Peace pleases Bagan coach - Far from distractions in Calcutta, soccer giants to play in Jamshedpur

Mohun Bagan players at a warm-up session at the Tata Football Academy ground. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, Oct. 9: If stars like Bhaichung Bhutias and Lalampuyas start making regular forays to Jamshedpur, there should be no reason for surprise. Calcutta’s top soccer club, Mohun Bagan, has planned to use Jamshedpur’s peaceful environment to prepare for the packed season ahead.

Things became evident when the outfit decided to drop anchor in the city three days in advance of their exhibition tie versus TFA. “Practising here will help in knowing the boys well and also help in pepping up the essence of camaraderie. It’s a good place to fine tune our training schedule. Food is also very good,” said coach Roberto Carlos Pareira.

So pleased is Carlos with the calm and quiet of the steel city, he also hinted at taking up the aspect with the Mohun Bagan management for conducting a week-long camp here again.

“Although I still do not have three to four good players in the camp, it is still the best way of re-grouping the entire team for their forthcoming duels. We have conducted such camps in Durgapur a few days ago and it was also very helpful,” said Carlos. Calcutta is a busy place and has too many distractions for peaceful practice sessions, team officials maintained.

While the Mohun Bagan team arrived late last night in Jamshedpur and would practice at Keenan Stadium for four days before taking on Tata Football Academy (TFA) during a Tata Steel Centenary exhibition match on October 12, the East Bengal team, which is also scheduled to come, would play their match against the same opponents on October 14.

Team members, too, expressed satisfaction at their sessions here. Jose Ramirez Barreto feels that this was a wonderful way of unwinding from the enormous pressure of the league which still has a couple of matches left.

“Jamshedpur has excellent facilities, both in terms of infrastructure, peace, food and hospitality. It is always good to come out from Calcutta and practice and purely concentrate on the game in cities like this,” said Barreto.