33rd Federation Cup: Salgaocar's are champions!!!

Salgaocar Sports Club are the champions of the 33rd Federation Cup. In the final played tonight at Kolkata's Saltlake Stadium the Goans beat defending champions East Bengal Club 3-1 in a good match of football.

Both coaches took a gamble with their starting eleven making numerous changes. Salgaocar coach Karim Bencharifa brought on Elijah Obagbemiro Junior in place of Ryuji Sueoka as well as Ishfaq Ahmed for Gilbert Oliveira and Tomba Singh for Mehrajuddin Wadoo. His East Bengal counterpart Trevor Morgan benched Tolgay Ozbey to bring in Penn Orji like Raju Gaikwad for Nirmal Chetri; but the big surprise was the return of midfielder Mehtab Hossain, who had to walk off in the first few minutes as the gamble did not pay off.

Salgaocar made a perfect start into the game as striker Chidi Edeh gave them a 5th minute lead through a header. Thereafter an open game developed, but Francis Fernandes shocked the home side with Salgaocar's second goal in the 18th minute when he beat Soumik Dey on the right wing, his first-time shot is blocked by Sandip Nandy but Francis scores of the rebound. East Bengal reduced the deficit in the 26th minute when referee Santosh Singh gave them a penalty after Luciano Sabrosa brought down Penn Orji. Once more Alan Gow stepped-up and send Karanjit Singh the other way. The longer the first session lasted the more the red-and-gold took control of the match and in the last 10 minutes they put Salgaocar under sustained pressure. A good first session ended 2-1 in favour of Salgaocar.

After the break East Bengal continued to attack the Salgaocar goal, while Salgaocar relied on counter-attacks. The red-and-gold did create some chances but Salgaocar under the able guidance from Luciano Sabrosa was able to avert the danger. Salgaocar sealed the match in the 66th minute through a strike from substitute Ryuji Sueoka following a Chidi Edeh shot was blocked by Sandip Nandy, but once again the East Bengal keepers block went to an opponent teams player for a goal. After the third goal East Bengal looked out of ideas to get back into the game as Salgaocar coolly played out the remainder of the match to be crowned deserving champions of the 33rd Federation Cup.

After the final whistle it was party time for Salgaocar's as the players and officials celebrated their success. The club captain Luciano Sabrosa then received the winners check of Rs 2,5 Million (25 lakhs) from the AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das.

With Salgaocar SC already qualified for Asia as the I-League champions, the AFC Cup spot went automatically to East Bengal for reaching the Fed Cup finals.


MATCH STATS

Salgaocar SC 3-1 (2-1) East Bengal Club
Goals: 1-0 Chidi Edeh (5'), 2-0 Francis Fernandes ('), 2-1 Alan Gow (26' pen), 3-1 Ryuji Sueoka (66')

SALGAOCAR SC
1-Karanjit Singh; 2-Jaspal Singh Parmar, 20-Luciano Sabrosa [C], 4-Irungbam Khelemba Singh, 14-Biswajit Saha (90+5' 23-Rahul Kumar); 30-Francis Fernandes, 7-W. Tomba Singh, 25-Rocus Lamare, 15-Ishfaq Ahmed (60' 37-Gilbert Oliveira); 10-Chidi Edeh, 28-Elijah Obagbemiro Junior (61' 11-Ryuji Sueoka)

EAST BENGAL CLUB
24-Sandip Nandy; 8-Thokchom Naoba Singh (68' 11-Khanthang Paite), 2-Raju Eknath Gaikwad, 4-Uga Okpara, 29-Soumik Dey; 12-Reisangmi Vashum, 14-Mehtab Hossain [C] (15-Sanju Pradhan), 7-Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Penn Ikechukwu Orji (58' 20-Tolgay Ozbey); 10-Alan Gow, 23-Robin Singh

REFEREE
M.V. Santosh Kumar (Kerala)