#TFGtake- a culmination of misfortunes landed Mohun Bagan in a pickle over Debjit's NT call-up

THE LATE CALL-UP that Mohun Bagan custodian Debjit Majumder received for the national team has landed his club in an awkward situation as it may cause the keeper to miss out on his team's crucial away game against Aizawl FC.

The day before the league leaders were to travel to Aizawl, Debjit Majumder received his first call-up to the national team. The keeper, who was judged to be the best custodian in I-League last season, was visibly elated at the news, and he flew to Aizawl with the team with the intention of joining the national team in Kochi right after playing the match on 26th March.

But the national team goalkeeper coach has given him a deadline of 26th March to join the team in Kochi. That's the day the whole squad returns from Iran. But if Debjit is to reach Kochi on the 26th he will be forced to miss the match against Aizawl FC; an away game that's extremely vital for Mohun Bagan to win in order to stay ahead in the I-League title race.

Bagan are already playing this game with a weakened side. First team players Jeje Lalpekhlua, Pronay Halder and Pritam Kotal are already with the national team while Sony Norde has left to join the Haiti national team. On top of that, the club's captain and second goalkeeper Shilton Paul is out with an injury. Now at this point if Debjit Majumder also leaves for the national team, the Mariners will be left without 5 of their most trusted players; and the alternative keeper who has flown with the team - Arnab Das Sharma - isn't the ideal choice to play a game like this under this kind of pressure.

The national team's goalkeeping coach Rogerio Ramos, however, has his own plans about things. After playing Turkmenistan on 29th, India will play the playoff to progress to the next round of Asian Cup Qualifiers in early June. Before that, Ramos wants to have some time with Debjit in order to see if he can give the veteran Subrata Paul a run for the position of second-choice goalkeeper for the national team. Now, if Debjit joins the team on the 27th of March, that leaves Ramos just about a day to see Debjit; and since the match will be just a day away he will have to focus mostly on the first-choice keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu anyway. 

So now Debjit Majumder is in a dilemma. Reaching Kochi on time leaves his club vulnerable at a crucial juncture of the league season. But not going may cause him to miss out on his first ever session with the national team.

But if the keeper stays back, it can be more than a missed opportunity he has to worry about. Recently, FC Goa/Dempo SC players Mandar Rao Desai and Romeo Fernandes were "suspended" for 3 months for missing a national team camp call-up. Of course, that punishment had little repercussions for their club; since for most of those 3 months Dempo weren't playing, and the players' suspension conveniently ended just before the final round of the I-League 2nd Division started (and a couple of days before the suspension sentence was delivered, actually). But Mohun Bagan are unlikely to get away with a soft punishment like that. They are in the heat of the title race in I-League, and they have already tasted some high-handed justice from AIFF as Sanjoy Sen was suspended for 8 matches (rest of the I-League season) for his "sold out" jibe about the Federation. 

The AIFF Disciplinary Committee is meeting on 31st March to hear Mohun Bagan's appeal to reduce Sanjoy Sen's suspension. If Debjit Majumder does not show up in Kochi on time, it may be another case added to their itinerary. They won't even need to announce a sentence; an initial suspension while the matter is in consideration (perhaps for 3 months, as in the case of Mandar and Romeo) will do it. And if Debjit does face a suspension from AIFF - at a time when Shilton Paul is out with an injury- it may be a double blow that breaks Bagan's momentum for good and ruins their title challenge. 

So the Mohun Bagan management have a decision to make. And they will have to be quick about it because the minutes are running out. Last we heard, Debjit Majumder was enthusiastic about playing tomorrow's match; but whether or not that would be prudent in a situation like this will be for the Mariners' coach Sanjoy Sen - who is on serving a banishment from the touchline himself - to take a call on.

After all, it was the Mohun Bagan officials who agreed to postpone this game to the middle of international break - at a time they knew some of their players would be away for national duty - in order to help their players take a breather after their match against Shandong Luneng in the AFC Champions League qulifiers. Nothing was forcing them to do it... right?