Mohun Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa was satisfied with his side’s performance in the IFA Shield final.

By Garima Verma

As Karim Bencherifa said after losing the IFA Shield final to Churchill Brothers, "Football is cruel sometimes."

Karim's Mohun Bagan tried every trick in the trade but could not get the better of the Goan side at Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.

While Churchill skipper Odafe Onyeka Okolie made all the difference, Karim was still satisfied with his side's gritty display.

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"We had only one striker Suroj Mondal. Marcos, Rakesh and James are not strikers but they tried their best to fill the void," Karim said.

"We missed the fire upfront. We matched Churchill in the midfield but when it came to the forward line, we could not match the momentum.

"I am satisfied with our performance. The players gave their heart out. It's just that the first goal didn't come our way till the end."

His counterpart, Carlos Alberto Pereira, however, downplayed his side's magnificent victory again his former side.

"For me it was just one of the games of my life. For Bagan, it's indeed a big loss. But it wasn't about winning against a former side," the veteran Brazilian coach said.

"It was a whole team effort. I am happy that the players obeyed what we had planned. We know that Bagan got better towards the end of the game, especially the extra time. We tried to score in the beginning itself and thankfully we succeeded. We definitely didn't want the match to go into the extra time."

Bagan's Moroccon coach, Karim, had no qualms in calling Odafe the deciding factor.

"He is strong, tall and a good finisher. The worst is he can play with both feet. He made the situation hectic for us," he said.

"Playing against Odafe is a dilemma. If you give him enough space, he'll just finish the game. And, when you try to block him, you leave space at the wings for the others to set pieces for him."

Pereira, however, had second thoughts about that. "Just like Mohun Bagan are not only about Chidi, Churchill are not only about Odafe," he said.

"He is a key player for the side, but I won't say that he was the only factor. Marcos was good for Bagan. Even Shilton Paul also did good in the goal."

While Pereira praised Shilton, he was equally happy with his own goalie Arindam Bhattacharya, despite the lad having made some blunders.

"Arindam might have made some mistakes, but the ball didn't go inside the goal and that is what matters," he said.

Karim, meanwhile, said that Churchill were not unbeatable and he was now looking forward to the upcoming Durand Cup and the season ahead.

"Imagine when we have Chidi Edeh, Barreto, Ishfaq Ahmed and NS Manju back in the squad. I'm quite optimistic about the future. We have a long season ahead of us. We will just get better."