Mohun Bagan vs East Bengal, 2 Kolkata giants are going to clash in the 1st leg of I-League this season.

               Kolkata peoples are going to taste this season’s first derby while two Kolkata giants will renew their long term rivalry when Mohun Bagan will take on arch-rivals East Bengal in the first leg encounter of this I-League at Yuba Bharati Kriangan on 24^th November.

                 In this current scenario both the sides are standing on different kind of conditions. East Bengal has just recruited Indian coach Armando Colaso who has won five I-League crowns during his previous association with Dempo, after terminating the much whipped Brazilian coach Marcos Falopa, whom they have brought here from Brazil & handed over the responsibility since the beginning of this season.

                   But this time the coronation of Armando is going to be a difficult litmus test, just after taking responsibility of the side he has to face the fierce rival in Kolkata.

                 On the other hand the Green & Maroon brigade have been in the stewardship of Moroccan coach Karim Bencharifa since the mid of last season. Karim who is known for utilizing young talents, has a handful of young talents in the likes of Ram Malik, Pritam Kotal, Souvik Ghosh & few other promising talents who are performing quite well & improving day by day. It’s expected that 6 out of Mohun Bagan’s starting eleven are going to play their first derby encounter with the heavy weight archrivals.

                   Everybody knows very well what Kolkata derby means to the supporters of these two sides, sometimes it’s beyond the result, it’s all about sentiments & emotions attached with the entire Bengali communities. Supporters of neither side will not mind what happened in the previous matches & what will happen ahead if they can test a victory in this match.

                 If we go through last few encounters then we will see that Mohun Bagan has not won any single derby against their arch-rivals since their last victory in 2011-12 CFL match.

                Meanwhile the Red & Gold brigade emerged as the winner 3 out of 4 encounters in previous season including the violence marred abandoned I-League derby of 9^th December, 2012 in which East Bengal was declared the winner by AIFF later, moreover they are unbeaten since their last 5 encounters with the archrivals.

                 So this time the entire Green & Maroon brigade, the players along with the languishing supporters are frantically hoping & desperately seeking for a victory in this match.

                   This derby will get more importance due to the presence of several Bengali footballers in both sides after a long while. It’s expected that Shitlon Paul, Kingshuk Debnath, Souvik Ghosh, Pritam Kotal, Ram Malik will start in Mohun Bagan’s first eleven while East Bengal first eleven will comprise with their skipper Mehtab Hossain, Abhijit Mondal, Saumik Dey, Arnab Mondal. Supporters of both sides will be eagerly eyeing on that Bengali brigade who have the potential to act as a game changer.

                    No equations, speculations & predictions work in derby but this time the Red & Golds will visibly start as a superior side than their opponents, they have a set team since last 3 years, apart from James Moga most of the players have experienced Kolkata derby before.

               While there are 5 to 6 stubborn young players who are likely to be included in the first eleven of Mohun Bagan will taste their first derby experience on Thursday who will try to substantiate themselves in this bigger platform.

                   The Red & Golds will heavily bank on their midfield supremo Mehtab Hossain who will marshal the midfield along with Ryoji Sueka who has just recovered from his injury while Chiddi will pair with James Moga in the upfront.

                   On the other hand the Mariners will retaliate with the agility of Odafa Okolie who will spearhead their attack along with Kenyan, Eric Muranda in the upfront while indispensable Japanese midfielder Katsumi Yusa will take on the midfield.

                     The absence of central defender Eche who got the marching order in last match will maim the defence of Mohun Bagan & will bring furrows on Karim Bencharifa’s forehead. He has to manage & compose his destitute & unkempt defence without any foreigner on that place, Kingsuk Debnath, Pritam Kotal along with Rowlison Rodrigues are likely to work on there.

                 The time will say that the new comer Armando can produce himself as a herald with his sorcery touch or veteran bespoken Karim can emeute with his booming young talents.

                 Though both these sides share the same ground Salt Lake stadium as their home this time AIFF has given Mohun Bagan the responsibility of organizing this match & referees panel are decided by AIFF is Dinesh Nayar, Pratap Singh & Madho Singh while Dinesh Nayar is likely to be tipped as a whistle blower during the match. The kick-off time is scheduled at 5-00pm.

                Eventually this is going to be the 9^th round encounter for Mohun Bagan, currently standing on 10 points while it’s going to be the 6^th round game for East Bengal, standing on 7 points now.

                  It’s expected that 1,20000 chauvinist vociferous supporters of both sides will be present in the ground to witness this face-off & regarding that a huge amounts of securities along with riot police are arranged by the local administration which would be deployed every corners inside the stadium to avert any kind of tussles & nuisances.

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