By IANS
New Delhi : Mahindra United of Mumbai will face Goa’s Salgaocar in the semi-final of the 120th Osian’s Durand Cup football tournament here Monday.
In the quarterfinals at the Ambedkar Stadium, Mahindra defeated Sporting Clube de Goa 5-3 by tie-breaker while Salgaocar scrapped past JCT 2-1 here Sunday.
JCT were apparently the better team but were stunned by Salgaocar, who have been newly promoted to the top division. The Goan outfit took a 2-0 lead in the first half.
Salgaocar’s Anil Kumar scored the first goal in the seventh minute from a clever cross from Nigerian Felix Chimakwu. The Nigerian forward made a solo run into the box but failed to get past the defenders and from the edge of the baseline passed the ball to an unmarked Anil, who slammed past goalkeeper Karanjit Singh.
After conceding the goal, JCT ramped up their attack with India striker Sunil Chettri and Brazilian Eduardo Esacobar making regular forays into the Salgaocar defence.
Salgaocar doubled their lead in the 31st minute when Shylo Malswamtluanga, who was discarded by East Bengal in the last season, received a through pass from the centre half and unleashed his right footer from the edge of the box. The ball hit the cross bar and rolled into the net as the JCT defenders looked on.
Chettri managed to pull one back in the injury time of the first half but his efforts were not enough to help JCT book a semi-final berth. Chettri headed in from close range after he was set-up by a corner kick from Baljit Saini.
Earlier in the day, N.P. Pradeep, Manjit Singh, Harpreet Singh, Mohammed Rafi and Ghanian Yusif Yakubu were on target for the Mahindra in the tiebreaker against Sporting.
For Sporting, Kenyan Bonface Ambani, Micky Fernandes and Bibiano Fernandes scored while Samananda Singh missed and the Goan team was knocked of the third oldest tournament of the world.
It was a lacklustre performance from both the teams as 120 minutes of the play no result was produced. The match saw flayed tempers from both sides as the teams played some rough football.
Sporting had the first chance at a goal in the 21st minute, when Nigerian Olashula Ogundare missed a header from a precise Denzil Franco’s cross.
In the few next minutes, Mahindra had close chance when Yuisf Yakubu’s scorching right footer was saved by Sporting goalie Luis Barretto.
Ogundare missed another chance from close quarters when he had an open net but shot it wide.
Teams:
Match I:
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
Match II:
JCT: Karanjit Singh (goalkeeper), Baldeep Singh, Julius Irabor Akpele, Gurwinder Singh, Daljit Singh, Baljit Sahni, Marcos Pereira, Eduardo Escobar, Jaswinder Singh, Sunil Kumar
Salgaocar: Marcus Basumatari (goalkeeper), Nicolas Colaco, Remus Gomes, Biju Kumar, Nicholas Rodrigues, Rocus Lamare, Shylo Malswamtluanga, Jerose Oliveira, Felix Chimaokwu, Anil Kumar
Referee: Mohammed Kamil