“If we can’t tiki-taka, we’ll tiki-long, taka-goal”
Albert Roca’s words rang true throughout the game as Bengaluru FC mixed up their passing rhythm to utterly decimate Shillong. Playing in pink to express their solidarity with women, and the women empowerment movement that our nation so desperately requires, they had a message of an altogether more ruthless tune to send out on the pitch.
Udanta Singh welcomed himself back into the Blues’ starting XI with a brace gave the defending champions a comfortable win in a display that has laid out the marker for all their competitors – “if you want to beat us, you are going to have to up your game several notches”
The match started off in scrappy fashion – this being the first match of the season for both teams, that didn't come off as much a surprise. Bengaluru were pressing high, and hard, from the go and as Roca promised, trying to stay true to his ‘project’ as he calls it, of imbibing a short-passing culture in the team. It was with the tiki-“long” bit though that their first real chance materialised.
The ball was played long by the impressive Sena Ralte and after a neat little bit of interplay between Daniel Lalhimpuia and Udanta Singh the latter was played into the box. A great tackle from Sena Singh put paid to that move, but Bengaluru kept on keeping on.
Daniel was at the heart of everything good, linking up well with Udanta on the right, Eugeneson Lyngdoh just behind him, and Sunil Chhetri on the left (there was a moment of magic when a couple of one-touch passes were interchanged before Chhetri was bullied off the ball, fairly, by Dan Ignat) – but there was no end result to show for it.
This combination of long-passing and shorter ball retentive passing enabled Bengaluru to control the tempo of the game, and with John Johnson and Juanan covering everything Shillong had to throw at them, and then some, it was not long before the inevitable happened. All that pressure was bound to tell.
In the 25th minute, Lyngdoh swung in a delicious little corner that Udanta almost converted from with a spectacular bicycle kick. But the striker was to get his just reward a few seconds later, as Daniel recovered the ball and put it into the box – catalysing a goalmouth scramble that had the entire Shillong defence scrambling. With Vishal Kaith unable to hold on to the bouncing ball, Udanta was left with the simple task of hammering it in from all of three yards
What followed was a display of some stunning goalkeeping from Vishal and strangely inept finishing from Lyngdoh. The Bengaluru midfield general missed out on scoring from less than six yards on two occasions – both times thwarted by the excellent reflexes of Vishal. On the second occasion, Sunil Chhetri curled in the rebound off the far post – Bengaluru could not have come closer without actually scoring!
The match meanwhile was getting feistier as the air in Bengaluru grew chillier – Dan Ignat was left sprawling on the ground by a particularly forceful John Johnson challenge, while an awful, mistimed, tackle from Lyngdoh had Yuta Kinowaki remembering his ancestors – such was the pain reflected in the primal yelp of pain that he let out.
Meanwhile, Daniel continued to be at the hub of some superb tiki-taka-esque stuff at the business end of the pitch, A better touch from Daniel and BFC might have had a second in the 40th minute – the one-touch passing from Lyngdoh and Chhetri to set him up was a sight to behold.
The second half started in much the same vein with Sena Ralte’s powerful driving run creating havoc down the Shillong right – BFC’s new left back had the presence of mind to pull it back to a free Lyngdoh in the box, but the midfielder was in a rare mood the whole day – and encapsulated his struggles by connecting with nothing other than thin air with a wild swipe.
Great players, though, stick true to themselves when under the cosh, and just after the hour mark he showed just what he is capable of. A dink pass to release Udanta had forced Vishal to make a spectacular save, but Udanta was not to be denied his brace when another lovely little Lyngdoh ball put him through.
From then on, though, it was all Eugene. A superb touch had Tamang scrambling to put out the wrong fire, and enabled him to cut inside from where he struck a powerful volley that Vishal had no chance in hell of stopping.
Daniel went close to grabbing a third on the 75th-minute mark, but once again Vishal pulled off a stunning save from unbelievably close in – neither Daniel, nor any of the 10,100 faithful gathered in the Sri Kanteerava could quite believe how the Shillong keeper had pulled that off.
He had no chance with what came next, though. Sena Ralte got a well earned piggy-back ride on his Captain’s back after scoring perhaps the goal of the game. Capitalising on a lose header from Ignat on the 80-minute mark, Ralte unleashed a hell-seeker of a volley that arrowed into the back of the net with thumping certainty.
Shillong, meanwhile, were just not – and how do I put this politely – good enough.. except for a last minute chance when Ignat smashed a volley at Amrinder from close range (of a corner) they simply didn’t trouble the Bengaluru custodian one bit! On the day Bengaluru was simply in a league of their own and thoroughly deserved the thumping victory,
