The Hindu : Sport / Football : Mohun Bagan boys finish 12th

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Mohun Bagan boys finish 12th

NEW DELHI: Mohun Bagan finished a creditable 12th from a field of 40 in the Danone Nations Cup for under-12 held at Paris. Started in 2000, the Danone Nations Cup is endorsed by FIFA.

The Indian club was placed in Group ‘C’ along with clubs from Italy, Spain, Poland and Saudi Arabia. The tournament, held from September 4 to 7, was won by the French club with clubs from Russia and Germany finishing second and third respectively.

Crowning moment

For skipper Rahul Das, the crowning moment of the trip was being introduced to the legendary Zinedine Zidane, who watched one of India’s match.

Amiya Kumar Ghosh, team coach, said, “it was the first time for us and we were apprehensive in the beginning. But credit to the boys for playing some superb football.”

The Bagan youngsters could have done better if only they had practiced with the brand of ball that was used in the Danone Nations Cup. “I am not making excuses but it was a major issue. The boys had played with a different brand of ball in the club matches and a different brand during the qualifying tournament (in Delhi). When we went to Paris we discovered that this time the ball was of a brand we had never played with. But the boys played with lot spirit and even the Brazilian coach came to congratulate them,” said Mr. Ghosh.

The team: Rahul Das (captain), Somnath Haldar, Sujit Soren, Subhrajit Das, Souvik Ghosh, Suman Santra, Anubrata Maity, Sanchayan Samaddar, Somnath Mondal, Saikat Das, Anwar Laskar, Surendra Narayan Das, Aynul Sarkar, Mohammad Habibullah, Sandip, Laltu Hembram, Tarun Sarkar and Avinaba Roy. — Special Correspondent

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