By George! What a game
If you are aware of the geographical situation of South Bengal, particularly during monsoon and on a Sunday, you will realise how difficult it is to reach to the Mohun Bagan ground on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
And then if you are coming from Nabadwip, Purba Medinipore, remote Howrah or from Sundarbans, it takes hours to reach the ground. You need to plan ahead as there are less local trains or Ferry services.
But then, when you travel for hours, sit and watch your favourite team playing complete football against a team that has veterans like Denson or Eche, you feel the worth of travelling to the temple of Indian football on such condition.
Record book will mention 4-0, of which 3 goals were scored from headers,each one of them unique by its own.
A power header from Suhair from 6 yards from a cross from right, a Salva header from 10 yards that went into far end or a Gonzalez header from almost 5° can become a hot topic as which one is better.
What record book won’t tell is how Mohun Bagan kept on playing passing football on the murky condition where you don’t know whether the ball gets halted or not. What the record book will not say how Sahil , Chullova , Surabuddin , Naorem showed their skills in dribbling or dodging. What it will not say is how Gonzalez led the defense before Morante was fielded as substitute, or how he played from box to box.
Naorem scored the 3rd goal from within a crowd, and did move into central midfield while Gurvinder operated from left flank. Kima moved to left to support the overlapping and Sahil covered the central position. Chullova overlapped and Gonzalez covered him. That made defense compact. And of course when you have Debjit in the goal, you know the last man of defense is reliable.
Beitia operated from middle and this ground condition could not stop him distributing balls even today. Britto might have missed few opportunities but kept George defense busy.
Overall, a game fans cherish for long, and academies to show to the buddig footballers on how to play pressing football in such ground condition.