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The second day of the 35th Federation Cup saw 15 goals in four matches with one fixture in Manjeri alone producing eight. Here is Sportskeeda’s review.
Group B: Bengaluru win goal fest but East Bengal held
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The group of death lived up to the hype on matchday one as the first fixture saw I-League leaders Bengaluru FC win an eight-goal thriller against Sporting Clube and later on defending champions East Bengal had to come from behind to draw 1-1 with debutants Rangdajied United. Bengaluru were also making their debut in this competition and were cruising at halftime as a brace from Beikhokhei Beingaichho and a Sunil Chhetri strike gave Ashley Westwood’s side a 3-0 lead. Oscar Bruzon’s Sporting Clube team had ended 2013 with four straight wins but needed a miracle in the second half to salvage anything from this contest. They were handed a lifeline after the interval as referee Pranjal Banerjee awarded them a penalty but striker Boima Karpeh failed to convert.
Robin Singh punished the Goan club further by making it 4-0 and it looked like the JSW-owned club were taking a giant step towards the semis already. But incredibly Sporting Clube pulled three back through Karpeh, Beevan D’Mello and Victorino Fernandes. Bengaluru were set for a nervy final few minutes but Robin finally sealed the points by netting the fifth with almost the last kick of the game. It’s fair to say that the football crazy town of Manjeri witnessed an all-time Federation Cup classic.
Rangdajied United were supposed to be the weakest team of this group and thus were expected to be the whipping boys but the Shillong club took a shock lead through North Korean Kim Yong. East Bengal started with all four foreigners but their midfield once again lacked balance and thus the back four didn’t have much protection. However, given the attacking resources at their disposal, the red-and-gold brigade were always going to create goal scoring chances and they did enjoy a great spell of pressure towards the end of the first half. But Armando Colaco’s side went into the break trailing as James Moga saw a goal disallowed while Edeh Chidi blasted his spotkick over the bar.
East Bengal eventually equalised in the second half through Moga but didn’t do enough to win the game and now have two must win fixtures against the I-League’s current top two. The Shillong club had squandered a couple of chances at 1-0 and were unlucky not to win it late on as Yong’s header hit the crossbar. Overall it was a great result for Santosh Kashyap’s side but worryingly young striker Manandeep Singh went off with an injury only a few minutes after coming on in the second half.
Results
Bengaluru FC 5-3 Sporting Clube
East Bengal 1-1 Rangdajied United
Group C: Winning start for MB but Lajong go top
There were contrasting wins for Shillong Lajong and Mohun Bagan but once again both matches in Kochi were largely played in front of empty stands. This group was expected to be tight from matchday one so no one could have expected a 4-0 win for any side. However Lajong managed just that as they continued their brilliant form by thrashing a Salgaocar side that is low on confidence. The Shillong club were even without their club captain Minchol Son but they showed more energy and purpose going forward with top scorer Cornell Glen producing a masterclass.
The opening goal though came from the hero of Lajong’s 2009 campaign, Seikhohao Tuboi. After that Glen set up young Redeem Tlang for the second and the former Trinidad & Tobago World Cupper could have had more assists if Subhash Singh was clinical. Taisuke Matsugane made it 3-0 early in the second period before Glen finally got the goal that his performance merited. Salgaocar looked completely clueless and the result could be considered the most embarrassing loss of Derrick Pereira’s illustrious coaching career while Lajong lead the group after round one.
Lajong’s heavy win meant that Mohun Bagan couldn’t afford a slip up and the Mariners produced a solid performance to beat Mumbai FC 1-0. The green-and-maroon brigade have been eliminated from the group stage for the last two editions so they were desperate to avoid that this time but suffered a blow before the game as skipper and talisman Odafa Okolie was only fit enough to make the bench. Mohun Bagan also started the game slowly and had to thank their stand-in captain and goalkeeper Shilton Paul for a making a couple of important saves early on.
But slowly Katsumi Yusa started to stamp his authority on the game as he hit the woodwork after a brilliant solo run. Predictably the Japanese set up the only goal of the game scored by Christopher Chizoba. Mohun Bagan showed great character to preserve their clean sheet in the second half but were guilty of squandering a number of golden opportunities. It didn’t prove costly as Mumbai were wasteful too but if Karim Bencherifa’s side want to end their trophy drought in this tournament they must kill teams off.
Results
Salgaocar 0-4 Shillong Lajong
Mohun Bagan 1-0 Mumbai FC
Best Performers
Foreigner: Katsumi Yusa (Mohun Bagan) – The Japanese was inspirational in the Federation Cup opener as he created plenty of goal scoring opportunities and turned out to be Mohun Bagan’s talisman in Odafa’s absence. Yusa set up the winner and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.
Indian: Beikhokhei Beingaichho (Bengaluru FC) – The former East Bengal midfielder has been consistent in the I-League and now has made an explosive start in the Federation Cup by bagging a match winning brace against Sporting Clube.
