@munna21977: Thank you for directing my attention to some really brilliant writings on Indian sport (and a lot of other things), especially to this gem of a quote by J.B. Priestly: "To think of football as merely 22 hirelings kicking a ball is merely to say that a violin is wood and cat-gut, Hamlet so much ink and paper. It is conflict and art."
Read in the Bartaman that East Bengal coach Biswajit Bhattacharya wants to play Ranti as a single striker with Dong in a withdrawal role. Rafique might come as a substitute in the second half. Mehtab, Khabra, Jairu and Ruidas in the midfield. Arnab, Bello, Narayan Das/Robert and Rahul Bheke/Samad Ali might be the four defenders. Not sure if Biswajit-da's ploy of keeping Ranti as the single striker is going to click. As Armando Colaco had once said, Ranti does not play well as a single striker and needs someone to support him. Rafique with his speed and energy could have added more steel to the frontline. As has been seen, Dong plays well only when he drops down to the wings. Mohun Bagan has been strengthened by the likes of Pritam Kotal, Dhanachandra Singh, Glen , Sony, Jeje, Balwant and others. East Bengal defence has to be on its toes to keep MB in check. Only hope is that East Bengal has a tradition of delivering when the chips are down or when they are underdogs.
Almost every football expert has given Mohun Bagan the edge (and most justifiably so) in tomorrow's game. Only P.K. Banerjee, that old warhorse and veteran of veterans, has commented that East Bengal have always performed well in derbies when they have been underdogs. Tomorrow's game will see a conflict between reason and emotion for me. Keeping fingers crossed.
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chibuzor scored. It was 4-1. Cant find better source but I had one old Sportstar magazine which had pictures from the game.
http://greatbong.net/2006/06/12/project-world-cup/