Mohun Bagan seek to heal themselves after I-League setback by battling Maziya in AFC Cup

LOOKING AT THEM sitting atop the group G points table in AFC Cup, it's hard to imagine the sheer amount of stress the Mohun Bagan team has gone through over the last couple of months. The 37 days spent without getting a single win, the massive bottling act in the I-League that saw them lose the title to Bengaluru FC, seems to have had minimal impact on their Asian campaign. 

Bagan were held to a draw by Yangon United in the middle of that slump, but thanks to Maziya losing to South China, even that result was enough to guarantee the Mariners a place in the next round. And now they are in a situation that a point from this game will seal them a pole position in the group.

Mohun Bagan played Maziya in the previous leg, with a full squad, at home and came out with a resounding 5-2 victory. Jeje Lalpekhlia and Cornell Glen scored braces, Sony Norde put in a phenomenal shift. One of Maziya's goals came thanks to Raju Gaikwad, who got red carded later on, putting one into his own net. To say it was an easy win for Mohun Bagan would be an understatement.

So taking all that into account, the question that comes up is, how will Sanjoy Sen approach this game? The battle in the group stage is all but won and this match isn't expected to be the hardest of the lot. Should Sen employ his full force in this match or preserve his main soldiers for the upcoming thick fixture list of May? 

Bagan are scheduled to play Salgaocar in the quarter finals of the Federation Cup. If they win, the pressure on players will increase dramatically because one of their potential opponents in the high-stakes double header semi-finals is their arch-rivals East Bengal, whom they have been unable to beat even once this season.

And since Mohun Bagan squandered their I-League title defense so badly, it has become crucial for both Sen and his players to make a statement in the Federation Cup. So will Sen make the domestic cup his priority and rest his players? The fact that he allowed Jeje Lalpekhlua to stay for the FPAI awards and join the team in Maldives later seems to indicate that.

But the Mariners also rested some of their players in the match against Bengaluru FC. First-choice keeper Debjit Majumder, players like Dhanachandra and Pronay Halder all sat out when the Green and Maroons ransacked Bengaluru FC (also heavily rested) 5-0 on Saturday. Does it make sense to keep them out for yet another game? Or was the whole point of keeping them out against BFC to take this game against Maziya head-on and ensure that top spot early on so they don't have to worry about the last game against South China, which potentially falls bang in the middle of the Federation Cup campaign?

That may in the end hold more true, because it makes no footballing sense to bank on a game that follows four gruelling knock-out cup fixtures, two of which can turn out to be Derbies.

But there's another factor at play here. This game against Maziya is going to be more an excercise that has a mental dimension to it as well. The slump that the team was hit by - that saw them spend 37 days without a single win - was a terrible phase to go through for everyone in the team. Going so long without tasting victory is not the kind of mentality you want your players to have before challenging for title in a difficult knockout cup tournament. They got some of their groove back by beating Bengaluru FC, but that team was missing some of their biggest names. Here in AFC Cup, playing away from home where Maziya will throw everything they have at the Mariners as they fight to overtake Yangon United in the race to finish 2nd in the group, a win will have a much larger impact on the psyche of the players. 

Sony Norde has come back from injury and could use some more minutes ahead of the Fed Cup. Halder and Debjit also need to get a match to sharpen themselves. And Cornell Glen needs to get out of the habit of messing up easy chances. And Jeje Lalpekhlua, who is actually in the run for the golden boot with 5 goals to his name in the tournament, would benefit from a chance to add to that tally as well.

So no matter what happened in the previous leg, and how safe Bagan might feel at the top of their group, they can't afford not to take Maziya seriously. The Malé based club is coming off a couple of good performances against South China in AFC Cup and New Radiant at the Dhivehi Premier League. They have the likes of Spanish striker Pablo Rodriguez and renowned medio Ahmed Imaaz (who scored against Bagan in the first leg) to test the Marniers' defence. And given the sensitive state Mohun Bagan's season is at right now, it would be wrong to assume that they are going to have a smooth sailing in Maldives.

Losing the I-League title was a major setback for them, and it will be interesting to see how much this game manages to heal and rejuvenate this squad ahead of the final month of the season.