East Bengal enters semifinals

MUMBAI, JAN. 3. In a high-scoring match, soccer giant Kingfisher East Bengal defeated Zee Churchill Brothers 5-4 to enter the semifinals of the 100th Rovers Cup football championship at the Cooperage here on Wednesday.

East Bengal's entry into the semifinals was almost certain as the previous match between Mahindra United and Jagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills (JCT), Phagwara ended in a 1-1 draw.

The East Bengal-Churchill match, which was the highest scoring encounter of the tournament, was a pleasure to watch as goals started pouring in from the seventh minute. Dipankar Roy received Ilhom Sharipov's pass and pushed the ball into the net with his right foot to give East Bengal an early lead.

Within five minutes, Surkumar Singh's shot bounced unevenly just in front of Churchill goalkeeper Edward Ansah and the ball went straight into the net.

The third goal was a surprise one for the Bengal team. Churchill defender Jaspreet Singh, while trying to clear the ball, missed it and East Bengal striker Shrikanta Datta, who was well-placed in the penalty area, gently headed the ball into the net.

Churchill was stunned by this goal but it had only itself to blame as it lacked in defence coordination.

Churchill, however, found the first goal in the 28th minute when one of its foreign recruits, Igor Shkurim, headed the ball to East Bengal goalkeeper, who could not collect it clearly.

Francis Silveira, who was positioned next to him, lobbed the ball to Jose Colaso, who promptly put it between the two bars.

East Bengal scored its fourth and Shrikanta Datta his second when he received a well-created pass from Olim Talliaev to put it across the keeper.

Churchill managed to reduce the margin in the 43rd minute when Andre Reqena scored its second goal after receiving a pass from Shkurim.

Churchill further reduced the margin to 3-4 when Shkurim received a pass from Silveira and hit a powerful kick into the East Bengal goal in the 56th minute.

But, East Bengal succeeded in scoring its fifth goal soon after. This time Talliaev took the ball almost from the centre line, dribbled it past the Churchill defenders, forced Ansah to come out and scored the goal through a brilliant solo effort.

Churchill, however, found the first goal in 28th minute when one of its foreign recruits Igor Shkurim headed the ball to East Bengal goalkeeper, who could not collect it clearly.

Francis Silveira, who was positioned next to him, lobbed the ball to Jose Colaso, who promptly put it between the two bars.

East Bengal again scored its fourth and Shrikanta Datta his second when he received a well-created pass from Olim Talliaev to put it across the keeper.

Churchill, however, managed to reduce the margin in the 43rd minute when Andre Reqena scored after receiving the pass from Igor Shkurim.

After the break, Churchill reduced the margin to 3-4 when Igor Shkurim received the pass from Francis Silveira and hit a powerful kick into the East Bengal goal in the 56th minute.

But, East Bengal succeeded in scoring the fifth goal soon after. This time Olim Talliaev was the man who took the ball almost from the centre line, dribbled it past Churchill defenders, forced Ansah to come out and scored the goal through a brilliant solo.

After this goal, Churchill looked a bit tensed but somehow managed to keep its cool. This helped it in further reducing the difference when Jose Colaso gave pass to Shkurim, who gave a return pass to Colaso only to find Colaso putting the ball into the net in the 75th minute.

Colaso's goal helped Churchill regain its touch and it tried its best to equalise but the time and East Bengal defence didn't it to do so.

The other match between local outfit Mahindra United and JCT ended in a 1-1 draw. Mahindra took early lead in the sixth minute when its striker Manjit Singh scored an easy goal from outside the penalty area.

JCT bounced back into the game through a goal in the 20th minute. Its captain Ram Pal gave a forward pass to advancing Jaswant Singh, who put the ball into the goal. Barring the two goals, the entire match turned out to be an uninteresting one.

- PTI

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