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.