Pailan Arrows term to thrash HAL

Riding high on their last win, Pailan Arrows forked out an entertaining game of football and defeated bottom-placed HAL  2-1.

Playing a controlled game and creating several scoring chances, Pailan Arrows took the lead in the 39th minute. A high-ball from the mid-field fell to Ajay Singh in the left-wing. He ran thru the pelanty box and took a powerful crack to the goal, the ball hit the diving HAL keeper Amar Deb and went into the goal.

Post lemon-break saw a revived HAL looking for an equalizer, substitute RC Prakash was controlling the mid-field, and HAL had the maximum possession. A good move from the left flank brought in the equalizer – Malemnganba Meetei’ took a left-footed cross, staying away from the two markers, Nigerian Abdulla Hamza jump was perfect, and had no difficulty in heading the ball to the  goal.

TFA cadet Alwyn Geroge scored the winner in the 82nd minute when the ball was passed to him after playing a series of short passes in the mid-field. The talented striker took a powerful goal-bound shot from the edge of the penalty box.

Pailan Arrows coach Sujit Chakraborty reckoned this victory as a ‘hard fought win’, “We played well and controlled the game in the most of first half. However, we did miss many out of those created chances. HAL too played very well at the starting of first half.”

Chakraborty added, “I’m happy that we won two matches consecutively, we’ll try to play well in our last round match.”


With this win Arrows now have 16 points from 25 matches while bottom placed HAL Bangalore stays at 8 points from 25 outings. 

HAL's quest for a home win

The Aircraftsmen, assured of relegation take on resurgent Pailan Arrows in an I-League encounter at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Saturday, April 28.

This season’s home match performance for the Aircraftmen has been pathetic - last match resulted in a 5-1 thrashing in the hands of Mumbai FC. Failing to register a home win in this season, tomorrow, they have nothing but to play for pride against the rookies from Pailan Arrows.

Pailan Arrows stay on 13 points from 24 matches while HAL Bangalore stays at the bottom of the table with 8 points from 24 outings. 

With a goal difference of -41 so far, perhaps worst ever by an I-League team, HAL’s defense has never been the strength for all season. Central defender Femi Joseph Adeola is out sick, looks doubtful for tomorrow’s game and Biju Kumar is yet to recover from injury. Also, keeper P Pramod’s service will be missed due to some personal commitment.

Pailan Coach Sujit Chakraborty

After their first victory in the League against Chirag Kerala, Pailan Coach Sujit Chakraborty sounded a relieved man. “Our patience has finally paid off. We were unlucky in some of our earlier matches. It’s nice to be rewarded a victory after all the hard work.” 

“It’s true the win came at the fag end of the tournament. But there’s always a beginning.” 

“We have been playing attacking football but weren’t able to convert the chances that came our way. In the last match, everyone executed the plans to perfection,” he added. “The manner in which the midfielders supported the strikers was amazing. Sabeeth was exceptional.” 

However, Chakraborty isn’t willing to go overboard. “We need to stay aware of HAL. They don’t have anything to lose and will be coming hard at us. We need to be cautious. But we will play for a win,” he commented.

The last time the two teams met in the first phase of the I-League, the match ended 1-1. 

HAL would love to dish out a memorable performance in their last home match of the season.

Two St. Aloysius boys to attend three-day special training by the Celtic coaches

Singreipam from St. Aloysius High School, Bangalore

Singreipam and James from St. Aloysius High School are among the 22 players selected on the basis of their performance in the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge final leg to attend the three-day special coaching clinic to be conducted by academy coaches from Celtic Football Club at the Bangalore Football Stadium from April 25 to 27, 2012.

The clinic will be conducted by Mark Reid, Youth Academy Coach and Senior Football Development Officer, Jose Romero, Mark Tobin, Centre of Excellence coaches, and Tom McKay, Development Centre Goalkeeping coach. The clinic will be conducted in two sessions  - 8.30 am to 10.30 am and 4.30 pm to 6 pm.

Following this clinic two to four players will be picked to travel and train at the Celtic Football Club in Scotland for ten days.

MYFC camp selected boys with the Celtic Academy coaches

Winner Pandua SBS High School, Kolkata have ten players, with four from runner-up CRPF School, Delhi, two from St. Aloysius High School, Bangalore, two from Don Bosco High School, Mumbai, two from  MSP HSS, Kerala, and two from St. Britto’s High School, Goa.

Selected players

• Don Bosco High School, Mumbai
• Vikrant Belwalkar
• Nathan Fernandes
•  St. Aloysius High School, Bangalore
• Singreipam R
• James A
• CRPF School, Delhi
• Mukesh Kumar
• Anuj Kumar (GK)
• Gaurav Bora
•  Abhishek Yadav
• St. Britto’s High School, Goa
• Emmanuel Souza
•  Marc D’Cruz
• MSP HSS, Kerala
•  M. D. Sajid Khan
•  Sufaid Ali
• Pandua SBS High School, Kolkata
• Srimanth Paul
• Premananda Singha
• Mangal Murmu
• Sk. Raju
• Jagannath Singh
• Jayanta Murmu
• Sunil Tudu
• Palas Das
• Pardip Rajak
• Prakash Khetrapal (GK)

Pandua High School Kolkata lifts 2nd Mahindra Youth Football Challenge

Striker Jayanta Murmu and Midfielder Premananda Singha proved a deadly combination for Pandua S.B.S. High School, Kolkata the duo coming together on two occasions to help fashion a 5-0 victory over Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) High School, Delhi and emerge champions of the Mahindra Youth Football Inter-City Challenge 2011-12, promoted by Procam International. The Kolkata lads, who had impressed throughout the tournament, proved too strong for their counterparts from Delhi, slamming in two goals in the first half of the final played at the Bangalore Football Stadium, here, on Tuesday.
 

Mahindra Youth Football Challenge is the Mahindra Group’s commitment to promote football at the grassroots level. 

Mahindra has partnered with Scottish football giants, Celtic Football Club, who will take on the responsibility of training and developing young talent identified through the initiative.

The prolific Premananda Singha struck as early as the seventh minute of the game, set up beautifully by a pass from Murmu. Again on the 24th minute Premananda scored his second goal in the right corner of the ‘D’ circle. In the half time, Kolkata school leading with 2-0.

In the second half, Premananda Singha, allowed space to move in the midfield, continued to make dangerous moves and one of his crosses found Jayanta Murmu in the 27th minute, who headed home to give the Kolkata team 3-0 lead. Jayanta Murmu added one more goal in the 36th minute and take the team lead 4-0. On the 41st minute, Sunil Tudu scored one more goal to give his team 5-0 victory.

2nd Mahindra Youth Football Challenge winner Pandua High School, Kolkata

Pandua S.B.S. High School, Kolkata took home Rs 50,000 for their efforts, while the Central Reserve Police Force High School, Delhi had to be content with Rs 30,000.

Pandua S.B.S. High School Jayanta Murmu was adjudged the best striker, while the best goalkeeper award went to Anuj Kumar of Central Reserve Police Force High School, Delhi, Mangal Murmu of Pandua S.B.S. High School, Kolkata was named best Midfielder, while the best defender was Sufaid Ali. MSP HSS. (Kerala).

All the winners received the trophies and certificates from Chief guests, Ulganathan, former national player), with Armuayanayagam, Asian gold medalist, A. R. Khalil, President, KSFA, and M P Swamy, Chairman, BDFA.

Final result

• Pandua High School, Kolkata 5 (Premananda Singha-17', 24', Jayanta Murmu-27', 36', Sunil Tudu-41') bt CRPF High School, Delhi 0

Individual awards

• Man of the Match: Jayanta Murmu, Pandua S.B.S. High School, Kolkata 
• Best Defender: Sufaid Ali, MSP HSS, Kerala 
• Best Midfielder: Mangal Murmu, Pandua S.B.S. High School, Kolkata 
• Best Striker: Jayanta Murmu, Pandua S.B.S. High School, Kolkata

Fixture of Mahindra Youth Football Challenge 2011-12 Finals

The final round of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge 2011-12 kicks off on Thursday, April 19 at the Bangalore Football Stadium. The matches will be played on a round-robin basis and the top two teams will qualify for the grand finale, which will be played at on Tuesday, April 14, 4 pm.

All the matches will played for 50 minutes, 25 minutes each half, with 10 minutes of lemon break.

Participating school teams:

1. St. Aloysius High School, Bangalore
2. CRPF School, Delhi
3. Don Bosco High School, Mumbai
4. Pandua High School, Kolkata
5. St. Britto's High School, Goa
6. MSP HSS, Kerala

Points Table (after round 3)

Rank	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Pandua SBS HS, Kolkata	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7	9
2	CRPF School, Delhi	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
3	St. Aloysius HS, Bangalore	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
4	MSP HSS, Kerala	3	1	0	2	3	5	-2	3
5	Don Bosco HS, Mumbai	3	1	1	1	6	7	-1	1
6	St. Britto's HS, Goa	3	0	0	3	2	9	-7	0

Fixture and Results

• Thursday, 19-04-12, 3.00 pm: Bangalore 2 (James–15', Singreipan-39) vs Mumbai 2 (Aaron Koli-10' [p], Aidan D’Costa-28') | MOM: Vikrant Belwalkar, Don Bosco High School, Mumbai
  
• Thursday, 19-04-12, 4.00 pm: Delhi 2 (Vijwal Bhandari -35', Dinesh Suhag–42) vs Kerala 0 | MOM: Mukesh Kumar, CRPF School, Delhi
  
• Thursday, 19-04-12, 5.00 pm: Kolkata 2 (Jayanta Murmu-4', Srimanta Pal-13') vs Goa 0 | MOM: Mangal Murmu, Pandua High School, Kolkata
  
• Friday, 20-04-12 3.00 pm: Goa 0 vs Kerala 3 (MD Sajid Khan-9', 18', Wahidur Rahiman-35') | MOM: MD Sajid Khan, MSP HSS, Kerala
• Friday, 20-04-12 4.00 pm: Mumbai 0 vs Kolkata 3 (Srimanta Pal -8', Jaynata Murmu-15', Premananda Singha-21') | MOM: Premananda Singha, Pandua High School, Kolkata
• Friday, 20-04-12 5.00 pm: Bangalore 0 vs Delhi 1 (Dinesh Suhag-41') | MOM: Anuj Kumar (GK), CRPF School, Delhi
• Saturday, 21-04-12, 3.00 pm: Delhi 0 vs Kolkata 2 (Sunil Tudu-4', Jayanta Murmu-12') | MOM: Anuj Kumar(GK),CRPF School, Delhi
  
• Saturday, 21-04-12, 4.00 pm: Bangalore 3 (Rohit-7', Chuimi-23', Singreipam-48') vs Kerala 0 | MOM: Singreipam, St. Aloysius High School, Bangalore
• Saturday, 21-04-12, 5.00 pm: Mumbai 4 (Marc D’Souza-29', 30', 45', Vikrant Belwalkar-34') vs Goa 2 (Roland D’Souza-15', Hayden Fernandes-47') | MOM: Nathan Fernandes, Don Bosco HS, Mumbai
• Sunday, 22-04-12 3.00 pm: Bangalore 2 (Santhur Pam-31', 39') vs Kolkata 4 (Jayanta Murmu-7', 21' , 24', Premananda-10') | MOM: Jayanta Murmu, Pandua High School, Kolkata
  
• Sunday, 22-04-12 4.00 pm: Delhi 2 (Abhisekh Yadav-11', 37') vs Goa 0 | MOM: Abhisekh Yadav, CRPF School, Delhi
• Sunday, 22-04-12 5.00 pm: Mumbai 4 (Troy D’Souza-5th, Vikrant Belwalkar-11', 48', Marc D’Souza-42) vs Kerala 0 | MOM: Nathan Fernandes, Don Bosco High School, Mumbai
• Monday, 23-04-12 3.00 pm: Delhi 2 (Mukesh Kumar-22', Abhisekh Yadav-42') vs Mumbai 2 (Vikrant Belwalkar-5', 15')
  
• Monday, 23-04-12 4.00 pm: Kolkata 6 (Jayanta Murmu-2', 11', 13', Sunil Tudu-4', 20', Jiten Saran-15') vs Kerala 0
  
• Monday, 23-04-12 5.00 pm: Bangalore 0 vs Goa 1 (Emmanuel Souza-11)

• Final - Tuesday, 24-04-12 4.00 pm: Pandua High School, Kolkata 5 (Premananda Singha-17', 24', Jayanta Murmu-27', 36', Sunil Tudu-41') vs CRPF School, Delhi 0

Mahindra Youth Football Challenge 2011-12 Finals

The best under-14 football players from the champion school teams of six cities (Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Kerala, Kolkata, and Mumbai) will display their skills during the final leg of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge 2011-2012. This edition will be played on the artificial turf of the Bangalore Football Stadium from April 19 to 24, under the aegis of the Bangalore District Football Association (BDFA).

The foremost football playing school teams from the country's most football-passionate cities are participating in this tournament that will decide the Champion School of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge. The winning schools were identified through the Intra-City tournaments conducted in the six cities, involving the top schools from each city and touching a total of 250 schools.

Last year's star performer - Mani Maran

The following six schools will participate in the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge Finals: 

• St. Aloysius High School, Bangalore 
• CRPF School, Delhi 
• St. Britto's High School, Goa 
• MSP HSS, Kerala 
• Pandua High School, Kolkata 
• Don Bosco High School, Mumbai

Competition in the final leg will be much more intense! Six champion school teams will play each other in a league format to determine the top two, who will then play the final on April 24, 2012 at the Bangalore Football Stadium.

A four-day coaching clinic, from April 15 to 18 was conducted for the players from the six schools by the following coaches from Celtic Football Club Academy:

• Mark Reid - Youth Academy Coach/Senior Football Development Officer)
• Jose Romero – Centre of Excellence coach
• Mark Tobin - Centre of Excellence coach
• Tom McKay - Development Centre Goalkeeping coach

Celtic FC Youth Academy coaches (L to R) - Mark Tobin, Jose Romero, Mark Reid, and Tom McKay

 These coaches were present at the four-day clinic to train the coaches and players of each of the six teams on individual skills, techniques, and tactical aspects of the game.

The Mahindra Youth Football Challenge is the Mahindra Group's commitment to promote football at the grassroots level. The company has partnered with Scottish football giants, Celtic Football Club, who will take on the responsibility of training and developing young talent identified through this initiative. Also, as part of the initiative, Celtic Football Club will be giving replica T-shirts to the members of all the teams participating in the tournament.

Mark Reid with a player of St. Alloysius HS, Bangalore

Mufaddal Choonia, Deputy G M, Corporate Strategy, Mahindra Group, had this to say, "The Mahindra Youth Football Challenge has grown tremendously in the last two years to become the biggest U-14 football tournament in the country. We are humbled by the enthusiastic response the tournament has received from across the country. I wish the six city champion schools all the very best in the Inter-City Challenge of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge and urge them to strive hard to bring glory to their respective schools."

"Celtic Football Club is honored and pleased at this opportunity to coach the best under-14 footballing talent from six major cities. Our coaches will work hard to try and impart the maximum amount of football knowledge to the coaches and players of the six teams in the coaching clinic. We also hope to identify the best talent, who will get a chance to travel and train with Celtic Football Club," said Peter Lawwell, Chief Executive of Celtic Football Club.

"It's been a wonderful two-year journey for Procam International, who are indeed fortunate to be promoting a venture that involves the Mahindra Group and Celtic Football Club, both giants in their respective fields. What gives us even more pleasure is the fact that the ultimate beneficiaries of this venture are young football players. Procam International will continually strive to improve the experience of each under-14 player participating in this unique venture," said P N Sankaran of Procam International.


Prizes galore
The Champion school will receive the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge Trophy and prize money of Rs 50,000, while the runner-up school will also receive a trophy and prize money of Rs 30,000. 

Besides this, the 'Star Performer' of each match will also receive a trophy, while there will be prizes for the 'Best Goalkeeper', 'Best Midfielder', 'Best Striker' and 'Best Defender' of the tournament. All the six teams will be provided with NIKE football kits.


Opportunity to train with the best

Based of their performances in the final leg, 22 players will be selected for another intense four-day coaching clinic to be held from April 25 to 28, and conducted by the above mentioned coaches. From these 22 players, the best players will be picked to travel to Scotland and undergo a ten days training stint at the Celtic Football Club Academy. The names of these players will be announced at the conclusion of the final camp on April 28.

Bishal Harizan and Jayanta Mondal from Kolkata and Mani Maran R. from Bangalore, had emerged the best three footballers from the first season of the Mahindra youth Football Challenge. These three players were picked after the final leg last year and got an opportunity to avail of a ten day intensive coaching camp in Glasgow with the Celtic Football Club.

They got an opportunity to watch a Scottish Premier League game at Celtic Park, involving Celtic FC and Motherwell FC and another at Ibrox Stadium featuring Celtic FC vs Glasgow Rangers. Their training there involved individual technique training, multiple sessions of Sports Science Testing, learning the right warm up techniques with the under-19 team, and daily coaching sessions with the Celtic Under-15 team. Bangalore's Mani Maran was then selected to represent the Celtic FC Under-16 team to play against the Monash Football Club from Melbourne, Australia, capping a successful and satisfying experience for the three lads.

Mumbai FC thrash HAL

Applying a simple approach of striking opportunities as they arise, Mumbai FC thrashed their opponent HAL  5-1 at the Bangalore Football Stadium. Nigerian striker Gbeneme Friday proved to be the star for the Mumbai team after pumping four goals into the HAL net.

The Aircraftmen already relegated had nothing but to play for their pride. However, the team from the garden city ended up with a shabby performance today.

Attacking from left to right, the match started well for Mumbai FC. They made some early intrusions and HAL defense looked tentative.

A defensive lapse from Femi, helped Mumbai to score their first goal. Gbeneme Friday was smart enough to pick the ball and pass to his partner Abhisekh Yadav. The former had all the time in the world, moved the ball to the right side of the goal post.

The second goal was centered again on Abhisekh as HAL keeper Pramod tumbled him down on the penalty box. Abhisekh converted the penalty to his right for his only goal of the match. 

Second goal: Pramod's jump was on the right direction, but could not reach to the ball.

HAL medio Ajit Kumar Singh playing in an unusual position as striker pulled one back in the 24th minute from an accurate cross from Rohit Chand.

Mumbai FC came back strongly post lemon break and scored three more via Gbeneme Friday. 

Third goal: toying with the keeper  before scoring - that is Friday's second goal. Pathetic defending!

Mumbai FC’s talented young coach Khalid Jamil looked delighted after the match, “A good win! I told my boys to stay focused, play with a right attitude, and exert pressure as our opponents’ morale was down.”

“We played a more dominating game on our home match at Pune. In today’s match we’ve missed several scoring opportunities.“, sums up Khalid.

Man of the Match Gbeneme Friday reckoned this to be his best performance in I-league, “We’ve worked hard for this match and let’s hope we’ll survive relegation this time.”

With only a match to play in this edition of I-league, Mumbai FC is still in 11th position with 24 points. To stay in I-league, they will look keenly on Chirag Kerala’s proceedings. The Kerala team is on 12th position with 17 points, but still have 4 matches to play.

HAL vs MumbaiFC: let's play for pride

HAL, already relegated takes on Mumbai FC in the 25th round I-League clash at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Saturday.

 

Like several other I-League encounters in this season, HAL made early inroads against Pune FC in their previous encounter. And just like the other I-League encounters, they failed to hold the momentum, conceded easy goals. However, they came back strongly in the second half, and scored three quick goals.

The away leg against Mumbai FC resulted in a big 0-4 loss for HAL. Scoring four goals (highest scoring match as yet) in the last encounter against Pune FC should be the only positive that will help them against the Mumbai team. 

Rohit Chand will continue playing in new position of attacking mid-fielder. Apparently, this dependable Nepalese left-back fired hat-trick in a losing cause for the Aircraftmen. 

Mumbai FC so far is in 11^th position, 21 points from 24 games and HAL stays at bottom with 8 points from 23 matches.

Mumbai FC did not have a great season - definitely missing the giant killer tag that they earned for last few seasons. With just two rounds to play, they are looking for a win to bounce out of the relegation zone. 

Mumbai FC will be missing the services of influential midfielder Malsawmkima Chhangte, suspended due to double booking.

Match will kick-off at 3.30 pm.