It was Bayern Munich who had the better of Chelsea for a major part of the game, and  judging by the first half play alone, a fifth title seemed destined for the hosts. Having won seven of their home matches in the competition this season, the hosts came out firing on all cylinders and Gomez got the first real opportunity of the match  in the 18^th minute from a Thomas Mueller flick but shot wide of the goal. A little later, Dutch  winger Arjen Robben’s shot was parried by Petr Cech for a Munich corner, one out of their total 20 corners of the game.

In the second half The Blues put on am improved display ,although Bayern continued to piled on the pressure on Chelsea’s reshuffled backline. Finally after a galore of near misses and chances, Toni Kroos lifted one over the Chelsea defenders and this time Mueller rose high to head in a firm header, which bounced once before going in over Cech’s outstretched hands, in the 83^rd minute. That was enough to send the 63000 capacity Allianz Arena into a frenzy and with just a little over 7 minutes of time remaining, it all looked over for the Blues. Roberto Di Matteo sought out Fernando Torres for salvation and brought on the Spanish striker for Solomon Kalou in the next minute .It was a change which worked wonders, as Bayern conceded a corner off Torres, which was taken by fellow Spaniard Juan Mata ,in the 88^th minute. Drogba raced past the Munich defenders and rose high to head in an unstoppable belter, which Neuer could only palmed into the back of the net.

The two teams headed into extra time with Chelsea having a moral advantage with the late goal. Drogba though seemed to have lost it for Chelsea when he clipped Frank Ribery in the box in the 93^rd minute and the referee immediately pointed to the spot.At at that point it seemed  all of Drogba’s hard work had been undone.But Cech made the most crucial save  of the match to deny Robben and Munich of the lead ,and quite possibly the Title. When the match could not be decided in extra time, it meant that this year’s Champions would be decided by penalties. In the ensuing  shoot-out Philip Lahm, Mario Gomez and goalkeeper Neuer scored for Bayern while Luiz, Lampard and Cole netted for Chelsea. Mata missed for Chelsea while Olic also missed for the hosts and when Shweinsteiger hit the post ,it was up to Drogba to win it for Chelsea, with the last kick of the night; and he did it in riveting fashion, calmly deceiving Neuer to etched his and Chelsea’s name into the record books.

In the first half, both sides equally dominated the proceedings and Goa which had as many as four scoring chances in the first half itself, were not able to convert any of them. The score at the end of the first half read 0-0.

In the second half, Meghalaya played according to a well-planned strategy as they began the proceedings on an attacking mode and also raided the Goan citadel on few occasions. But in the 65th minute Goa came back strongly when the rival goalkeeper parried a cross from Velito D’Cruz, allowing Sachin Gawas to tap in from close range.

Within just five minutes Meghalaya equalised when the Goa custodian Macklas Moraes misjudged a cross which flew in to the net after hitting the post.

In the last three minutes of the match Gabriel Fernandes found the back of his rival’s net and scored the winner for Goa.

Goa will take on strong contenders Manipur in their next match scheduled on May 22.

Meghalaya lost to Manipur in their last match by a solitary goal and will take on Uttar Pradesh in their last match of the tournament on Tuesday.

The boys will depart from Shillong on Sunday, the 20^th May,and will be looking to make a mark for themselves on international soil.

When speaking about the trip, the boys exuded excitement and enthusiasm about the prospect of playing  in international standard facilities and the best infrastructure. All this has to be credited to the efforts of the Shillong Lajong Football Academy, and the Academy’s efforts and endeavour has paid off with three of the wards heading to Munich to take part in the Club’s tournament.

DEFENCE

•  Leyton Baines
•  Gary Cahill
•  Ashley Cole
•  Glen Johnson
•  Phil Jones
•  Joleon Lescott
•  John Terry

MIDFIELD

• Gareth Barry
• Stuart Downing
• Steven Gerrard
• Steven Lampard (Captain)
• James Milner
• Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
• Scott Parker
• Theo Walcott
• Ashley Young

STRIKERS

• Andy Carroll
• Jermaine Defoe
• Wayne Rooney
• Danny Welbeck

STAND-BY PLAYERS

• Butland
• Phil Jagielka
• Henderson
• Adam Johnson
• Sturridge

So England veteran Rio Ferdinand didn’t make the cut (which was known already), but the exclusions of Micah Richards, Daniel Sturridge, Michael Carrick, Darren Bent and Adam Johnson is also likely to cause a stir, along with Hodgson’s decision to take only four strikers, one of which is Wayne Rooney who will miss England’s two opening games.

Sheriton of Dempo SC scored the first goal in the 8^th minute. But Shillong Lajong FC went all out in an attacking mode and equalized in the 23^rd minute with a superb 30 yard range shot by Jacob.

Shillong Lajong’s dominance in the first half was evident when Noracious Kharumnuid doubled the advantage in the 34th minute.

SLFC went into the break with a two goal cushion.

Shillong Lajong FC started the second half with a good spell of ball possession and Redeem Tlang found the back of the net in the 63^rd minute and piled pressure in Dempo SC’s squad. Shillong Lajong’s defense was unbeaten and prevented their rivals from finding the back of the net till the referee blew the final whistle.

Shillong Lajong FC’s manager, S.Shallam said that, “We went in with a must win situation and we wanted to finish the last game with a win. It was a tough match against Dempo but the fighting spirit of the boys was great”.

Shillong Lajong FC is currently at the third position in the League’s standings.

The 20 year old Arsenal star was injured while on England duty, and missed out the 20011-12 season  after he picked up an ankle injury and suffered swelling on his knees. However, the English mid-fielder is confident that he will be fit in time for the upcoming season.

With this injury, Wilshere might not be able to participate in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Gunner’s boss Arsene Wenger will be looking to determine whether his midfield dynamo will be fit for pre-season training starting on 9 July.

He was also ruled out of Euro 2012 due to his injury problems.

The Blues will also have to do without Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles, while the hosts ,who are gunning for a fifth European Cup, will miss Holger Badstuber, David Alaba  and  Luis Gustavo. Their replacements however are experienced campaigners, and tomorrow’s final will be nothing short of an even encounter.

For Roberto Di Matteo, the return of Gary Cahill and David Luiz will be a huge boost to his already weakened defence line and he will be looking to improve his team’s performance in Germany this season , having lost 1-2 at Bayer Leverkusen in November .They will be looking to add to the FA Cup win  back home in England, while Jupp Heynckes side will look to emulate Liverpool for a fifth Champions League title.

Match kick-off will be 12:15 am  IST.

44 players were selected for the selection camp, out of which 30 players will be selected for the Preparatory Camp starting from May 23rd to June 20th, 2012.

These shortlisted 30 candidates will be put through various tests (Biometrics Test, Medical Test, ECG, Echo, Cardiology Test etc.) from May 19th to 22nd, 2012 at the SAI Centre Kengeri, Bangalore.

AIFF Technical Director Rob Baan will be scrutinizing the players on various physical and medical aspects.

Shillong Lajong FC’s goalkeeper Soram Poirei Angamba is also part of the Selection camp in Bangalore.

The  44 players participating in the Selection Camp are:

Goalkeepers:

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Jayanta Pual (East Bengal), Ravi Kumar (Pailan Arrows), Ricardo Cardozo (TFA), Soram Poirei Angamba (Shillong Lajong).

Defenders:

Pritam Kotal, Bikramjit Singh, Vishal Kumar, Souvik Ghosh, Prathamesh Maulinkar, Deepak Devrani, Lalrozama (All Pailan Arrows), Irfan Khan, Narayan Das, Yumnam Chingkhei (All TFA), David (Pune FC), Abhishek Das (East Bengal), Ramandeep Singh (Air India), Usman Ashik (Chirag Kerala).

Midfielders:

Bikramjit Singh, Pronoy Halder, Ognam Milan Singh, Thirthankar Sarkar, Allwyn George, Rajinder Kumar, Akshay Kumar Mall (All Pailan Arrows), Simranjit Singh, Ravinder Singh (Both TFA), Niroshan Mani, Stephene Baretto, Rowlin Borges (All Sporting Clube de Goa), Ganeshan (Pune FC), Deepak Prakash (HAL), Lalrindika Ralte (Churchill Brothers), Shyju Mon (Chirag Kerala), Romeo Fernandes, Brain Masceranhas (Both Dempo), Clifton Dias (Salgaocar), Manish Bhargav (Mohun Bagan).

Forwards:

Holicharan Narzary, Malswam Fela (Both Pailan Arrows), Pankaj Sona (TFA), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Pune FC), Manandeep Singh (Air India).

In January last year, Danglish had returned for a second stint as manager at Anfield and encountered a tough season which saw Liverpool finish with 52 points and were at the 8^th position in the League’s standings-their worst season ending position for nearly two decades.

For Liverpool’s supporters, Dalglish will always remain an iconic figure following an association with the club for over five decades. He played a major role in the 1970’s and 1980’s winning eight league titles as player and manager between 1979 and 1990 including three European Cups in 1978, 1981 and 1984.

Dalglish said that his departure from the club has been handled in an “honourable, respectful and dignified way”.

Owners Fenway Sports Group added that the decision to remove Dalglish “was not reached lightly or hastily”. The search for a new manager would begin immediately.

Awards were handed out in six different categories with the Dempo SC trio of Mahesh Gawli, Climax Lawrence and Samir Naik being felicitated for their service to the nation’s football after retiring from the  Indian team independently over the last few months.

The best young player was awarded to Manandeep Singh of Air India,while Ranty Martins Soleye of Dempo SC won the prize for best foreign player of the year.

Syed Rahim Nabi of Mohun Bagan was named as the best Indian player of the year.

East Bengal’s Trevor Morgan got the best coach award of the year.

The fans player of the year was awarded to Francis Fernandes of Salgaocar SC and Dempo Sports Club took home the team of the year award.

FPAI Team of The Year :  Karanjit Singh (Salgaocar SC); Deepak Kumar Mondal (Prayag United SC), Mahesh Gawli (Dempo SC), Uga Okpara (East Bengal Club), Syed Rahim Nabi (Mohun Bagan AC); Rocus Lamare (Salgaocar SC), Douhou Sey Djidja Pierre (Pune FC), Roberto Mendes Silva (Churchill Brothers SC), Penn Ikechukwu Orji (East Bengal Club); Odafe Onyeka Okolie (Mohun Bagan AC), Ranty Martins Soleye (Dempo SC).