Mohun Bagan in Rovers semi-finals

Foreign recruit Baretto's goal helped Mohun Bagan beat the Iran Youth team 1-0 and enter semi-finals of the 100th Bristol Rovers Cup football tournament at Cooperage in Bombay on Thursday.

The victory saw Bagan dash the hopes of defending champs Salgaocar and Air India, who were the other contenders for a semi-final slot from group B.

Barreto, who missed some easy chances and also a penalty in Bagan's earlier matches, didn't disappoint the crowd on Thursday and played the perfect attacker's role.

Anitava Chandra's corner kick, in the 36th minute, went straight into the penalty area. Dulal Biswas's shot was saved by Iran goalkeeper, Farsho Yousefi. Yousefi, however, failed to collect it neatly and the ball rebounded to Barreto, who made no mistake while driving home.

It was the first defeat for the Iranians in the tournament.

In an earlier match, Salgaocar beat Air India by a solitary goal.

The Salgaocar-Air India match was expected to be a tough one as both the teams were level on points and needed to win to enter the semi-finals.

The Goans dominated in the first 20 minutes and also succeded in scoring a goal in the 16th minute. Their Sudanese recruit and midfielder Tijani Ahmed trapped a goal kick by goakeeper Ali Abubaker, turned around and hit a powerful kick from 30 yards which went straight into Air India's goal.

The airmen came very close to equalising when their forward Herbert Phillip brilliantly dribbled past the Salgaocar defenders but failed to get past rival goalkeeper.

Churchill Brothers will take on the Iran Youth team in the first semi-final on Saturday, while Mohun Bagan will meet arch-rivals East Bengal in the other semi-final to be played on Sunday.