A dozen years of waiting is finally over and the Red-and-Gold cabinet, unchanged for 12 long years, has found a new jewel to add. However, claiming it from the home of the defending champions proved to be a tough task as Carles Cuadrat’s men needed 120 minutes to carve out a 3-2 win over
Odisha FC
in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
The summit clash at Kalinga Stadium lived up to its billing with four goals scored in regulation time, two red cards shown and the winner finally coming from the poaching finesse of
East Bengal
skipper Cleiton Silva in the 110th minute.
The intent to end the trophy draught was clear as Cuadrat’s men began attacking from the word go from both the flanks. However, the first scoring chance of the final came to the hosts in the 15th minute from a dominant Roy Krishna run on the counter that Diego Mauricio failed to tap in.
Lalthuammawia Ralte made two successive brilliant saves in the 32nd minute – first from a Jose Antonio Lucas free-kick and then from a Siverio header after a Cleiton set piece.
But Mauricio finally found his scoring touch with Jahouh finally getting to take the set piece. The long kick impeccably found Krishna inside the box who managed to send it to the Brazilian, despite a weak first touch, and Mauricio swirled in his shot through the right corner as a helpless East Bengal custodian, Prabhsukhan Gill, left standing at the other end.
East Bengal started the second half in the way they did the first – with confidence and vigour. And they were rewarded soon after when Naorem Mahesh Singh made a pacey, piercing run from midfield in the 51st minute and sent a perfect cross to Nandha Kumar upfront who executed it brilliantly into the Odisha goal for the crucial equaliser.
As Cuadrat’s team kept making speedy inroads and threatening the Odisha defence, the hosts tried to slow the game down in a bid to regain control. However, it also led to a couple of errors from the Odisha backline led by Mourtada Fall.
It was a tackle by Fall on Crespo inside the box in the 60th minute that made the referee point to the spot although replays showed no contact between the players at the time of the Spaniard’s fall. But the midfield talisman did not let the opportunity go amiss as he sent Ralte the other way with his composed spot kick two minutes later.
Falling behind in their title defence, Odisha tried to put on the weapons on the line and the desperation added to their woes as Senegalese Fall was shown a second yellow card of the game for an aerial collision with Crespo just six minutes later.
A depleted Odisha kept trying to get into the attacking mode, while knowing that another slip-up could end the contest. The optimism showed with Amay Ranawade hitting the woodwork in the 80th minute.
But it was not until the seventh minute of injury time that the home crowd’s prayers were answered as a foul by Gill on Mauricio earned them a penalty and Jahouh deceived the young East Bengal custodian with a perfectly executed panenka.
The extra time, too, had its opening drama as Souvik Chakrabarti was sent off for a second yellow card in the 97th minute.
With the match back on level terms, it looked to be anyone’s game till the otherwise efficient Ralte made the mistake of sending the ball across the box and letting East Bengal with the chance to pounce on the loose ball and send it in for a historic triumph.
English (US) ·