Final Score:
Mohun Bagan Super Giant 5-0 Bangladesh Army Football Team
(Liston, Manvir, Suhail, Hnamte, Kiyan)
Mohun Bagan began their Durand Campaign in style, beating Bangladesh Army 5-0. Before this game, Mohun Bagan faced Bangladesh Army only once, in 90s where Chima Okorie's brace helped the club win 2-0. But, this time the story was completely different.
Mohun Bagan decided to play the reserves squad for this game with inclusion of two senior team players in Liston Colaco and Manvir Singh. And, the team didn't disappoint. This Bangladesh Army side has few players who are regular for the Bangladesh National Team too, but, that didn't stop Mohun Bagan outplaying them from the very first minute of the game.
Mohun Bagan decided not to sign any backup sideback for Subhasish-Asish duo, and the performance Amandeep and Ravi Rana put today, surely justifies Management's decision!
In the 14' Taison and Ravi Rana combined from the right side, where Ravi made a darting overlapping run, which surprised the Bangladesh defence. Ravi made no mistake and put a brilliant cutback, which landed to Liston, and he made no mistake in converting the chance.
Once Mohun Bagan got the first goal, they came into form. Hnamte quickly dribbled past few and entered the box but the Bangladeshi defenders fouled him wrongly, which resulted in a Penalty. Manvir Singh made no mistake in converting that.
But, the magical moment came after that, when Liston Colaco and Suhail Bhat combined for potentially the goal of the season. Liston started his run from the deep, then certainly awaken his inner Zidane and pulled off a brilliant Zidan-isq roulette and played a ball to Suhail, who made no mistake and finished the move with a Ronaldo-isq goal. Though the match official awarded it as an own goal, from the replay, it was evident that It was Suhail who put the finishing touch. Later, Durand awarded the goal to Suhail.
In the dying seconds of the first half, Bangladesh army got a red card and went down to 10 men. Mohun Bagan took full advantage of that and added two more goals in the second half. Liston took a free kick, which Manvir played to Hnamte, who finished the move to put Mohun Bagan 4-0 ahead; and, in the 90th Minute, Kiyan Nasiri slot past the 5th goal with a tap-in, where the rebound landed from a long ranger Liston shot to him.
Though a dominant display, Amandeep and Suhail Ahmad Bhat suffered knocks and were substituted. We don't know the injury situation yet, and, we have to wait for an official update.
Today's match gave much needed confidence boost to Liston and Manvir, who are awaiting for a big season ahead. But, the star of the show was Suhail, who, with his box movement, created free space for the wingers and Bangladeshi defenders struggled to cope with him.
But, for me, the unsung hero of today's game was Abhishek Suryavanshi. Coming from the youth, Abhishek was the captain of Mohun Bagan reserves last year, and this time, we believe he is set to be a part of the first team squad under Juan Ferrando.
We discussed the possibility of him being a breakthrough star this season.
Read Here: Is a breakthrough season coming for Abhishek Suryavanshi?
Abhishek was used as a defensive screen by Bastob Roy today, and he was brilliant screening the defence. After parting ways with Carl McHugh, Mohun Bagan doesn't have any foreign defensive midfielder in the squad. Glan Martins is the favourite to start on that role, with Deepak Tangri as his deputy; but, Abhishek, if keeps up his form can be a surprise competitor for that role.
Mohun Bagan defence was not tested much today, but when required, likes of Raj Basfore and Arsh Anwar Shaikh stepped up and helped the team keep a clean sheet in the very first game of the 132nd Durand Cup.
Mohun Bagan's next match is coming in CFL on 5th August, but, in Durand, they are set to play Punjab FC where few more senior players are expected to be included in the squad.
Player Ratings:
Arsh Anwar Shaikh: 7/10
Amandeep Singh: 7/10
Sumit Rathi: 7/10
Raj Basfore: 8/10
Ravi Bahadur Rana:8/10
Abhishek Suryavanshi:8/10
Lalrinliana Hnamte: 7/10
Taison Singh:7/10
Manvir Singh: 8/10
Suhail Ahmad Bhat: 8/10
Liston Colaco: 9/10
Brijesh Giri: 6/10
Engson Singh: 6/10
Kiyan Nasiri: 7/10
