BS News Agency: Mohun Bagan Super Giant made it to the semi-finals of the IFA Shield by defeating Srinidhi Deccan 6-0 in the first match at their home ground. North East United reached the semi-finals by winning 3-0 against Srinidhi Deccan in this group. Mohun Bagan Super Giant will face North East United in the last match of the group at the Mohun Bagan ground on Tuesday. Although the match is a legal one, they do not want to play for a draw. Even if they draw, Bagan will be at the top of the group by leading on goal difference. Rather, the green maroon brigade wants to maintain the winning habit, aiming to be at the top of the group.
East Bengal had already reached the semi-finals by defeating Kolkata Customs 3-1 in the first match of their group. Punjab FC defeated Customs 7-0 in the second match of the group and are ahead of the red and yellow on goal difference. In such a situation, Mashal Bahini will have to win against Punjab FC at the East Bengal ground on Wednesday to stay at the top of the group. Even if they draw, Punjab FC will go to the top of the group.
Now there is a lot of speculation about this, if Mohun Bagan SG is at the top of the group and East Bengal cannot top the group, if they are second in the group, what will happen to the Kolkata derby in the Shield semi-finals? Will the IFA really want East Bengal and Mohun Bagan to face each other in the semi-finals? There is no mention of this in the schedule. So even if Mohun Bagan or East Bengal are not at the top of their groups, the IFA may not go on the path of playing the second-ranked team of another group with the first-ranked team of Group A to avoid a derby in the semi-finals. In such a situation, there is a possibility that the semi-finals can be played between the first-ranked teams of the two groups. So that there is no Kolkata derby before the final, if both teams win the semi-finals. As per the news, one of the two semi-finals, i.e. Mohun Bagan SG will play at Kishore Bharati Stadium, while the other, i.e. East Bengal will play at Barasat Stadium. Both the semi-final matches are likely to be held on October 5. Although the schedule mentions October 4, Yuva Bharati will not meet until the India-Brazil match on October 3 and India-Uruguay on October 6. Therefore, the Shield final cannot be held at Yuva Bharati before October 8, if the Kolkata derby happens. The Shield final can be held at another venue if the derby does not happen.
Despite having the support of the audience at their own stadium on Tuesday, North East United coach Panagiotis Dimperis (Panos) is not taking Mohun Bagan SG lightly. Mohun Bagan faced North East at the Shillong ground in the Durand semi-finals this season. Bagan coach Panos expressed his dissatisfaction with playing in Shillong after playing all the previous matches in Kolkata. Even after going to Shillong and winning the match in a tiebreaker despite the travel hassle, Panos's unhappiness has not diminished at all. That still comes out of Panos' mouth. Panos's anger has increased even more after losing to East Bengal in the Durand final. This time, Panos and his footballers are desperate to defeat North East at the scheduled time at home. After defeating Srinidhi Deccan in a humiliating manner, Coach Panos is not allowing any complacency to enter the Bagan camp in the North East match. On the contrary, after completing the preparations at the Bagan ground on Monday, he joined the celebration of cutting his birthday cake, but he has instructed the footballers to keep their focus on the North East match.
Chante has made his presence felt by scoring a hat-trick in the Srinidhi Deccan match. It seems that the team from that match will be retained in the North East match. However, given the nature of the practice, there is a possibility of changing one place in the team. That is, instead of keeping McLaren in the team at the beginning, Bagan coach Panos can keep Samir Zelkovic, who has become fit in the first eleven, as a marker to stop North East's trump card goal scorer Aladin Azare. There is one place of comfort for the Bagan camp, the field was unplayable due to heavy rain on the day of the Srinidhi Deccan match. It was not possible to give two passes correctly as the ball repeatedly got stuck in the mud. There is no forecast of rain on Tuesday yet. So the field is in a much better place than before. Bagan's ball players will get the opportunity to play good football with the ball on the ground.
Punjab FC's new coach Pablos has arrived in Kolkata, but apart from East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, he will not see various tourist attractions in the city, what is the point? Pablos suddenly appeared in the Bagan tent after the Mohun Bagan practice. He looked around the green and maroon field. His compatriot Panos then left the club. If he had, maybe he could have taken some tips before facing East Bengal.