Stanley Okoroigwe

Calcutta: A defeat is not always an antonym of victory. Often, it can turn out to be a prefix to success. Stung by a 0-1 loss, at the hands of Aryan Club, in their very second match of the season, on Saturday, Mohun Bagan will now have to decide which definition they would opt for.

Such upsets are rare in the CFL Premier Division, where the competition is always restricted among only four teams. While that may be a welcome change, the fact that Bagan, one of our better bets in the I-League, are huffing and puffing at the onset of the season is reason for headache.

Aryan’s Stanley Okoroigwe got the lone goal of the match as early as in the 10th minute when his powerful drive from the edge of the box landed in left corner of the Bagan net. Wondering what the green and maroon’s defence was busy doing? Admiring the goal is the probable answer.

Okonwo Diamondstar’s presence at the heart of Bagan defence was as good as his absence, while left-back Dhanarajan was busy losing the ball to opponents. That sums up the story of Bagan defence.

But the real worry for coach Stanley Rozario was his dysfunctional midfield. The quartet of Surabuddin Mallik, Ashim Biswas, Jayanta Sen and Ishfaq Ahmed were haplessly off colour. Their passes were landing in no man’s land and they were functioning as individuals in a team sport.

Confusing? Well, so was Bagan on the day.

Also bewildering was the ploy to play long passes. With precision being an alien term for Bagan, one wonders if it was intelligent to lob passes goal-wards hoping for a lottery. Stanley, in fact, could have used Barreto as the mid-field manager to instil some method. He did that, after the introduction of Edeh Chidi in the second half, but perhaps the move came a bit late.

One must also mention Aryan central defender Sourav Chakraborty for his gritty show. The 18-year-old nullified the trio of Barreto, Chidi and Murithala Ali.

Suddenly irate fans started throwing bottles from the stands and one of them roughed up Aryan assistant manager Sumit Mukherjee (who is also the FPAI CEO). These further complicated proceedings.

At the end of the match, Rozario said that the loss would serve as a “wake-up call” for his team. Hope it does, because, as of now, future is not looking rosy for Rozario.

The other matches of the day — Railway FC vs Tollygunge Agragami and Mohammedan AC vs Peerless SC — ended goalless.

Teams

Aryan: Sibram Dey, Mohan Sarkar, Sourav Chakraborty, Mputu Eric, Anupam Sarkar, Surojit Roy (Phulchand Hembram, 79 th), Subha Kumar (Suvankar Nag, 90+2), Raju Koley, Snehasish Dutta, Babatunde John (Pankaj Moula, 88 th), Stanley Okoroigwe

Mohun Bagan: Sangram Mukherjee, Kinshuk Debnath, Rahul Kumar, Okonwo Diamondstar (Sheikh Azim, 56 th), Dhanarajan R, Surabuddin Mallik, Asim Biswas (Edeh Chidi, 56 th), Jayanta Sen, Ishfaq Ahmed (Snehasish Chakraborty, 81 st), Jose Barreto, Subair Murithala Ali

Referee: Biplab Poddar

Man of the Match: Sourav Chakraborty