Seven Sisters Love Football: November 2009

NISA win after scare

Team leads tally with 27 points after first leg of tourney

Manipur League

Not a fall guy: H. Premkumar of Manipur Brothers leaps over Ksh. Malemnganba of NISA at Mapal Kangjeibung on Friday. Telegraph picture

Imphal, Nov. 27: Manipur Brothers Sporting Union (MBSU) went down fighting 2-3 to North Imphal Sporting Association (NISA) in the last match of the first leg of the 4th Manipur State League 2009 played at Mapal Kangjeibung here on Friday.

After the first leg NISA led the table with 27 points, followed by Tiddim Road Athletic Union with 22 and Southern Sporting Union on 20.

The second leg matches are likely to start on the completion the 53rd Sir Churchand Singh Memorial Football Tournament.

Today’s match between NISA and Manipur Brothers Sporting Union lacked intensity and urgency with the North Imphal side taking time to settle down. The team, however, got its act together and scored the lead in the 34th minute of play from a corner kick with a leaping S. Johnson finding the net.

The North Imphal team, which frequented its rival territory at will, got their second goal through N. Rajesh Meitei in the 38th minute to take a 2-0 lead in the first half.

Manipur Brothers Sporting Union did have their moments, but most of their forays fizzled out as they lacked co-ordination up front.

In the second half, North Imphal further consolidated their lead by netting another goal in the 72nd minute. Th. Santosh ruffled the net for the 3-0 lead.

Manipur Brothers, now desperate for a break, gave North Imphal a scare as they pumped in two goals in the dying moments. However, their efforts came too late and they failed to salvage the match.

In the 80th minute, a goalmouth melee saw M. Romi Singh finding the net on his second attempt and in the 88th minute L. Boipu converted a penalty awarded for a handball inside the box. NISA, however, had the last laugh.

NISA qualify for Federation Cup final round qualifiers

Labels: NISA

Duliajan (Assam), Nov 22 : North Imphal Sporting Association (NISA) defeated Arhima Club of Meghalaya 2-1 in the extra-time to emerge champions in Group D (North-East Zone) knock-out phase and make it to the next round of Federation Cup football qualifiers here.

Arhima defenders gave NISA a tough fight in the first half till in the 44th minute when Mani Mohan Singh scored to give the lead for the Imphal club.

Down 0-1, the Meghalaya side tried their best to bring the match on an even keel and their efforts bore fruit when Stevenfield Lenong scored the equaliser in the 77th minute.

The 1-1 stalemate prevailed in the full time and it was in the eighth minute of the extra time that NISA converted a penalty to settle the issue.

Thomas Singh converted the penalty after an Arhima defender handled the ball.

Nagaland Police in semifinals

Labels: Nagaland

Seven times champions Nagaland Police entered the semifinals of the 18th Kohima Royal Gold Cup today.

Nagaland Police blanked Kuki Football Club 2-0 in the tournament opener today, played at the local ground, Kohima.

Policemen striker Asa netted the first goal in the 12th minute of the first half. Ninja made it 2-0 for the Nagaland cops striking in injury time of the second half.

Earlier in the 56th minute Tiasunep of Nagaland Police was awarded a yellow card for unsporting behavior by the referee.

Earlier the tournament was formally declared opened by the Nagaland Football Association President P. Atuo Mezhur.

In his address Mr. Atuo announced that the Nagaland FA would be conducting a state football league fro

10- men Churchill trounce Chirag 2-0, climb to top

Labels: Churchill Brothers

MARGAO: True to their reputation, defending champions Churchill Brothers stopped Chirag United Kolkata's unbeaten run with a hard fought 2-0 win in their 8th round ONGC I - League Football championship match at the Nehru stadium at Fatorda on Friday.

Churchill goals came through Ogba Kalu in the sixth minute and Odafe Okolie in the 65th minute.

Such was a dominance of Churchill brothers in both the halves on Friday and they could have romped home with much bigger margin had they utilised the chances before them.

Churchill, with this win, climb at the top of the ladder with 16 points from 8 outings with 4 wins and 4 draws. While Chirag United remained on same 15 points with 4 wins, 3 draws and a first defeat.

Starting at full steam, Churchill drew first blood as early as in the 6th minute of the first half through Kalu Ogba, whose header found the net following a good pass from Khanthang Paite.

The home team had another good chance to increase the lead in the 10th minute when Khanthang Paite initiated a move and sent an aerial pass to Felix, whose header missed the mark.

Soon after, Chirag came with a good move when Jayanta Sen iintiated a move and pass to Lalawmpuia, who moved the ball to Subroto Roy but he switched over the ball to better placed Gouranga Dutta, who failed to connect.

In the 52nd minute, Churchill were reduced to ten men when referee Mohd Kamil flashed a red card to Nascimento Silveira for hitting on the face of Chirag’s Jayant Sen.

Churchill consolidated their lead in the 65th minute through Odafe who foxed the Chirag defence well to unleash a right footer which found the net to make it 2-0.
Churchill had another chance to increase the lead five minutes before the long whistle but Paite wasted an easy chance a pass from Odafe.

Manipur lift T Ao football crown

Labels: manipur

DIMAPUR: Favourites Manipur lifted the inaugural Dr T Ao Football Trophy after defeating hosts Nagaland 2-0 in the final at DDSC stadium on Thursday.

Ngoubo Singh put Manipur ahead in the 27 minute when he found the net from a free kick. In the 52nd minute, Manipur captain Nilakumar scored the second goal for the winners.

The result was disappointing for the home crowd, who had gathered at the Dimapur District Sports Council (DDSC) stadium.

Manipur earned Rs seven lakh as prize money while the runners-up got Rs four lakh. The tournament witnessed participation from all the eight NE states.

Tripura, riding on Kiron Chattri's hat-trick had clinched the third place after defeating Meghalaya 3-0 on Wednesday.

Kiron was also the top scorer of the tournament with 14 goals while Manipur striker Malemnganba Metei scored eight and Nagaland's Sakutemjen scored seven goals.

The tournament was named after legendary Naga footballer Dr Talimeren Ao.

Nagaland governor Nikhil Kumar and chief minister Neiphiu Rio and Meghalaya deputy chief minister BM Lanong gave away prizes to the winning teams and individual players.

Dr Ao, who led the independent India's football squad in 1948 London Olympics, played for Mohan Bagun from 1942 to 1949 while studying at Kar Medical College, Kolkata.

The barefoot Olympian who captained the Bagan XI during 1947-49, was first Naga MBBS and retired as the state director of health and medical services.

East Bengal in Abel hands

Abel Hammond (left) celebrates with Yusif Yakubu at the Barasat Stadium on Thursday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: As promised by new coach Phillippe de Ridder, there weren’t any miracles in East Bengal’s I-League match against Lajong FC at the Barasat Stadium on Thursday. There were some surprises though, like in-form Abel Hammond sitting on the bench or Beikhokhei Singh and Mehtab Hossain at the centre of the park or Srecko Mitrovic as a wide man on the right.

And the end result was a satisfying 3-0 victory, which was enough for the spectators to go into a party mood. There were flares in the stands, chants at the aisles and beaming faces and warm hugs in the dressing room. Three wins on the trot and the turnaround from the abyss of October 25 is happening.

Hammond, who came in place of a limping Bhaichung Bhutia in the 25th minute put the hosts ahead 10 minutes before half-time. The second came late, Hammond again in the 90 th minute and the third one was in the injury-time through Yusif Yakubu.

East Bengal on Thursday looked good except for an odd 20-minute in the second half when Lajong were all over the red and gold brigade. At that time, the scoreline was 1-0 and an equaliser would have changed the very complexion of the game.

Take this one for example. Marlanki Suiting, after running Nirmal Chetri ragged, had only Abhijit Ghosh to beat. Probably in the excitement of scoring a goal the young defender volleyed over. There were some more close shaves for the East Bengal defence but in the end, the inexperienced Lajong players failed to make it count.

Agreed that Beikhokhei and Mehtab were in their elements on the day but the man who stole the show was central defender Uga Okpara.

Not only did his presence gave the Mehrajuddin Wadoos and Chetris the much-needed confidence, his guidance also helped the young goalkeeper Abhijit Ghosh to have a relatively good day in office. Just the other day new goalkeeper coach Atanu Bhattacharya was saying how important it would be for a rookie goalkeeper to have a confident back-four. It seems that in Okpara, East Bengal may have found an answer to the defence riddle. Once in the first-half, when S Tuboi was all set to bang it home, Okpara came from nowhere and lunged himself to avert the danger.

Now about the goals.

Syed Rahim Nabi freed Hammond on the left and no Lajong defender bothered to close him down, the Ghanaian volleyed home past an onrushing Gumpe Rime. A brilliant build-up, which was executed with great flamboyance.

The second came when Lajong had parked themselves on the rival half for that elusive equaliser. Wailadmi Passah made a mess of a loose ball and Hammond who was lurking nearby went all the way into the Lajong territory and stabbed it home. The third came within a minute. Substitute Subhas Singh’s pass found Yakubu, whose volley crashed into the far corner beating Gumpe all ends up.

This was East Bengal’s biggest win in the ongoing I-League and with the league taking a break till early January, this would provide De Ridder with ample time to prepare for the next round of matches.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Avijit Ghosh; Nirmal Chhetri (Subhas Singh, 67), Uga Okpara, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Govin Singh, Srecko Mitrovic (Alvito D’Cunha, 53), Mehtab Hossain, B Beikhokhei, Syed Rahim Nabi, Bhaichung Bhutia (Abel Hammond, 25), Yusif Yakubu.

Lajong: Gumpe Rime, Michael Bassey (Ronald Zothanzama, 82), Waildami Passah, Zohmingliana Ralte, Marlanki Suting, Niwan Gatpoh, Samson Ramengmawia, Daniel Bidemi (Anil Gurung, 57), Boithang Haokip (Laldingliana Khiangte, 78), Seikhohau Tuboi, James Gbilee.

Referee: Dinesh Nair

MoM: Uga Okpara

Tripura beats Meghalaya for third place

Maharashtra Junior Girls trials

Western India Football Association (Maharashtra) today announced an open trials-cum-coaching camp from Thursday, November 12 onwards to select the Maharashtra state junior girls team.

The trials will be held at the Cooperage Stadium in Mumbai from 9:30 am onwards. The girls are asked to report to the team manager, Mrs Anjali Shah (Premier India Football Academy).

The 8th Girls Junior National Football Championship 2009/10 will be held in Orissa from November 24. Maharashtra is in Cluster VI and will play Haryana on November 25 and Mizoram on November 27.

Churchill prevail in Goan derby

Odafa Okolie makes Dempo Sports Club pay a heavy price for two defensive blunders

By Stanislaus D’Souza

Margao: Not for nothing is Odafa Okolie the most expensive player in Indian football. With a striker like him, opposition defenders have no room for error, especially when he has gone without a goal of his own making for over 80 minutes. The more frustrated he is, the hungrier he gets. And on Sunday the Churchill Brothers striker made Dempo Sports Club pay a heavy price for two defensive blunders, the defending champs turning a 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 victory in this seventh round I-League clash at the Nehru Stadium Fatorda.

Dempo looked to be cruising smoothly until their first major howler in the 81st minute, when Anthony Pereira pushed feebly to goalkeeper Tyson Caiado from 20 yards out despite having a few of his players within shouting distance. Odafa, who was nowhere in sight, noticed the feeble push and took the defence by surprise as they watched the ball with spectator interest, roll nonchalantly towards the waiting ’keeper. He pounced on it even as goalkeeper Tyson — who had a great game — rushed out to thwart, but the ball fell nicely at the feet of co-striker Felix Chimaokwu who dispatched it off in a jiffy.

Then, two minutes from the end, Odafa picked a Naoba Singh long ball and scored from close range, to bring the near-packed stadium on its feet. That was the moment of truth that Churchill was waiting for. They proved that the team had come of age and have the wherewithal to end Dempo’s domination over them in the I-League.

This was Churchill’s first win over Dempo in a National league clash in seven years.

It was a match Dempo should have won. Not that they played their best, but they had the opportunity to kill the match in the first half itself when the mercurial Ranty Martins came out of his shell to pump in two spectacular goals to wipe out Churchill’s 9thminute lead, achieved from a penalty scored by Odafa after Ogba Kalu was brought down in the box by Cresson Antao.

Dempo meant business right from kick-off when they took a sniff at the goal in the very first minute when Sunil Chhetri’s nod off Anthony’s cross went inches wide.

But Ranty’s double strike — a brilliant glancing header in the 22nd minute and a mesmerising overhead bicycle kick in the 32nd from promptings by Anthony and Marcus Peixoto respectively — had them yearning for more. However, Anthony blew away two golden opportunities between which Dempo goalkeeper Tyson came up with a brilliant save to thwart Odafa.

Ranty should have completed his hat-trick by the 57th minute, but he and Beto were a wee bit late in meeting Anthony’s curling goalmouth cross from the right after the crossover.

It took another miss by Dempo, when Chhetri sent Ranty’s square pass inches wide, before their defence faltered and succumbed to the pressure from a charged-up Felix and Odafe.

However, it must be said if Churchill managed to squeeze home it was probably because coach Carlos Roberto Pereira da Silva brought in the right changes at the right moment. He pulled out a woefully off-colour Khentang Paite as early as in the 37th minute, Nascimento Silveira (61st) and then Vashum (73rd). The advent of Charan Rai, Dan Ito and Lalrinfela breathed new life in the middle and took the game away from Dempo.

The same cannot be said about Dempo, whose midfield functioned only from the flanks. And with Beto not being his usual self and Climax Lawrence a mere passenger, the pendulum was bound to swing in their rivals’ favour.

Nagaland, Meghalaya chart wins on Day III

A Staff Reporter | EMN
DIMAPUR, NOV 6: Host team, Nagaland continued its winning streak sailing past a struggling Sikkimese team by two goals while Meghalaya bounced back to take two points beating Assam 4-1 on day four of Dr T Ao Trophy on Friday.

Meghalaya, who had suffered a set back in the opening match against the host team took early lead with the first goal coming off the boots of Sixbirth Marak (12) in the 21st minute. Plassing Myrthong (17) scored the second in the 25th minute.
Bishalang Khongwir (11) coming off the bench in the second half scored third goal in the 59th minute while Milton Kharsati (7) took the goal tally to 4-1 in the 83rd minute.
Assam’s Bijoy Buragohain (13) gave the team its consolation goal scoring in the final minutes of the first half. Assam, who have cruised past Sikkim 6-0 in the first match struggled to find form taking on Meghalaya. The main referee also cautioned Bulu Jidang (17) with a yellow card in the 68th minute.
Sikkim having lost to Assam in the opening match fighting to stay in the tourney went down to the host state 2-0 in the second match.
The host team who were held back to a goalless first half got its first opening with a header from Sakutemjen (9) in 55th minute.
Sikkim looking for an equalizer suffered further setbacks with the match official Tushar Kanti Guha awarding a penalty kick to the host team after the defenders fault host player, Sakutemjen (9), who made it an easy 2-0 lead in the 59th minute.
Meanwhile, in what may be viewed as unbecoming conduct, the host team pushing to open its account earlier displayed utter disregard to spirit of sportsmanship and discipline much to the amazement of thousands of spectators cheering for the team in the opening minutes of the second half.
Host team’s scorer of the day Sakutemjen (9) reacted to a Yellow card by charging the referee.
The situation could have turned ugly with Saku rushing towards the referee in a threatening manner but his teammates intervened and dragged him away.

Tripura makes it to the semis; Mizoram bows out

(Left) Arunachal Pradesh, in white, and Tripura in action during the ground-one match on Saturday at the DDSC stadium. (Right) Mizoram's jersey no. 6, Lallawmzuala goes for a shot during the second match with Manipur. (Morung photo)

Dimapur | November 7 : Manipur handed out yet another humiliating defeat to Mizoram netting in seven goals to Mizoram’s nil in the second match on Saturday, November 7. With today’s comprehensive win they are surely the favourites of the tournament. They also increased their tally of goals to a mammoth 24 in the three league games they have played so far.
For Mizoram it is the end of the road with only one win in the tournament over a lacklustre Arunachal side, drawing one with Tripura in their first league game and today’s crushing loss. Most people were expecting an intense game today with the local crowd in Mizoram’s favour. A win by Mizoram would have meant making it a little easier for Nagaland to find a place in the final four.
The balance of the match dipping over Manipur’s favour was evident in the first half itself when Manipur banged in two goals. The first came through Herojit Singh in the 18th minute while the second was scored by Ksh. Malemnganba Meetei in the 31st minute.
The game turned a bit ugly in the dying minutes of the first half when play was stopped for more than five minutes. The problem was not with the players but with the rather partisan crowd who were hooting for Mizoram. The crowd started to throw plastic water bottles into the field over a supposedly clear offside against Manipur which was unfortunately not noticed by the on field referee while one of the linesmen was already waving the offside signal. Play had to be stopped until the crowd settled down only through the intervention of the IRB. The referee blew the whistle for half-time only a few minutes later when play finally resumed.
The second half turned out to be a goal fest for Manipur as striker Ksh. Malemnganba Meetei (jersey no. 10) banged in goal after goal. He ended up scoring three taking his tally of goals in the match to four. As if the proverbial icing on the cake, his fourth and the team’s seventh came during injury time. The other two goals in the second half came through K Reagan Singh (jersey no. 10) and L Herojit Singh.
L Herojit Singh was yellow carded in the 31st minute right after the second goal was scored. For Mizoram it was a “yellow day” as five of their players were cautioned by the referee for rough play. Already sensing they are out of the tournament with the match yet to be over, they got physical in quite a number of occasions. It resulted in the unusually high number of yellow cards against them.
Earlier in the first match Tripura pummelled tournament minnows Arunachal Pradesh 11-2 and made it to the semi-finals on goal difference ahead of Mizoram. The star of the match was striker Kiron Chattri. The forward scored a record seven goals in the match. Manoj Ekka, Binod Kishore Jamatia, Rabindra Debbarma and Utpal Choudhury chipped in with a goal each.
For Arunachal it was their best result in the tournament in terms of goals scored. Their two goals were scored by Hari Kalou and Taba Rakesh increasing their tournament tally to 3. The statistics showed that both Mizoram and Tripura have one loss, one draw and one win each in their three league games. However, today’s awe inspiring performance by Tripura put them ahead of Mizoram. The two team's tally of goals are Tripura 14 overall, twice as much as Mizoram’s 7. Sunday will see Nagaland and Assam in a do or die game for both in the second match. Assam has one loss and one win in two games while Nagaland has two wins in as many matches. Their tally of goals stands at four each. A draw means the host will go ahead in the points table.
The first match will have Meghalaya face-off against young Sikkim. Meghalaya only need a draw to go through to the semis with one loss and a win so far, with Sikkim winless and yet to open their scores. It will be very interesting if Sikkim spring a surprise. There is a faint chance of them making it through, albeit they have to win by a huge margin and hope that the result between Assam and Nagaland is either a draw or Nagaland beats Assam.
Meanwhile in the raffle draw two lucky match ticket holders won an LG DVD player each. It was sponsored by LG Home Appliances & Nokia distributor – M/S Eastern Enterprises, Dimapur.

Dimapur Youth Club speaks for Naga talented footballers

Dimapur, November 3: Taking note of the recently concluded NSF Trophy, the Dimapur Youth Club (DYC) lauded the Excel United players and members for lifting the Trophy defeating Nagaland police in the final.

DYC in a press release said that this performance shows that there are lots of outstanding players even in the local clubs and teams other than police team in the state. It is indeed an eye opener not only to the sports governing body who select the players to represent Nagaland state many a times, is represented by the police team instead of selecting players from local club and teams with the point short notice and insufficient time to select and do the coaching.

However, the DYC said that selection of players from different district and general local clubs and team to represent the state might make some difference Nagaland junior players are doing well (state -U-14and 17) in the national level. Since the players are from different district and local clubs and teams.

For instance, the DYC added that in the forth coming North east Dr. T. Ao Trophy, till date no one knows who are the players going to represent Nagaland state team there are many Naga talented footballers dreaming to play for the state but are not given chance. The main problem is that there is no proper selection committee.

“Hence, most of the talented players are buried unnoticed. Most of the players play football as hobby, but some talented player longs to take upon football as their career. But they are helpless, no point of taking it as the career unless the very platform is provided to them by the sports governing body,” the Club added.

Further, making a clarification, the DYC added, “Hence the main notice of writing the matter is not to hurt any individual, group or department but to make the selection of players specially in the senior level for representing the state of Nagaland in the game of football let us open our eyes an make some changes, so that be marked in the map as one of the best football state in India.”

Lastly, the DCY called upon all to support the NFA so that they could come up for the betterment of Nagaland State football team (senior level) and also wishing the Nagaland football team “All the Best” in North East Dr. T. Ao.