Chennaiyin FC qualify for knockouts after defeating Tribhuvan Army
Chennaiyin FC beat Tribhuvan Army FC 3-0 in a Group E fixture which was played at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium.
Farukh Choudhary opened the score for Chennaiyin while Rahim Ali doubled their lead through a penalty and Rafael Crivellaro completed the scoring. Chennaiyin FC has six points from two matches and takes the top spot and the automatic qualification place in the knockouts.
First-Half
Chennaiyin FC pressed hard from the start, giving no time for the Tribhuvan Army FT to settle and dominate the possession.
They could have scored inside the first ten minutes with Connor Shields setting up Farukh Choudhary but the latter’s effort went above the crossbar.
Connor Shields missed a chance from the very next move. Wing Backs Aakash Sangwan and K. Ajith Kumar were playing high up the field and swinging in good-quality crosses.
The Marina Machans broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute from a good combination move by Connor Shields and Farukh Choudhary. Farukh converted the cutback from Shields past Nepal goalkeeper Bikesh Kuthu.
Chennai continued to keep possession and attack the Tribhuvan box continuously. Jordan Murray was fouled inside the penalty area by midfielder Sudil Rai, awarding a penalty for Chennaiyin, the penalty was converted by Rahim Ali giving a two-goal advantage to the Marina Machans.
The best chance in the half for Tribhuvan Army came late into the half as Basant Jimba caught goalkeeper Debjit Majumder out of position, but his chipped attempt went wide.
Second-Half
Chennaiyin continued to play in the same way as Owen Coyle brought in the changes to freshen up the lineup.
Their high pressing forced mistakes out of Tribhuvan’s side as the Machans looked to increase the score line.
The best chance of the half came for the Nepal side as their captain Nawayug Shrestha forced Debajit Majumder to a good save.
The Brazilian side did a good job by not conceding in the second half but their resilience was broken in the 84th minute.
Brazilian Rafael Crivellaro applied the finishing touches to score the third goal for the side from Chennai and confirmed their place in the knockouts.
Bengaluru FC shares points with Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force Football Team pulled off an upset, holding champions Bengaluru FC to a 1-1 draw to earn their first point in the 132nd IndianOil Durand Cup.
Vivek Kumar put the Air Men ahead in the first-half after a defensive error, only for Salam Johnson Singh to draw level in the second-half.
This was Bengaluru FC’s first game in Group C, while the Indian Air Force FT will have one more to go, after having lost the first to Gokulam Kerala, who currently top the group.
First-Half
The match begins with both sides making half-hearted attempts at goal and trying more to settle down initially.
The goal came at the 20-minute mark out of nowhere. Md. Aqib was who on the overlap on the left wing, put in a harmless-looking cross in no man’s land between Bengaluru FC captain and centre-back Parag Shrivas and keeper Sahil.
Parag tracking back wanted to first control the ball and in doing so tumbled awkwardly over it and laid it onto the path of Vivek Kumar, while also wrong-footing Sahil all in one fatal tumble. Vivek needed no second invitation and drilled it into an open net.
Six minutes later a cross from Mohammad Danish almost made it a second for Vivek and this time it was meant for him and he did take it away from Sahil, but hit over the target.
Second-Half
The Indian Air Force took the one-goal lead into the break but the champions, who had been working very hard, drew parity just a minute ahead of the hour mark.
Harsh Patre, who had been very impressive in the game got hold of the ball in the middle of the box and twisted and turned in between a couple of defenders to find Salam Johnson Singh clear to his right.
In the 69th minute, Bibiano made a triple substitution as Shreyas Ketkar, Ashish Jha and Thokchom Singh were replaced with Lalpekhlua, Fanai and Ricky Meetei. The search for a winner was on it seemed.
Robin Yadav had the best chance of clinching it for the champions, when he followed an Edmund free-kick beautifully at the far post, but his head from hand-shaking distance found Air Force keeper Dinesh’s glove, struck the left upright and went out for a corner.
Bengaluru FC had the lion’s share of possession in the game and also 14 shots at goal to their opponent’s six, with six of those shots on target, but despite seven minutes added on in the end, the deadlock could not be broken.
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