Before The War Begins.......

Here you go mariners. Mohun Bagan is into the final of Durand Cup in the verge of winning it ‘only’ for the 17th time in their history. And who else do we face; none other than Churchill Brothers. Who would've thought that these two will have another round of encounter within a fortnight!! ’Mohun Bagan-Churchill Brothers’___it’s not a mere combination of two names.From last year, either of the both clubs won Fed cup,I-League,Super Cup,IFA Shield.There was no third team. When you see gladiators like Sangram Mukherjee and Odafa Okolie wearing captain's armband & confronting each other nose to nose in almost every fixture, it shows the intensity and expectations of the match. This scenario has created a new era of football rivalry in Indian football.Free kick, penalties, Karim-Odafa pre-match mind games, post-match digs at each other and on the pitch arguments are never ending. This is the fixture which not only Mariners and Churchill Brothers wait for the entire year; but football lovers from all around the India, irrespective of which club they support. Decades back Durand cup was like a cake walk for Bengal giants.MB & EB shares same number 16 when it comes to Durand Cup champion team. Since 2000, clubs like Dempo,Mahindra have emerged as strong contenders for trophies. Mohun Bagan last played the final of Durand Cup in the year 2004 where they lost to arch-rival East Bengal by 2-1.In the past few years Kolkata clubs couldn’t compete in Durand Cup because of schedule deadlock.But fans know what is past, what the present holds and what will be future.Mariners are back. And we guarantee you that our past heroes will sit right in front of TV and watch every second of this encounter. They will yell in emotions at these young lads of Mohun Bagan to tear Churchill Brothers apart to make them & all the mariners feel the sweetness. We know that mariners are the underdogs for this match considering the performance of past decade and the last match result against Churchill brothers in IFA Shield. We must keep one thing in mind that our performance against Churchill Brothers in the last match didn’t display the real Mohun Bagan.This time 2 illuminates Barretto & Chiddi are back in squad.May be it will be the day for Baretto & Chiddi to bring Durand Cup to it’s right place for 17th time. But you never know, it's football....maybe Karim thinks in his mind about Churchill and Odafa with a strong team and recalls his golden words, 'Everyone think they have the prettiest wife at home.'So there is no need to over estimate Churchill Brothers.Mohun Bagan should go for their natural game. Come on mariners, we should stand hand to hand with our love. We should have no reservations about our team. We are sure we can do it. And why not? We can....because we are ‘MOHUN BAGANI’__________the name itself is blood boiling. It's all now or nothing then!!!!!!!! Reported By: Mr.Biswanath Chatterjee.