30 July 2007:
India National Football Team ended its tour of Portugal with a goalless draw against a very competitive GDR Monsanto.The Indian National Team played a very positive, aggressive and exciting game.
The game started at 5 PM on Sunday at the beautiful City of Torres Novas , under a 37º temperature. India couldn’t count today with the help of Baichung Bhutia which scored 4 goals in the last two matches. Bhutia had a minor injury but that was enough to prevent him to play versus Monsanto.
During the first 45 minutes Monsanto had two good chances but Subrata Pal kept the National Team nets empty with two very brave saves.
On the other side Tariff Ahmed and Manjit Singh almost scored for more than one time.
Sunil early departure from the game was also bad for India ’s hopes to win a 3rd in a row. Without Sunil and Baichung in the field the team kept a very strong pace.
Second half saw a couple of great strikes from Steven Dias and again Tariff and Manjit.
Monsanto didn’t really threaten the defence led by a solid Mahesh Gawli.
Coach Bobby Houghton was really pleased for this unbeaten run.
The goal was to allow the team to improve its ability to play together and to create a solid game play. That was achieved and some Indian talent was shown in Portuguese grounds.
As for the ONGC Cup the prospects are now optimistic.
26 July 07:
India registers a 3-2 win against AC Marinhense
The Indian Senior National Team beat AC Marinhense 3-2 at the beautiful Estadio Municipal Marinha Grande, with Chetri and Bhutia in a league of their own.
The local side putting together a strong squad that will give them a fair shot at promotion for 2nd Div, but Indians were strong and smart enough to turn the tide after Yuran scored the 1-0 (10m) that gave Marinhense the lead until min 37.
Sunil Chetri scored a nice goal at min 37 to tie the game.
In the second half Bhaichung Bhutia brought up his skill and experience to turn the events in favour of the Indian National Team with a goal at min 51. The game was played at a nice pace with ACM scoring the 2-2 at min 60 by Yuran.
But India wasn’t going to relax and accept the result and fought for the win that came once again from Bhutia’s feet at min 75, in what was his 4th goal of this tour.
Bobby Houghton was all very pleased with the progress that the team is showing and hopes that it will be kept next Sunday against GDR Monsanto.
GDR Monsanto a 3rd Div side that finished last season 3rd, ahead of AC Marinhense was picked to replace Estoril FC.
Coach Bobby Houghton and his technical staff have decided to play another 3rd Div side in order to maintain a steady standard of opponents.
Their decision was based on the desire of keeping this camp as a training one focusing on building team spirit and improving NT’s game play style.
The 4th and final game of this tour will take place on Sunday 29th at 5:00pm (local time) at Estadio Torres Novas against GDR Monsanto.
Tomorrow Friday the Indians will visit the mythic Estadio da Luz, home to SL Benfica.
For the last 2 days the Indian team has been followed by a TV crew that is producing a 25 minute show for Portuguese sports channel SportTv.
23 July 2007 :
India registers a convincing 3-0 win against Recreativo Agueda in their Second game.
India registered a convincing 3-0 win against Recreativo Agueda in their Second game of the exposure cum training tour of Portugal visit played on Sunday ,22 July 2007 at Estadio Municipal ,Lisbon .India led 1-0 at the half timemark through a goal scored by Manjit Singh in the 27th min.Bhaichung Bhutia who scored a brace (63rd & 86th min) in the second half made it 3-0 for India.
19 July 2007:
India held Odivelas FC to a 1-1 draw at Lisbon in their First game of the exposure cum training tour of Portugal visit today.India which trailed 0-1 at the half timemark scored the equalizer through Abhishek Yadav in the second half .
19 July 07:
India National Team - Games Schedule
India National Team Portugal tour will be composed of the following games:
July 19th : Odivelas FC 2nd Div
July 22nd : Recreativo Agueda 3rd Div
July 26th : AC Marinhense 3rd Div
July 28th : Estoril Praia 2nd League
The team completed its 5th session on Wednesday ahead of tomorrow’s game in Odivelas, in the outskirts of Lisbon.
The weather was perfect, the facilities also good and the atmosphere surrounding the Indian Team is very positive.
In the meantime, SL Benfica’s President invited Indian Team to visit the magnificient Estadio da Luz (Stadium of Light) next week. This is the home of the mythical Portuguese powerhouse and recently home to the 7 Wonders of the World event, that has revealed the TAJ MAHAL as one of the world’s 7 wonders.
12 July 07:
Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi ,President All India Football Federation met players and officials of Senior India team at Gurgaon today & conveyed his Best Wishes to all members of the squad and assured full support for training and development of the team .The team left for Lisbon late Thursday night on a exposure cum training tour of Portugal in preparation for ONGC Cup, SAFF Cup & AFC Challenge Cup & Pre World Cup Qualifiers :-
Training Schedule :
14th -21st July : Training
22nd July : Friendly Match Vs Recreio Desportivo de Agueda at Marinha Ground
23rd to 25th July : Training
26th July : Friendly Match Vs AC Marinhense at 7 PM.
27th -28th July :Training
29th July : Friendly Match (to be finalised by Chief Coach ,Bob Houghton)
31st July : Return to India
The Team :
Goalkeepers :
Sandip Nandy ,Subhashish Roy Choudhury ,Subrata Paul
Defenders :
Irungbam Surkumar Singh ,Mahesh Gawli ,Deepak Kumar Mondal
Syed Rahim Nabi ,Samir Naik ,Nanjangud Shivnanju Manju & Debabrata Roy
Midfielders :
Ajayan K Nair ,Climax Lawrence ,N.P.Pradeep ,Clifford Miranda ,Steven Benedict Dias
Mehrajuddin Wadoo ,P.Rennedy Singh ,Bungo Thokchom Singh & Gouramangi Singh
Forwards :
Bhaichung Bhutia (Captain) , Sunil Chhetri ,Abhishek Yadav ,Manjit Singh ,Tarif Ahmed &
Anthony Pereira.
Officials :
Antonio M Pacheco - GK Coach
Stanley Rozario - Asst Coach
Dr. Badri Nath - Physio
Suresh Babu - Physical Trainer
Pradip Chowdhary - Manager
Robert Douglas Houghton - Chief Coach
Earlier Story : 30 June 2007:
India Senior Football Camp has begin at Gurgaon & will go on till 12 July before they embark on a training stint tour of Portugal.Speaking to Media in Delhi on Friday ,Chief National Coach Bob Houghton said that the team will play three matches in Portugal ;one against a team in the Premier Division and the two against Second Division sides.The Chief Coach informed that first two days of the camp have been devoted to Medical and Fitness of 27 Players attending the camp.He said” every team needs to focus on Technique,Tactics ,Fitness & Psycology and his job would be to bring in the perfect blend of those four”.Mr Houghton added “The team has 15 games lined up this season and I am certain that we will move up the rankings.We are looking at the ONGC Cup in New Delhi and SAFF Cup inDec in Sri lanka & Maldives as the tournaments we can do well”.
The Players attending the Camp are :Goalkeepers : Arindam Bhattacharja, Sandip Nandy
Subhashish Roy Choudhury ,Subrata Paul .
Defenders :Irungbam Surkumar Singh ,Mahesh Gawli ,Deepak Kumar Mondal
Syed Rahim Nabi , Samir Naik , Sanjiv Kumar Maria , Nanjangud Shivnanju Manju ,Debabrata Roy.
Midfielders : Ajayan K Nair ,Climax Lawrence , N.P.Pradeep ,Clifford Miranda ,Steven Benedict Dias ,
Mehrajuddin Wadoo , P.Rennedy Singh ,Bungo Thokchom Singh & Gouramangi Singh .
Forwards : Bhaichung Bhutia,Sunil Chhetri , Abhishek Yadav ,Manjit Singh ,Tarif Ahmed & Anthony Pareira .
Earlier Story : Following players have been shortlisted for India Seniors Training Camps for the season 2007-08 in preparation for ONGC Cup, SAFF Cup & AFC Challenge Cup & Pre World Cup Qualifiers :
India Seniors Players
S.No Names
Goalkeepers
1. Arindam Bhattacharja
2. Sandip Nandy
3. Subhashish Roy Choudhury
4. Subrata Paul
Defenders
1. Irungbam Surkumar Singh
2. Mahesh Gawli
3. Deepak Kumar Mondal
4. Syed Rahim Nabi
5. Samir Naik
6. Sanjiv Kumar Maria
7. Nanjangud Shivnanju Manju
8. Debabrata Roy
Midfielders
1. Ajayan K Nair
2. Climax Lawrence
3. N.P.Pradeep
4. Clifford Miranda
5. Steven Benedict Dias
6. Mehrajuddin Wadoo
7. P.Rennedy Singh
8. Bungo Thokchom Singh
9. Gouramangi Singh
Forwards
1. Bhaichung Bhutia
2. Sunil Chhetri
3. Abhishek Yadav
4. Manjit Singh
5. Tarif Ahmed
6. Anthony Pareira
Fitness :
1. Anupam Sarkar
2. Chandam Chitrasen
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