10 July 2000, Calcutta: A comedy of errors crowned the concluding edition
of the McDowell Cup as East Bengal committed less of them to edge Mohun Bagan
1-0 in today’s final at Salt Lake Stadium.
The tale of blunders started in the first minute — when East
Bengal squandered one of the few chances they eventually created — and left the
40,000 spectators bemused, with the Mohun Bagan defence producing what was
perhaps its worst performance in recent ‘big’ matches.
As if to reciprocate all the false moves and inaccurate passes,
referee Supriya Bhattacharjee had a rather forgettable day in office and must
have thanked his stars for not letting things veer out of control.
Anit Ghosh got the goal at the stroke of half time with some
significant help from the rival defenders. The green-and-maroon men were mere
spectators when Dipendu Biswas tried to break into the box with Srikanta Dutta
for company.
They failed, without being challenged, and Anit picked up the ball
just outside the box and everybody assumed the ball would be relayed back to
Dipendu. Instead, Anit cracked a low left-footer which whistled past goalkeeper
Bivash Ghosh. The shot was powerful but the goalkeeper didn’t even dive.
Srikanta was a central character in the tale of misdeeds and two
of his adventures stood out for complete lack of common-sense. The striker
picked up a rare clever through from Carlton Chapman in the 64th minute and had
just the ’keeper to beat from about ten yards but his feeble left-footer
crawled into the lap of Bivash.
His selfish approach cost East Bengal a goal seven minutes later
when he refused to pass the ball to Dipendu only to be dispossessed.
The Mohun Bagan defenders looked insipid and though there was not
much pressure let in several balls despite maintaining numerical superiority in
the defensive zone.
Stopper-backs Shib Shankar Santra and M. Suresh formed a clumsy
pair and striker Joao Dos Santos was seen clearing the ball from where
left-back would normally stand even in the dying stages.
Their mid-field play was non-existent and there was absolutely no
supply for Santos and Jose Ramirez Barreto. James Singh and R.C. Prakash were
hardly visible and defensive medios Debjit Ghosh and Dulal Biswas, especially the
former, lost possession whenever a move was brewing.
They were ably complemented by the East Bengal mid-fielders who
played a slew of wrong passes and looked desperate to defend the lead right
after the interval.
The supervision was nightmarish with East Bengal’s Jackson
Egygopong getting away with several rough tackles after being booked and
Srikanta was shown just a yellow card for an unnecessary, off-the-ball push on
Bivash.
The height of it was witnessed midway into the second half when
Dipendu fell near the centre circle. He stayed like that for some time as the
ball travelled to distant corners of the turf with the referee, amazingly,
positioned near the injured player. He could have either ignored the player and
stayed near the ball or stopped play to pay attention to the extent of the
injury but did neither.
Dipendu’s individual brilliance and
initiative and the tussle between Dipak Mondal and Barreto were the only gains
from the lacklustre show and the defender impressed all with his water-tight
marking. Barreto was never allowed to turn or dribble and saw teammates losing
possession on the couple of occasions he managed to do so.
Mohun Bagan coach Subrata
Bhattacharya blamed the referee and his defenders for today’s McDowell Cup
final defeat against East Bengal.
At the centre of the coach’s ire was the official. But he was not
as harsh on his defenders. “Yes, our defenders played below expectations but we
kept East Bengal under pressure.”
He said his team was denied a penalty and numerous fouls on his
Brazilian forwards Joao Dos Santos and Jose Ramirez Barreto were overlooked.
East Bengal coach Syed Nayeemuddin said he
was happy with the performance because it won them the trophy. Otherwise, he
added with a grin, he would give the team 15 out of 100!
