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Home  » Sports » AFC Cup: Al Kuwait humiliate Mohun Bagan

AFC Cup: Al Kuwait humiliate Mohun Bagan

Source: PTI
April 22, 2009 12:52 IST
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Mohun Bagan's horrendous run in the AFC Cup continued with a 0-6 humiliation at the hands Al Kuwait in a Group D league match in Kuwait City.

Mohun Bagan are now out of contention for a last 16 berth having lost all their three earlier matches.

They still have two games at hand -- away tie against Al Widdat of Jordan on May 5 and home match against Al Karamah of Syria on May 19.

Al Kuwait are on top of Group D with 10 points from four matches followed by Al Wihdat and Al Karamah on seven and six points respectively.

Two top teams from each of eight groups will make it to the pre-quarterfinal knock-out phase of the tournament, Asia's second tier club competition.

Al Kuwait completely dominated the match taking 4-0 lead by the half time and Mohun Bagan, though without talismanic striker and captain Baichung Bhutia and key central defender Peter Odafe due to injuries, had to defend their citadel for most part of the match.

Syrian midfielder Jehad Al Hussien was the star of the Kuwaiti side pumping in a hat-trick (ninth, 22nd, 72nd minutes). Captain Faraj Laheeb (34th, 39th) and Jarah Al Ataiqi's (78th) were the other goal scorers for the home side.

NS Manju had a nightmarish day at Bagan defence conceding a spot kick and then scoring an own goal to play a big role in the abject surrender of the Kolkata side.

Al Kuwait went in front with just nine minutes into the game when Al Hussien was fouled inside the box by Manju and the Syrian international made no mistake from the spot.

Al Hussien doubled the lead for his side after 21 minutes with a first-time volley that off-colour Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee could react only the after the ball had gone past him under his body.

Captain Laheeb then played his part pumping two goals in succession exposing the porous Mohun Bagan defence.

First his powerful low shot in the 34th minute from outside the box was beyond Sangram's reach.

Five minutes later, he scored an opportunistic goal when Al Hussien's shot from inside the area was saved by Sangram but Laheeb was on hand to convert the rebound.

Mohun Bagan got a chance to reduce the margin in first half stoppage but Brazilian midfielder Marcos Pereira's free kick was fisted away by Al Kuwait goalkeeper Musab Al Kandari for a corner.

Pereira had another sight at Al Kuwait goal five minutes after hour mark when he struck a shot from outside the area but Al Kandari was in the right place to palm away the ball.

Al Kuwait continued their dominance in the second half with Al Hussien completing his hat-trick in the 72nd minute with a powerful volley.

Manju completed Mohun Bagan's humiliation by turning Al Ataiqi's cross from the left into his own net 12 minutes from final whistle.

A disappointed Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa admitted his boys were outplayed by their superior opponents. 

"The defeat was a tough lesson for us because we conceded six goals and we had different situations throughout the game," said Bencherifa. 

"We made several mistakes especially the defenders and the goalkeeper. The players didn't have the performance that we expected from them."

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