AFC Qualifier: Mohun Bagan Create History, Beat Tampines Rovers 3-1

Kolkata: Mohun Bagan packed a punch in a 3-1 drubbing of Singaporean heavyweights Tampines Rovers to become the first Indian club to win a match in the AFC Champions League qualifier at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata.

Jeje Lalpekhula (fifth minute), Cornell Glen (41st) and Katsumi Yusa (83rd) scored for Mohun Bagan while Yasir Hanapi struck the lone goal for Tampines Rovers in the 43rd minute.

Mohun Bagan's Haitian recruit Norde made the difference on a day Cornell Glen had a miserable run that included missing a penalty.

Trailing 1-2, the Singapore League runners-up started strongly in the second-half but before they could bring on the equaliser and take the match to extra time, Mohun Bagan's Japanese recruit Katsumi Yusa confirmed their tickets to China with his 83rd minute strike from Sony Norde's corner.

Norde set up both Jeje and Katsumi as the I-League champions today created history by becoming the first team to win a match in the ACL.

Previously, Dempo (2009, 2011), Churchill Brothers (2010), Pune FC (2014) and Bengaluru FC (2015) made exits in the first qualifying round.

Mohun Bagan will now travel to Chinese city Jinan to clash against Shandong Luneng FC in the Preliminary Stage 2 on February 2.

Shandong Luneng FC are placed third in the Chinese Super League and it will be a real challenge for Mohun Bagan to play in Jinan where the temperature is sub-zero.

Four teams will make the cut from Preliminary Stage 2 to the East Zone play-off. 16 teams in two groups of East and West will lock horns in the Playoff Stage to determine the eight qualifiers for the Group Stage of the ACL.

This is also Mohun Bagan's first win against the Singaporean outfit against whom they drew at home and lost away in the AFC Cup in 2007.

Coach Sanjoy Sen chose to start with the in-form India forward Jeje and his spirited runs combined with Cornell Glen and Sony Norde's pace unsettled 'The Stags' defence early on.

The Mizoram forward, who was benched in their 1-1 draw in the I-League derby versus East Bengal, handed Mohun Bagan an early lead putting the ball to the far post in what was a result of a brilliant move from Norde.

The Haitian cleverly tackled the Singaporean outfit's South Korean recruit Kwon Jun from the left before giving a backpass to Dhanachandra who crossed it to Jeje for their rousing start in front of a sparse crowd in the gigantic stadium.

What followed was a sheer dominance from Mohun Bagan as Norde toyed with 'The Stags' defence.

Mohun Bagan, however, missed a penalty as well as a couple of golden opportunities as they held their slender lead before Glen made it 2-0.

It was Norde who missed a long ranger in the 21st minute before Glen let the team down six minutes later after being set up brilliantly by Katsumi from the right.

With Tampines Rovers defender fumbling, Yusa's cross was neatly received by the Trinidadian shot it over the bar.

Continuing his miserable run, Glen missed to convert from the spot as he shot straight into the hands of Tampines Rovers goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud in the 34th minute.

Moments later, Jeje fumbled to bring up his second after being set up by Norde as Mohun Bagan struggled to convert their chances till a defensive lapse from the Singaporeans.

Norde was once again instrumental in bringing up a second goal when he dribbled past the Tampines Rovers defenders. The goalkeeper lost control and Glen this time found his act right just in front of the goalline with his tap-in.

But their 2-0 cushion was shortlived as a minute later Kingshuk Debnath conceded a free kick by bringing down Hafiz just on the edge of the box and an unmarked Hanipi pulled one back just before the break.

The Stags, playing with the lone forward in the S-League top scorer Nawaz, looked to bounce back after the changeover as they had more setpiece movements but an equaliser continued to elude them.

Three minutes into the second half, the visitors almost brought on the 2-2 equaliser when Fazrul found the back of the net but only to be ruled off side.

The visiting side gradually started to find their feet by building pressure on the I-League champions. Nawaz missed a freeheader after Mohun Bagan defender Luciano Sabrosa failed to control. It was a see-saw contest in the second-half with Mohun Bagan surviving a few scares.

But before the Singapore side could force an equaliser, Mohun Bagan's Japanese recruit Yusa sealed the home side's win with his powerful rightfooter after being set up by substiture Prabir Das's header from a Norde corner kick.

16th South Asian Games Men's Football Fixture Released

Mohun Bagan 1-1 East Bengal.Kolkata derby ends in a hard fought draw as tactical showdown dominates the much awaited derby.

70th Santoh Trophy: Bengal opens their Santosh trophy encounter against Sikkim on 8th February and faces Orissa next on 11th February

The All-India Football Federation has finalised the dates of the South Zone qualifying tournament and the final round of the Santosh Trophy. While the South Zone tournament will be held at the Nehru Stadium here from February 9 to 14 the final round is at Nagpur from February 29 to March 13.

Host Tamil Nadu will open its campaign against Telangana.

Groupings: Group A: Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana & Andaman & Nicobar; B: Services, Karnataka, Puducherry & Andhra Pradesh.

The schedule: Feb. 9: TN vs Tel; Ker vs Andaman & Nicobar; Feb. 10: Services vs Puducherry; Kar vs AP; Feb.11: Tel vs Ker; TN vs Andaman & Nicobar; Feb. 12: Puducherry vs Kar; AP vs Services; Feb. 13: Andaman & Nicobar vs Tel; Ker vs TN; Feb. 14: Puducherry vs AP; Services vs Kar. — Special Correspondent

Indian Football weekly Round , Updates and scores:I league, Second Division I league , U-5 I league

Second Division i-League 2015-16 Results: 17th January 2016 Second Division i-League 2015-16 Results 17.01.2016 LoneStar Kashmir FC 1-1 Kenkre FC LKFC: Atinder Mani(81st) KFC: Arish Sutaria(44th) PIFA Sports 0-8 Dempo SC DSC: Beevan D'Mello(19th), Shallum Pires(32nd), Chika Wali(39th), Kapil Hoble(43rd, 84th), Odili Felix Chidi(45th+1, 64th), N. Castanha(90+2nd)

U-15 Youth League 2015 Results: 17th January 2016 Posted: 17 Jan 2016 12:12 PM PST U-15 Youth League 2015 Results: 17th January 2016 U-15 Youth League 2015 Results 17.01.2016 Guwahati FC U15 1-1 Gauhati Town Club U15 GFC: Rishikesh Borah(70th) GTC: Manash Pratim Sonowal(18th)

Hero i-League 2015-16 Results: 17th January 2016 Posted: 17 Jan 2016 12:02 PM PST Mumbai FC hold East Bengal to a goalless draw, Hero i-League 2015-16 Hero i-League 2015-16 Results 17.01.2016 DSK Shivajians FC 0-0 SC Goa Mumbai FC 0-0 East Bengal DSK Shivajians opened their i-League account with a point as they drew with Sporting Clube de Goa at home in a goalless draw. Mumbai FC and East Bengal also played out a goalless draw at the Cooperage.

Minerva Academy FC - Champions of Second Division i-League Western Conference Posted: 17 Jan 2016 04:06 AM PST Minerva Academy FC topped the Western Conference in the 2nd Division i-League 2015-16 Minerva Academy Football Club had a dream 2nd Division I-League debut to become the Champions of the Western Conference. To claim the pole position, The Pride of Punjab have won 6 out of their 8 matches, while having drawn 1 and suffering a narrow away-loss to Dempo SC. The Western Conference Champions’ Title cannot be sweeter at this point as it serves as a confidence booster for the Minervans, who will start preparing for the final round after a short break. “This is just a good start for us and we all know our mission is not accomplished yet. We still have long and tougher road ahead of us and we can’t rest on this laurel. The hard work begins now as the real challenge lies ahead,” is what club director and think-tank Ranjit Bajaj had to say. True to his sayings, hard work has been the key reason behind Minerva’s dream run. The 16 goals that came from the players are results of several hours of practice put in. Moreover at Minerva, great emphasise was put on the players fitness, having them to go through rigorous fitness regime. Utmost care was also taken on their recovery with regular Hydrotherapy and Spa sessions. On average, players had 4 hours of sessions everyday, excluding class room sessions. The eight 90-minute games that the boys displayed was just a tip of the hard work they have put in since August-September 2015, when the management was putting all papers together to make it to the 2nd Division I-League. With 2 goals on average per match, Minerva Academy FC were the highest goal scorers in both the Eastern and Western conference put together with 16 goals scored. The fact that these 16 goals were scored by 10 different players also suggest the ‘Team Game’ philosophy that coach Surinder Singh had adopted. If the goal galore were things to be happy about, Goalkeeping coach Sandeep Singh’s first choice Shayan Roy was equally good at his task. He let in only 3 goals in the 7 matches he was under the bar, keeping 5 clean sheets. This brought Minerva’s goal difference to another ‘Best’ of the league with 13. Statistics of Minerva Academy FC in the 2nd Division i-League 2015-16 Minervans were also the highest goal scorers at Home and Away with 8 goals each while were also the lowest to concede in both Home (2) and Away (1) too. Interestingly, MAFC have won all the matches when they have scored first though only 3 goals have been scored in the first 30 minutes. On the contrary, 4 goals each were scored between 30-45 minutes and 75-90 minutes, which once again proves the Minervans fitness and endurance over their rivals. That’s not all, the team also maintained 5 match unbeaten run with 4 consecutive wins to start the league. Now that the Western Conference have been conquered, the management is already staging a plan to conquer the Final Round to become the 2nd Division champions to make it to the I-League. With the transfer season on, the team is likely to be active to upgrade the squad for the final assault that is likely to begin late February or early March.

Second Division i-League 2015-16 Results: 16th January 2016 Posted: 17 Jan 2016 03:49 AM PST Second Division i-League 2015-16 Results: 16th January 2016 Second Division i-League 2015-16 Results 16.01.2016 Guwahati FC 0-0 Gangtok Himalayan SC Mohammedan SC 1-0 Neroca FC MSC: M Basanta Singh(24th)

Hero i-League 2015-16 Results: 16th January 2016 Posted: 17 Jan 2016 01:42 AM PST Hero i-League 2015-16: John Johnson of Bengaluru FC in action against Aizawl FC Hero i-League 2015-16 Results 16.01.2016 Mohun Bagan 4-2 Salgaocar FC MB: Yusa Katsumi (9th - Assist Dhanachandra Singh), Cornell Glen (28th - Penalty), Luciano Sobrosa (33rd - Assist Yusa Katsumi), Balwant Singh(48th  - Assist Yusa Katsumi) SAL: Daryl Duffy (69th - Assist Jackichand Singh), Gurjinder Kumar (86th - Assist Gilbert Olivera) Aizawl FC 0-1 Bengaluru FC BFC: Curtis Osano(27th - Assist Keegan Periera) Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC continued their good form with victories in the second week of Hero i-League 2015-16. Mohun Bagan defeated Salgaocar FC at home quite convincingly with goals from Yusa Katsumi, Cornell Glen, Luciano Sarbosa and Balwant Singh helping the Mariners marching on with a 4-2 victory. Daryl Duffy and Gurjinder Singh scored one goal each in the second half but the fightback was not enough at end. Bengaluru FC made it two in two when they handed the debutants Aizawl FC their second defeat courtesy of a Curtis Osano goal in the 27th minute. Aizawl put in a brave fight against the last year's runners up but Osano's goal remained as the only goal of the match. This was Bengaluru FCs second successive away game and they have bagged all six points.

Aizawl FC 0-1 Bengaluru FC Goal Scorer: Bengaluru FC : Osano(26')

Bengaluru FC leaves Aizawl with all three points, thanks to the lethal header by Kenyan defender Curtis Osano in 26th minute. With the narrow win over debutants Aizawl FC, 2013-14 champions earned their second successive away win in as many outings in Hero I-League 2015-16.

The eagerly awaited match between Aizawl FC and Bengaluru FC kicked off at 1 pm at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium ahead of a cheering crowd. Undeniably, it’s one of the historic day in Mizoram football history as they host their first ever Hero I-League match.

Clad in their Red-White-Red home kit, the Aizawl side attacked early on in the match, and had a good start. In 3rd minute of the match, Bengaluru FC custodian Ralte cleared a feeble shot. Thuammawia shows his skills once again in 16th minute while he denied none but Aizawl FC skipper David.

In the second half, Aizawl FC continued to attack but could only create half chances for themselves. They had several dangerous shots but Thuammawia’s well-timed saves and the defenders were next to impossible to get through for AFC. Fully aware about the fact that three points are up for grab, Bengaluru FC mellowed down the pace of the game and almost shut the shop. In spite of superior ball possession, hommies failed to convert the chances akin to their first outing in Hero I-League.

BFC’s coach Westwood comments after the match, “It was a tough game and the pitch was pretty lively. Thuama made spendid saves and he truly deserves to be the Hero of the Match today.”

Aizawl FC coach Manuel takes it one match at a time and he denies to be outplayed today, “I truly believe we played a better football today. we had 14 corners against a side in the liks of Bengaluru FC and that speaks for itself.” Upon being further questioned, he also confesses that Aizawl FC need to improve in every department to catch up with other sides of Hero I-League.

MOHUN BAGAN THUMP SALGAOCAR 4-2 IN HERO I-LEAGUE

Mohun Bagan today defeated Salgaocar 4-2 in a Hero I-League match played at the Barasat Stadium, with Katsumi Yusa, Cornell Glen, Luciano Sobrosa and Balwant Singh scoring the goals for the green and maroon brigade.

After Mariners took a 4 goal lead within 50 minutes, the visitors scored a couple of late goals. However, Mariners were guilty of missing at least 3 easy scoring opportunities. Luciano Sobrosa and Pronay Halder's inclusion definitely helped the cause of the team, as they brought a lot of stability to the defense and midfield respectively.

Luciano made a dream debut donning the green and maroon jersey and was rightly adjudged Man of the Match in today's game. Interestingly, all the 4 goals in today's game resulted out of set-piece movements. Dhanachandra's long throws and the inch-perfect corner kicks taken by Katsumi and Souvik caused problem time and again to Salgaocar defense.

The starting lineup of Mohun Bagan in today's game was - Debjit Majumdar, Pritam Kotal, Luciano Sobrosa, Kinshuk Debnath, Dhanachandra Singh, Azharuddin, Souvik Chakraborty, Pronay Halder, Katsumi Yusa, Balwant Singh, Cornell Glen.

Mariners were unlucky not to get a penalty in the very 1st minute of the game, when Katsumi was clearly pushed from behind by Keenan Almeida after the Japanese midfielder had barged into the Salgaocar penalty box down the left side.

Luciano missed a sitter when his header from close range off Dhanachandra's long throw went over the crossbar. Mariners took the lead in the 9th minute. After Karanjit failed to collect Dhanachandra's long throw properly, Katsumi Yusa did not make any mistake to head the loose ball inside the net.

Mariners had a couple of lucky escape. After Thangjam Singh's shot narrowly missed the target, Debjit made a stunning save in a one-on-one situation, denying Darryl Duffy from scoring. Debjit had made a similar save last season, when he collected the ball from Cornell Glen's feet in a similar manner.

Mohun Bagan got a penalty in the 27th minute when Cornell Glen was pushed from behind by Gurjinder Kumar. Cornell Glen did not make any mistake to convert the spot-kick, as his powerful shot went to the far corner of the net. Though Karanjit had dived in the right direction, the sheer power and precision behind the shot prevented him from making a save.

Cornell Glen came close to scoring again but his header went wide of the near post from Katsumi's corner kick. However, Luciano made the scoreline 3-0 in the 33rd minute, which was certainly the best goal of today's game. After Katsumi's swinging corner went across the face of the goal, from almost 0 degree angle, Luciano from nowhere pounced on the loose ball and headed it inside the net. Neither Karanjit nor the defenders expected Luciano to score from such a position.

Towards the end of the half, Balwant initiated a nice move before passing the ball to Glen whose left-footed grounder went straight to the keeper. Instead of taking the shot himself, Glen could have easily passed the ball to unmarked Katsumi or Balwant. A couple of minutes later, Balwant repeated the same mistake from Pritam's pass, as he took a crack at the goal from an acute angle which got blocked though Cornell Glen was standing unmarked.

Minutes after resumption of play in the 2nd half, Debjit made a stunning save, as he tipped off Darryl Duffy's shot over the crossbar. Balwant Singh increased the lead in the 48th minute, when his brilliantly-executed header from Katsumi's corner went to the far corner of the net.

Few minutes later, following Debjit's long goal-kick, Balwant pounced on to the back header of a Salgaocar defender but his flick over onrushing Karanjit's head went over the crossbar. After having the 4-goal cushion, Mohun Bagan players seemed to relax a bit but Kinshuk made a couple of brilliant interceptions to deny Duffy a clear look at the goal.

Sanjoy Sen made the first change replacing Balwant Singh with Jeje Lalpekhlua. From a clear offside position, Darryl Duffy pulled one back for Salgaocar in the 68th minute. At the other end, Katsumi made a stupendous run but Karanjit made a brilliant save with his left leg, preventing the Japanese midfielder's shot from going in.

Soon after, Dhanachandra's header from Souvik's corner went to Azhar, but the latter's diving header unluckily got blocked by a defender. Mohun Bagan made a surprising change, as Raju Gaikwad replaced Kinshuk Debnath who had an outstanding game.

From counter attack, Cornell Glen initiated a move, from whose pass Jeje Lalpekhlua delivered a cross meant for Katsumi which took a deflection and went to Cornell Glen, whose shot from edge of the box went ballooning over the crossbar, which was not expected from a quality striker like Glen.

Sanjoy Sen made the last change, bringing Prabir Das in place of Azharuddin. Cornell Glen was once again unlucky as he failed to just get a touch to Prabir Das' brilliant cross, which the striker from Trinidad and Tobago should have converted with ease.

In the fag end of the game, with Mohun Bagan defense caught napping, Gurjinder Kumar's side volley went through the legs of a host of Mohun Bagan players to the back of the net.

Mohun Bagan will be playing their next Hero I-League match against East Bengal on January 23, 2016, which will be played at the Salt Lake Stadium.

#HeroILeague Gameweek 2 starts tomorrow. Mohun Bagan AC host Salgaocar Football Club tomorrow. @dsk shivajians are going to start their I-League campaign against Sporting Clube de Goa and Mumbai Football Club host mighty Kingfisher East Bengal FC. The top story of the week is Aizawl FC host Bengaluru FC tomorrow at 01:00 PM.

Railways clinch their Maiden 21st Senior Women's National Football Championship.

India wins SAFF 2015

India on seventh haven beating Afghanistan 2-1 to lift SAFF trophy for 7th time.

India exacted sweet revenge of their last edition defeat as they beat defending champions Afghanistan 2-1 in the summit clash in a dominating display to lift the South Asian Football Federation Cup for the seventh time on Sunday.

India, who had lost to Afghanistan 0-2 in the final of 2013 edition in Kathmandu, were clearly the better side in the final match between the two best teams of the regional tournament though they had to come back from one goal deficit and had to settle the match in the extra time.

The home side under Stephen Constantine could have won by a bigger margin had the woodwork not denied them twice in the match. But at the end, India ran away victors in the third straight summit clash of the SAFF Cup between the two sides and regained the title they had won in 2011.

Jeje Lalpekhlua (72nd minute) and Sunil Chhetri (101th) scored for India after Zubayr Amiri had given Afghanistan the lead in the 69th minute at the Greenfield Stadium.

The victory for 166th ranked India over higher ranked Afghanistan (150th) gave Constantine his first win of an international tournament after taking charge early last year for his second stint at the helm of affairs in India.

SAFF Cup title triumph would also ease pressure on the English coach under whom India lost five and won just one match in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers while going into the tournament.

India, who were playing in the 10th final out of 11 SAFF Cup editions on Sunday, re-established their dominance in the regional tournament and are also likely to make a jump in the FIFA rankings which will come out on Thursday.

For Afghanistan, who have come in the tournament with 15 foreign-based players in their squad of 20, it was a sort of disappointment as they had targeted a title win in their final SAFF Cup participation. They will henceforth compete in the recently created Central Asian Federation.

India fielded an unchanged line-up that started in their 3-2 win over Maldives in the semi-final while Afghanistan made two changes in the first eleven that played in their 5-0 thrashing of Sri Lanka.

The defending champions had a lot of possession and gained slight upperhand with physical superiority in the initial minutes but the Indians slowly clawed their way back and began to dominate the match though the two sides went into the breather goal-less.

India though were unlucky not to have gone ahead in the 14th minute when striker Jeje Lalpekhlua's header came back after hitting the crossbar to the agony of the home supporters at the Greenfield Stadium.

As early as the seventh minute, India custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had to stretch full length to his right to stop Mustafa Zazai shot on target. Four minutes later, he made another save from a shot by Afghan captain Faysal Shayesteh for a corner.

Egged on by the big home crowd, India began to pile pressure on Afghan defence and could have taken the lead in the 14th minute, only to be denied by the woodwork.

Jeje played the ball for Holicharan Narzary whose cross struck the trailing legs of Afghan player Zubayr Amiri and came off goalkeeper Ovays Azizi. Jeje's header on the rebound hit the crossbar and came back into play and captain Sunil Chhetri could not get on the end of it.

That was the best chance of either side in the first 45 minutes though Chhetri had another go at the Afghan goal in the 33rd minute but his left-footer after chesting sown a fine floater from Eugeneson Lyngdoh was blocked by the goalkeeper.

Both sides did not make any changes at the resumption and India applied pressure in the first 15 minutes of the second half and nearly took the lead in the 56th minute, to be denied against by the woodwork.

Chhetri played the ball for Jeje who spotted the goalkeeper off his line. But his left-footed 'chip' struck the horizontal and went out of play.

Afghanistan then had some fine moves in the Indian half and made some threatening crosses but the home side defence were able to clear them.

But they were not to be denied in the 69th minute with Zubayr Amiri giving Afghanistan the lead. Faysal's pass sneaked past Arnab Mondal and an overlapping Amiri's left footer beat Gurpreet before crashing into the Indian net.

India struck back immediately with Jeje bringing the scoreline on level terms in the 72nd minute.

Narzary crossed the ball into the box which was headed by Chhetri. Jeje came behind Afghan defender Sayedh Hashemi and slotted the ball into the far corner of the net. Hashemi expected goalkeeper Azizi to come off his line and collect. Both players looking at each other in disbelief.

India threatened to take the lead towards the end of the match but Afghan goalkeeper were upto the task to deny them. First, he tipped over Narayan Das' long range effort in the 84th minute after the Indian player saw the goalkeeper off his line, and then saved Chhetri's right footer from a free-kick.

The match went into the extra time and talismanic captain Chhetri scored the winner. Chhetri got the better of Afghan defender Hashemi and he kept his balance intact before sending his low right-footed sliding shot into the corner of the net to the wild jubilation of the home crowd