Mahindra United win Durand Cup

Mumbai's Mahindra United won the prestigious Durand Cup football tournament, thrashing Goa's Zee Churchill 5-0 in a one-sided final in Delhi on Saturday.

They led 2-0 at half-time.

It is the second Durand Cup triumph for Mahindra United, having won it in 1998, when they beat East Bengal in the final. They had lost to East Bengal and Mohun Bagan respectively in the finals of 1990 and 2000.

The margin of victory was the third highest recorded in the tournament final. Way back in 1889, Highland Li trounced Simla Rifles 8-1, while in 1896, Somerset Li beat Black Watch 6-1.

Reduced to 10-men after their ace defender Osumanu Husseni was given marching orders early in the match, Churchill buckled under pressure and perished. And, in the end, what promised to be an absorbing battle between two leading teams of Indian football, turned out to be a one-sided affair.

Churchill suffered the first jolt as early as the 11th minute when they conceded a penalty. Husseni, their Ghanian recruit, in a desperate attempt to prevent Mahindra's key midfielder Jules Alberto Dias's powerful shot from entering the goal, handled the ball inside the penalty area. The referee promptly gave Husseni marching orders and awarded a spot-kick. Jules made no mistake from the spot.

This broadly changed the complexion of the match as Churchill never recovered after the goal. They had two chances to restore parity before half-time but could not cash in on them. And just two minutes before half time, Mahindra made it 2-0, when Khalid latched on to a pass from Venkatesh, controlled it well and sent a grounder which bulged the net.

One expected a strong fightback from Churchill in the second session after they pressurised the Mahindra defence for the first ten minutes, during when had three chances. However, nothing seemed to go right for them. Yusif Yakubu, Iranian Mousavi Sayed Amin and Ratan Singh, all were off colour.

Mahindra gradually consolidated their grip over the match and attacks came thick and fast. They mounted a well-coordinated attack in the 72nd minute but Bala Usman's shot at goal, off a pass from Venkatesh, was put away for a flag-kick. However, from the corner kick, the ball came to Khalid, whose stiff volley found the mark.

Barely five minutes later, Khalid and Bala mounted another well-coordinated attack which resulted in Austin Okolo finding the net (4-0).

Bala completed the rout in the 89th minute, finishing off a cross from Venkatesh on the right.

Jules Alberto Dias adjudged player of the tournament

Apart from the trophy, Mahindra took home the winner's purse of Rs 400,000.

Churchill had to be content with Rs 200,000, while losing semi-finalists, East Bengal and ITI, Bangalore, were awarded Rs 100,000 each.

Jules Alberto Dias of Mahindra was adjudged the best player of the tournament.

Harish Rao, also of Mahindra, was adjudged best coach. He was also awarded a cach prize of Rs 5,000.

Sunil Chettri of City Club, Delhi, Langha Sihgnia of Army XI, Subhash Chowdhary of AIFF under-19, Chandan Das of East Bengal and Tapan Ghosh of Mahindra were adjudged most promising players.

The teams
Mahindra United: Virender Singh, Tapan Ghosh, M Suresh, Isamusa Eroje, Anthony Pereira, Bernard Operanozie, S Venkatesh, Khalid Siddique, Jules Alberto Dias, Austin Okolo, Bala Usman and Jeevan Moras (substitute).

Zee Churchill: Edward Ansah, Francis Coelho, Osumanu Husseni, Mahesh Gowali, Rajesh Meetei, Roque Berretto, Aqeel Ansari, Ratan Singh, Noel Wilson, Mousavi Sayed Amin, Yusif Yakubu, Inacio Afonso (substitute), Tejinder Kumar (substitute), Somatai Shaiza (substitute).

114th Durand Cup 2002 - the complete coverage
National Football League - the complete coverage