Mohun Bagan vs Prayag United - First Kolkata derby of the season

Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan will take on another power house from Kolkata, Paryag United tomorrow in an I-League second round encounter at Salt Lake stadium, Kolkata.

Since last few years, Prayag United have established themselves as the third giant of Kolkata just after Mohun Bagan & East Bengal, pushing Mohammedan Sporting aside, especially this year as they have made a star studded side. According to the merit of both the sides, it has to be said that Kolkata is going to witness the first derby of the season tomorrow.

Going by their performances, Prayag United has displayed superior form currently as they thrashed Air India in their first round by a formidable 5-1 margin while on the other hand, the mariners lost their away match against the minnows Lajong FC by 0-2 margin.

Prayag is in a very good condition, their team is nicely balanced under the supervision of Sanjay Sen, management being led by Nabab Bhattaerjee, and they have good players in every department, as a feel-good environment is prevalent in the dressing room.

On the other hand the condition of Mohun Bagan is going worse day by day. They had to suffer a lot due to the arrival of Tolgay Ozbey from the arch-rival East Bengal, and they have recruited a third category coach Santosh Kashyap instead of Subrata Bhattacharya. Then they were knocked out from the first round of Federation Cup, and an ego class is going on between two superior strikers upfront. They did not recruit any good midfielder & defender this season too. Apart from these, there are lots of other issues also. At the end of the day, the main and significant issue is the poor team management by the officials, regarding all those issues which supporters are agitating against everyday outside the club. It makes the circumstance more ridiculous in the club.

Undoubtedly, this match is going to be an acid test for the current Mohun Bagan coach Santosh Kashyap and the officials lead by Anjan Mitra and Debasish Dutta. Since last one year, the Mariners haven’t beaten the Pink powerhouse. So every Mohun Bagan supporter is eagerly eyeing towards this match. A win for Mohun Bagan can give lifeline to the entire unit of officials along with the coach, or else the entire unit has to prepare for the worst ahead.

In this match, Prayag United will also miss their key player Bello Razzak in their defence, but they have the experienced duo of Deepak Mondal and Gourmangi Singh in their defence line. Moreover they have a vast experienced goalie Subrata Paul as the last line of defence, who is undoubtedly the best in India currently.

Mohun Bagan also have a combination of two superstar forwards – Odafa Okolie and Tolgay Ozbey, so it’s going to be the battle between Prayag’s defence and Mohun Bagan’s forward-line. There’ll also be a few individual battles on offer – Ranti vs Odafa and Carlos Hernandez vs Tolgay.

Prayag United too have a strong attack consisting of the current best striker in the country, Ranti Martins who scored a hat-trick in their opening campaign against Air India and is currently the highest scorer this season. He showed his penetrative ability in last match and it’s time to see how the weak defences of the Green & Maroon brigade defend against the sensational Ranti Martins.