No Favourites in the Kolkata Derby
The evening game on Sunday, August 28, 2022, is one of the most popular clashes in Indian football featuring arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bagan and East Bengal and going into it,… there are no favourites for this game.
ATKMB lost their first to Rajasthan United FC and drew their second with Mumbai City, while EB played out goalless draws against the Indian Navy and Rajasthan respectively. While ATKMB have scored three and created millions, they have also conceded four. EB on the other hand have maintained a clean-sheet in both their games, including the one against Rajasthan who put three past ATKMB.
The concern of EB coach Stephen Constantine , however will be that despite creating quite a few gilt-edged opportunities, his forwards have failed to score, with V.P. Suhair being the biggest culprit.
There is no doubt in the quality ATKMB possess, particularly in attack with the likes of Liston Colaco, their best player by far, Ashique Kuruniyan and Hougo Boumos creating plenty of chances in every game. Gaffer Juan Ferrando’s main concern however will be the fact that they have not been able to get the results going their way.
With EB improving in every game, there will be no punches held back in front of their adoring supporters, is what everyone expects.
There is a popular feeling that EB-MB match is always a fight between “Bangal and Ghati”.Another interesting point is that price of Hilsa goes up in Kolkata market, when EB defeats MB whereas Prawn becomes costly when MB wins a match against EB.
As statistics show that when MB won bunch of trophis in 1979-1980, most of their star footballers were of East Bengal origin like Subrata Bhattacharjee,Goutam Sarkar and Manas Bhattacharjee.There were some Ghatis even in EB.So the correct assesment is that EB-MB always fight for supremacy in club football regardless of the origin of their fans and players.
Inspite of all these, Derby is a different Ball Game which is Unpredictable !
Report- Pratyusha Mukherjee
Source : Indian Army
