East Bengal high in the saddle

S Ayyappa Swamy

How the mighty have fallen. The vagaries of the sport were exemplified when defending champions Mohun Bagan, on top of the fifth National Football League right from the start -- and unbeaten too, came down crashing.

The 0-1 loss in the Calcutta Derby to traditional rivals East Bengal saw them slide down to the fourth spot, albeit after a close match.

In the lead now, after seven rounds, are East Bengal, for whom Omolaja Olalekan got his third goal and the match-winner early in the second half.

East Bengal are the IFA League champions and had got the better of Mohun Bagan twice earlier in the season, under coach Syed Nayeemuddin. At the same time, Mohun Bagan coach Subroto Bhattacharjee was devil incarnate with the club's yearly credit showing a negative balance. The Durand and Rovers Cup victories raised Subroto to demigod status and Nayeemuddin was replaced by Manoranjan Bhattacharjee at the start of the new millennium.

Mohun Bagan now travel to Goa for a tough match against Salgaocar while East Bengal are playing hosts to debutants Vasco, whose unbeaten run is under threat now.

Salgaocar versus Mohun Bagan matches have always provided excitement and an extra thrill. Goan spectators are in for some edge-of-the-seat stuff on Thursday, especially now that Salgaocar too have gone past Mohun Bagan by one point with a 1-0 win over Indian Telephone Industries at Bangalore.

Saturday's match was marred by a card-display by K Shankar, the Olympian assistant referee. Evidently the All India Football Federation's policy of allowing international assistant referees to officiate in the centre too is backfiring. Shankar, for example, stood in the Sydney Olympic group match between Cameroon and Brazil, but on the line, for he is not qualified by FIFA standards to do centre which is a specialised role.

Centre officials do no do duty on the touchline. Suddenly when one is pitchforked into the centre, it becomes difficult to do justice to one's job. And that is what is happening to Shankar, who is otherwise quite an efficient chap.

The refereeing standards during the Air-India versus Churchill match too was appalling. It angered Churchill bosses Joaquim and Churchill Alemao to such an extent that they continued to be vociferous about the whole thing much after the match. For the record, a prodigal Air-India lost by a Kaustav Ghosh goal which should not have been allowed at all as Igor Shkvrin, who laid the pass, picked the ball from an offside position ---six to seven yards from under assistant referee M A Siddiqui's nose.

Vasco's first foray outside Goa after six rounds (their opening match in Goa against Churchill was an away one) turned out to be pretty good as they played out a goalless draw against Tollygunge Aggragami of the famed defensive mode. It would rank as the one most boring matches of the league. Hey, but isn’t Tolly coach Amal Dutta's stratagems supposed to be so!

Champions of the inaugural year, Jagatjit Cotton Textile Mills, Phagwara, completed their tour of the South with another loss, this time to F C Kochin by a single goal at Kochi. With this they have completed their matches against the three Goan sides and the two Kerala teams. National coach Sukhwinder Singh's side has just one point from these matches, a draw against SBT.

And, finally, Mahindra United's poor run continues as they returned from Thiruvananthapuram with a 2-2 draw against State Bank of Travancore. A consolation was that Raman Vijayan, the highest scorer of the second NFL, returning after injuries, scored his first goal. Coach Shabbir Ali is fervently hoping that it is one of the many to come for it will be his job on the line if Mahindra do not produce the results.

Best goal: Nothing beyond the ordinary.

Best match: East Bengal beating Mohun Bagan 1-0 in Calcutta.
Disappointment: Air-India unable to find a cure for Virus Goal-Miss which saw them not scoring from five golden chances against Churchill Brothers in Bombay.

Results of the third round:

F C Kochin beat JCT 1-0 at Kochi; Tollygunge Aggragami drew with Vasco 0-0 at Calcutta; Air-India lost to Zee Churchill Bros. 0-1 at Bombay; ITI lost to Salgaocar 0-1 at Bangalore; SBT drew with Mahindra United 2-2 at Thiruvananthapuram; East Bengal beat Mohun Bagan 1-0 at Calcutta.

Related reports:

FC Kochin lead National Football League race
F C Kochin stay ahead
Salgaocar close in on early leaders
Mohun Bagan well-placed after five rounds
Air India, Mahindra in a spot - Summary of Round 6