45: Two minutes of time added on. It’s still goalless.
43’: CHANCE! Pennant running the show again. Goes past two Mohun Bagan players, uses his pace, through ball for Jordan Webb, Webb shoots just off the far post.
41’: Chance for Tampines, straight to the midriff of the Mohun Bagan goalkeeper.
39’: Substitution for Mohun Bagan. Subhash Singh in for Glen.
38': Good ball by Dhana, Jeje goes for the ball, battered by the Rovers GK. He’s offside.
36’: Glen looks to have pulled his hamstring. That might be the game for him.
34’: Shot from distance from Bikramjit, well found by Jeje. The ball soars into the stands.
30’: Mohun Bagan finally stringing some passes together, nothing incisive.
27’: The game has settled into a pattern, Tampines Rovers keeping possession and getting balls into the box, the Indians looking to catch their counterparts on the break.
25’ : Another corner. The right-hand side of Rovers is being problematic for Mohun Bagan, Dhana needs to pick up his game.
22’: A Freekick off the training pitch, Pennant crosses, thankfully for Mohun Bagan that it was offside.
20’: Pennant is getting too much time on the ball at the moment and he is picking his passes at will.
19’: What a CHANCE! Pennant takes the ball and crosses from the right, finds Fazrul free in the box, he shoots up and above.
16’: Header by Jeje, cleared off the line. CHANCE!
15’: Counter by Mohun Bagan, Glen takes on a defender brought down, the ref sees an advantage and plays on, goes behind for the first corner for the Mariners.
14’ The right-hand side for Tampines look dangerous. Jordan shoots, Dhanachandra blocks well. Corner for Tampines.
13’: First attempt for Mohun Bagan by Jeje, goes high and wide on the volley.
13’: Nasty one for Glen. Got one on from the defenders studs. Looks to be okay though.
11’: Pennant takes the corner, well defended again by Mohun Bagan.
10’: Cross from the right by Ismadi, Arnab makes a mess of the high cross. Goes behind for the corner.
6’ : The corner comes to nothing. Cleared by Mohun Bagan.
5’: Pennant takes on a player and earns the foul off Tirthankar. Pennant takes the free kick, a decent save for Arnab. Goes behind for the corner.
4’: The Rovers make in-roads on the right, crosses in, well defended by Gaikwad.
1’: Glen is playing in front of Jeje as unexpectedly, sometimes going beyond him.
0’ : Pennant looks like he’ll pay up-front. The Tampines in blue and white.
The teams are walking onto the field, Mohun Bagan led by Kinshuk Debnath.
Here’s the starting XI of both teams.
Mohun Bagan Starting XI (4-4-1-1)- 1 Das Sarma 2 Sobrosa 3 Gaikwad 4 Kinshuk(C) 5 Dhanacharya 6 Bikramjit 7 Jeje 9 Lewis 13 Glen 25 Tirthankar 42 Rodrigues
Tampines Rovers Starting XI (4-3-3)- 1 Izwan Mahbud 2 Ismadi Mukhtar 4 Fahrudin (C) 5 Noh Rahman 6 Izzdin Shafiq 9 Pennant 10 Fazrul Nawaz 11 Shakir Hamaz 14 Afiq Yunos 16 Hafiz Abu Sujad 17 Webb
Mohun Bagan takes on the Singapore-based Club Tampines Rovers in the last-16 encounter of AFC Cup 2016. The Mariners, considered by many, to be possessing the best front three in Indian football will be without Katsumi and Norde through suspension. So their top-scorer and stand-in Jeje will have to do the bulk of the scoring for them to go through.
See also: Mohun Bagan vs Tampines Rovers live streaming info and where to watch AFC Cup 2016 online
There have been five changes made to the squad for Mohun Bagan, Kean, Subhash, Tirthankar, Pankaj, and Sarthak has been drafted in for the in for Sony, Katsumi, Azhar, Pronay, and Pritam. After their convincing showing from the quarters to the finals of the Federation Cup, momentum might be In Mohun Bagan’s side, but the absence of these key players will have hand the psychological advantage to the Rovers.
The Mighty Stags as they are nicknamed will be without Billy Mehmet, but former English U-21 midfielder Jermaine Pennant has been drafted in and will most probably start for the Rovers. The Singapore-based club will be more confident of their chances, though they have lost their last game against the Mariners. As highlighted by their head coach V. Sundramoorthy they were still in the pre-season mood, and since then they have strengthened considerably.
Mohun Bagan coach Sonjoy Sen was typical in his assessment of suspensions of key players for Mohun Bagan, “This is not the first time that we are missing some players,” he said. “So it will not be a problem for us, in fact, it will be a challenge for the players who replace them.”. Playing in India will be a huge advantage for the Mariners, and their considerable fan base will make sure that they make themselves heard during the game.
The game is live at 1900 IST, from the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati.
Photo Credits: AIFF Media
