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A game evenly poised 1-1 at the full-time whistle, usually tends to be a cagey affair in the 30 extra minutes allotted to find the winner after the regulation. That certainly was not the case today in the IFA Shield 1st Semi-Final in the East Bengal Ground, Kolkata where the Young Red and Golds scored three goals in extra time to send the coveted Tata Football Academy (TFA) side packing home.
The game started on an even pace with both the teams looking steady and ready for the task cut out for them. East Bengal created the first chance of the game in the 12th Minute when Suranjit Singh had a shot miss the target by a few centimeters. TFA too created considerable goalmouth action in the first half.
TFA drew first blood in the second half due to sloppy defending from the Red and Golds through Hansdah in the 49th minute. East Bengal distraught after conceding, pushed hard on to offence looking for the equalizer. The breakthrough came five minutes later in the 54th minute as Suranjit Singh smacked one into the back of the net with sheer power.
The rest of the game was dominated by East Bengal but the Red and Gold failed to open the TFA defence up. The regulated 90 minute ended with level pegging.
East Bengal looked a resurrected side in the next thirty minutes with better and clinical play on the pitch. Gurmukh Singh scored as late as the 117th minute, three minutes before the end of the game by a clever chip to make it 2-1. TFA looked extremely shabby in the next three minutes and conceded two goals in quick succession through Deep Saha and Jhantu Prasad to end the carnage 4-1.
East Bengal will now face the winner of the second semi-final slated to be played between Mohun Bagan and SAIL Burnpur on 19th July in the Finale.
With Mohun Bagan looking to qualify for the final, will we witness the good old days of the Kolkata Giants fighting out in the Shield final over again?
