no doubt that the steps initiated by the All India Football Federation are on the right lines.
The Briton, who has an impressive record as a widely travelled coach, makes a constructive comparison between the two Asian giants, China and India in a freewheeling interview with IANS. If only India makes a conscious effort to replicate the Chinese methods of developing football infrastructure they can fast track their World Cup dreams.
"I see no reason why India can't match China when both the countries have double-digit growth rate. One major difference between the two is that in China every club has their own training grounds with all the facilities like hotel, gym and swimming pool for all age-group players."
"If you go to Shanghai Shenhua training ground any day in the afternoon, you will find all the grounds packed with kids and qualified instructors," Houghton said.
Houghton said the Indians clubs do not have the kind of facilities their counterparts have in China. Then there was only one stadium that fulfils the FIFA norms and that is in Chennai. There are no proper training fields for any club in the country and the only one training field is in Cuncolim, Goa.
The Englishman, who started his career as a midfielder at Fulham in the 1960s, says he was stressing on club culture more because it is the clubs that provide profile of the game in any country and they have to be truly professional.
"All the clubs should have qualified coaches, a youth team, a physiotherapist and a doctor. Show me how many clubs playing the I-League have them."
Citing Swedish club Malmo's example, he said he led the club to four league titles and a European Cup final in the 1970s, Houghton said the club could do so well only because they had everything he had mentioned.
"The significant thing about that European Cup final was that nine were local players from Malmo. And the reason why we got there was that the club made it sure that the development process was right. They had good coaches at every level and a real monitoring system. By the time the guys were 16 they were ready to get into the professional team," Houghton recalled.
The chief coach said for India it would take a while to create such a system, adding for good measure that there are no short cuts for success.
As for his China experience, he said: "The national team in China is bit different because the league is out of bounds for their national players. We discussed a similar thing for India and that is the way to go about. But we have a long way to go."
But, Houghton feels, here it is not easy to keep players away from the league for too long till a proper professional league is place.
"That's why it is very important to have I-League in place. We have to make sure that more Indian boys play at the top professional level week in and out. We have some boys in the national team who have hardly played any matches for their clubs."
"The I-League should be spaced out properly so that the players get to train properly, and have recovery time. The state leagues should be the subsidiaries of the I-league. This year Mohun Bagan and East Bengal have taken 14 boys from the Tata Football Academy. Let's see how many of those players get to play for the main team on a regular basis," he said.
Houghton added that the under-14, under-16 and the under-19 team will be the feeder line for the national team and if all these levels are maintained then only can India hope to get anywhere near the World Cup by 2018.
"The qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup will start from 2015 and that is seven years from now. The under-19 team will be 26, under-16 will be 23 and under-14 will be 21. So these three teams will be absolutely central in qualification for the 2018 World Cup. So there is a possibility because the good thing about it is that we have got the start and we have to carry on with it," he said.
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group B: Calcutta Customs 0-1 Victoria SC
::: INDIA to play Malaysia in friendly :::
According to information out of Kuala Lumpur the Malaysian national team will visit Hyderabad ahead of the AFC Challenge Cup to play a friendly against Team INDIA on July 22 in the Andhra Pradesh capital. This match will be much needed match practice for TEAM INDIA ahead of the challenging AFC Challenge Cup, where the champions earn a place in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group A: Calcutta FC 0-2 Indian Air Force, Barrackpore
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group C: Bengal-Nagpur Railway 3-0 Rajasthan Club
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group D: Muslim Institute 0-2 SAIL
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group E: Garalgacha SC 1-2 Sonali Shibir SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group F: Barisha Sporting Club 3-0 Sporting Union
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group G: FCI, Calcutta 1-1 Salkia Friends
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group H: Taltala Institute 2-0 Janbazar SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: West Bengal Police 4-1 Kalighat Milan Samity
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: Taltala Dipti Sangha 1-1 Bata SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: Aryan Club 2-3 City AC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: Calcutta Police 1-0 Combined University
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group A: Calcutta Port Trust 1-1 Khidderpore SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group B: Railway FC 1-1 Eastern Coalfield Limited SA
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group C: George Telegraph SC 1-0 Wari AC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group D: Peerless SC 3-0 Southern Samity
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group E: Eastern Railway SC 0-0 Manoharpur Milan Samity
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group F: Mohammedan AC 1-2 Milan Bithee
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group G: Kalighat Club 0-2 Police AC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group H: Tollygunge Agragami 4-1 Mouri SC
::: AIFF release first list of 82 cleared Inter-State Transfers :::
The AIFF today released the first list of 82 cleared Inter-State Transfers. Amongst the bigger one's were:
Air-India were the biggest gainer by signing young trio Arup Debnath, Amulya Mondal and Gouranga Biswas from East Bengal Club plus Bijay Basfore and Suman Datta from Mohun Bagan AC.
JCT were able to sign striker Harvinder Singh from New Delhi Heroes and goalkeeper Prasanta Dora from Calcutta Port Trust, but they lost Indian international Renedy Singh to East Bengal Club.
Relegated I-League side Salgaocar SC lost Shylo Malswam Tulunga to Mohun Bagan AC, while signing young keeper Pralay Datta from Mohun Bagan and Arijit Mondal from Bengal Mumbai FC.
Aspiring Calcutta side Peerless SC were able to sign Krishna Tudu (Vasco SC), James Effiong (Pune FC) and Uttam Debnath (Shan-E-Bengal, Chattisgarh), .
The Sesa Football Academy, which will be playing in the Goa Pro League for the first time, gained Israel Gurung (Hindustan FC, Delhi), Thomas Joaquim D'Souza (Mumbai United) and Haolengou Kipgen (KOKI SP C, Manipur) in the transfers.
Other cleared transfers included players from smaller clubs...
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: West Bengal Police 4-2 Taltala Dipti Sangha
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: Kalighat Milan Samity 2-2 Howrah Union
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: Aryan Club 3-2 Combined University
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: SAI (Eastern Zone) 1-0 City AC
::: Tanvi Bhargava does Chandigarh proud :::
Tanvi Bhargava has done proud to Chandigarh as the AIFF has entrusted her the responsibility to lead an Indian Under-13 Girls team in the AFC Under-13 Girls Football Festival to be held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from June 23 to 27.
Elated father Dr Akhil Bhargava, Managing Director of Silver Oaks Hospital, and mother Dr Manjari, on Tanvi's inclusion in the team and leading the Indian squad, said "It's great feeling. First playing for the school, then the state and now the country is like moving from strength to strength."
Asked how Tanvi felt when she was informed about her inclusion and making her captain, Dr Bhargava said "my daughter had sent a message on my cell saying that by choosing captain means that I have lot of responsibilities on my shoulder."
Besides providing exposure, the AIFF is also grooming leadership qualities among the young players.
According to Dr Bhargavas Tanvi is very 'responsible and obedient'. She has the leadership quality and takes every body with her without any problem.
Belonging to a family of reputed doctors, Tanvi has been consistently showing excellence in football. "We use to see her play in tournaments. Spectators use to say when Tanvi got possession of the ball that "now it will be a goal. We were thrilled and excited to hear such comments from knowledgeable football spectators," said Dr Bhargava.
It was not an easy passage for Tanvi to start playing football. She virtually gate- crashed her way into football. "My son Anikt used to play football. She became attracted to it. "Despite opposition, Tanvi use to bully her brother and play soccer. That is how she started playing five years back and she has not looked back after that."
Asked whether, the family of doctors would allow Tanvi to continue to play soccer, Dr Bhagava said "we will continue to fully support her. In fact I am in touch with some football clubs of United Kingdom so that she can get advanced and more scientific training in England."
Dr Manjari said "Tanvi was adjudged the best player of Sacred Heart for four consecutive years from 2004 to 2008."
"Tanvi is a large hearted girl. After her team's win, she has never said she had done it. She would say we have done it. It is a team work. She would pass the ball to a better positioned player to score though she could have also done it. She is not selfish."
Akhil and Manjari said "Tanvi is very good in studies also. There is an extra facility in Mayo College that Tanvi can approach any teacher for help any time after she had missed the classes due to competition or attending coaching camps."
Born on February 4, 1996, Tavni is the only Chandigarh girl footballer to have been selected in the Indian team and appointed captain. Tanvi who studied in Sacred Heart School, Sector 26, before shifting to Mayo College, Ajmer, The reason for getting admission in Mayo College given by her father Dr Akhil Bhargava was that she could 'pursue her sports career more freely and continue her studies."
Meanwhile, Chandiarh FA secretary Rakesh Bakshi intervened to say "Tanvi is game maker, planner and scorer. She can shuffle ball with both feet with same confidence. She can shoot with right or left with power and accuracy. It is a rare quality among girl players."
"It is a new chapter in the history of Chandigarh soccer. The CFA is running free coaching academies for girls at Dev Samaj College in Sector 45 and for boys as SD Public School in Sector 24. With Tanvi leading the country, more girls will be attracted to join CFA academy," hoped Bakshi.
::: Youth FC outplay Kings VIII for crown :::
Youth FC handed out a 5-0 drubbing to Kings VIII in the final of the inaugural KV-48 Eight-A-Side Football Tournament at the Banyan Tree School ground in Sector 48, Chandigarh today.
Youth FC proved too good for their rivals in all departments of the game. Showing good skills and quick clearance by their defenders, Youth FC enjoyed territorial supremacy and led 2-0 at half time.
Kings VIII tried their best to match their rivals. However, their forwards failed to pierce the tough defence of Youth FC. Kings VIII forwards had chances to score but their forwards either shot wide or their shots were too weak to beat YFC goalkeeper Aksh. Kings VIII's best opportunity to score came in the second half as they were awarded a penalty. However, Arjun Kundra's spot kick was foiled by an alert YFC goalkeeper Aksh.
YFC took time to settle down. After initial probing, they forged ahead with a Tanuj's goal in the 18th minute. Four minutes later, Kartik doubled the score. On crossing over, Harminder (32nd), Pankaj (40th) and Mohit (43rd) contributed one goal each to swell the winners' tally.
The Banyan Tree School Director Ravinder Talwar was introduced to the players of both teams.
Teams:
YFC: Mohit Raj, Sunil Kumar, Rakesh Bohra, Aksh, Pankaj, Harminder, Kartik, Munish, Ajay, Tanuj, Ashok, Tengin, Mandeep.
Kings VIII: Harjot, Gursimran, Govind, Siddharth, Alekh, Varun Issar, Arjun Kundra, Ankit, Uday Singh Dhillon, Avirat, Rajat, Ananveer.
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group A: Calcutta Port Trust 2-1 Indian Air Force, Barrackpore
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group B: Calcutta Customs 0-1 Railway FC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group C: Bengal-Nagpur Railway 2-1 George Telegraph SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group D: Peerless SC 1-1 SAIL
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group E: Garalgacha SC 1-0 Eastern Railway SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group F: Barisha Sporting Club 0-0 Mohammedan AC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group G: FCI, Calcutta 0-3 Police AC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group H: Janbazar SC 0-2 Mouri SC
::: YFC meet Kings VIII in 8-A-Side football final :::
Youth FC, Sector 48 will face Kings VIII in the final of the KV-48 Eight-A-Side Football Tournament tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Banyan Tree School ground, Chandigarh.
In the semifinal matches played today, Kings VIII edged out KV Football Club with an aggregate 6-5 margin in tie-breaker after sharing two goals in the regulation period and Youth FC defeated Ayappan Team by two second-half goals after a barren first half.
Youth FC and Ayappan Team were evenly balanced. Both teams had opportunities to score but their forwards were wayward in their shooting in the first half. However, Youth FC launched their attacks with redoubled vigour and their efforts bore fruits in the 40th minute when Pankaj gave his team the lead. Hardly had the cheers of their supporters died down when Rakesh made it beyond double with a fine goal in the 45th minute.
In the second semifinal, KV Football Club drew the first blood through Harsimran Singh foxing Kings VIII defence with an accurate shot in the 15th minute. Going all out for equaliser after resumption, Kings VIII hit back and their forwards moved upfront with proper coordination. Arjun Kundra neutralised the lead midway through the second session. Tied one-all, the tie-breaker rule was applied to resolve the deadlock. Kings VIII converted all their five penalties through Gursimran Brar, Alesk, Gobind, Puneet and Arjun Kundra. Jaswinder, Ripudaman, Xavier's Mathews and Harsimran converted their spot kicks for KV Football Club. Vikramjit Singh wasted his penalty. Kings goalkeeper Uday Singh Dhillon and KVFC custodian Anmol Jakhmi displayed good skills under the bar.
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group A: Khidderpore SC 3-0 Calcutta FC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group B: Victoria SC 2-4 Eastern Coalfield Limited SA
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group C: Rajasthan Club 1-0 Wari AC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group D: Muslim Institute 0-1 Southern Samity
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group E: Sonali Shibir SC 1-1 Manoharpur Milan Samity
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group F: Milan Bithee 3-0 Sporting Union
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group G: Salkia Friends 0-4 Kalighat Club
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group H: Tollygunge Agragami 2-1 Taltala Institute
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: Kalighat Milan Samity 2-0 Taltala Dipti Sangha
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: Howrah Union 0-1 Bata SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: City AC 3-0 Combined University
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: SAI (Eastern Zone) 0-0 Calcutta Police
::: Steven Dias signs for East Bengal, N Pradeep to follow tomorrow :::
Calcutta giants East Bengal Club are rebuilding their team to be able to challenge the best sides in India. And today Mahindra United winger Steven Dias signed for the red-and-gold at the IFA office while India midfielder NP Pradeep is set to follow him tomorrow. But there could be a problem for the club and the duo as they still have a three year contract with Mahindra United running until 2010. And the Mumbai Jeepmen have already send a complaint to the AIFF.
::: 31st Senior National Women's Football Championships :::
The 31st Senior National Women's Football Championships, a tournament not recognised by the AIFF, was inaugurated on Wednesday in the presence of guardian minister Sureshdada Jain in Jalgaon. The tournament will be played at Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj sports complex in Jalgaon.
The teams have been divided into two groups. Group A includes Jharkhand, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and Chatisgarh; while Group B comprises of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
The final match of the tournament will be played on June 23, which is being jointly organised by Raisony Group of Institution, Jalgaon Municipal Corporation and Jain Sports Academy.
::: YFC meet Kings VIII in 8-A-Side football final :::
Youth FC, Sector 48 will face Kings VIII in the final of the KV-48 Eight-A-Side Football Tournament tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Banyan Tree School ground, Chandigarh.
In the semifinal matches played today, Kings VIII edged out KV Football Club with an aggregate 6-5 margin in tie-breaker after sharing two goals in the regulation period and Youth FC defeated Ayappan Team by two second-half goals after a barren first half.
Youth FC and Ayappan Team were evenly balanced. Both teams had opportunities to score but their forwards were wayward in their shooting in the first half. However, Youth FC launched their attacks with redoubled vigour and their efforts bore fruits in the 40th minute when Pankaj gave his team the lead. Hardly had the cheers of their supporters died down when Rakesh made it beyond double with a fine goal in the 45th minute.
In the second semifinal, KV Football Club drew the first blood through Harsimran Singh foxing Kings VIII defence with an accurate shot in the 15th minute. Going all out for equaliser after resumption, Kings VIII hit back and their forwards moved upfront with proper coordination. Arjun Kundra neutralised the lead midway through the second session. Tied one-all, the tie-breaker rule was applied to resolve the deadlock. Kings VIII converted all their five penalties through Gursimran Brar, Alesk, Gobind, Puneet and Arjun Kundra. Jaswinder, Ripudaman, Xavier's Mathews and Harsimran converted their spot kicks for KV Football Club. Vikramjit Singh wasted his penalty. Kings goalkeeper Uday Singh Dhillon and KVFC custodian Anmol Jakhmi displayed good skills under the bar.
::: Kings VIII outplay Apu-45 :::
Brace each by Gursimran Brar and Sidharth Sandhu enabled Kings VIII outplay Apu-45 by 5-1 in the KV-48 Eight-A-Side Open Football Tournament which commenced at the Banyan Tree School ground, Chandigarh today.
Dominating the match, Kings VIII had an easy round. Gursimran and Sidharth booted home two goals each. Ankur Kumar contributed one goal for the winners. The solitary goal for Apu-45 was scored by Arpit.
In another match, Panjab University Football Club got the better of Gurmeet VIII by 3-2. In a well-contested match, PU FC scored through Sandeep, Tony and Malik. Gurmeet and Prem reduced the margin for Gurmeet VIII.
In yet another fixture, Monty-48 edged KV-48 'B' Team by 3-2.Monty, Vinay and Rishi scored one goal each for Monty-48. Robin and Aneesh netted for KV-48 'B' Team.
According to organiser Chetan Preet Singh, as many as 16 teams are taking part in the Eight-A-Side knockout tournament. He said that efforts were to provide more opportunities to the players to get exposure to hon their skills. He along with Harsimran Preet Singh and Vaibhav Bhasin have joined hands to launch this venure.
::: Local Delhi transfers in July :::
The Delhi Soccer Association has decided to hold this seasons annual inter-club transfer of players from July 1 to 7. Withdrawal of the transfer application will be allowed within three days from the date of submitting the papers.
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group A: Khidderpore SC 1-0 Indian Air Force - Barrackpore
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group B: Calcutta Customs 2-3 Eastern Coalfield Limited SA
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group C: Bengal-Nagpur Railway 1-1 Wari AC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group D: SAIL 4-1 Southern Samity
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group E: Garalgacha SC 4-1 Manoharpur Milan Samity
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group F: Barisha Sporting Club 1-2 Milan Bithee
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group G: FCI, Calcutta 1-2 Kalighat Club
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group H: Tollygunge Agragami 0-2 Janbazar SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: Kalighat Milan Samity 6-0 Bata SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: Calcutta Police 2-1 City AC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: SAI (Eastern Zone) 1-1 Aryan Club
::: INDIA camp shifted from Goa to Delhi, Probables announced :::
Team INDIA's camp ahead of their exposure trip to Portugal next month has been shifted from Goa to Delhi due to monsoonal rains in the western Indian state. The preparatory camp will now kickoff on June 25 at the Ambedkar Stadium, Delhi.
The list of 31 probables was announced during the day and the list contains only players who had been at the Goa camp ahead of the SAFF Cup. No new players who had impressed at the Santosh Trophy were inducted. Many had hoped that 13 goals Services striker Sochungmi Raleng would get a look, but that will not happen.
INDIA will leave for their two week Portugal trip in the first week of July.
INDIA probables: Goalkeepers: Subrata Pal, Subhashish Roy Chowdhary, Sandip Nandy, Arindam Bhattacharya. Defenders: Govin M Singh, Rakesh Masih, Denzil Franco, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Gouramangi Singh, Deepak Mondal, Nanjangud Shivananju Manju, Anwar Ali, Syed Rahim Nabi, Sameer Naik. Midfielders: Sampath Kumar Kuttimani, Baldeep Singh Jr, Steven Dias, Climax Lawrence, Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep, Clifford Miranda, Bungo Thokchom Singh, Krishnan Nair Ajayan, Mehraj din Wadoo, Renedy Singh. Forwards: Baichung Bhutia, Sunil Chetri, Manjit Singh, Abhishek Yadav, Sushil Kumar Singh, Tarif Ahmed.
::: ESPN-Star Sports offers $40 million for 2010 FIFA World Cup rights :::
The TV rights for the 2010 FIFA World Cup - South Africa for the Indian subcontinent are set to be sold at a record price. In the bidding process international sports broadcaster ESPN-Star Sports are said to have outbid their competitors with a bid of over $40 Million, while rivals have said to have placed a bid of close to $40 Million. In an earlier bidding round Ten Sports had taken the lead with over $35 Million while Neo Sports was second with $28 Million and ESS only third with $27 Million for bagging the rights. But then Neo Sports dropped out as the bids where too high for them and now it looks likely that ESS could retain the World Cup rights for another term.
The increase in rights fees is attributed to football's increasing popularity in India and marks a significant increase on the $9 million FIFA received for the 2006 World Cup and the mere $3 million paid in 2002.
::: Mohun Bagan U15 trials :::
Calcutta giants Mohun Bagan AC will hold trials for their Under-15 team from June 27 to 29 at their Maidan ground from 7 am on each day.
Interested players should come prepared with all their kits and with original age proof certificate. They should also carry with them a photocopy of this original age proof certificate.
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group A: Calcutta Port Trust - Calcutta FC = postponed due to rains
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group B: Railway FC - Victoria SC = postponed due to rains
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group C: George Telegraph SC - Rajasthan Club = postponed due to rains
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group D: Peerless SC - Muslim Institute = postponed due to rains
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group E: Eastern Railway SC 1-0 Sonali Shibir SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group F: Mohammedan AC - Sporting Union = postponed due to rains
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group G: Police AC - Salkia Friends = postponed due to rains
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group H: Taltala Institute - Mouri SC = postponed due to rains
::: 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers: INDIA in pot 4 :::
The draw for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers will be held on July 3 at the magnificent Aspire Dome, Doha in Qatar, the host nation of the event in 2011. Besides host Qatar the defending champions Iraq, the finalists Saudi Arabia and third-placed South Korea have already qualified for the tournament, while the champions of the AFC Challenge Cup 2008 and 2010 would join those four nations.
20 teams will now play in the qualifiers with INDIA part of those qualifiers. The teams will be drawn into five groups of four each. The top two teams from each of the five groups will qualify for the Finals.
The final round of qualification was preceded by a two-legged solitary play-off which saw Lebanon defeat Maldives for a place in the draw.
The final qualification round seedings, based on the results of the AFC Asian Cup 2007 and its qualifiers, are led by Japan, who finished fourth in the last instalment, followed by Australia, Iran and Uzbekistan, all of whom qualified for the final round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers last week.
Seedings & Pots:
Pot 1: 1. Japan; 2. Australia; 3. Iran; 4. Uzbekistan; 5. Vietnam
Pot 2: 6. China; 7. Thailand; 8. Indonesia; 9. UAE; 10. Bahrain
Pot 3: 11. Oman; 12. Malaysia; 13. Jordan; 14. Syria; 15. Hongkong
Pot 4: 16. Yemen; 17. Kuwait; 18. Singapore; 19. India; 20. Lebanon
::: Bharti-AIFF's Academy plan hits roadblock :::
PTI report: The AIFF's plan to have an academy in association with the Bharti group in Goa's Panzorconim village has hit a roadblock with the state housing ministry claiming rights over the proposed land.
"Goa had taken a cabinet decision to hand over the land to Goa State Urban Development Authority for specific performance. But the GSUDA in utter disregard to the cabinet decision along with the sports and youth affairs ministry decided to lease the land to AIFF," Housing Board Minister Fransisco Pacheco said.
Pacheco has clarified that the formality to hand over the land to GSUDA are yet to be completed. The land, proposed for the academy and measuring 1,26,785 square metres falls in the Panzorkhonim village of south Goa. Pacheco said the housing board ministry had agreed to transfer the land on certain conditions, which stands violated by the GSUDA.
The controversy attains centre stage in the state politics as Pacheco is an archrival of Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao, who heads SUDA.
The state of the art Bharti-AIFF Academy is expected to run into rough weather as Pacheco has decided to move another cabinet resolution scrapping the earlier one.
He said that although the GUSDA has paid required money for the land, the sale agreement is yet to be vetted by legal experts. "The cabinet decision (to lease land to AIFF for 99 years) has been obtained by presenting wrong facts," Pacheco said.
On the other hand, Alemao is buoyed over the project stating that the academy will go a long way in promoting football. He said Bharti has agreed for ten per cent reservation for original residents of Panzorconim and 20 per cent for Cuncolim (municipal area next to the village). Another 20 per cent will be reserved for Goans.
In the latest IndianFootball.Com Guest Column Chandrima, a BA student at Jadavpur University and a member of the Indian Football Fans forum on social networking site ORKUT, writes about the state of football in Bengal.
Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - Chandrima .
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: West Bengal Police 1-0 Bata SC
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group I: Howrah Union 1-0 Taltala Dipti Sangha
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: Aryan Club 2-1 Calcutta Police
"Bengal Peerless" Trades Challenge Cup 2008 - Phase I Group J: SAI (Eastern Zone) 5-0 Combined University
::: Assam FA approves Oil India Limited switch to Guwahati :::
The Assam FA has approved the appeal of Duliajan's Oil India Limited to switch the base of their club to the state capital Guwahati. Assam's lone entrant into the I-League Division 2 has been trying to achieve this switch for a couple of years to be able to play in the state's strongest local league, the Guwahati Super Division to prepare for tougher assignments. This also means the competition in the Guwahati Super Division will get tougher with the Assam state champions joining the league.
::: Football for Peace starts :::
by Xavier Rutsa: Titled as "Football for Peace", with a huge turn-up of 95 boys and 12 girls the football coaching camp, organized by Naga Boys Club started on Monday at the Kohima Local ground in Nagaland.
Inaugurating Football coaching camp as special guest Arupe Zeliang - Joint Director, Youth Resources and Sports, Nagaland lauded the Naga Boys Club for organizing the camp and urged the upcoming footballers to grab the take opportunity.
He also hoped that with the bringing of the former international players by the Naga Boys Club, the players should be benefited immensely during the coaching camp. He also said the department is willing to extend help in promoting games and sport in the state.
Two former Manipur Women international players - L Chaoba Singh, she represented Indian women team eight times at international level and currently a coach; and L Asarani Devi, she represented Indian Women team two times at international level.
Roko Angami, NBC President said that the Naga Boys Club was formed in 1999 and regularly organizing the football coaching camp and also produce several state, national and international players.
Earlier the function was chaired by Kekhriengulie Theόnuo, invocation prayer was given by Iringte, youth secretary, NBCC and a special number by Visetuo Chupuo and friends. Classic Club President K Neibou Sekhose and general secretary Zakie Kiso and several senior players also attended the day-one of the coaching camp.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Final - Bakshi Stadium, Srinagar
Services 0-1 Punjab
Goals: 0-1 Jaspal Singh (54' pen)
Services: 1-Robikanta Singh; 19-Lalruatafela, 12-Norgan Lama, 5-M Dileep, 2-KP Kabui (60' 4-GS Sandhu); 13-Mahesh Rai, 7-Laldingliana, 20-Jiten Meitei (77' 6-Sudhir Mishra), 8-Gordon Z; 10-Sochungmi Raleng (80' 15-Lalsangaliana), 9-Shaji D'Silva
Unused Substitutes: 22-Min Bahadur Chhetri, 18-Kiran Kanwar, 16-LN Munda, 21-KK Zaman, 3-PS Sumesh, 11-LB Victor
Punjab: 1-Karanjit Singh; 13-Baldeep Singh, 2-Jaspal Singh, 16-Gurwinder Singh, 3-Ravinder Singh; 11-Amandeep Singh, 17-Sukhvinder Singh, 8-Jagpreet Singh, 6-Baljit Singh Sahni (70' 9-Balwant Singh); 10-Sakatar Singh, 15-Harvinder Singh (46' 12-Balraj Singh)
Unused Substitutes: 21-Mukhwinderjit Singh, 22-Paramjit Singh, 4-Mandeep Singh, 18-Sarabjit Singh, 7-Harshdeep Singh, 8-Jagpreet Singh, 5-Guriqbal Singh
Yellow Cards: M Dileep (20', Services); Baljit Singh Sahni (61'), Amandeep Singh (81', both Punjab).
Referee: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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::: Fans to get free entry for Santosh finals :::
PTI report: Spectators will get free entry for the final match of the 62nd Santosh Trophy tournament between Punjab and Services to be played here on Sunday, the organisers announced on Saturday.
"The entry of spectators for the final match of the tournament will be free. The decision was taken in order to allow maximum number of people to enjoy the match," Zameer Thakur, President of the Jammu&Kashmir FA, said.
The move comes after the matches not involving hosts Jammu&Kashmir were staged in front of almost empty stands. While the semifinal clash between Services and Bengal was attended by just over a 100 spectators besides some special invitees, the Punjab-Karnataka match had slightly better attendance with nearly 1500 spectators turning up for the pulsating game which had to be decided by penalties as it remained goalless after regulation time.
The JKFA President, however, denied that paltry attendance had anything do with the decision to give free entry for finals.
::: Football for peace from June 16 :::
by Xavier Rutsa: The Naga Boys Club, Nagaland informed that the Football coaching under the banner "Football for peace" will begin on June 16 at 3.00 pm at the Kohima Local ground with Arupe Zeliang Joint Director, Youth Resources and Sports of Nagaland as a special guest. All the players are asked to reach the local ground by 2.30 pm positively, informed Roko Angami, president NBC.
::: PIFA children meet AC Milan players :::
The Premier India Football Academy organized their fourth AC Milan - Milan Team Camp football tour for children 10-16 years to Italy. The camp was a sell out within weeks of its launch. The camp was held from 12 to 22 May 2008 in the beautiful town of Vittorio Veneto. The tour was designed by PIFA to help children appreciate and understand the history of AC Milan and what makes them the BEST.
The football training was conducted by the Milan Team Camp coaches Francesco Sette and Fabiano Ballarin. Each child received an AC Milan Academy shoe bag and two kits that included jersey, shorts & stockings.
On the first day, the children had a tour of the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as the San Siro (home to AC Milan and Inter Milan) and the Museum. Later, they went to the AC Milan head office to see the seven UEFA Champions League trophies as well as many other silverwares including the FIFA Club World Cup. The children were then taken on a tour of Milan City.
The boys got to play a friendly match against the local team San Michele Salsa.
The boys got to see the last Serie A match of the season at the San Siro between AC Milan and Udinese, it was the last game for Serginho and Cafu in AC Milan colors. It was an electrifying experience for the children as they participated in the chanting & clapping. AC Milan won 4-1. After the game, the children were taken to the players tunnel where they met the entire AC Milan team. They took autographs from Maldini, Pato, Kaka, Cafu, Dida, Pirlo, Gattuso.
The camp ended on the 22 May 2008, prizes were distributed and everyone was a winner. The best player awards went to Rishi Singh and Ricky Rai both from Bangalore.
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5th SAFF Cup 2008
Final - Sugathadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka | <click here for LIVE updates>
INDIA 0-1 Maldives
Goals: 0-1 Mukhthar Naseer (87')
INDIA: 1-Subrata Pal; 12-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 5-Anwar Ali, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli; 28-Bungo Thokchom Singh (71' 9-Manjit Singh), 7-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep, 30-Climax Lawrence, 16-Samir Naik; 11-Sunil Chetri, 15-Baichung Bhutia [C]
Unused Substitutes: 24-Subhashish Roy Chowdhary, 18-Sushil Kumar Singh, 21-Abhishek Yadav, 27-Mehraj din Wadoo, 29-Sampath Kumar Kattimani
MALDIVES: 25-Imran Mohamed; 3-Mohamed Shifan (70' 6-Mohamed Arif), 5-Ibrahim Fazeel, 7-Ali Ashfaq, 8-Mohamed Jameel, 9-Ahmed Thoriq, 13-Assad Abdul Ghani, 14-Ahmed 'Ammaty' Saeed, 16-Ismail Mohamed, 23-Mukhthar Naseer (90+4' 11-Shameel Qasim), 27-Sobah Mohamed
Unused Substitutes: ...
YELLOW CARD(S): Anwar Ali (15'), Bungo Thokchom Singh (60'), Sunil Chetri (73'), Mahesh Gawli (78', all India); Ali Ashfaq (32'), Ibrahim Fazeel (64', both Maldives).
REFEREE: Abdul Wahab (Malaysia).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: K Khin Maung Myint (Myanmar), Nguyen Ngoc Ha (Vietnam).
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Imtiaz Ali (Pakistan).
MATCH COMMISSIONER: Dwight David Penano (Philippines).
MATCH REPORT:
Defending champions India suffered a lone goal defeat at the hands of Maldives in the final of the 5th SAFF Championships at the capacity Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A late 87th minute long-ranger from about 20 yards out by midfielder Mukhthar Naseer after a corner sealed the victory for the island nation to give them their first SAFF Cup title.
It wasn't the best of matches which mainly lived of its tension. The action was mainly confined to the midfield with the match often scrappy. The Maldives looked more enterprising but their penetration was minimal, while India somehow didn't look that dangerous. Captain Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chetri were well marked with Chetri getting a couple of chances in the first half, while long-range efforts from Climax Lawrence, NP Pradeep and Samir Naik all either sailed over or went wide. The match seemed to be heading for extratime when Maldives got a couple of corners and in the 87th minute Maldives midfielder Mukhthar Naseer hit the ball perfectly to beat keeper Subrata Pal in the Indian goal to decide the fate of the match. And from then on it was party time for the large Maldive fan contingent at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
And it wasn't a contest that India lost unluckily, but it was rather the Maldives who deserved to win the game. The island nation ranked 159th in the latest FIFA world rankings, just six places below India, looked the better and much fresher side. India had been hit hard by injuries before and during the tournament, they looked tired throughout and today missing Renedy Singh, Steven Dias, NS Manju just could not be compensated. In this tournament India never played like defending champions and had to fight hard for all their four earlier victories. But what is most worrying was the tactical weakness of the team and their unimaginative game. The high ball seemed to be their main modus operandi and strikers of the quality of Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chetri were somehow never in the game against the good, solid Maldive defence. A not matchfit Climax Lawrence and NP Pradeep could never stamp their authority onto the game, while the defence on numerous occasions looked out of sorts. One also has to question why coach Houghton played quality centrebacks such as Deepak Kumar Mondal and Mahesh Gawli out of position as right and left back. Surely the injuries forced Houghton to switch within the team again and again, but there could have been other options with a more flexible tactical formation. A lot needs to be done before the AFC Challenge Cup which will be held in a little over six weeks. And the match schedule there will be the same as in the SAFF Cup, so Bob Houghton and his boys will need to be better prepared and fully matchfit. Much bigger stakes are on offer...
Now to something off the field. The crowd support at the Sugathadasa Stadium was just exceptional! And this was due to the mainly Maldive fans at the stadium though the match was in Sri Lanka. Many national teams at Euro2008 would have been proud of such great support throughout the game. It was an away match for India, but a home game for the Maldives. Something which we the Indian Football Fans need to try and do in the future. Support Team India wherever they play...
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Indian National Team section.
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::: Euro2008: Hindi coverage a huge success for ESPN-Star Sports :::
The Hindi language coverage of Euro2008 has been a huge success for ESPN-Star Sports so far. And this has been made possible by their commentary team of Ghaus Mohammed (at the back) and Sunil Teneja (at the front). While Ghaus is an experienced football commentator in Hindi who had done the 2005 Confederation Cup and the 2006 World Cup earlier, Sunil is ESPN's man for the stats and stories about the players who had worked together with Ghaus and Novy Kapadia during the 2006 World Cup; and this makes the duo a perfect combination.
ESPN-Star Sports has been getting a lot of positive feedback from the Hindi speaking belt about the "world class" commentary in a language the people understand. Feedback has been coming in from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Mumbai, Delhi, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand.
And the ratings prove that with such coverage football is followed even in places where people are consider not to be interested in football. A myth which is once more proving to be wrong. And this football interest needs to be tapped.
::: Trades Cup 2008 to kickoff on Monday :::
The Trades Cup 2008, which is the Calcutta season opening tournament for the Premier League, Super Division and first division clubs, except the Big Four; will kickoff on Monday. In total 42 clubs will be taking part with the clubs divided into 10 groups. For the clubs it is a chance for them to test and set their teams ahead of the start of their leagues. The champions would receive Rs 30,000 while the runners-u would get Rs 15,000 .
This season the Trades Cup will be sponsored by the "Bengal Peerless Group" and will be known as the "Bengal Peerless Trades Challenge Cup 2008".
::: INDIA U13 Girls team for AFC U13 Girls Football Festival :::
India will be represented by the following 22 players in the inaugural AFC U13 Girls Football Festival to be held at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from June 23 to 27. Our Girls would face China, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Singapore and hosts Vietnam.
INDIA U13 Girls: Goalkeepers: Elangbam Panthoi Chanu (Manipur); Defenders: W Lintho Ingambi Devi (Manipur), T Ranjita Devi (Manipur), H Sunita Devi (Manipur), Th Purnima Devi (Manipur), Sithara Hari Kumar (Kerala), Alivia SK (Karnataka), Varalakshmi Mani (Pondicherry); Midfielders: Tanvi Bhargava (Chandigarh), Masuka Somesh (Karnataka), Raksha Pawar (Uttarakhand), Salma Fernandes (Goa), Subhaprabha Rout (Orissa), Sangeetha Viagulasamy (Pondicherry), Viswa Kirti Patel (Gujarat); Forwards: Josline D'Souza (Goa), Preeti Shinde (Goa), Luica Gracy Simoes (Goa), Karishma Oram (Orissa), Veerpal Kaur Bawa (Punjab), Mampi Bhowmick (Tripura), Kanmozhi Muthukrishanan (Tamil Nadu).
Officials: Ms Shukla Dutta (Chief Coach), Ms RK Amusana Devi (Coach), Ms Anjani Agrawal (Physiotherapist).
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Semifinal
Karnataka 0-0,0-0,3-4 Punjab (penalties)
Goals: ...
Karnataka: 1-Gumpe Rime (PS 20-Nagendra); 7-Thiyam Raghuveer Singh, 17-Pradeep, 3-Y Jaikumar, 15-Prakash; 10-Bimal Minz, 14-Rajendra Prasad, 6-Srinath, 8-Xavier Vijayakumar; 9-Dada Nabeel (90' 11-Karthick, 108' 5-Vinod Kumar), 12-Sanath Kumar
Unused Substitutes: 19-Stephen, 4-Chethan Kumar, 18-Srinivas
Punjab: 1-Karanjit Singh (PS 22-Paramjit Singh); 13-Baldeep Singh, 2-Jaspal Singh, 16-Gurwinder Singh, 3-Ravinder Singh; 11-Amandeep Singh, 17-Sukhvinder Singh, 8-Jagpreet Singh, 6-Baljit Singh Sahni (106' 9-Balwant Singh); 10-Sakatar Singh, 15-Harvinder Singh (46' 12-Balraj Singh)
Unused Substitutes: 21-Mukhwinderjit Singh, 4-Mandeep Singh, 18-Sarabjit Singh, 7-Harshdeep Singh, 8-Jagpreet Singh, 5-Guriqbal Singh
Yellow Cards: Bimal Minz (85'), Prakash (87', both Karnataka).
Referee: Rizwan Ul-Haq (Delhi).
Penalty Shootout:
- Rajendra SCORES!! (Karnataka) (SHOOTS THE BALL TO RIGHT)
- Jaspal Singh SCORES!! (Punjab) (SHOOTS THE BALL TO LEFT)
- Bimal Minz SCORES!! (Karnataka) (SHOOTS THE BALL TO LEFT)
- Jagpreet Singh SCORES!! (Punjab) (SHOOTS THE BALL TO RIGHT)
- Xavier Vijaykumar SCORES!! (Karnataka) (SHOOTS TO THE BALL TO RIGHT)
- Sukhwinder Singh SCORES!! (Punjab) (SHOOTS THE BALL TO LEFT)
- Srinath MISS!! (Karnataka) (SHOT STRAIGHT OVER THE BAR)
- Balwant Singh MISS!!(Punjab) (SAVED BY GOAL KEEPER)
- Sanath Kumar MISS!! (Karnataka) (WENT WIDE OF THE RIGHT POST)
- Ravinder Singh SCORES!! (Punjab) (SHOOTS TO LEFT)
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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::: INDIA to host next edition of SAFF Cup :::
INDIA would be hosting the 6th edition of the SAFF Championships according to SAFF secretary general Sirajul Islam Bacchu. The SAFF Executive Committee decided at their meeting to allot India the tournament, but the dates would be fixed only after consultations with the AIFF. The South Asian Football Federation would prefer December 2009 as date for the championships, but due to the I-League the tournament could be pushed into 2010.
With the allotment of the tournament INDIA will play host to the SAFF Championships for the second time. In May 1999 INDIA had hosted the second SAFF Cup in Goa.
::: SAFF Cup final: Off-colour strikers, injuries plague India :::
PTi report: Goal-shy forwards and injury to key players fill India's cup of woes and Baichung Bhutia and his teammates will have to produce a vastly improved show if they are to defend the SAFF Championship title when they cross sword with Maldives at the Sugathadasa Stadium here on Saturday.
Though India edged out Maldives in its last league match by a solitary goal, past record would count for nothing when the sides lock horns and with Steven Dias, Renedy Singh and NS Manju set to miss the final with injuries, coach Bob Houghton would find himself in an unenviable position. To make it worse, the forward line, including Bhutia himself, sports a jaded look and the captain said it would be a 50-50 affair tomorrow.
"We all are very confident against Maldives. They are a very good side. It will be a good contest. It's difficult to say who will be the winners but we have 50-50 chances," Bhutia said.
The captain did not try to gloss over the fact that he and his forward-line colleagues cut a sorry figure against Bhutan and it needed a last-gasp goal from Gouramangi Singh, at the fag end of the extra time to edge out Bhutan and clear India's passage to the final.
::: EURO2008: Cricketer Yuvraj Singh to hand over "Man of the Match" award :::
The "Man of the Match" award at the European Championship 2008 Group A match between Portugal vs Switzerland on Sunday in Basel, Switzerland will be handed over by Indian crickter Yuvraj Singh. A Euro2008 sponsor had decided to call on an Indian celebrity to hand over the award with the initial decision to call on Indian One-Day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but as he couldn't fit in the date Yuvraj was called upon.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Semifinal
Services 4-1 West Bengal
Goals: 1-0,3-1,4-1 Sochungmi Raleng (23',89',90+1'), 2-0 Norgan Lama (78'), 2-1 Shankar Oraon (80')
Services: 1-Robikanta Singh; 2-KP Kabui (78' 4-GS Sandhu), 12-Norgan Lama, 5-M Dileep, 19-Lalruatafela; 13-Mahesh Rai, 8-Gordon Z (85' 11-LB Victor), 7-Laldingliana (69' 6-Sudhir Mishra), 20-Jiten Meitei; 10-Sochungmi Raleng, 9-Shaji D'Silva
Unused Substitutes: 22-Min Bahadur Chhetri, 18-Kiran Kanwar, 16-LN Munda, 21-KK Zaman, 15-Lalsangaliana, 3-PS Sumesh
West Bengal: 20-Abhra Mondal; 3-Habibur Rehman Mondal, 4-Kingshuk Debnath, 6-Sheikh Azim, 5-Debabrata Roy; 16-Gouranga Dutta (62' 13-Shankar Oraon), 17-Mehtab Hussain (74' 12-Ashim Das), 7-Jayanta Sen, 14-Snehasish Chakrabarty (30' 9-Lal Kamal Bhowmick); 10-Tarif Ahmed, 18-Syed Rahim Nabi
Unused Substitutes: 1-Somnath Khara, 19-Chiradeep Chattopadhyay, 2-Manas Das, 11-Arnab Mondal, 15-Bijoy Basfore, 8-Tapan Maity
Yellow Cards: Norgan Lama (7', Services); Sheikh Azim (90+4', West Bengal).
Referee: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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In the latest IndianFootball.Com Guest Column Shre Kumar Chatterjee, the founder of the Indian Football Fans forum on social networking site ORKUT, writes about how a group of individuals through the Internet want to help the development of Indian football. They have the full support of IndianFootball.Com!
Read the complete article here >>IndianFootball.Com Guest Column - Shre Kumar Chatterjee .
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5th SAFF Cup 2008
Semifinal - Male, Maldives | <click here for LIVE updates>
INDIA 1-1,1-0 Bhutan (after extratime)
Goals: 0-1 Kinley Dorji (20'), 1-1 Sunil Chetri (31'), 2-1 Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (120+1')
INDIA: 1-Subrata Pal; 12-Deepak Kumar Mondal (47' 27-Mehraj din Wadoo), 5-Anwar Ali, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli; 23-Steven Dias (72' 9-Manjit Singh), 7-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep, 30-Climax Lawrence, 8-Potsangbam Renedy Singh (83' 18-Sushil Kumar Singh); 11-Sunil Chetri, 15-Baichung Bhutia [C]
Unused Substitutes: 24-Subhashish Roy Chowdhary, 21-Abhishek Yadav, 28-Bungo Thokchom Singh, 29-Sampath Kumar Kattimani
BHUTAN: 1-Jingme Singey (120' 20-Puspa); 4-Pema, 7-Kinley Dorji, 12-Gyeltshen, 17-Pema Rinchen, 2-Sangay Khandu, 6-Nima Sangay (72' ?-Wanchuk), 10-Wangay Dorji, 5-Passang Tshering, 14-Chencho, 15-Yeshey Dorji
Unused Substitutes: ...
YELLOW CARD(S): Chencho, Yashey Dorji (113', both Bhutan).
REFEREE: ...
ASSISTANT REFEREES: ...
FOURTH OFFICIAL: ...
MATCH COMMISSIONER: Allaberdy Mammetkuliev (Uzbekistan).
 MATCH REPORT:
Defending champions India cruised into the final of ongoing SAFF championship after grabbing a 2-1 win over Bhutan. The holders has to wait till the dying minutes of extratime to find the winner.
It was Indian striker Sunil Chetri, who went close to find the opener in the 5th minute, but Bhutan defence reacted quickly to clear the ball to a corner. Then from the corner, Bhutia back headed the ball from the near post and the ball only hits the far post before Bhutan defender, covering the goal post, cleared the danger. In the 7th minute Bhutan's Nima Sangay went close, but the effort missed the target by inches. In the 13th minute Bhutan keeper Singey was forced to try twice to handle Chetri's powerful shot. Five minutes later Kinley Dorji put Bhutan in front after picking the ball from the left wing and fired below Indian keeper from the near angle. It looked a bad half for Indian skipper, Bhutia, who failed to keep most of his efforts on target. Just at the half hour mark, Chetri brought the game back on level terms, after firing the ball into the net inside the six yard box.
It was a half dominated by the champions but chances fell to Bhutia, Chetri and Pradeep later in the game ended fruitless. Eight minutes into second half Bhutan went close but taking so much time gave the Indian's enough space to clear the ball. Just an hour mark, a header from Bhutia was cleared from the goal line. In the 77th minute Bhutia could have given the Indian side the awaiting lead, but the experienced skipper couldn't fire the ball into an empty net. Three minutes before full time, Bhutan's Yashey Dorji was under no pressure from Indian defence but his shot the ball off the target.
Both India and Bhutan created chances in extratime of the game. But it was the top class Indians that found the winner in the dying minutes of extratime. A poor decision to substitute keeper Singey, the first attempt to save the day for substitute keeper Puspa couldn't reach Gouramangi's effort and the Indians grabbed the winner. It was India 2 Bhutan 1 at the end. (maldivesoccer.com)
POST-MATCH COMMENTS:
Bob Houghton (Coach, India):
provided by maldivesoccer.com
We didn't under estimate Bhutan.
It was difficult to play four games in eight days.
Out of that, three games we played at 4 o' clock.
Steven, Renedy, Climax and Manju could miss the final due to injury.
It was another poor day for our strikers. After creating so many chances we couldn't score.
Bhutan played really well, so full credit to them.
Koji Gyotoku (Coach, Bhutan):
provided by maldivesoccer.com
I take full responsibility of the substitution of our goalkeeper in final minute. I even apologized from players, that was my mistake.
The assistant coach said our reserve goalkeeper is a good stopper, so I introduced to him for the possible penalty shoot-out.
The team has improved in the last two months.
This is a good experience for the Bhutan team and a big step in Bhutan's football.
Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (Defender, India):
exclusively to IndianFootball.Com
I honestly thank god! It's all his game!
It was a semifinal match and we expected the game to be tough whoever we play!
The fact is that it wasn't fun and not easy to play four matches in a week.
Credits goes to the whole team, staff and coaches!
What matters now is to play a good final! Hope we do well whoever we face in the final!
The final is not going to be an easy match!
Mahesh Gawli (Defender, India):
exclusively to IndianFootball.Com
It was a good game, but also a very though one!
We suffered too many injuries and missed a lot of chances!
Steven Dias (Midfielder, India):
exclusively to IndianFootball.Com
It was not an easy match for us.
We missed many chances, but we deserved the win!
Everyone in the team is working hard.
The sad news is that we have too many injured players. I'm suffering from a very bad ankle injury. Renedy and Climax are also injured...
But we are still confident and we believe that we will defend our SAFF Cup title!
Mehraj din Wadoo (Midfielder, India):
exclusively to IndianFootball.Com
It was a tougher match then we were expecting!
We conceded the goal in the 20th min. But soon after we did have more posession and created few chance. In that time Sunil noched-in a goal.
In the second half Steven and Renedy were forced to leave the field due to injuries.
Till the end we came close to the goal several times. But it was just before the end of the match when we levelled the score. I played a freekick from outside the box and Gouramangi had a touch on it and helped us to have the opportunity to play in finals!
We're leaving tomorrow to Sri Lanka and looking forward to get the cup!
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Indian National Team section.
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5th SAFF Cup 2008
Semifinal - Colombo, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka 0-1 Maldives
Goals: 0-1 Ibrahim Fazeel (70')
SRI LANKA: Chathura Maduranga, EB Channa, Kasun Nadika Jayasuriya, Thilina Suranda, Ramlan Thuwan, Asanka Viraj, Chathura Gunarathne, Fazul Rahman, R Dinesh Ruwan Weldon (39' Sanjaya Pradeep), Romi (52' Anton Nimal Fernando), Chathura Lakruwan (67' Asmeer Mohamed)
Unused Substitutes: ...
MALDIVES: 1-Mohamed Shifan, Ali Ashfaq, Mohamed Jameel, Assad Abdul Ghani, Ahmed 'Ammaty' Saeed, Mukhthar Naseer, Imran Mohamed, Sobah Mohamed, Ibrahim Fazeel (84' Shamveel Qasim), Ali Umar (76' Mohamed Arif), Ismail Mohamed (69' Shinaz Hilmy).
Unused Substitutes: ...
YELLOW CARD(S): Ramlan Thuwan, Fazul Rahman (Sri Lanka); Mohamed Shifan, Mohamed Jameel, Mukhuthar Naseer (all Maldives).
REFEREE: Abdul Wahab.
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Nguyen Ngoc Ha, K Khin Maung Myint.
FOURTH OFFICIAL: Dwight David Penano.
MATCH COMMISSIONER: Abdulrahman Abdou.
MATCH REPORT:
Maldives entered the final of ongoing SAFF championship beating co-hosts Sri Lanka by 1-0, thanks to Ibrahim Fazeel's 70th minute wonder goal. This is the second time Maldives beat Sri Lanka in the semi final of SAFF championship and the second time a goal from Ibrahim Fazeel take Maldives into the final.
It was 1997, the first edition of SAFF championship, when Maldives entered the final beating Sri Lanka in the semi final and also the edition held in Dhaka in 2003 saw Ibrahim Fazeel scored the winner against Pakistan in the semi final.
In tonight's game, it was the home side that started the game more positively. Sri Lanka created their first chance in the 5th minute when Channa chips the ball over off positioned Imran, but the Victory keeper punched the ball away.
It was another night ace striker Ali Ashfaag showed his class and in the 23rd minute he beat three opponent defenders but his shot was off the target.
Seven minutes later he penetrated the Sri Lankan defense once again but this time his powerful shot was blocked by the home defense.
Three minute after half an hour, it was again Ashfaag and this time his shot was blocked by keeper and he couldn't fire the rebounded ball.
Two minutes into second half, Sri Lanka went close to find the opener but Kasun's header missed the target nearly.
Then came the historical moment, in the 70th minute, Ashfaag once again troubled the Sri Lankan defense and passed the ball to unmarked Ibrahim Fazeel, who controlled the ball and sent it over the keeper to bring a nation into their feet.
The goal also gave thousands of Maldivian supporters the full control over the stadium and hardly hears the sound of home crowd.
Maldives opted for a more defensive game after the goal and Sri Lanka went forward to find an equalizer but it was not their night and suffered their first loss against Maldives in their home.
Maldives will meet defending champions India, who beat Maldives 1-0 in the group stage, in the final on Saturday. (maldivesoccer.com)
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Indian National Team section.
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::: INDIA's Women move up to 53rd place :::
In the latest FIFA Women's World Rankings released yesterday our INDIAN Women are now ranked 53rd amongst 117 ranked nations. In Asia INDIA remain 12th overall.
::: Arsenal FC pick 16 boys for training in UK :::
PTI report: Sixteen under-15 boys were selected on Wednesday by Arsenal FC coaches for a two-weeks training stint in Surrey, England. They will be trained during the Arsenal International Soccer Festival in which under-15 boys from six other countries - England, the USA, Denmark, Canada, Greece and South Africa - will also take part.
The 16 boys - six from Calcutta, three from Bangalore, two each from Mumbai, New Delhi and Goa, and one from Shillong -- have been picked from an initial pool of 5,000. Besides being trained, they will also participate in the festival as a team christened Tata Tea Arsenal Soccer Stars.
The squad was picked by Paul Shipwright who is the head of Arsenal Soccer School, and Martin Davis, football development officer of the premier club, after a training at the Calcutta Cricket&Football Club here. Shipwright said they had shortlisted 31 from the initial pool for a nine days training at the Calcutta club and then the final 15 were picked. Shipwright said he did not see any major difference in the boys from India and that of the ones at the Arsenal Soccer School in England.
"I see the difference only in the style of coaching. Otherwise I'm really impressed with the boys willingness to learn, their team work, and their work ethics. If we find any outstanding talent after the training in Surrey, we might give them recognition," Shipwright said.
Indian trainees: Goalkeepers: Avijit De (ASC School, Bangalore), Arindam Mitra (Basudevpur Pally Hitashdhani High School, Calcutta); Defenders: S Kiran Kumar (St Angels English High School, Bangalore), Shane Anthony Temodo (St Britto High School, Goa), Sumit Das (Shyambazar AV School, Calcutta), Rickin Dang (Don Bosco, Mumbai), Mario Bacchus Lobo (St Josephs High School, Goa); Midfielders: Daniel Lalhrwaitlwanga (The Air Force School, New Delhi), Jitu Das (Basudevpur Pally Hitashdhani High School, Calcutta), Siddharth Singh (Cathedral and John Connon School, Mumbai), Yan Cheng Law (La Martiniere School for Boys, Calcutta), Mohammed Jaffar Ali (Basudevpur Pally Hitashdhani High School, Calcutta); Strikers: Ajay Gujral (The Shri Ram School, New Delhi), R Deepak (St Angels English High School, Bangalore), Jessammy Clivensn Tariang (St Edmunds, Shillong), Karim Mistry (St Lawrence High School, Calcutta).
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group B
Karnataka 1-0 Goa
Goals: 1-0 Xavier Vijayakumar (54')
Karnataka: 1-Gumpe Rime; 7-Thiyam Raghuveer Singh, 3-Y Jaikumar, 17-Pradeep, 2-Sumit Thapa; 8-Xavier Vijayakumar, 14-Rajendra Prasad, 6-Srinath, 15-Prakash; 10-Bimaml Minz (81' 12-Sanath Kumar), 9-Dada Nabeel (90+2' 5-Vinod Kumar)
Unused Substitutes: 20-Nagendra, 2-Sumit Thapa, 19-Stephen, 11-Karthick, 4-Chethan Kumar, 18-Srinivas
Goa: 1-Felix D'Souza; 18-Valeriano Rebello, 3-John Charles Dias, 2-Rowilson Rodrigues, 5-Cressan Antao; 17-Joaquim Abranches, 16-Francis Fernandes, 6-Micky Fernandes (46' 15-Nicholas L Rodrigues), 7-Denzil Franco (61' 12-Joseph Pereira); 11-Nicolau Borges, 14-Milagres Gonsalves (46' 8-Drupesh Dessai)
Unused Substitutes: 25-Tyson Caiado, 30-Gerard D'Mello, 4-Philip Gomes, 19-Fulgancio Cardozo, 10-Freddy Mascarenhas
Yellow Cards: Sanath Kumar (90+3', Karnataka); Denzil Franco, John Charles Dias (56'm, both Goa).
Referee: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group B
West Bengal 1-1 Maharashtra
Goals: 0-1 Soccor Velho (44'), 1-1 Jayanta Sen (54')
West Bengal: 1-Somnath Khara; 11-Arnab Mondal (62' 3-Habibur Rehman Mondal), 4-Kingshuk Debnath, 15-Bijoy Basfore, 5-Debabrata Roy; 16-Gouranga Dutta, 7-Jayanta Sen, 9-Lal Kamal Bhowmick, 14-Snehasish Chakrabarty (81' 10-Tarif Ahmed); 13-Shankar Oraon (37' 12-Ashim Das), 18-Syed Rahim Nabi
Unused Substitutes: 19-Chiradeep Chattopadhyay, 20-Abhra Mondal, 2-Manas Das, 8-Tapan Maity, 9-Lal Kamal Bhowmick, 17-Mehtab Hussain
Maharashtra: 22-Kunal Sawani; 12-Haobijam Napoleon Singh, 4-Krishna Shirodkar, 2-Amritpal Singh, 6-Rauf Sher Khan (87' 17-Amandeep Singh); 11-Surojit Roy (61' 7-Hringsolal Thomte), 18-Souvaid Ansari, 9-Hekmat Singh (77' 16-Prakash Patil), 10-Paresh Shivalkar; 14-Kailash Patil, 13-Soccor Velho
Unused Substitutes: 1-EC Sharath, 5-Revelino Fernandes, 3-Faraz Sheikh, 8-Jatin Singh Bisht, 21-Santosh Koli
Yellow Cards: Thomte (90', Maharashtra).
Referee: Deepak Singh Bisht (Delhi).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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::: India not taking Bhutan lightly in SAFF Cup semifinal :::
IANS report: Defending champions India will not take any chances when they clash with surprise opponents Bhutan in the semifinals of the SAFF Cup at the National Stadium here Wednesday. Bhutan, the lowest ranked team in the tournament at 196th, have surpassed expectations to set up a pre-summit date with the title holders. They finished second by beating Afghanistan in their Group B, behind Sri Lanka. The last face-off between the two semifinalists was in 2005 edition in Pakistan, where India emerged victorious.
But this time the Bhutanese are better prepared and were impressive in their 3-1 win over newcomers Afghanistan.
India coach Bob Houghton said his strategy for the semis would change with Bhutan coming in.
"I was under the notion that we will be facing Afghanistan. But Bhutan's performance surprised me. We haven't played them in recent months so I don't have any plan for them," Houghton said.
India captain Baichung Bhutia, too, said he had a hazy remembrance of the last match India played against the Bhutanese, but he had watched their matches in this tournament on television.
"They are a good attacking side. And from what I saw, I think they have improved a lot from what they were in 2006," Bhutia told IANS on the eve of the match.
"We don't have any specific plans for them. We have to play well and make the best use of the chances that we create. In the semifinals we can't afford to miss chances. The boys have played well all through the tournament and we will keep up the tempo in the semis as well," he said.
India will go out with a 4-4-2 formation with Bhutia and Sunil Chetri upfront. Steven Dias, NP Pradeep, Renedy Singh and Climax Lawrence will cover the midfield.
But, defences is Houghton's concern as he will be without two key players - NS Manju and Sameer Naik. Manju is out with an injury, while Naik picked up a double booking in the last match against Maldives.
"I was under the impression that Sameer would be available for this match because I was told that group stage cards would not count for the knock-out phase. But, the organisers now say that only yellow cards received in successive matches will be withdrawn. But Sameer was sent off after being shown the yellow card twice," said Houghton.
Inexperienced Gouramangi Singh and Anwar Ali will be the replacements for Manju and Naik, and that will put a lot pressure on Mahesh Gawli and Deepak Mondal. Subrata Paul under the bar will also have to be more alert.
Bhutan's Japanese coach Koji Gyotoku made it clear that his boys will give a tough fight.
"I have a set of amateur players and I am impressed with their enthusiasm and talent. I can assure you it won't be easy for India."
::: IndianFootball.Com interview: Karim Bencharifa (Mohun Bagan AC coach) :::
Karim Bencherifa has become a household name for people who follow Indian football. After two very successful seasons with Goa's Churchill Brothers SC the Moroccan has made the switch this summer to Calcutta to coach one of India's biggest football teams, Mohun Bagan AC.
IndianFootball.Com Editor-in-Chief Arunava Chaudhuri caught-up with Karim to get to know more about him - as a coach, his football philosophy and the private man behind the coach.
Click here to read the complete >>Karim Bencharifa (Mohun Bagan AC coach) interview
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group A
Jammu&Kashmir 2-3 Services
Goals: 0-1,1-3 Sochungmi Raleng (8',70'), 1-1 Rohit Kumar (57'), 1-2 Shaji D'Silva (62'), 2-3 Ishfaq Ahmed (75')
Jammu&Kashmir: 1-Vikramjeet Singh; 14-Imran Rafiq, 3-Billu Khan, 5-Shahnaz Iqbal (80' 8-Manoj Kumar), 12-Wasim Feroz; 17-Kamaljeet Kumar, 7-Rohit Kumar, 19-Sheikh Rizwan, 10-Adil Qadir; 9-Mohammad Asif (74' 6-Sandeep Sharma), 11-Ishfaq Ahmed
Unused Substitutes: 21-Tanvir Ahmed, 20-Bilal Ahmed Wani, 8-Manoj Kumar, 18-Taufeeq Ahmed, 15-Zubair Ahmed, 4-Arun Malhotra, 16-Mohit Verma
Services: 22-Min Bahadur Chhetri; 2-KP Kabui (78' 5-M Dileep), 12-Norgan Lama, 4-GS Sandhu, 19-Lalruatafela; 16-LN Munda (45' 20-Jiten Meitei),7-Laldingliana, 13-Mahesh Rai, 6-Sudhir Mishra; 11-LB Victor (49' 9-Shaji D'Silva), 10-Sochungmi Raleng
Unused Substitutes: 1-Robikanta Singh, 18-Kiran Kanwar, 21-KK Zaman, 15-Lalsangaliana, 3-PS Sumesh, 8-Gordon
Yellow Cards: Kamaljeet Kumar (79', Jammu&Kashmir); Mahesh Rai (88', Services).
Referee: Gokuldas Nagvenkar (Goa).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group A
Kerala 0-5 Punjab
Goals: 0-1 Saktar Singh (54'), 0-2,0-5 Baljit Singh Sahni (60',89'), 0-3 Balraj Singh (62'), 0-4 Amandeep Singh (76')
Kerala: 1-Jinesh Thomas; 5-KV Lalu, 4-Jithesh CK, 3-Jaseer K, 15-Joby KS; 14-Deepu B (70' 13-Abdul Basheer), 8-Prasoon TK, 17-Martyn John, 9-KM Abdul Noushad; 11-Javed OK, 10-T Asif Saheer (78' 12-Kannan R)
Unused Substitutes: 22-Nawaz KT, 21-Renjith RA, 2-Ebin Rose, 16-Anooj VS, 6-Bijesh Ben, 18-Renil CJ
Punjab: 1-Karanjit Singh; 2-Jaspal Singh, 16-Gurwinder Singh, 3-Ravinder Singh (83' 5-Guriqbal Singh), 13-Baldeep Singh; 17-Sukhvinder Singh, 6-Baljit Singh Sahni, 11-Amandeep Singh, 8-Jagpreet Singh; 15-Harvinder Singh (40' 12-Balraj Singh), 10-Sakatar Singh (79' 9-Balwant Singh)
Unused Substitutes: 21-Mukhwinderjit Singh, 22-Paramjit Singh, 4-Mandeep Singh, 18-Sarabjit Singh, 7-Harshdeep Singh, 8-Jagpreet Singh
Yellow Cards: Amandeep Singh (10', Punjab).
Referee: Rizwan Ul-Haq (Delhi).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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::: AFC Challenge Cup: INDIA face tough competition :::
The draw for the final round of the 2nd AFC Challenge Cup to be played from July 30 to August 10 was held today in the host city of Hyderabad, India. Hosts INDIA have been given a tough draw in Group A where they face defending champions Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and surprise qualifiers Afganistan. In Group B strong contenders North Korea would have to face Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka, in what looks to be an easier group.
The winners of the AFC Challenge Cups 2008 and 2010 will have direct entry to the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. And it now looks a tough road ahead for Team INDIA...
Schedule of Matches:
July 30: Turkmenistan vs Tajikistan; India vs Afghanitsan
July 31: DPR Korea vs Sri Lanka; Myanmar vs Nepal
August 1: Tajikistan vs India; Afghanitan vs Turkmenistan
August 2: Sri Lanka vs Myanmar; Nepal vs DPR Korea
August 3: Turkmenistan vs India; Afghanistan vs Tajikistan
August 4: DPR Korea vs Myanmar; Nepal vs Sri Lanka
August 7: Semifinals
August 10: Final
::: Jose Ramirez Barreto returns to Calcutta :::
Mohun Bagan's Brazilian star striker Jose Ramirez Barreto returned to the "City of Joy" from Sao Paolo today. Barreto had problems getting out of India in March as he had more then the allowed sum of foreign exchange with him, which resulted in his passport being confiscated by authorities making headline news.
On his return Barreto said, "Whatever happened is all past. I want to concentrate on my game, forgetting the past. That (the passport issue) however, will not affect my career. I am very happy to be back."
::: University Institute of Chemical Technology building football team :::
University Institute of Chemical Technology (UICT) has been building a football team for the past two years but always lacked the professional touch. UICT came close to reaching the finals on many occasions but never actually made it through to the finals. We realised that we needed help, and what better way than to get the guidance of the Premier India Football Academy, Mumbai. We had 16 training sessions organised by PIFA. PIFA showed us our faults which we never realised were wrong or even existed. They introduced new excercises and gave us the belief to play well and attack in a structured manner. The results were excellent and swift. UICT won two tournaments this year. This was possible because of the efforts of coaches Nirvan Shah, Karim Sheik and Chirag Sheik.
7 A-Side football tournament (part of Kurukshetra - an intercollege sports tournament organised by JJ Medical College, Mumbai)
UICT won the 7 A-Side football tournament quite convincingly by beating the home team JJ Medical College by a score of 5-0. Goals scored by Pravin Bollini, Prathamesh Malge (2x), Rahul Surve and Nikhil Basutkar. The matches were conducted at JJ Medical College football ground.
Fr. Conceicao Rodgrigues Memorial Football Tournament 2008
Fr. Conceicao Rodrigues Memorial Football Tournament 2008 was organised by Fr. Agnels College of Engineering, Bandra. It was a proper 11 A-Side football tournament and the matches were played at St. Xaviers Ground, Parel. This was one of the most competitive tournaments organised this year. It was an invitational tournament and only the top teams were invited. UICT were clearly the underdogs of the tournament having not won a single 11 A-Side football tournament ever. What was really exciting about winning this tournament was that UICT beat all the teams to whom we used to get knocked out in various tournaments. UICT beat Watumal College 2-0 in the first match. Goals by Nikhil Basutkar and Suvid Joshi. Then went on to beat DJ Sanghvi 1-0 on penalties. In the semis UICT beat Fr. Agnels, Bandra 1-0. Goal scored via a freekick by Gurpreet Singh. The finals were against Don Bosco Institute of Technology. UICT defeated them 1-0 and the goal was scored by Pravin Bollini. DJ Sanghvi, Fr. Agnels and Don Bosco Institute of Technology have been winners of most of the football tournaments in recent times. To win the tournament by defeating such teams was another high for UICT.
The future of football looks very bright at UICT. Currently, our football ground is being renovated i.e. the level of the playing field is being raised and the surface levelled. It would never have been possible to convince the college authorities to renovate the ground unless we had won so many tournaments in different sports in the same year. Part of the credit goes to PIFA. UICT hope to start training with PIFA for the next season as early as possible to continue winning more and more tournaments.
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5th SAFF Cup 2008
Group B - Colombo, Sri Lanka
Afghanistan 1-3 Bhutan
Goals: 0-1 Dorji (13'), 0-2,0-3 Gylesthin (76',80'), 1-3 Habib (87')
Sri Lanka 1-0 Bangladesh
Goals: 1-0 Rawmy Mohideen (73')
Referee: Imtiaz Ali Shah (Pakistan)
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Indian National Team section.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group A
Jammu&Kashmir 0-1 Punjab | Remaining 22 minutes of the match played
Goals: 0-1 Sukhwinder Singh (68')
Jammu&Kashmir: 1-Vikramjeet Singh; 2-Mansoor Ahmed, 3-Billu Khan, 5-Shahnaz Iqbal [C], 12-Wasim Feroz; 17-Kamaljeet Kumar, 7-Rohit Kumar, 19-Sheikh Rizwan, 10-Adil Qadir; 20-Bilal Ahmed Wani, 11-Ishfaq Ahmed
Unused Substitutes: 21-Tanvir Ahmed, 9-Mohammed Asif, 8-Manoj Kumar, 18-Taufeeq Ahmed, 15-Zubair Ahmed, 6-Sandeep Sharma, 14-Imran Rafiq, 4-Arun Malhotra, 16-Mohit Verma
Punjab: 1-Karanjit Singh [C]; 2-Jaspal Singh, 16-Gurwinder Singh (66' 12-Balraj Singh), 3-Ravinder Singh, 13-Baldeep Singh; 17-Sukhvinder Singh, 6-Baljit Singh Sahni, 11-Amandeep Singh, 14-Harjit Singh (55' 8-Jagpreet Singh); 15-Harvinder Singh, 10-Sakatar Singh
Unused Substitutes: 21-Mukhwinderjit Singh, 22-Paramjit Singh, 4-Mandeep Singh, 18-Sarabjit Singh, 5-Guriqbal Singh, 7-Harshdeep Singh, 9-Balwant Singh
Yellow Cards: ...
Referee: Rizwan ul-Haq (Delhi).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group B
Karnataka 1-4 West Bengal
Goals: 0-1 Ashim Das (45+1'), 0-2 Gouranga Dutta (68'), 0-3 Syed Rahim Nabi (75'), 1-3 Xavier Vijayakumar (78'), 1-4 Tarif Ahmed (85')
KARNATAKA: 1-Gumpe Rime; 7-Thiyam Raghuveer Singh, 3-Y Jaikumar, 17-Pradeep, 16-Ricky Joy; 8-Xavier Vijayakumar, 14-Rajendra Prasad, 6-Srinath (80' 5-Vinod Kumar), 15-Prakash; 12-Sanath Kumar (60' 10-Bimal Minz), 9-Dada Nabeel.
Unused Substitutes: 20-Nagendra, 2-Sumit Thapa, 19-Stephen, 11-Karthick, 4-Chethan Kumar, 18-Srinivas
WEST BENGAL: 1-Somnath Khara; 3-Habibur Rehman Mondal, 4-Kingshuk Debnath, 6-Sheikh Azim, 5-Debabrata Roy; 16-Gouranga Dutta, 7-Jayanta Sen, 17-Mehtab Hussain (82' 10-Tarif Ahmed), 14-Snehasish Chakrabarty (70' 9-Lal Kamal Bhowmick); 13-Shankar Oraon (45' 12-Ashim Das), 18-Syed Rahim Nabi
Unused Substitutes: 19-Chiradeep Chattopadhyay, 20-Abhra Mondal, 2-Manas Das, 11-Arnab Mondal, 15-Bijoy Basfore, 8-Tapan Maity
Yellow Cards: Sheikh Azim (40', West Bengal).
Referee: Nazir Ahmad (Jammu & Kashmir).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group B
Goa 2-0 Maharashtra
Goals: 1-0 John Charles Dias (80'), 2-0 Denzil Franco (83' pen)
GOA: 1-Felix D'Souza; 18-Valeriano Rebello [C], 3-John Charles Dias, 2-Rowilson Rodrigues, 5-Cressan Antao; 17-Joaquim Abranches, 6-Micky Fernandes, 16-Francis Fernandes, 11-Nicolau Borges; 9-Peter Carvalho (46' 7-Denzil Franco), 10-Freddy Mascarenhas (86' 15-Nicholas L Rodrigues)
Unused Substitutes:
MAHARASHTRA: 1-EC Sharath; 12-Haobijam Napoleon Singh, 4-Krishna Shirodkar, 2-Amritpal Singh, 9-Hekmat Singh (70' 7-Hringsolal Thomte); 11-Surojit Roy, 18-Souvaid Ansari, 21-Santosh Koli [C], 10-Paresh Shivalkar; 13-Soccor Velho, 14-Kailash Patil (86' 15-Abhishek Yadav)
Unused Substitutes:
Yellow Cards: Amritpal Singh (82', Maharashtra).
Referee: PK Bose (Madhya Pradesh).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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::: PIFA children train under Peter Shreeves, ex-Spurs manager :::
Premier India Football Academy, Mumbai organized the PIFA - London tour to England - a football tour for children 10-18 years. This was their fourteenth camp to Europe. 30 children participated in this exciting camp, there were children from the Mahindra United and Mumbai FC junior teams.
The tour was designed by PIFA to help children appreciate and understand the history of Arsenal FC and what makes them so special. The children got a guided tour of the Emirates Stadium and Museum.
Football training was conducted through the week by the Inspire Academy on 3G all weather artificial grass pitches at the Football Academy in Loughton.
They were also treated to a training session by Peter Shreeve, ex-Manager of Tottenham Hotspurs and Sheffield Wednesday FC. He was impressed by the academy students of PIFA.
The children got to see an English Premier League match. Fulham's final home game at Craven Cottage against Birmingham City both teams fighting off relegation. The children were seated on the first row and were closest to the playing field. The children could be easily be recognized by the bright yellow PIFA T-Shirts that they wore for the game. They were able to experience the energy of the fans and lively atmosphere in the stadium. The match was won 2-0 by Fulham FC.
The children also played friendlies against the Boca Juniors U13 and U16 teams. The children underwent fitness and skill tests. The skills test was won by PIFA student Aahant Singh.
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5th SAFF Cup 2008
Group A - Male, Maldives | <click here for LIVE updates>
Maldives 0-1 INDIA
Goals: 0-1 Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (14')
MALDIVES: 1-Mohamed Shifan, 5-Ibrahim Fazeel (33' 11-Shamveel Qasim), Ali Ashfaq, Mohamed Jameel, Ahmed Thoriq (40' Ali Umar), Assad Abdul Ghani, Ahmed 'Ammaty' Saeed (84' 15-Shinaz Hilmy), Ismail Mohamed, Mukhthar Naseer, Imran Mohamed, Sobah Mohamed
Unused Substitutes: ...
INDIA: 24-Subhashish Roy Chowdhary; 12-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 5-Anwar Ali, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 20-Samir Naik; 28-Bungo Thokchom Singh, 27-Mehraj din Wadoo, 29-Sampath Kumar Kattimani, 8-Potsangbam Renedy Singh [C] (46' 23-Steven Dias); 21-Abhishek Yadav (80' 11-Sunil Chetri), 9-Manjit Singh
Unused Substitutes: 1-Subrata Pal, 7-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep, 14-Mahesh Gawli, 15-Baichung Bhutia, 30-Climax Lawrence
YELLOW CARD(S): Samir Naik (15'), Subhashish Roy Chowdhary (32', both India).
YELLOW-RED CARD: Samir Naik (63', India).
REFEREE: Abdulrahman Abdou (Qatar).
ASSISTANT REFEREES: ...
FOURTH OFFICIAL: ...
MATCH COMMISSIONER: Allaberdy Mammetkuliev (Uzbekistan).
 MATCH REPORT:
Defending champions India beat Maldives 1-0 in their last group stage game played here in Male' tonight. India took the lead in the first half through Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, but it was the home side that played better and created numerous chances in the second half. It was only the luck that didn't help the men in red in another night where the supporters were outstanding.
In the 5th minute Imran punched away a cross from India from the left wing. In the 14th minute Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh broke the deadlock heading the cross on the goal line. Two minutes later Maldives' corner kick was cleared by Deepak from the goal line. Maldives was awarded a free kick on the edge of India penalty area in the 21st minute. But Indian keeper punched away Ashfaag's well executed free kick. Five minutes before half an hour, Ibrahim Fazeel's effort inside the six yard box was cleared to a corner by opponent defenders. In the 32nd minute Imran was forced to do well to save Abishek's back header inside Maldives penalty area. Four minutes later Ahmed Thoriq couldn't chest the ball well and collides with Indian keeper and forced to withdraw from the game due to injury. Five minute before half time, Renedey's free kick outside Maldives penalty area was inches away from the goal. At the stroke of first half, Deepak Mondal was unmarked inside Maldives area when he received the ball but fired the shot high and wide.
Thirteen minutes into second half, Ashfaag crosses a good one from the left wing that was off the target by inches. A minute later Mukhthar passed the ball to Ashfaag on the edge of India penalty area, but Ashifaag's powerful left footed shot was again off the target. India went down to 10 men in the 62nd minute when Samir Naik was given the marching orders for a second yellow. In the 65th minute Ashfaag above everyone to head Ismail's cross but his powerful header went above the cross bar. In the next minute Ashfaag passed the ball to Jameel, who was on a run towards the goal, but his shot outside the penalty area was saved by the keeper. In the 70th minute Ahmed Saeed provided a well time cross into the six yard box but Shamveel couldn't reach. A minute later a series of attacks inside the box was blocked by Indian defender and the last one from Ismail only hit the vertical bar. In the 74th minute Ali Umar back heeled Mukhthar Naseer's corner but Sobah's header went out nearly. Five minutes later Steven Dias fired a powerful shot from the right edge of Maldives penalty area, but keeper Imran parried the ball away to a corner. Just five minutes before full time skipper Assad's header missed the target. Two minutes to go, Mukhthar passed the ball to unmarked Ismail, but his weak shot wasn't a problem for the keeper. Even in the extra period of the game, Maldives created chances to find the equalizer but the lady luck wasn't on their side. (maldivesoccer.com)
POST-MATCH COMMENTS:
Bob Houghton (Coach, India):
provided by maldivesoccer.com:
It was great tonight. Maldives played well, but luck was not on their side tonight.
The schedule is just too tight. It is impossible for any team to perform at top notch every time with it. We had 3 games in 5 days and 2 games at 4 o'clock which is just too tight. So I had to rotate the 20 players to keep them fit.
I feel the back four did a fantastic job today. They were simply outstanding today. With 10 men and the pressure from the host, they remained confident and did not give much space. But to know that we just got 2 defeats out of 20 or 21 matches simply explains how much we are improving.
The decision to show a red to Samir was totally wrong. It was a horrendous decision. The two yellow cards were totally wrong. The first one was not a foul and the second one was just a collision. The referee had to differentiate between accidents and intentional fouls. It was neither of them.
I am not sure whether I should laugh about this. But I do sympathise for the home fans, because they might have to travel to Sri Lanka for the semi finals. But as Maldives coach said, we might face them in the finals. Who knows, but he is pretty confident.
Jozef Jankech (Coach, Maldives):
provided by maldivesoccer.com:
In first half we were bit nervous, there was no movement in the midfield. Sobah and Jameel gave too much space in the defence line.
But in the second half we improved and we were very unlucky.
To go to Sri Lanka might not be helpful for us, but we would surely play for a win and I am confident of the finals.
Sri Lanka is a dangerous place to go now. There are bombings every now and then. Even today there was a huge blast.
I don't think it is safe anymore, but I don't think we can change the finals or the semi finals now. The committee should meet and revise, but it might be too late now.
I felt we should have been awarded a penalty. The foul on Thoriq should have been a penalty. He was injured and taken out of the game, but still it wasn't a penalty.
I couldn't see well what happened that far away, I should check on the replay.
At the moment I don't know about Thoriq's injury but I am confident that all the players would recover in the next three days for the semi final.
I have no idea. I think the players seem to be too nervous and need to improve it in the next games.
Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (Defender, India):
exclusively to IndianFootball.Com:
I would like to thank god and my teammates! Without them I wouldn't have scored this important goal.
Thanks to the coach for giving me the opportunity to play once again and believing in me!
We are now looking forward to a play a good semifinal.
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Indian National Team section.
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5th SAFF Cup 2008
Group A - Male, Maldives
Pakistan 1-4 Nepal
Goals: 0-1 Raju Tamang (3'), 0-2 Nirajan Rayajhi (5'), 1-2 Samar Ishaq (54'), 1-3,1-4 Jumanu Rai (67',87')
MATCH REPORT:
Pakistan ended 5th SAFF championship empty handed as they were beaten by Nepal 4-1 in their last game of group A played here in Male' today. Raju, Niranjan and Jumanu Rai were the heroes of Nepal, where the latter scored twice.
Nepal took only three minutes to take the lead. A shot from Jumanu found too hard for the Pakistan defenders to clear and Raju Tamang easily converted the ball into the net. Just two minutes later Niranjan Rayajhi doubled the lead. Once again the Pakistan defence looked unsettled and Niranjan sent the ball over the keeper inside six yard box to make it 2-0. In the 18th minute Pakistan went close to cut the deficit but Qasim's strike inside Nepal penalty area was only on target to diving keeper's knee. In the next minute Pakistan's Niazi fired a shot from the edge of Nepal penalty area, but was too weak to trouble the keeper.
Pakistan appeared stronger in the second period of the game and was more on attack than Nepal. Pakistan cut the deficit in the 53rd minute from Samar Ishag's powerful header, which hit the crossbar on its way into the goal. In the 67th minute Jumanu Rai got his name on the score sheet. Gurong headed Niranjan's free kick into the six yard box and Jumanu Rai in front of the goal easily headed the ball into the goal. In the 73rd minute Aziz took a good shot outside Nepal penalty area, but keeper handled the pressure well. Four minutes before regular time Jumanu Rai picked up a pass from Ramesh inside Pakistan penalty area and found space to send the ball into the net with two opponent defenders behind him. (maldivesoccer.com)
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Indian National Team section.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group A
Jammu&Kashmir 0-1 Punjab | Match abandoned in the 68th minute after crowd trouble
Goals: 0-1 Sukhwinder Singh (68')
Jammu&Kashmir: 1-Vikramjeet Singh; 2-Mansoor Ahmed, 3-Billu Khan, 5-Shahnaz Iqbal [C], 12-Wasim Feroz; 17-Kamaljeet Kumar, 7-Rohit Kumar, 19-Sheikh Rizwan, 10-Adil Qadir; 20-Bilal Ahmed Wani, 11-Ishfaq Ahmed
Unused Substitutes: 21-Tanvir Ahmed, 9-Mohammed Asif, 8-Manoj Kumar, 18-Taufeeq Ahmed, 15-Zubair Ahmed, 6-Sandeep Sharma, 14-Imran Rafiq, 4-Arun Malhotra, 16-Mohit Verma
Punjab: 1-Karanjit Singh [C]; 2-Jaspal Singh, 16-Gurwinder Singh (66' 12-Balraj Singh), 3-Ravinder Singh, 13-Baldeep Singh; 17-Sukhvinder Singh, 6-Baljit Singh Sahni, 11-Amandeep Singh, 14-Harjit Singh (55' 8-Jagpreet Singh); 15-Harvinder Singh, 10-Sakatar Singh
Unused Substitutes: 21-Mukhwinderjit Singh, 22-Paramjit Singh, 4-Mandeep Singh, 18-Sarabjit Singh, 5-Guriqbal Singh, 7-Harshdeep Singh, 9-Balwant Singh
Yellow Cards: ...
Referee: Rizwan ul-Haq (Delhi).
Remainder of match to be played tomorrow:
The remaining 22 minutes of the Jammu&Kashmir vs Punjab of the 62nd Santosh Trophy Quarterfinal League Group A will be played tomorrow morning at 08.00 IST at the Bakshi Stadium as per the decision of the tournament Disciplinary Committee after talking with the two captains, the referee inspector and match commissioner.
Trouble had erupted just before Punjab took the lead as the match commissioner had asked photographers seated behind a goal to vacate their space as it was against tournament rules, while this farcas was on Punjab scored and this resulted in the large gathering getting agitated. While some people left the stadium other stormed the ground and the referee was forced to stop the match. The police even had to intervene as the situation seemed to go out of control.
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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62nd Santosh Trophy 2008
Quarterfinal League Group A
Quarterfinal League Group A
Services 3-0 Kerala
Goals: 1-0,2-0,3-0 Sochungmi Raleng (66',74',85')
Services: 1-Robikanta Singh; 2-KP Kabui, 12-Norgan Lama, 5-M Dileep, 19-Lalruatafela; 16-LN Munda (69' 11-LB Victor), 8-Gordon Z, 7-Laldingliana (61' 20-Jiten Meitei), 13-Mahesh Rai; 9-Shaji D'Silva (77' 6-Sudhir Mishra), 10-Sochungmi Raleng
Unused Substitutes: 22-Min Bahadur Chhetri, 18-Kiran Kanwar, 21-KK Zaman, 15-Lalsangaliana, 4-GS Sandhu, 3-PS Sumesh
Kerala: 1-Jinesh Thomas; 2-Ebin Rose, 4-Jithesh CK, 3-Jaseer K, 5-Lalu KV (46' ?-Joby KS); 6-Bijish Ben (80' 18-Renil CJ), 8-Prasoon TK (69' 17-Martyn John), 7-Rahul P, 9-KM Abdul Noushad; 11-Javed OK, 10-T Asif Saheer
Unused Substitutes: 22-Nawaz KT, 21-Renjith RA, 14-Deepu B, 16-Anooj VS, 12-Kannan R, 13-Abdul Basheer
Yellow-Red Card: Rahul P (17', Kerala)
Yellow Cards: Rahul P (12', Kerala)
Referee: Deepak Kumar Singh (Delhi).
For detailed information and pictures go to the >>>Santosh Trophy section.
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::: KP Krishnan no more :::
KP Krishnan a former midfielder for then Mumbai giants Tata SC died in Calicut aged 87 due to illness. Krishnan had been a member of the 1954 Santosh Trophy champions team from Mumbai which had won the title in Chennai and he was the founder of Matunga Athletic Club. Krishnan had played for Tata SC in the 1940s and 50s.