Nov 06: Odafe helps Churchill to ground Air India in a pulsating encounter to enter Durand finals
Churchill Brothers twice came from behind to snatch a 3-2 win over spirited Air India in a pulsating match to set up title clash with Mahindra United, which got the better off Salgaocar SC 4-2 once again via tie-breaker in the semi-finals of the Osian’s 120th Durand Cup played at the Ambedkar stadium here on Monday.
The final will be again a Mumbai- Goa affair after both the semifinals, 2002 runners-up Churchill Brothers, Goa will be up against two-time champions Mumbai’s Mahindra United to settle their scores of their last defeat when they met in the final of Durand Cup-2002.
In the first semi-final, Churchill Brothers, Goa conceded a goal on two occasions and then bounced back through their Nigerian recruit Odafe Okolic to seal the place for the final. Air India got into lead 1-0 in the 7th minute when Narendra Meetei scored with a fine angular header on to the far end of the goal on Nirmal Chettri’s free-kick.
Churchill found the equaliser eleven minutes later through Gourimangi Singh on Odafe’s free-kick. Gourimangi rushed through the defense and chested the aerial ball into the net.
In an action packed match both the teams tried their hard to outplay each other. Air India attack brought a lot of pace in the first half of the match but their defenders could not be able to control Churchill’s Nigerian hurricane Odafe as he breached past rival defence on many occasions.
Odafe was instrumental in both the parity goals scored by his teammates while he slotted home the decider in the 81st minute to clinch the victory for his team.
Air India surged ahead second time in the match in the 27th minute through Santosh Koli. He produced a fine diving header after Bashiru Abbas headed him back a fine ball from the zero angle on Nepoleon Singh’s free-kick from the right flank.
Churchill was never under pressure of conceding a goal as they continued with their attacking ploy but the only thing they did in the first half was to substitute their custodian Vinay Singh with Lalit Thapa, fifteen minutes before half-time.
Odafe once again bailed out Churchill to restore parity in the 35th minute when he dodged past three defenders inside the box and passed the ball to Mboyo Iyomi who netted it in. Both the teams were locked 2-2 in a very rapid first half.
Irrespective of the former part the latter part was slowed down as both the teams relied on counter attacks. Air India got unlucky to get into the lead again as Dhanchandra Singh header came off the post into the four minutes of second half and on rebound Bashiru’s head landed in the hands of goalkeeper.
After all the inspiring and perspiring efforts made by Air India players fate has something different in store as Odafe once again came to the fore dodging past Dhanchandra Singh and advancing goalkeeper Raju Ekka to slam the winning goal nine minutes before the final whistle sealing the fate of the opponents.
Later in the evening, two times Durand champion Mahindra United prevailed over Salgoacar SC through tie-breaker after both the teams ended goalless in the insipid 120 minutes game leading it to the penalty shoot out.
Mahindra again was lucky to get away 4-2 in the tie-breaker against Salgaocar after notching up quarter-final win in the same manner on Sunday. It’s been hard on Mahindra players as they played two back-to-back hard matches. The matches will certainly toiling hard on Mahindra players since the result of both the matches decided in the penalties.
In the tie-breaker, Salgaocar’s captain Rocus Lamare unleashed a skier in the first penalty. Following him star midfielder Shylo Malswamtlunga enacted the fourth penalty in the same manner. In between, Felix Chimaokwo and Joe Rodrigues scored.
While Mahindra’s Yakubu, Harpreet Singh, Douhou Sey Djidja Pierre and Sunil Kumar successfully found the net to romp home.
Mahindra united will take on Churchill Brothers in the finals on Wednesday.
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