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Starting Line-ups:
FC Goa XI: Andrade, Debabrata, Lucio, Gregory, Keenan, Jofre, Denson, Leo, Mandar, Romeo, Reinaldo.
Atletico de Kolkata XI: Amrinder, Franco, Tiri, Nato, Augustin, Gavilan, Borja, Baljith, Arata, Lara, Hume.
First half:
The game began with both teams spraying the ball from side to side without much penetration. What began as an uneventful first eight minutes came to life when Goa’s Jofre found Reinaldo with a deft chip over the defense, but he could only find the side-netting with his left footed slash.
Minutes later, Kolkata’s Arata Izumi produced a moment of magic to give his side the lead. Javi Vara sent in a floater from the right wing and the Japanese’s side-footed volley found the top left corner. That goal could well go down as one of the tournament's best.
The home side didn’t seem rattled by the early goal though. They continued to attack with pace and intent. Jofre and Moura were the main architects in almost every attack that came from Goa. The latter let fly from distance in the 21st minute, but his shot went just wide of the post. Seconds later, local boy Romeo came even closer. His low footed drive scraped past the goal. Buoyed by their team’s attacking display, the partisan supporters kept urging the home side to move forward.
Lúcio rolled back the years when he marauded forward and let loose from twenty yards out. His effort went straight into the keepers hands. Kolkata seemed intent on soaking up the pressure and were reluctant to involve more than three players when attacking.
The away side could have easily doubled their lead in the thirty sixth minute. Arata did extremely well to get past full back Denson, but he went for glory from an acute angle which was expectedly saved by keeper Andrade. Ian Hume looked disappointed. The Japanese should have squared that one off to him who was completely free.
The first half ended 1-0 to Kolkata. You couldn’t say they didn’t deserve it. A splendid goal and some sturdy defending helped them to the halfway point.
Second half:
Kolkata Coach, Habas brought in Valdo for Javi Vara in the second half. Zico’s half time talk clearly rejuvenated the home side. Goa won a free kick at the left corner. Jofre found Lúcio, but his towering header came off the upright. Ten minutes later, they created another chance. After a couple of neat passes outside the box, Moura found Reinaldo but his left footed effort zipped past across the face of the keeper’s goal.
As the hour mark approached, the home side’s lack of an end product was a worry for coach, Zico. The away side was successful in keeping the two pacy Goan wingers, Romeo and Mandar quiet for large parts of the match.
In a moment of madness, Balijit Sahni’s cynical tackle on Gregory from behind earned him a yellow card. He then lost his cool and head-butted the centre back. Sahni deservedly received his marching orders from the referee after being shown a straight red for his rash headbutt. Atletico had to play the final thirty minutes with ten men. With fifteen minutes to full time, Habas’s men completely slowed down the game much to the frustration of the home side.
Following the sending off, Zico made a host of substitutions including swapping out goalkeeper Andrade for Kattimani, this injected some confusion among the match officials regarding the number of Indian players Goa had on the pitch as the minimum number is a requisite 5 players.
Once the game resumed, Mandar finally came to life. Full back, Keenan whipped in a cross from the left wing and the resulting loose ball landed on Mandar’s feet whose stinging shot was saved well by keeper, Amrinder.
Goa was finally rewarded for their efforts and found the elusive equalizer in the eighty first minute. Mandar’s cross from the left wing found Reinaldo who couldn’t direct his header towards goal. But the loose ball was picked up by Keenan Almeida who drilled it past the keeper from just outside the box.
Atletico failed to get outside their own half as full time approached. The crowd loved their side’s incessant attacking pressure and went from zero to hundred in volume. Coach, Habas was content with a point and replaced the goal scorer, Arata with Nabi in added time to tighten the defense.
Goa continued to push for a winner but failed to create any clear cut chances in the dying minutes of the game. Both the sides slogged it out for a deserved draw.
