FC Goa sealed a spot in the final of the Durand Cup after beating Bengaluru FC 7-6 in sudden-death in the second semifinal at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday. The teams were locked 2-2 after regulation time and tied 4-4 after the tie breakers.
After both sides saw one of their attempts saved during the first five attempts in penalty shoot-outs, the deadlock was broken when Goa goalkeeper Naveen Kumar stopped Damaitphang Lyngdoh’s shot after midfielder Christy Davis had made it 7-6 for Goa in the sudden-death.
Quick strike
Bengaluru took charge early and altered the score-line in the very first minute of the action (42 seconds) when N. Sivasakthi checkmated Naveen Kumar with a clever interception. The Bengaluru forward quickly read a back-pass from Goa defender Papuia and charged up to Naveen to block his forward pass and send the ball rolling into the net.
Goa, which fielded three Spanish players including captain Edu Bedia, was stirred by the setback and regrouped to find the equaliser in the eighth minute. Devendra Murgaokar nodded home as Muhammed Nemil reached him unmarked with a nice cross following a corner.
Goa went into the lead in the 72nd minute when Redeem, who came in as a second half substitute, scored with a nice angular shot.
The Bengaluru boys were not ready to give up and found the equaliser in the 83rd minute when Sivasakthi showed his finishing skill again as he jumped above the Goa defenders to nod home a Namgyal Bhutia cross.
The result: FC Goa 2 (Devendra Murgaokar 8, Redeem Tlang 72) bt B FC 2 (N. Sivasakthi 1, 83) 7-6 in sudden-death .
