The lasting black-and-white picture of Banerjee diving to snatch the ball from Pele’s feet.

After the unfortunate demise of former India International Shibaji Banerjee who passed away after a sudden heart attack in Kolkata on Sunday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino sent his condolence message to AIFF.

In his condolence message to All India Football Federation President Mr. Praful Patel, Gianni Infantino conveyed his “deepest condolences” on Shibaji’s demise.

The letter, as quoted by Mr. Infantino, says:

“Please accept my deepest condolences on hearing that former India national team goalkeeper Shibaji Banerjee has passed away.

On behalf of the members of the International football community, I should be grateful if you could extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.

We would hope that in some way, our words of support may help bring a little bit of peace and solace in this time of sadness.”

Also Read: New U-17 Coach search Intensifies with rumoured big names in contention

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also conveyed her sadness through a tweet, “Sad to hear about passing of popular former football goalkeeper Shibaji Banerjee. My condolences to his family & friends, we lost a great player.”

Banerjee played for Mohun Bagan for 11 years and was famed for winning Aerial duels, penalties and Free-kicks. From 1977-80, Banerjee did not concede a single goal against arch-rivals East Bengal. He is also well remembered for pulling a string of saves against New York Cosmos who had the legendary Pele in their ranks, the match had ended at 2-2.

Shibaji was also a competent club level cricketer having scored a few runs at CAB first division league. Banerjee was a regular at Mohan Bagan games, He was there in the stands on Saturday watching Mohun Bagan’s 3-1 win over DSK Shivajians

Shibaji Banerjee was cremated with State honour in Kolkata on Monday (February 20, 2017).

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GOA: Churchill Brothers FC, Goa who gave a good account of themselves in their defeat against Mohun Bagan in the first game of Hero I-League 2016-17, will look to capitalise on home advantage against Mumbai FC.

The fans of the Red Machines will get to see the former I-League champions in action at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco as they look to kick-start their campaign with a positive result against Santosh Kashyap’s men.

The Goan club are still not at their full strength as they are yet to recruit the players in their foreign quota. But there is good news for the team as Trinidad and Tobago striker Anthony Wolfe has joined the club and is sure to bolster the squad in the attacking department.

Meanwhile, Alfred Fernandes continues to be in charge of the team as the expected arrival of head coach Joseph Afusi is delayed indefinitely. The Goan tactician is confident that the arrival of Wolfe will give the necessary firepower for Churchill Brothers.

“In the match against Mohun Bagan, we were lacking in firepower. Wolfe is available tomorrow and hopefully, tomorrow will be a good day in the office for us. Of course, it is very important for us as it is our home match,” coach Alfred Fernandes said.

The club has also been bolstered by the addition of three Indian players in Fulganco Cardozo, Richard Costa and Quan Gomes but they won’t be available for selection against the Mumbai side.

Meanwhile, Santosh Kashyap will be a happy man as his side are coming on the back of a morale-boosting victory against DSK Shivajians in the Maharashtra derby. Kashyap’s men will be looking to carry on their momentum in their first assignment away from home this season.

“We have shown in our last match that in spite of having all Indian players, against a very strong team, we never defended and we were winning. I believe in attacking football and we’ll continue to play my way,” Kashyap emphasised.

As Churchill are yet to open their account, coach Alfred feels that the first priority would be to avoid defeat.

“My philosophy in coaching is that a point is a must first and three points is always a bonus. So if they don’t give us a chance to score, then we also won’t allow them to score. A point is important first and then we go for the three points,” he said.

And Alfred can take heart from the fact that the players who are already in the squad have put in some lion-hearted performances against Bagan.

Skipper Keenan Almeida led from the front despite suffering a bruise on the head while debutant Kingslee Fernandes walked away with the Hero of the match performance.

“It takes guts for a boy to go out there and prove it. He was brilliant and hopefully he can continue with the same vein of form,” the Goan tactician said about young Kingslee.

The only doubt for Churchill is defender Adil Khan and Alfred is expected to take a call on the defender on match day while the rest of the squad are available for selection.

The match is slated to kick-off at 4:30 PM tomorrow (January 15, 2017) and it’ll be telecast live on Ten 2.

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In the very first game of tenth season of the league, Khalid Jamil’s Aizawl FC managed to draw against one of the tournaments favourites East Bengal putting themselves as one of the sides, too dangerous to be ignored. In the other game, Defending champions Bengaluru FC came to the pitch with the intention of proving that they mean serious business, routing a hapless Shillong Lajong 3-0 at Kanteerava.

While East Bengal’s performances in the first game haven’t been to the expected standard, managing to snatch away a draw against last year relegation team, thanks to their new signing Bukenya’s 90^th minute goal. EB will still be expected to be in top 3 Race. The intention for this season is very clearly shown by the signings. Aizawl’s performance has been heartening, under a new Coach who his known for his strong defence line-counter attacking approach. Although they will not be expected to be a strong title contender, they could still be a pretty strong team at home, with the amount of fans backing them up at home.

Also Read: Bukenya’s Last minute strike earns a point for East Bangal in the 10th Hero I-league opener

Both Mohan Bagan and Bengaluru FC are the close contenders for the title

Despite also being the only two clubs in the Asian competition, Bengaluru FC, along with Mohan Bagan looks favourites in the title race once again. Based on their first game performance BFC seem to be on the right path. On the Asian Front the blues face a tricky situation in ACL Qualifiers but they have been known to defy odds and create history and one cannot rule them out this time either. For Mohan Bagan, the AFC Cup group stage should be an easy one with possible challenge from either BFC or EBFC in the group (Depends on Blues qualification in ACL group stages). Fans will be hoping for a Kolkata derby at an Asian level.

Santosh Kashyap, who took an unheralded Royal Wahingdoh to third place finish two years ago, will aim to replicate the same performances with his Mumbai FC side. Interestingly Mumbai are yet to sign a single foreign player for this season and will be coming out with an all Indian line up in the first game of the season.

While Minerva Punjab FC and Chennai city FC are the two unknown teams for this season, they would still be looking for a top half finish. On the other hand, Shillong Lajong and DSK Shivajians would like to improve their last year’s standings.

Churchill Brothers, the only Goan club left after the departure of Dempo, SCG and Salgaocar, could struggle this season after being out of the I-league for two years. Even their performances in the Goa pro league haven’t been encouraging enough.

With ten teams fighting out for four months, the official football league of the country in what could be its final stand against the merger, will look to prove why it deserves to stay.

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