Get It India!


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Bitter Rivals Drawn In Federation Cup

Semi-Final

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The next chapter of the biggest rivalry in Indian football will be played out this week as fierce rivals Mohun Bagan & East Bengal were today drawn to face one another in the semi finals of the Federation Cup. The match is expected to be a sell-out as Kolkata football fans flock to witness possibly the biggest game of the year.

The match will be new East Bengal manager C.J. Lippo's first taste of the Kolkata derby & with out a doubt his biggest test to date. Speaking to Ten Sports at the official draw today Lippo gave his thoughts on the rivalry & appraised his sides chances in the match.

"I can't wait! This is the biggest match in Indian football & with the prize being a spot in the final there's obviously going to be a few butterflies in the dressing room. I'm sure the match will be a cagey affair but I believe we are more then capable of channelling that energy into a good performance & booking our place in the final. "

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Semi-Final

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East Bengal vs Mohun Bagan

Line-ups

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Despite the fixture congestion have decided to field my strongest possible 11. Mohun Bagan are with out their leading scorer Pierre Boya which has been enough for the media to make us favourites.

Should be an interesting clash of formations, have chosen my more defensive set up for this game anticipating a tight affair. So far it has proved affective in keeping possession with the extra man bought into the centre though we have never faced a "boxed 4" in midfield like Mohun Bagan are fielding today.

Both teams are light on the flanks which pleases me as it is usually where I see our biggest weakness.

Blow by Blow

Off to a flyer as Shayne D'Cunha finishes from a long throw that bounced around in the box on 3 minutes. Strangely enough though the rest of the half has is quite dour. Possession mostly in midfield with the only shots from either side long range hit & hopes.

Although I am relatively pleased with the performance so far I tell the guys they can do better.

Second half has started much the same as the first. Surprised that Mohun Bagan have not changed a thing at the half.

On 49 minutes a headed goal from defender Mustafa Nadhim is correctly ruled out for offside after a Lalkamal Bhowmick free kick.

The game is getting a bit ugly with a lot of free kicks being given away. We are still dominating possession so most of them are going our way but I'm starting to worry some one is going to be injured.

Oooooh what a goal! Midfielder Derrick Coutinho fields yet another long throw, beats his opponent on the edge of the area & deftly bends his shot past the out stretched Mohun Bagan keeper!

2-0 after 63 minutes & we are cruising!

Oops, spoke to soon. From the kick off Mohun Bagan work the ball into the box & Mustafa Nadhim gives away a cheap penalty. WTF are you thinking man! he was heading towards the sideline!!! 2-1.

70 minutes & Peter Opiyo misses a sitter after Iban Salvador puts him through on goal. Getting a very bad feeling here :(

5 minutes later & this time it's D'Cunha who can't score from point blank range. I can barely watch.

Time for a change. With Salvador seemingly pulling the strings I decide to replace D'Cunha with Sarkar & push him further forward in the hopes he can beat a defender with fresh legs & finish the game off.

84 minutes & I decide to replace Mustafa Nadhim. He has not had a good game & is still looking "complacent" THE GAME IS ON THE LINE MATE!. We are holding on but they are pressing hard.

Phew!!! Full time & we've hung on. Well done boys you're in the final.

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A match we made look harder then it needed to be. Thankfully we held on & will compete for silverware for the first time under my guidance.


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East Bengal To Play Salgaocar In

Federation Cup Final
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The 2017 Federation Cup will be played out by East Bengal & Salgaocar after both sides overcome tough opposition to book their place in the final. Salgaocar beat league winners Pune FC while East Bengal survived a heated Kolkata derby with both scoelines finishing 2-1.

The match will continue the long running feud between managers Derek Pereira & C.J. Lippo, who have been at logger heads since Lippo took charge at Dempo in 2014. With both managers confessing their dislike of one another in the lead up, the game is sure to be as memorable for the off-field battle as it is for what happens on the pitch.
 
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2018 Federation Cup Final

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Salgaocar vs East Bengal

The more things change, the more they stay the same. New club, same opponents. From the very beginning of this save it has been us verses Salgaocar, me verses Derek Pereira so no surprises that, to collect my first trophy as East Bengal manager, I will have to go through them.

Line-Ups

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Once again I have chose my more defensive tactic as a starting point, while they have gone for a seemingly standard 4-4-2. Not sure about Salgaocar as there has been a lot of changes to their squad this year but my team is close to full strength with only Derrick Coutinho not starting due to fatigue.

Blow by Blow

After 5 minutes of back & forth it's Lalkamal Bhowmick who takes the first shot in anger. High & wide. We've started well knocking the ball around & controlling possession.

15 minutes & Bhowmick has picked up a knock. He's telling me he's ok to continue but he looks a bit sluggish will have to keep an eye on him.

Oh God, now Salvador has picked up a knock. Salgaocar are getting stuck in but it's us who are enjoying almost complete domination. At the half hour mark we've had 57% of the ball & 12 shots to 1, just can't make it count atm though. :S

Half time

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After one of the most dominate first half displays I've witnessed we go to the break at 0-0. We have created chance after chance but have either wasted it or been foiled by a, so far, very impressive keeper. I tell the boys to "keep going"

The second half has started the same as the first. We have all the ball & all the chances but still can't make the break through, getting the feeling this is gunna be one of those games for the "frustration/Rage" thread.

On the hour mark I decide injured pair Salvador & Bhowmick have done enough & sub them both. In doing so I slightly alter my forward line to accommodate the less versatile striker Manesh Sarkar.

Sarkar's first touch is a one on one with the keeper on 61 minutes but even the fresh man can not beat this beast of a keeper! STILL 0-0.

75 minutes & Hossein gives away a cheap free kick in a dangerous position & to make things worse has injured himself in doing so. That's my last change. Nothing comes from the free kick, Pheewww!

Times up, 0-0 it's into added time we go.

I have no subs remaining but we are fairing much better then Salgaocar who are down to 9 (Yes 9!!!) men after suffering a couple of late injuries.

No surprise we have them pinned to their line & are throwing everything at them! Chance after chance, shot after shot but STILL no break through. If we lose this on penalties I am going to absolutely freak the F out!!!

OMG another one on one ends up in the crowd, WTF is with our finishing today?

Now fullback Nirmal Chettri has gone down, thankfully it just looks like a bit of cramp, he will be ok.

FINALLY!!!! It's taken 108 minutes & 38 shots on goal but Manesh Sarkar has finally put us ahead with a well placed finish from close range. Now for Christ's sake boys CONCENTRATE!!!

We've won! What must go down as one of the most lop sided finals in history has ended 1-0. My heart is racing lol

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One of the most amazing games I have witnessed in my FMing experience. Our finishing was awful & I always had the feeling that we would be punished by a set piece or something stupid like that. Thankfully we finally put one away & will now be lifting our first trophy :)

Just some analysis (for anyone that might be interested)

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Asian Qualification

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This is the best news for me. Won't have to wait long for my next taste of Asian football. :)

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East Bengal Celebrate Cup Triumph

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East Bengal are today celebrating their first trophy in 4 years after lifting the Federation Cup in front of a packed stadium last night. The match will be remembered as one of the most one sided affairs in recent memory with the Kolkata club recording an incredible 44 shots on goal.

Despite their near total domination the game was only decided in extra time when, after 108 minutes, substitute striker Manesh Sarkar finally managed to take one of East Bengals many chances.

Salgaocar goalkeeper, Arindam Bhattacharya, put in a man of the match performance making numerous important saves to keep his side in the contest but his heroic's went unrewarded as Sarkar's late winner finally ended the stout resistence of the 9 man Salgaocar side & handed manager C.J. Lippo his first trophy at his new club.

The result has given hope to long suffering East Bengal fans ahead of the coming I-League campaign with many now believing Lippo could go on to deliver the club it's first title since 2014.

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Above: players, staff & fans celebrate East Bengals Federation Cup victory.


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How long are you planning on keeping this going? As in, how long do you think it'll take to breath prestige and life into the Indian game?
 
Artimus said:
How long are you planning on keeping this going? As in, how long do you think it'll take to breath prestige and life into the Indian game?
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Well that's hard to say, short answer as long as it takes or at least as long as my lap top can handle it anyway.

Got some good news recently, we have earned our asian champions league spot back this year so things are moving in the right direction. Hopefully we can carry our cup form into the league & claim that spot then who knows.

As i said in my first post i knew this was not going to be a short term save, but atm its just a wait & see type thing. In previous FMs i have regularly kept the 1 save going until the next game comes out so that is what i am aiming for with this. Fingers crossed.

Oh & btw thanks for your interest. At times i have been slightly discouraged by the seeming lack of interest in this so its always nice to hear from someone that is reading. :)
 
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Competition Rankings

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Sort of let the cat out of the bag a bit so thought I might as well post this now.

The leagues ranking has jumped up 5 places to 26th, that's the highest ranking we've held since I started this save! Confirmation that we are headed in the right direction. :)

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The best news by far is that we have finally re-claimed our Asian Champions League qualification spot. A decent run by someone in this comp could see the leagues reputation soar even higher, so here's hoping we can win the league this year & give it a shot.

:) :) :)
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Excellent work! And I was reading these without an account for a good couple of weeks. The only reason I signed up was because I noticed some of my favourite threads were drying up due to people not commenting.
 
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Club Overview

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Just a bit of club information here.

We have a 120,000 all seater stadium! Would love to see that full on a regular basis. Top corporate facilities but at best average training & youth facilities. There are plenty of trophies in the cabinet, though only 3 league titles. Let's hope I can add to that.

All in all with a bit of work I believe this club has the potential to be one of the biggest in Asia. Ambitious? Yes. Unrealistic? I hope not.

Note: So, in doing some research (finally) & generally scouring for pics etc. I discovered that the National Football League was actually re-named the I-League in 2007! tsk tsk S.I.! So from now on I will be referring to it as such.


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Yep, that's right! Straight out of the gate & this guy is up me!

Over-rated? Mate, check out my record! i'll show you over-rated you two bit hack!!! LMAO.

East Bengal 1 - SC Goa 3

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OK, so maybe Mr Chuckywucky or whatever has a point lol. ;)

Despite the score line we were a bit unlucky here. Once again our strikers were incredibly wasteful lets hope this is not a trend for the year ahead.

East Bengal 3 - FC Pune 1

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Bounced back after our disappointing game first up by beating last years champions fairly comfortably. Un-wanted striker Emmanuel Enize got a chance with Salvador being injured & boy did he take it! A hat trick in his first appearance. Surely that will spark some interest.

East Bengal 3 - Bengaluru 0

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Rode our luck in this game for sure. Some accurate finishing from Shayne D'Cunha & a penalty from Gurinder Kumar making a tough day at the office look pretty easy on paper.

East Bengal 2 - Mohammedan 0

Would appear I have forgotten to take a screenie for this match, in any case it was a fairly straight forward victory over our newly promoted rivals with Shayne D'Cunha & Derrick Coutinho getting the goals.

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I never saw these kind of numbers at Dempo. 81,000 fans packing the ground to watch us play a relegation candidate!

The scary thing is the ground was only two thirds full!!!

East Bengal 0 - Salgaocar 0

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A much better performance by Salgaocar this time around. We still had the better of things but a draw was probably fair enough I think.

East Bengal 3 - Churchill Bros. 1

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Another good win, another D'Cunha goal. Shayne has started the season on fire for us though it was veteran midfielder Lalkamal Bhowmick who starred in this game getting a goal & 2 assists.


Table

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An excellent start to the season. Was worried that with so many new faces the side might struggle to gel & lose touch with the top early on. Instead it's us who lead the way.

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Our record attendance didn't stand for long. A staggering 102,000 turning up to see Mohammedan play Mohun Bagan!!!

Attendances

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Quite happy with our figures so far. 36,000 is a good effort in my eyes though new comers Mohammedan are averaging an impressive 71,000. Incredible!

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Lippo To Celebrate Milestone

Saturday's Confederation Cup match against Al-Suwaiq is set to be a memorable one for 37 year old East Bengal manager C.J. Lippo as the respected boss reaches 100 games in management. To celebrate the milestone Ten Sports is proud to announce that they have secured an exclusive interview with the reclusive manager ahead of his landmark game.

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OK, so I want to try something here. What I would like is for anyone reading this story to ask me a question as if you were the reporter & I will do my best to answer it. Like a real interview.

I don't care what the question is, could be anything about the story, clubs I've managed, the league, request a SS, why my story sucks, whatever!

Hopefully, if a few people get involved, it will be a lot more interesting then if I just make the questions up & answer them myself. So come on people please GET INVOLVED!
 
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How will you define success for your career? I know you said you wanted to help football grow in India but how will you measure that? Once you won the Asian Champions League? Once you secure two continental places for your league?

Also a big fan of your story. Haven't commented but been following for awhile now. Have a read of mine if you can find the time! :) I'm loving how this forum seems to bring out so many different stories and challenges. Not as many big clubs just dominating everything story line.
 
Seabear said:
How will you define success for your career? I know you said you wanted to help football grow in India but how will you measure that? Once you won the Asian Champions League? Once you secure two continental places for your league?
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That's a very good question. I was deliberately vague at the beginning of the story because, in all honesty, I had no idea what to expect. Knew absolutely nothing about the league, the players, the standard, nothing!

Now that I've been here a while & especially since moving to East Bengal I don't believe it to be unrealistic to say that i have ambitions of winning the Champions League. Don't think it will be in the near future but i see no reason why this club can't become one of the biggest in Asia.

Beyond that, as I've said, i would like to take control of the national team as well. As far as what is achievable there, i have no idea & i can't imagine it being any time soon anyway.

Hope that answers your question. Thank you for your support mate it is much appreciated. Will be sure to check your story out too! :)
 
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2018 Asian Confederation Cup

2nd Qualifying Round

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Al-Suwaiq vs East Bengal

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A game that was in the balance for so long eventually fell our way. Good thing too as this was a one off game to qualify for the group stage.

Iban Salvador had his best game for the club scoring a goal & generally looking dangerous but it was fullback Nirmal Chettri who picked up the MOM with a goal & 2 assists.

I didn't even know we were involved in this competition this year lol. Scheduling here is still just confusing to me! In any case the board expects us to make the quarter finals.



Group Draw

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Once again I am in the dark here. Our scouting range is not far enough for me to even get an idea of the standard of players we will face. Mohammedan SC are a club out of Bangladesh, thinking they will be the easy beats, but both Nejmeh (Lebanon) & Persepolis (Iran) could prove to be tough opposition.


Schedule

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So some big matches coming up.

The first round of Confederation Group stage games will be followed by my first run in with former club Dempo then the Kolkata derby with Mohun Bagan a week later. Could be the defining stretch of our season.

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2018 Asian Confederation Cup

Group C

East Bengal 4 - Mohammedan 0

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On paper an easy win as expected. In reality though the Bangladeshi's put up a decent fight. Some deadly finishing from D'Cunha, Salvador & Bhowmick making it look a lot easier then it was.



Nejmeh 0 - East Bengal 3

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Switched things up a bit here. Noticed they had some real pace up front so decided to drop a bit deeper & hit them on the counter.

Come off a treat as, despite our lack of possession, we managed to create more chances &, more importantly, score more goals. Gee I'm good lol.


Persepolis 0 - East Bengal 2

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Very happy to get away with this game.

The refereeing was horrendous! Every time we looked at a Persepolis player we were penalised while 3! clear cut penalties to us went "un-noticed", the last of which was a clear one on one with the keeper stopped by a sliding tackle from behind! If we'd have lost this game I think I would have been serving a touch line ban!!!

Group C Table

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Absolutely delighted with the way we have started the group. Not only are we undefeated but we are also yet to concede a goal. By my count we only need 2 points to progress, which would be a personal record.

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Very well done! I can't believe the sizes of these stadiums nor the attendance. Oh well, it can be nothing but good for your ultimate goal.
 
Artimus said:
Very well done! I can't believe the sizes of these stadiums nor the attendance. Oh well, it can be nothing but good for your ultimate goal.
Click to expand...

Yea its unreal but if you look closely at the info screen you will see the cost of a ticket is only 1 pound, a season ticket 6 pounds, so to make any money we have to sell a **** load of tickets!!!
 
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Sparks To Fly As Managers Return

Thursday nights I-League match between East Bengal & Dempo is sure to be a memorable one for managers C.J. Lippo & Armando Colaco as the pair gear up to face their former clubs for the first time.

" I don't see the game as me vs Dempo or me vs Armando." Lippo said when asked about facing his former club. "The match is worth 3 points like any other, that is all I'm interested in."

Despite Lippo's attempts to play down the rivalry fans are expected to flock to Salt Lake Stadium to watch the pair do battle in what could also be a key game in the race for the title.

Colaco is sure to receive a hostile reception from East Bengal supporters after his sacking late last year with fans placing the blame for the teams poor performances squarely on the managers shoulders.

Whatever happens it is sure to be an intriguing match-up.

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Thursday 29h April 2018
Tickets selling fast, book now at Ticketek
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2018 Youth Intake

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A decent first intake, I think. Seems to drop away quickly after my top 2 prospects but I'm sure I will find a diamond or 2 amongst the rough, or at least a squad player anyway ;)

Here are my top prospects:

Mahmun Rahman

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My staff rate him highly but I'm yet to be convinced. One of those regens you look at & think WTF am I going to do with you?

His best position is in midfield yet he can't pass, doesn't move without the ball & lacks composure, anticipation & the ability to make decisions.
Very quick but cant cross or dribble, so can't play him wide. Can't finish so no point moving him forward. Can't defend or tackle so can't push him back.
Guess I will have to wait & see how he develops?



Subhashish Bhattacharya

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Quite a mouthful isn't it? Never the less, I have high hopes for this young man.

16 years old, 197cm, strong, determined, what else could you want? Yes he is a tad on the slow side but his anticipation will make up for that a bit & his core defensive stats are already more than serviceable (for this league anyway).

I will definitely be keeping a close eye on young Subhashish!
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