Mohun Bagan name 34th Federation Cup squad

Record title holders Mohun Bagan AC have named their final 20 players squad ahead of 34th Federation Cup in which the Kolkata Maidan giants have been drawn in Group B alongside Churchill Brothers SC, Air India and qualifiers Mohammedan Sporting Club with the matches to be played in Siliguri.

Mohun Bagan AC open their campaign against Churchill Brothers SC (September 20), then face Air India (September 22) and play their final group game against qualifiers Mohammedan Sporting Club (September 24).

Mohun Bagan will be missing the services of Cyprian Stanley Okoroigwe and Mehrajuddin Wadoo due to injuries and there is a question mark behind star player Odafe Onyeka Okolie, who picked-up an injury against West Bengal Police over the weekend but the Nigerian striker is part of the squad and coach Santosh Kashyap hopes he will have a role to play.

Coach Santosh Kashyap said, "Our group is very tough. The 1st match of every tournament is tough, but Air India and Mohammedan Sporting are also good teams. So, we will have to show good form in all the matches to qualify for the semifinal."


MOHUN BAGAN AC

Goalkeepers
Arindam Bhattacharya, Shilton Pal

Defenders
Nirmal Chetri, Aibor Khongjee, Anyichie Echezona Celestine, Irungbam Khelemba Meetei, Warundeep Singh, Lalrozama Fanai, Biswajit Saha

Midfielders
Syed Rahim Nabi, Manish Bhargav, Denson Devadas, Rakesh Masih, Sheikh Jewel Raja, Manish Mathani, Snehashis Chakroborty

Forwards
Odafe Onyeka Okolie, Tolgay Ozbey, C.S Sabeeth, P.K. Anil Kumar

Officials
Santosh Kashyap (Head Coach), Bernard Oparanozie (Assistant Coach), Joseph Ronald D'Angelus (Fitness Trainer), Jonathan James Corner (Physio)

Mohun Bagan AC squad for the 2012/13 season

Asia's oldest football club Mohun Bagan AC has assembled a 33 players strong squad for the 2012/13 season. After two trophy-less seasons the green-and-maroon will look to add to their collection of titles.

The team will be guided by new coach Santosh Kashyap, who has a good squad at his disposal with possibly the most potent attack led by the combine of Odafe Onyeka Okolie and Tolgay Ozbey.

Unlike in the last few seasons the club has also brought in some reinforcements for their defence and midfield, which the management would hope can supplement their strong attack.


Mohun Bagan AC

Goalkeepers
22-Shilton Pal, 27-Arindam Bhattacharya (Churchill Brothers SC), 31-Milton Bhowmick (IFA Academy), 32-Naveen Kumar (Pailan Arrows)

Defenders
2-Aibor Khongjee (Shillong Lajong FC), 3-Nirmal Chetri (East Bengal Club), 4-Anyichie Echezona Celestine (Southern Samity), 5-Irungbam Khelemba Meetei (Salgaocar SC), 6-Sourav Chakraborty, 15-Lalrozama Fanai (Pailan Arrows), 16-Biswajit Saha (Salgaocar SC), 20-Rakesh Masih, 26-Mehrajuddin Wadoo (Salgaocar SC), 28-Warundeep Singh (Sporting Clube de Goa), 33-Mohan Sarkar (Techno Aryan Club, Calcutta), 35-Deepak Sumanta, 37-Rajib Ghosh (Pailan Arrows)

Midfielders
7-Denson Devadas (Prayag United SC), 8-Cyprian Stanley Okoroigwe (Mohammedan Sporting Club), 12-Bijendra Rai (Pailan Arrows), 17-L. Lalrinfela (Southern Samity), 18-Arjun Chatterjee (Prayag United SC), 19-Syed Rahim Nabi, 21-Nirapada Mondal (Gauhati Town Club), 23-Sheikh Jewel Raja, 24-Manish Mathani, 25-Snehashis Chakroborty, 34-Manish Bhargav

Forwards
9-Odafe Onyeka Okolie, 10-Tolgay Ozbey (East Bengal Club), 11-Dipendu Biswas (Bhowanipore Club, Kolkata), 14-C.S Sabeeth (Pailan Arrows), 29-P.K. Anil Kumar (Dempo SC)

Official
Santosh Kashyap (Chief Coach), Bernard Operanozie (Assistant Coach), Hemanta Dora (Goalkeeper Coach), Jonathan Corner (Physio, Rehab Specialist)


Players Released
Dipendu Dowary, Abinash Ruidas, Goutam Thakur, Hudson Lima da Silva, Jose Ramirez Barreto (all Bhowanipore Club, Kolkata), Kingshuk Debnath, R. Dhanarajan, Gouranga Datta, Ashim Biswas (all Mohammedan Sporting Club), Anwar, Sakatar Singh (both United Sikkim FC), Irungbam Surkumar Singh, Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (both Dodsal FC, Mumbai), Nallappan Mohanraj (Pune FC), Sangram Mukherjee (Prayag United SC), Souvik Chakraborty (Air India), Sunil Chhetri (Sporting Clube de Portugal), Sudipta Banerjee, Satish Kumar Jr, Jagtar Singh, Daljit Singh, Souvik Mondal, Bungo Thokchom Singh, Joseph Muralidharan

VIDEO: Comparing the Coaches of the Kolkata Maidan giants

Fellow journalist Prosun Biswas works for Bengali news channel Rplus and they on their show football.com did an interesting piece on the coaches of the three Kolkata giants - Trevor James Morgan (East Bengal Club), Santosh Kashyap (Mohun Bagan AC) and Aloke Mukherjee (Mohammedan Sporting Club) - looking at their clubs chances in the new season, allowing the coaches to speak about their aims and also allowing former players to give their judgement.

The report is in Bengali

Mohun Bagan present new coach Santosh Kashyap

Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan AC today at a press conference at their club tent presented their new head coach for the 2012/13 season in Santosh Kashyap. The press conference was attended by Anjan Mitra (General Secretary), Debasish Dutta (Finance Secretary), Uttam Saha (Football Secretary) and Alokesh Banerjee (Director of McDowell Mohun Bagan).

Santosh Kashyap, an AFC 'A' licence holder, last season coached Mumbai's Air India and seems to have impressed the Mohun Bagan management in the way he coached a young and inexperienced team in the I-League. Before joining Air India Kashyap had been coach of the Mahindra United Under-19 team.

Not only the head coach but the complete coaching staff was announced today. Kashyap will have Bernard Oparanozie as his assistant Coach, the goalkeeper Coach will be Hemanta Dora, while Jonathan Corner will be the Physiotherapist cum Rehab Specialist. The club is currently in search of a suitable physical trainer and they hope to announce a name by July 11, the day of the first training session.

The club is planning a pre-season training camp in Durgapur at the Mohun Bagan-SAIL Football Academy, but before confirming the camp Kashyap and Oparanozie will have a look at the facilities and accommodation.

A confident Kashyap said that he knew about the pressure to coach a club of the stature and especially after two seasons without a trophy. His aim was to win as many matches as possible and aim for the I-League title.