A Kolkata derby could decide Calcutta Football League

It's derby time in Kolkata tomorrow when the bigwigs of Indian football - East Bengal Club and Mohun Bagan AC - meet in the Calcutta Football League's Premier Division league at the Saltlake Stadium. And the match could decide the league or postpone that decision by a few days. Currently East Bengal are the league leaders with 40 points from 14 matches, while Mohun Bagan are close on their heals with 37 points from the same number of games.

East Bengal have had an incredible season so far under new English coach Trevor Morgan. Only Chirag United SC has been able to beat them and that defeat came in the Durand Cup semifinals, while in a recent Calcutta Football League match Chirag United could hold East Bengal to a draw, while at the Mohammedan Sporting organised Platinum Jubilee Cup Mohun Bagan held them to a draw before losing in a penalty shootout. But in that game both coaches used their fringe players.

Under Stanley Rozario as their new coach Mohun Bagan's season didn't start as well as their archrivals as they lost against Aryan Club and then drew Chirag United SC, but since then Mohun Bagan have won 10 Calcutta Premier Division matches in a row. And now they are in with a chance to retain the Premier Division title, but they will have to beat East Bengal as then both sides will be on 40 points and a similar or close to similar goal difference.

Both sides have some injury worries in defence. While East Bengal will once more miss Nirmal Chetri and Naoba Singh, Mohun Bagan will have to replace Sagram Mandi and Sheikh Azim. But the focus would most likely be on the front line. At East Bengal it will be about Tolgay Ozbey, Penn Orji and Robin Singh; while at Mohun Bagan it will be Jose Ramirez Barreto, Chidi Edeh and Subair Muritala Ali. Both attacks have been on fire recently, but a derby is a derby still the fans from both sides will be hoping for a win, while neutral fans would hope for a high scoring game.

The IFA (West Bengal) has also decided to bring in a foreign referee in Gamini Nivon Robesh from Sri Lanka to stay clear of controversy. Earlier this season Mohun Bagan had criticized referee Dinesh Nair after the Federation Cup final where certain decisions didn't go the green-and-maroon way.

So lets all hope for an entertaining derby...