A Review of Mohun Bagan’s Durand Cup 2025 Run

byTeam MBFT -

A Review of Mohun Bagan’s Durand Cup 2025 Run!



The oldest tournament of Asia held its 134th edition this year and Mohun Bagan SG was placed in Group B with Diamond Harbour FC, Mohammedan FC and Border Security Force FT. With the arrival of main team domestic players only, the squad consisted of youth players from U-23 squad as well. The tournament was seen as a hybrid pre-season with the youth players gaining more playtime and experience against the big teams and the main team players building synergy and fitness for Asian Champions League 2 which is due to start from mid-September.

The Mariners faced the Kolkata Giant MDSC in the first game of Group Stage with Bastab Roy as Coach and an all-Indian squad. With 10 men, Mohun Bagan dominated the match with a brace from Liston and an assist to Suhail that made it into a final scoreline of 3-1. His dribbling past three players and an assist to Suhail along with scoring a Goalazo from a freekick made Liston the man of the match.

In the 2nd match, we faced BSF FT under Coach Molina and had Tom Aldred in defence who made the defence stronger and helped us keep a clean sheet. Manvir scored the first goal with a header from Roshan Singh’s accurate cross. Liston scored the next two goals in combination of passes with Sahal while dribbling past defenders with ease. In the end, Sahal himself scores a goal and wins the match convincingly for Mohun Bagan with a 4-0 final scoreline.

In the third and final match of the Group Stage, Mohun Bagan clashed with Diamond Harbour FC. Only a win for Mohun Bagan would ensure their qualification as Group Toppers into the Quarter Finals. With the arrival of 4 foreign players, Coach Molina deployed a decent Starting XI. Sahal’s pressing works wonders as he dispossesses the defender and passes it to Thapa, who scores the first goal lead for Mohun Bagan. Luka Majcen equalized just minutes after on a counter attack as Asish Rai kept him onside. Post drinks break, Sahal’s pressing does wonders again as he finds the final pass to Maclaren, who nutmegs the GK and puts Mohun Bagan back on the lead. In the 2nd Half, at 48’, Liston gets a long pass and gets into box where he was brought down. Red card for Naresh and a penalty got awarded to the Green-and-Maroon. Liston’s penalty goes down the middle into the net resulting in the scoreline of 3-1. At 64’, Sahal plays off Cummings and fumbles the final tap-in, but gets another chance which he converts without any hesitation. The final goal was a banger from the edge of the box from none other than Aussie World Cupper Jason Cummings. Mohun Bagan thrashed the newly-promoted I-league side DHFC with a final scoreline of 5-1 with a 5-star performance.

With a dominating performance with a hybrid squad of youth players and main team players, Mohun Bagan topped the Group Stage of the Durand Cup, 2025. Youth players in the likes of Karan Rai, Roshan Singh, Leewan Castanha, Pasang and others made their debuts and got game time in the Green-and-Maroon main team jersey in this tournament.

 

Mohun Bagan Super Giant was matched up with Emami East Bengal FC in Quarter Finals and the winner of this knockout match will advance to the semi-finals for a shot at the title. Vishal Kaith(GK), Abhishek Tekcham Singh-Alberto Rodriguez-Tom Aldred-Asish Rai, Lalengmawia Ralte-Anirudh Thapa, Liston Colaco-Sahal Abdul Samad-Pasang Dorjee Tamang, Jamie Maclaren(C) - was the lineup for Mohun Bagan! whereas, Gill(GK), Lalchungnunga-Anwar-Kevin-Rakip, Crespo-Miguel-Mahesh, Bipin-Hamid & Edmund - started for East Bengal.

Quarter Finals Match Analysis:-

Both the teams were unbeaten and dominated the group stage as toppers and were matched up against each other in the Quarter Finals of Durand Cup, 2025. For Emami EBFC, they were missing their new signing Jay Gupta in the left back position and Rashid in the central defensive midfield position. For Mohun Bagan SG, there were injury concerns with Manvir, Kiyan and Salahuddin out of play, owing to which, Pasang who featured in the previous game, to step up and play as the Left Winger in the derby.

The game kicked off and both teams started strong with applying pressure on the wings. Asish Rai’s side was pressed more by Bipin and Miguel with focus on aerial balls. First shot on target comes from Edmund but gets blocked by Vishal and subsequently cleared by Alberto. Mohun Bagan created their own chances trying to find gaps with ball distribution from Anirudh and Apuia. At 22’, through ball straight from defence by Abhishek finds Maclaren in the box but Kevin manages to keep him at bay. Hamid left the field after multiple medical calls over getting overwhelmed by Alberto and Tom, and got substituted by Diamantakos. Apuia, who was dominating in the midfield, got fouled in the same way of his previous injury which left him limping for a while. Intentional or not, Emami EBFC made their physical presence felt. However, despite the Red and Yellow’s close formations, diagonal balls found the wingers. Pasang and Sahal played in combination to break the defence. Pasang dribbled past Lalchungnunga and got into the box but the final ball found went wide. Liston on the other end, applied pressure to shake Rakip and Kevin in the attacking half.

At 35’, Bipin gets played a long cross over Asish Rai who ran behind in an attempt to clear the ball from the feet of the left winger. A trailing foot caught Bipin from behind who goes down rather easily in the penalty box, especially given the allowed portrayal of physicality in the entire match up until then. Awarded penalty was subsequently converted by Diamantakos who found the bottom left corner and gave the lead to Emami EBFC.

Mohun Bagan SG 0 – 1 Emami East Bengal FC | Diamantakos(37’) Penalty

Mohun Bagan was looking for their own breakthrough in the game. Corners came in swinging from Liston. At 45+3’, Liston passes to Apuia who takes a powerful shot from afar, which goes a bit wide of the post. Close attempt which showed promise. Half Time Whistle blew and a lot of 45’ was left to play.

In the start of 2nd Half, Cummings came on in place of Pasang and swapped position with Sahal. The game instantly grew momentum with swift passes and aggression in the attacking half. At 46’, Sahal dribbled into the box, cut back and opened his stance to shoot but the shot went above the goalpost by deflection. Had he passed it to Cummings who was right in front of him, there was a real chance of levelling the game. For the next 5 minutes, the pressure was up in the attacking half. At 50’, Miguel started the counter attack and passed the ball to Mahesh, who chipped it to Diamantakos in the box, and the Greek striker who tried to shoot it past Alberto, but a deflection came off his foot which made it difficult for Vishal to save despite getting a hand to it.

Mohun Bagan SG 0 – 2 Emami EBFC | Diamantakos(51’)

The match was far from over beside a 2-goal setback for the Mariners as at 57’ Liston earned a freekick and delivered it into the box.The ball was punched weakly by Gill and Maclaren pushed it towards the goal. The ball would have gone in if not for Kevin who stood at the goal line for the final clearance. At 67’, Liston again earned a freekick with his dangerous dribbling, but this time a bit closer to the box. He curled a banger towards the first post, the ball hit the crossbar but no player was on the rebound to put the ball back into the net. The ball went out for a corner. Liston went over to take it and passed it to Thapa who stood at the edge of the box, unmarked. He took his time and swerved it towards the 2nd post. The ball rolled with bounces through a crowd of players into the goal!

Mohun Bagan SG 1 – 2 Emami EBFC | Anirudh Thapa(67’)

Mariner fans celebrated with joy and renewed vigour with the hope of coming back as Mohun Bagan has done time and again in the past. Dimitrios Petratos came on in the place of Tom Aldred at 70’. At 71’, Asish Rai took the initiative on his own to dribble into the box and got past two to take the final shot on target, but Gill reached with all his might and propelled it above the post.

Later on Suhail Bhat came on in place of Asish Rai and Deepak Tangri replaced Anirudh Thapa. With 3-man defence and Aussie trio up front, Mohun Bagan looked for the equalizer. Dimi took a shot from the left corner of the box but it was blocked. A swinging ball from Sahal into the box almost found Maclaren at the end of it, but Anwar cleared it at the last second. Despite a strong back-and-forth gameplay, Emami EBFC managed to slow the game and kill time till the final whistle. With a 2-1 final scoreline, Emami EBFC advanced to the semi-finals of Durand Cup, 2025.

Although this tournament was a hybrid pre-season for the main team players for Asian Champions League Two matches which starts from 16th September, they gave their best with limited training sessions and game-time. Playing with youth players has built a sense of harmony and brotherhood amongst the entire club squad with a projection of growth and professionalism in their future gameplay and potential feature in the main team. As we wait patiently for the arrival of the 6th foreigner and perhaps more incoming players in the upcoming days, we learn from the wins and loss of this tournament and gear up to represent India on the International Stage in ACLTwo which starts in less than a month.

 

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