By IANS
New Delhi : Twice champions Mahindra United of Mumbai booked a semi-final berth in the quarter-finals of the 120th Osian’s Durand Cup football tournament here Sunday, scraping past Sporting Clube de Goa 5-3 via a penalty shootout.
Both teams failed to score in the regulation 90 minutes and the half-hour extension at the Ambedkar Stadium.
N.P. Pradeep, Manjit Singh, Harpreet Singh, Mohammed Rafi and Yusif Yakubu were on target for the Mumbai team.
Bonface Ambani, Micky Fernandes and Bibiano Fernandes scored but Samananda Singh’s shot crashed into the woodwork as the Goans were knocked out of the third oldest football tournament in the world.
The match appeared to be a replay of the September’s Federation Cup quarter-final, where the Mumbai side had advanced courtesy the heroic efforts of substitute goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury.
The stand-in goalkeeper was again in business Sunday when his frustrating antics under the bar during the shootout did the trick as Samananda’s miss saw Mahindra through to the last four.
It was an insipid performance from both teams and the stalemate continued even after 120 minutes of play. The match would be remembered more for frayed tempers as both the teams played a pretty rough game.
Sporting had the first shot at the goal in the 21st minute, when Nigerian Olashula Ogundare missed a header from a precise Denzil Franco cross.
Mahindra tried to hit back immediately but Yakubu’s scorching right footer was saved by Sporting goalkeeper Luis Barretto.
Ogundare missed another chance late in the regulation period when he shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
Teams:
Mahindra United: Sandip Nandy (goalkeeper), Sushant Matthew, Mohammed Rafi, N.P. Pradeep, Harpreet Singh, Gautam Debnath, Sukhwinder Singh, Steven Dias, Ajayan Nair, Yusif Yakubu, Djidja Pierre
Sporting Clube de Goa: Luis Barreto, Harmanjot Khabra, N. Singh, Felip Gomes, Micky Fernandes, Wilton Gomes, Joesph Pereira, Olushola Ogundare, Denzil Franco, Mathew Gonsalves, Eze Isiocha
Referee: Deepak Singh