Air Force devastated by half a dozen balls of red and yellow, East Bengal played a good practice match
East Bengal 6 (Hamid, Bipin, Anwar, Rashid, Sol, David) Indian Air Force 1 (Aman)
Sanchita Chatterjee, BS News Agency Kolkata: Air Force devastated by red and yellow balls. East Bengal went to the quarterfinals of the Durand Cup after winning the first 2 matches of the group easily. For them, the last match of the group against Indian Air Force at the Kishore Bharati Sports Complex on Sunday was just a matter of maintaining the rules. The red and yellow brigade played a good practice match before the possible derby match in the quarterfinals. They defeated Air Force 6-1 and completed a hat-trick of victories.
In the last match, Moroccan striker Hamid Ahdad gave East Bengal victory by scoring a goal against Namdhari. Perhaps that is why the red and yellow coach Oscar Brujon started the attack with Hamid at the forefront. Hamid lived up to that trust by scoring a goal in the 7th minute to put the team ahead. When Anwar's through ball from midfield came to Edmund Lalrindika on the right, he crossed the ball towards the goal, but Hamid sent it into the net with an impeccable header as it escaped the reach of Air Force goalkeeper Shubhajit Basu.
Hamid would have scored his and the team's second goal in the 13th minute if he had shown a little more care in taking the shot. After receiving Mahesh's through ball in front, Hamid lobbed the ball over the head of the Air Force goalkeeper and gently tapped it into the goal. Since the tap was not strong, he ran from behind and cleared the ball from the goal line, leaving Air Force's worried.
East Bengal continued to attack the opposition, then continuously, with the combined efforts of Miguel, Mahesh and Bipin. Somehow, the defense blocked the ball, and goalkeeper Shubhajit showed an unyielding attitude, preventing Air Force from conceding a second goal for 24 minutes. In the 25th minute, when the ball that Mahesh had turned around came to Bipin, he increased his speed and entered the opponent's box and scored with a corner kick to make it 2-0.
It is not impossible for Oscar Brujon's team to become complacent after leading by 2 goals. At his expense, the red and yellow unexpectedly conceded a goal in the 36th minute. Aman Khan headed a cross from Air Force's Jizo Geron from the right wing into the box without any obstacles, but it beat goalkeeper Prabhusukhan and hit the inside of the post. Just before the break, Miguel's free kick went wide of the opponent's post.
Despite maintaining the attacking pressure in the second half, the Air Force goalkeeper made several brilliant saves. Finally, in the 63rd minute, the resistance broke down when Miguel's corner was headed into the goal by Anoyo (3-1). After that goal, Coach Oscar made three changes to the team. Sol replaced Mahesh, David replaced Anwar, and Rashid replaced Hamid. Rashid scored in the 68th minute with a spectacular shot on his first touch. When the loose ball came out of the tangle of the Air Force box, Rashid beat goalkeeper Shubhajit with a dazzling shot from 30 yards (4-1). In the 85th minute, Edmund's cross was partially blocked by goalkeeper Shubhajit, and Sol Crespo sent the loose ball into the goal (5-1). In the first minute of the added time, David's goal made East Bengal's goal (6-1) complete.
Despite conceding 6 goals, the red and yellow crowd did not forget to thank the Indian Air Force after the match, remembering the contribution of Operation Sindoor in the fight at the Tifo in the gallery.
East Bengal: Prabhusukhan, Rakip, Anwar (David), Sibylle, Prabhat, Mahesh (Sol), Jackson, Miguel (Shouvik), Bipin (Vishnu), Lalrindika, Hamid (Rashid).