Diamonds beat East Bengal to reach final, coach Kibu now sets eyes on Durand Trophy.
Sanchita Chattopadhyay, BS News Agency Kolkata: Diamond Harbour's historic victory over East Bengal in the Durand semi-final reminded me of the story of David and Goliath I read as a child. The shepherd boy David defeated the giant Goliath with a slingshot by sheer courage and intelligence. Compared to the East Bengal club, which has been around for over a century, the four-year-old Diamond Harbour club is nothing short of a child. Therefore, Diamond Harbour's victory over East Bengal to reach the Durand final is nothing less than a fairy tale.
As soon as the referee blew the final whistle, there was only a cry of disappointment in the red and yellow gallery of Yuba Bharati, the joy of winning the derby just two days ago disappeared, and in one corner of the gallery, the unbridled excitement of a handful of Diamond Harbour fans caught the eye. As soon as the victory was confirmed, the footballers burst into joy with Diamond Harbour coach Kibu Vicuna. He ran towards his supporters in the gallery and raised his hands. For a while, Kibu was also swept away by the tide of emotion along with his team's footballers and support staff. However, the team's diamond coach Kibu did not delay in quickly controlling himself and returning to normal behavior. He is the real diamond of the team.
Kibu was able to instill faith in the footballers, with the mantra of 'Nothing is impossible'. At the press conference the day before the match against East Bengal, Kibu said that nothing is impossible in football. No matter how far ahead East Bengal is in the books, even if they beat Mohun Bagan in the Sunday derby, they will not give up an inch of ground to the opposing team in the semi-finals without a fight. They proved that. As was heard in the voice of the German coach of Greece, Otto Rehgal. After Ronaldo, who was trained by Lui Philippe Scolari, defeated Portugal on their own field in the 2004 Euro Cup final.
I asked Diamond Harbour coach Kibu, Mohun Bagan won the I-League as a coach. Is it more satisfying to go to the Durand final after defeating a team like East Bengal this time? Without any hesitation, Kibu responded, 'Today I am very happy. A little too much. Because the tradition, power and strength of teams like Mohun Bagan or East Bengal are much greater. It is really very difficult to compete with them. Especially for a club like Diamond Harbour, who are only 4 years old. After losing by a big margin to Mohun Bagan, the way the team defeated Jamshedpur in the away match to reach the semi-finals built a sense of confidence inside before the East Bengal match. The match against East Bengal was a kind of away match for us. Because Bharati was their supporter in Yuva Bharti. Still, before the game, I did not give my footballers any chance to suffer from inferiority complex. Instead, I told them, what you have done so far is a lot. You have nothing new to prove. Don't go on the field to show anything extra. Show your normal game. Make sure that the mistakes that were made against Mohun Bagan are not repeated in the East Bengal match. And keep faith in yourself. In football, everything is possible, nothing is impossible. Go out on the field and show that. They did that. I just gave them some instructions. I changed the tactical game. But the real work was done by the footballers.’
Kibu proved once again that he is not a good coach, he is a gentleman. After the match, East Bengal coach Oscar Brujon came to the press conference and blamed the referee for the loss. According to him, both of Diamond’s goals were unfairly awarded. The first was a foul and the second was a handball offense, but the referee ignored it. East Bengal has been repeatedly victimized by the referee’s decision. When Kibu was asked about this, the Diamond Harbour coach said in a very calm voice, ‘Oscar is a very good friend of mine. I will not comment on what he said to the media. That would be against courtesy. I can only say that after the match, Oscar congratulated me sincerely for winning the match. During the handshake, he said that my team played well and won, and that we have reached the final as a worthy team.’
Kibu Vicuna highly praised Mikel Cortazar and Jobi’s goals. He said, "Mikel not only played great defense, but his spectacular goal inspired the entire team. Even though East Bengal conceded a goal within a minute due to a moment of carelessness, the footballers did not give up the fight. They kept their shape and discipline and jumped for the second goal. Jobi's timely goal brought the victory." Kibu said today that the role of the midfield and defenders is no less for the victory. His instructions were to block Bipin, Edmund, Diamantakos, Miguel and Mahesh. So that they never get empty space in front to run or extend the through pass. His footballers followed this to the letter.
Now North East United is in the final. Their team has a goal scorer like Aladin Azar. How confident are you about defeating North East and winning the Durand Cup? Kibu's answer, 'Except for the Mohun Bagan match, we won all the other matches by showing dominance. Even before we were down to 10 against Mohun Bagan, my footballers fought evenly. We reached the final by playing against more ISL teams. Confidence remained intact, but complacency was a thing of the past. My footballers will take to the field against North East in the final with the same passion and mentality. With the aim of winning the cup.'
Let's see, who will have the last laugh in Saturday's match? The most important thing is that a team from Bengal is playing in the Durand final. Will Kolkata's football fans, regardless of their party affiliation, gather at Yuva Bharati to support them?