Sunil Chhetri hattrick sends Bengaluru FC to semi-final, beats NEROCA FC 3-1

By Rajarshi Chakrabarty

At 33, Sunil Chhetri is not quickest around as the wrong side of 30 starts to take away a yard or two of pace, the magic starts to fade away and younger quicker opponents beat you for a chase or close you down in a flash.

But the name is Sunil Chhetri, India and Bengaluru FC's talismanic skipper is showing no signs of slowing down as the striker hammered another hattrick in a big game against a tough and resolute NEROCA FC side in the Hero Super Cup quarter-final.

Chhetri showed his skills of being an elite poacher lurking at the right areas around the box, with his twinkling feet and pouring out his magic as he completed his hat-trick deep into the extra time with a swaggering show of force to take Bengaluru FC into the semi-final.

The first goal came in the 13th minute as Chhetri released Udata into open space down the right flank.Udanta delivered a whipping cross into the six-yard box as NEROCA FC keeper Lalit Thapa could only push it away but Chhetri was positioned perfectly between two defenders to bury the header into the back of the net.

NEROCA FC managed to restore parity and scored the important goal just at the stroke of halftime.Aryn Williams long ball from the freekick was not collected cleanly by Gurpreet and fell to Pritam Singh whose first shot bounced off the keeper but placed the ball into the goal in his second attempt to make it 1-1 in the stoppage time of first half.

Back in the second half, NEROCA threatened intermittently as Felix Odilli Chidi broke away into space during a couple of occasions but could not find the target.

It was Sunil Chhetri in the 55th minute showed his brilliant poaching skills as he timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap to find himself in a one-on-one with the goalkeeper and headed it down nicely to put it past Lait Thapa, as Bengaluru FC went 2-1 up.

NEROCA almost found their moment in the 79th minute, when Ashok Singh's cross found Chidi in the box but the striker failed to keep his header into the frame.

But the game belonged to Sunil Chhetri as showed his class and lethality as the 33-year-old still had the astute and hunger to make run into the box overcoming the tiredness and fatigue of playing in hot, humid conditions.

It was 94th minute on the clock and Chhetri still managed to get the run into the box as Toni Dovale laid it off for Chhetri into the box who shielded himself from the vision of the keeper behind his marker Gorimangi Singh to bury the ball at the back of the net.

3-1 to Bengaluru and Sunil Chhetri as the Bengaluru FC finds themselves at the business end of yet another tournament as they renew their rivalry with old foes Mohun Bagan in a mouth-watering semi-final encounter on 17th April 2018 at the Kalinga Stadium.

6 Red cards and 6 Goals, as FC Goa beat Jamshedpur FC 6-1 in a dramatic encounter.

By Rajarshi Chakrabarty

A bizarre quarter-final game saw 3 players from each team being red carded at halftime as FC Goa beat Jamshedpur FC 5-1 to make it the Super Cup semi-final.

Goals from Brandon Fernandes (34’), Ferran Corominas (P – 69’), Manvir Singh (77’), Hugo Boumous (78’; 89’) saw FC Goa thrash Jamshedpur FC as Ashim Biswas managed to pull one back for Jamshedpur FC deep into the injury time (90+2').

Goa led 1-0 at the halftime with a 34-minute strike from Brandon Fernandes going into the break.But a clash between the players of both sides at half time saw 3 players from each team were shown red card. Subrata  Paul, Belfort and Anas Edathodika were sent off from Jamshedpur’s end, Fernandes, Sergio Juste and Bruno Pinheiro were red carded for FC Goa.

The six red cards changed the tactical shape of both teams as more space on the pitch was well exploited by FC Goa passing and possession football as they adapted well to the downsized formation.

Corominas has been the top marksman for FC Goa and the Spaniard scored on 69th minute from a penalty after being brought down into the box by Memo.

With a 2-0 lead, FC Goa started to play with flair and freedom as Jamshedpur FC's eulogy was being scripted by then as Manvir Singh added a third in the 77th minute.

With the match rolling into the final 10 minutes, Hugo Boumous strike twice within few minutes(78’; 89’) with the first coming off a brilliant forward run and unleashing a powerful left-footer to score his first.His second came in the 89th minute as the Moroccan neatly tucked a low cross from Edu Bedia to complete pegging the final nail in Jamshedpur FC' s coffin.

Ashim Biswas managed to grab a consolation goal right at the end(90+2') with a composed finish as the match ended without any further drama with Jamshedpur FC's 5-1 annihilation.

FC Goa will now take on Kolkata giants East Bengal in the semi-final with a depleted side as three key players would miss out due to suspension in the crunch game.

Mailson Alves double header hands Chennaiyin FC 2018 ISL title beating Bengaluru FC 3-2.

The odds were stacked against Chennaiyin FC, as they faced a marauding Bengaluru FC in their own fortress at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in the ISL final in a battle worthy of a summit clash for the ISL glory. Chennaiyin FC raided the fortress with brilliant attacking prowess as they handed a crushing 3-2 defeat to the Blues to end their 10 games unbeaten run to be crowned as the 2018 ISL Champions.

Goals from Mailson Alves(17',45') and Raphael Augusto(67') sent Bengaluru FC to an excruciating defeat in front of their raucous home support to hand Chennaiyin FC their second ISL glory on Saturday night with Mailson emerging as the hero for Chennaiyin FC with two thumping headed goals.

For Chennaiyin FC it ended as often it does with the smiling and fist-thumping team photos amidst eruption of confetti as John Greggory's side came from a goal down from Sunil Chhetri's diving header on the 9th minute to vanquish a memorable 3-2 win.

Bengaluru FC looked to stamp their dominance in their game as they came out all guns blazing in their 3-4-3 formation as the fullbacks overlapping from both sides kept Chennaiyin FC holed up in their own half in the first quarter of the game. Talismanic skipper Sunil Chhetri put Bengaluru FC ahead as his diving header from Udanata's cross found the back of the net on 9th minute but the lead was shortlived as Mailson Alves's towering header from Gregory Nelson's corner to restore the parity at 1-1 on the 17th minute.

The Blues were again found-out wanting to defend from the dead ball situation as Mailson scored his second header of the night rising above his marker John Johnson from Nelson's corner to give Chennaiyin FC a crucial 2-1 lead going into the halftime with another thumping header leaving Gurpreet Singh no chance to save it from crashing to the back of the net.

Back in the second half as Bengaluru FC came out attacking but Chennaiyin FC maintained a compact defensive formation and used Bengaluru's high line of attack to score their third goal on 67th minute as Jeje found himself with space in the box and managed to hold off his markers to play it back to Raphael Augusto on the edge of the box.The Brazilian set himself up with a good first touch to unleash a spiffing right-footed curler past Gurpreet Singh to give Chennaiyin FC 3-1 lead in the summit clash in the 67th minute.

With a 3-1 lead, Chennaiyin FC got the breathing space and played with composure as Bengaluru FC desperate for an inroad kept knocking the Chennaiyin FC defense.Sunil Chhetri once again came close to put Bengaluru FC back in the game on the 72nd minute as his header from Perez's corner destined for the goal was saved by Karanjit Singh.
John Johnson came close to scoring with a header from point-blank range as Miku's cross found him right in front of the goal but Inigo Calderon's crucial touch deflected the ball enough to prevent John Johnson from scoring.

The best chance of the second half fell to Sunil Chhetri on the 86th minute as Miku powered himself into the box from the right and his cut-back found Sunil Chhetri with the wide open goal in front of him but Chhetri blazed his shot over the goal to sum-up a disastrous night for the Blues.

Deep into the injury time, Miku managed to pull one back for Bengaluru to make it 3-2 on the 92nd minute from Udanta's cross but it was the proverbial too little too late, as clocked ticked by and Chennaiyin FC was sent into a rapturous  celebration with the referees' final whistle to stamp a 3-2 win to be crowned as the winners of ISL 2018 Champions.

MATCH AWARDS:

Club Award: Chennaiyin FC

Swift Limitless Player: Raphael Augusto

DHL Winning Pass of the Match: Gregory Nelson

Amul Fittest Player: Sunil Chhetri

Emerging Player: Jerry Lalrinzuala

Hero of the Match: Mailson Alves

Bengaluru FC leaves it late to beat Kerala Blasters 2-0 to win the Southern Derby

ISL League leaders Bengaluru FC maintained their domination as they beat Kerala Blasters FC with two late goals from Miku(91')and Udanta Singh(93') at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Friday.
Bengaluru started the domination from the start as Sunil Chhetri unleashed a powerful left-footed shot from 30 yards out to miss the target narrowly past diving Paul Rachubka to test Kerala goalkeeper early in the game.
Kerala had their first real opportunity in the 13th minute when Arata Izumi released Jackichand Singh with a long ball on the left flank.Jackichand cut back nicely and to deliver a grounded cross but CK Vineeth failed to make any connection with the ball.
As Bengaluru FC kept the Kerala defense under the pressure, Nishu Kumar found himself in a good scoring position after collecting the loose ball from Sunil's blocked shot as Kerala defenders put bodies in the line.But the left-back failed to connect properly and blazed the shot wide of the target.
Boithang Haokip's volley on 43rd minute had venom in it but it was headed straight to the keeper as Bengaluru kept mounting the pressure on the Kerala defense.
Miku found himself in space in the additional time of the first half but an alert Kerala defense averted the danger as Sandesh Jhingan's timely interception dispossessed the striker.
Both sides went into the break at 0-0.
Back in the second half, the first real chance fell to Udanta Singh as a weak clearance from Sandesh Jhinghan was picked up by Toni Dovale and delivered a measured cross into the box found Udanta sneaking into the box unmarked.But the Manipuri lad failed to direct the header onto the goal and headed it wide as Bengaluru FC looked desperately for an opening goal in front of their home fans.
Miku had an opportunity to score in the 88th minute as the Venezuelan forward found himself with space down the right flank and charged into the box but pulled his narrowly wide of the far post.
The striker was presented with a similar opportunity just three minutes later as Daniel Segovia played it onto Miku and the forward made adjustment to his previous shot to work his angles right as he finished it off brilliantly with a diagonal shot to give Bengaluru FC 1-0 lead on the 91st minute.
Bengaluru FC did not allow Kerala Blasters to regroup as they struck within 2 minutes from a brilliant strike off Udanta Singh who collected the pass from Delgado Dimas on the edge of the box and was presented with space as Lalruatthara did not press Udanta.Udanta unleashed a brilliant left-footed shot at the bottom right corner to beat the keeper as Kerala found themselves 2-0 down within 3 minutes of added time.
Bengaluru FC scripted an important win beating Kerala Blasters to win the bragging rights in the Southern Derby as they sit comfortably on the top of the table having amassed 40 points.

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