Kolkata defeated Goa 4-2 as Crespo produced a fine all-round display to defeat Ronaldinho’s Goa in an engaging encounter.
Ronaldinho almost produced the first goal of the game as he faked his opponent with a no-look pass that Rafael almost converted only for Cidao to produce the save.
But all of a sudden Goa found themselves two goals down in a matter of minutes. First Pula found the back of the net with his head after a deflected cross. Then, we had the first Indian goalscorer of the tournament as Goa found themselves in a 3 vs 1 situation and Crespo setup Mohammed Islam for a simple tap in.
Ronaldinho tried to spark some life into the Goan attack in the 2nd quarter. He tested Cidao with a neat drag-back flick but he was too close to the keeper with all his angles closed down and his back to goal.
Just after the restart, Goa got themselves back in the game. Rafael’s toe poke deflected off the goalkeeper in his attempt to save it and landed in the back of the net. The chance was created after a great pick out by Georgievsky.
But once again they found themselves two goals behind. From a free-kick, Carioca fooled the defence with a short pass to Crespo and his striker's instinct kicked in finishing with aplomb to make it 3-1
Goa hadn't given up on the game yet as Vampeta made it 3-2 before the end of the 3rd quarter. A slack pass from Pula deflected of Rafael into the path of the Brazil-born Italian who put into an open goal
Kolkata restored their two-goal cushion in the 4th quarter as luck was in their favour. As they went on the attack, a shot at goal ricocheted off Mohammed Ahtesham Ali and the ball rolled into the open net with the keeper in no-mans land.
Ronaldinho had a couple of chances after that to score but Kolkata held on for a 4-2 win.
