Subrata Pal

Subrata Pal (b. 1986-12-24) is an Indian soccer player, currently the goalkeeper of India national football team and Kingfisher East Bengal Club. He has played with the Tata Football Academy club [ [http://www.soccernetindia.com/playermains.php?pln=Subrata%20Pal&plpro=pl_subratapal.inc&plcat=goal Soccernetindia-Home of Indian football - Content ] ] , but rose to prominence with the leading Kolkata-based football club Mohun Bagan AC. In August 2007, he was part of the Indian team that unexpectedly won the Nehru Cup International Football Tournament 2007 for the first time.

Cristiano Junior's Death

In the 2004 Federation Cup (India) final, Pal was playing as goalkeeper for Mohun Bagan at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore. The Brazilian Cristiano Junior, striker of the opponent team Dempo Sports Club, Goa collided with Pal near the goal post while scoring his (and his team's) second goal. Immediately thereafter, Cristiano staggered off the field and lay down, and subsequently died in hospital. Initial media reports suggested Pal had "nearly bumped into Junior with his hand apparently hitting the Brazilian striker".

A detailed post-mortem was conducted at the Victoria Hospital and Forensic Science Laboratory, Bangalore which confirmed that Cristiano had "died of cardiac arrest following over-exertion and excitement"cite news
title = Over-exertion led to Junior's death
publisher = rediff.com
url = http://www.rediff.com/sports/2004/dec/10junior.htm
date = 2004-12-10
accessdate = 2007-08-30] . Nonetheless, Subrata Pal was suspended for two months.

Subsequently, two more post-mortems were conducted in Brazil, which also came to similar conclusionscite news
title = The Mohunbagan Club Fan website
url = http://mohunbaganclub.com/news_arch1.html
date = January 31, 2005 / March 2005
accessdate = 2007-08-31] . The Mohunbagan Club Fan website in an unreferenced March 2005 report said that: "Fresh report from Brazil shows Christiano Junior was injured before the final match of Federation Cup with Mohun Bagan. He was injured at the spine and he should not [have been] fielded at the match".

It is said that since the incident, he has matured considerably as a player, and is far less aggressive on the field [cite news
title = Pal goes from villain to national hero
author = Suprita Das
publisher = NDTV
url = http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/showsports.aspx?id=SPOEN20070024381
date = 2007-08-30
accessdate = 2007-08-30] .

Nehru Cup 2007

Pal was noted for his sharp goalkeeping as part of Baichung Bhutia's successful Indian team of the Nehru Cup 2007. His saves were noted in the semifinals against Kyrgyzstan [cite news
title = Bhaichung leads dazzling display: India demolish Kyrgyzstan 3-0 to make final for first time
author = Jaydeep Basu
publisher = The Telegraph
url = http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070827/asp/sports/story_8241762.asp
date = 2007-08-27
accessdate = 2007-08-30] , which enabled India to reach the finals of this tournament for the first time.

In the final, India faced Syria, against whom they had lost an earlier group stage match [ [http://www.rediff.com/sports/2007/aug/23ind.htm Valiant India go down to Syria ] ] . In this match, he together with Mahesh Gawli of Goa and other defenders, staved off wave after wave of attack by the pre-match favourites, Syriacite news
title = This is the beginning of Indian football: Bhaichung
author = Press Trust of India
publisher = CNN-IBN
url = http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india-achieve-rare-football-feat-lift-nehru-cup/47687-5.html
date = 2007-08-29
accessdate = 2007-08-30] . India defeated Syria by a 1-0 margin to win the tournament for the first time. Indian team coach Bob Houghton said that "Subrata Pal was splendid in the goal", while The Hindu wrote: : India owed the triumph immensely to an impeccable performance under the bar by Subrata Paul. His anticipation in cutting off Syria’s aerial forays was the most striking feature of the contest. [cite news
title = India wins Nehru Cup
author = Vijay Lokapally
publisher = The Hindu
url = http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/30/stories/2007083062172500.htm
date = 2007-08-30
accessdate = 2007-08-30 ] .

References