E Bengal in Rovers Cup semis
In a high-scoring match, soccer giants Kingfisher East Bengal defeated Zee Churchill Brothers
5-4 to enter the semi-finals of the 100th Rovers Cup Football
tournament at the Cooperage in Bombay on Wednesday.
East Bengal's entry into the semi-finals was almost
certain as the previous match between Mahindra United and
Jagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills, Phagwara, ended in a
1-1 draw.
Despite the defeat, Churchill entered the semi-finals, having won their first two matches in the group -- against Mahindra United and JCT Mills.
The East-Bengal-Churchill match was a pleasure to watch
as goals started pouring in since the seventh minute. Dipankar
Roy received Ilhom Sharipov's pass and pushed the ball into
the net with his right foot to give East Bengal an early lead.
Five minutes later, Surkumar Singh's shot saw the ball bounce awkwardly just in front of Churchill goalkeeper Edward
Ansah and travel into the goal.
The third goal was a surprise one for the Calcutta team as
Churchill defender Jaspreet Singh, while trying to clear the
ball, missed it and East Bengal striker Shrikanta Datta, who
was well-placed in the penalty area, gently headed into the net.
Churchill were stunned but they had only
themselves to blame as they lacked in defence coordination.
Churchill, however, struck for their first goal in 28th minute. The East Bengal keeper failed to hold on cleanly to Igor Shkurim's header and Francis Silveira, who was positioned next to him, lobbed
the ball to Jose Colaso, who promptly put it between the posts.
East Bengal struck again for their fourth goal, with Shrikanta Datta
getting his second. He received a well-created pass from Olim
Talliaev to put it across the keeper.
Churchill, however, managed to reduce the margin in the
43rd minute when Andre Reqena scored their second goal after
receiving the pass from Igor Shkurim.
Churchill took the break trailing 2-4.
After the break, Churchill reduced the margin further when
Igor Shkurim received a pass from Francis Silveira and hit a
powerful shot into the East Bengal goal in the 56th minute.
But, East Bengal succeeded in scoring their fifth goal
soon after. This time Olim Talliaev was the man who took the
ball almost from the centre line, dribbled it past the Churchill
defenders, forced Ansah to come out and scored.
After this goal, Churchill looked a bit tensed but
somehow managed to keep their cool. This helped them in
further reducing the margin as Jose Colaso gave pass to
Shkurim, who gave a return pass to Colaso only to find Colaso
putting the ball into the net in the 75th minute.
Colaso's goal helped Churchill regain their touch and
they tried their level best to equalise but time and East
Bengal defence didn't permit them to do so.
The other match between local outfit Mahindra United and
JCT ended in a 1-1 draw.
Mahindra took early lead in the sixth minute when their
striker Manjit Singh scored an easy goal from outside the
penalty area.
JCT bounced back into the game through a goal in the 20th
minute. Their captain Ram Pal gave a forward pass to advancing
Jaswant Singh, who didn't disappoint his captain and coach and
put the ball into Mahindra goal.
In Thursday's matches, Air India will meet Salgaocar
Sports Club while Mohun Bagan will lock horns with the Iran Youth Team.
The Iranians have already entered semi-finals and the
tussle for the last semi-final slot is now between Air India, Salgaocar and Bagan.
Both Air India and Salgaocar need a victory against each
other to enter last four stage while Bagan have to beat the
Iranians.