Decisive Saturday in Europe's top leagues

This Saturday, April 2, 2011 could have decided the titles in a number of top European football leagues for the 2010/11 season. And interestingly it all went in favour of the league leaders - Manchester United (England), FC Barcelona (Spain), AC Milan (Italy) and Borussia Dortmund (Germany).


English Premier League
English league leaders Manchester United had a tough away game in London against West Ham United and the first half just proved that as United were two goals down at the break with both goals coming of penalties from Mark Noble. West Ham even had chances to make it three, but it remained 2-0 at half time and still left United with a chance to comeback.
And they just did that in style with Wayne Rooney scoring a brilliant hattrick in 14 minutes to allowed Manchester United to turn things around with a late Xavier Hernandez goal ensuring a 4-2 victory. As closest rivals Arsenal (0-0 against Blackburn Rovers) and Chelsea (1-1 at Stoke City) drew, Manchester United now have a seven point advantage over Arsenal and 11 on Chelsea. United are closing in their next Premier League title.


Spanish Primera Division
It was supposed to be the weekend that Spanish clubs are on strike, but a court disallowed such a move so clubs were forced to play. And Real Madrid afterwards would have hoped the strike had been on, then Real Madrid were beaten 1-0 at home by Sporting Gijon through a 79th minute goal from Miguel de la Cuevas, while bitter rivals FC Barcelona won 1-0 against FC Villarreal through a 67th minute goal from Piqué. This now leaves Barca eight points clear of Real Madrid in the La Liga title race, while for Mourinho it was the first home loss in over nine years. His last defeat had been while at FC Porto, a 2-3 against Beira Mar on February 23, 2002.


Italian Serie A
AC Milan took a giant step towards regaining the Serie A title after a 3-0 win against city rivals and current holders Internationale Milan. The hero of the day was Brazilian youngster Alexandre Pato who scored in the 1st and 62nd minute, while substitute Antonio Cassano added a third in the 90th minute to seal a memorable victory. It opened up a crucial five point gap for Milan at the top of the Serie A table after Inter had been closing in on them over the last few weeks.


German Bundesliga
League leaders Borussia Dortmund hosted third placed Hannover 96 in a crucial Bundesliga game. Dropping more points would have given a chance to Bayer 04 Leverkusen to close the gap further to the top, but Dortmund won 4-1 to maintain the seven point lead at the top. Dortmund were given a scare by Hannover when Mohammed Abdellaoue scored a shock lead in the 57th minute, but a brilliant solo from teenager Mario Goetze gave Dortmund the equaliser only a couple of minutes later and suddenly their got their game together as Hannover fell apart. Two goals from Lucas Barrios and a fourth from Kevin Großkreutz ensured in the end a clear 4-1 win.

Crystal Palace's Cheerleader problem

English Championship side Crystal Palace have a cheerleader problem of sorts. The bosses at the club brought in the American-style pom-pom girls in December last year to entertain the crowds and 'inspire the players' before, during and after each home game at Selhurst Park.

The troupe of 14 girls named 'Crystals' have not only support amongst the crowds, but opponents as well who say they should not be around at the games as they are a distraction for the players and it isn't something which suits football culture. But interestingly since they have been performing Crystal Palace hasn't lost a home game, but still have slipped in the table to be now only just above the relegation zone.

While some want to get rid of the girls by saying, "They are just pole dancers on grass and they should be stopped – they are not doing the team any favours," others feel, "The reason for our poor league position is our away form where the girls don’t even appear!"

Opinions seem divided, but the club stand by the 'Crystals' and will allow the girls to perform at Selhurst Park. Somehow it reminds me of the idea of the Zeebras by Zee Sports when they came in as television partner of the AIFF in 2005 and brought on their own version of cheerleaders. I remember initially it worked before it faded away...


Here a new feature from ITN on the Crystal Palace cheerleaders

19th Women's Nationals in Chhattisgarh

The 19th Senior Women's National Football Championship 2010/11 will be held from April 25 to May 17 at Bhilai in Chhattisgarh. A total of 26 states will be taking part in this edition of the women's nationals.

These 26 teams have been divided have been divided into eight clusters in the preliminary group stage. Defending champions Manipur, who also are the record champions, will face Sikkim and Bihar in Cluster 1, while last years runners-up Orissa have been placed in Cluster 5 along with Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram.

The preliminary group stage would be played from April 25 to May 7 with the group championships moving into the quarterfinal league stage, which will be played from May 8 to 13. The two semifinals have been slated for May 15, while the final would be played on May 17 to decide the new (or maybe old) champions.


Preliminary Group Stage

Cluster 1: Manipur, Sikkim, Assam
Cluster 2: Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka
Cluster 3: Tamilnadu, Jharkhand, Punjab
Cluster 4: Tripura, Jammu&Kashmir, Goa, Uttarakhand
Cluster 5: Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram
Cluster 6: West Bengal, Delhi, Pondicherry
Cluster 7: Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh
Cluster 8: Kerala, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra

Kenkre FC's maiden 2nd Division I-League appearance

Mumbai's Kenkre Football Club won this seasons Maharashtra State League for the first time and by winning the state league they qualified for the 2nd Division I-League. And this will mark their maiden entry into the national league system when they play their opening Group B match against Josco FC on April 4 in Jamshedpur.

Kenkre's have come a long way since their formation as a football academy in 2000, which in those starting days was more a football training centre then anything else. It is named after 'Adib Krishna Sinai Kenkre', a former footballer and coach who has worked with numerous clubs and institutions in Mumbai.

The Club was formed with the intention of showcasing young talent, produced through an Academy structure, that are believed to be the new crop of Indian football players. Thus, the club is the fruition of all the hard work and dedication put into the Academy and it shows a path of development for players from being in an Academy to play for a professional outfit.

A number of the players in the Kenkre FC squad have come through their own Academy system with the club testing new waters by playing in the 2nd Division I-League this season. If they will be able to fulfil their ambitions in the first try will have to be seen.


KENKRE FC squad

Goalkeepers
1-Aditya Rawal, 21-Deepak Kamble, 30-Mayank Balakrishnan

Field Players
2, Rehman Cardozo, 3-Oken Singh, 4-Ravish D'Souza, 5-Sanjay Nair, 6-Sadananda Singh, 7-Jazeel Limzerwalla, 8-Floyd Dharmai, 9-Francisco Stalin, 10-Eze Collins, 11-Cyrus Jal, 12-Richard Agwu, 14-Madhusudan Phadale, 15-Harmeet Singh, 16-Kevin Patrick, 17-Lepcha Singh, 18-Stephen Njoh, 19-Sajjad Alam, 20-Francisco Dominic, 22-Jagjeet Singh, 23-Nelson Cardoz, 24-Cylburn Pereira, 25-Rahul Yadav, 26-Jayson Castelino, 27-Derrick Joseph, 29-Taha Kachwala

Officials
Floyd Pinto (Chief Coach), Vikram Nanivadekar (Manager), Dr. Janhavi Jathar (Physiotherapist), Dr. Dimple Asher (Physiotherapist)

I-League Division 2: Group A fixtures revised again

The fixtures of the preliminary Group A in the 2nd Division I-League has been changed and amended once more. Round 2 & 3 matches have been pushed back by a day, while from Round 4 to 7 the matches would be played two days later which does give the teams some time to recover. The group would now finish their matches on April 14.

The original match dates had kept the state elections in Assam on April 4 & 11 in mind, but since the first change the election date in the state capital Guwahati on April 11 has been sandwiched between two match dates.

No official reason was given by the AIFF for the move, but one could be that Southern Samity yesterday played the third place playoff in the IFA Shield and they need time to get from Kolkata to Guwahati.


I-League Division 2 - Groups A fixtures/results

Group A - Guwahati (Assam)
NISA (Manipur), United Sikkim FC (Sikkim), Langsning FC (Meghalaya), Guwahati Town Club (Assam), Southern Samity (West Bengal), Golden Threads FC (Kerala), Simla Youngs FC (Delhi)

Round I
31/03/11: NISA 3-1 Golden Threads FC
31/03/11: Simla Youngs FC 0-1 Guwahati Town Club
31/03/11: Langsning FC 2-2 United Sikkim FC

Round II
03/04/11: Golden Threads FC - Langsning FC
03/04/11: Guwahati Town Club - NISA
03/04/11: Southern Samilty - Simla Youngs FC

Round III
05/04/11: United Sikkim FC - NISA
05/04/11: Golden Threads FC - Simla Youngs FC
05/04/11: Guwahati Town Club - Southern Samity

Round IV
08/04/11: Langsning FC - Simla Youngs FC
08/04/11: United Sikkim FC - Southern Samity
08/04/11: Golden Threads FC - Guwahati Town Club

Round V
10/04/11: NISA - Southern Samity
10/04/11: Langsning FC - Guwahati Town Club
10/04/11: United Sikkim FC - Golden Threads FC

Round VI
12/04/11: Guwahati Town Club - United Sikkim FC
12/04/11: Southern Samity - Langsning FC
12/04/11: Simla Youngs FC - NISA

Round VII
14/04/11: Southern Samity - Golden Threads FC
14/04/11: Simla Youngs FC - United Sikkim FC
14/04/11: NISA - Langsning FC

I-League to restart tomorrow

The fourth edition of the I-League, India's professional football league, will restart tomorrow with matches to be played over the next three days across India. The I-League had taken a three week break for the qualifiers of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup.

Now the league restarts and will continue until it finishes on May 29 with the final round of matches of the 14 team league on that day. The title race and the fight for survival is open like rarely ever before with numerous clubs involved on both sides of the league table.


So who can win the title?

This seasons title is now for Salgaocar SC to lose. The Goans lead the table with 40 points from 17 matches, while Churchill Brothers are second with 39 points but having played 19 matches already. Early league leaders East Bengal Club are third on 35 points with defending champions Dempo SC are fourth on 34 points both having played 17 matches.

All these clubs still have to face each other, so they could be dropping a lot of points which means that anyone of these four clubs could win the I-League title 2010/11. Salgaocar's biggest drawback is that they are a young team who so far have been ably led by the foreign trio of Luciano Sabrosa, Ryuji Sueoka and Yakubu Yusif. But they have been playing at the top of their game and if they can maintain that for another couple of month's will have to be seen.

On that front the other three sides Churchill Brothers SC, East Bengal Club and Dempo SC have much more experience, which could come handy towards the end of the campaign. These clubs will depend on their foreign star strikers Odafe Onyeka Okolie (Churchill Bros), Tolgay Ozbey (East Bengal) and Ranty Martins Soleye (Dempo) to score.


Who could get relegated?

The fight for survival is a tough one this season. There is no club which is already so far away that they are doomed to be relegated and as last season showed you have to beware until the last match day, the last minutes to survive the drop.

At the moment newcomers ONGC look top candidate for the drop as they are bottom of the league with 11 points, while Air India and JCT have 14 points and Viva Kerala 15 points. JCT have played two matches less at 17 compared to the three other clubs, which is an advantage for the Millmen from Punjab. The young Indian Arrows with 19 points and promoted HAL with 20 points currently look unlikely to have anything to do with relegation, but a couple of wins for the clubs behind them, they lose a few and suddenly they could also be dragged into the relegation battle.

But relegation might not be decided on the field at all as ONGC, Air India and HAL haven't fully complied with the AFC Club Licensing criteria and might be barred from taking part in next seasons I-League, which could also effect the promotion process besides the relegation race.

IFA Shield: Churchill Bros retain title!

Defending champions Churchill Brothers SC beat Mohun Bagan AC 2-1 in the final of the 115th IFA Shield at the floodlit Saltlake Stadium in Kolkata to destroy Mohun Bagan's hopes of regaining the Shield title a hundred years after the club had lifted their first historic IFA Shield title in July 1911.

While the green-and-maroon will remain title-less this season, the title might give the Goans the right push to fight for the I-League title under new Croatian coach Drago Mamic. The title earns Churchill Brothers SC Rs. 1 Million (10 lakhs) while Mohun Bagan get Rs. 700,000 (7 lakhs) as runners-up.

Mohun Bagan where the better of the two sides in the first session though they were missing Jose Ramirez Barreto and Subair Muritala Ali upfront still Chidi Edeh gave the Goan defence enough of work. It was Chidi after wasting an earlier chance who gave Mohun Bagan a 37th minute lead and they took the lead into the break.

But things changed after the break as Churchill Brothers were now in the game and only in the 49th minute they would equalise through a header from talismanic striker Odafe Onyeka Okolie, Mohun Bagan alleged Odafe to be offside but referee A. Rowan stood by his decision. The killer blow would come in the 65th minute off a beautiful long range effort from 'Man of the Match' Charan Rai. Mohun Bagan would not recover from this and would go on to lose again like they did in the last final in September 2009.


In the third place playoff which was held before the final Southern Samity trashed Shillong Lajong FC 4-0 in a match-up of second division sides. Edmilson score three of Southern Samity's goals with Francis Xavier adding a fourth.


MATCH STATS

Churchill Brothers SC 2-1 (0-1) Mohun Bagan AC - Goals: 0-1 Chidi Edeh (37'), 1-1 Odafe Onyeka Okolie (49'), 2-1 Charan Rai (65')

Man of the Match: Charan Rai (Churchill Brothers SC)

Churchill Brothers SC
Vinay Singh; Yumnam Raju Mangang (Khanthang Paite), Dharmaraj Ravanan, Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, Robert Lalthalma; Charan Rai, Lenny Rodrigues, M.P. Sakeer (Chitrasen Chandam Singh), Israil Gurung (T. Bineesh Balan); Odafe Onyeka Okolie, Boima Karpeh

Mohun Bagan AC
Sangram Mukherjee; Kingshuk Debnath, Anwar, Deepak Kumar Mondal, Nallappan Mohanraj; Gouranga Datta (Satish Kumar), Rakesh Masih, Jayanta Sen, Snehashis Chakroborty; Ashim Biswas, Chidi Edeh

Referee
A. Rowan (Services)