Third Fed Cup win for East Bengal in last four years

East Bengal bagged the 34^th Federation Cup at Kanchenjunga stadium, Siliguri, beating Goan powerhouse Dempo SC 3-2 margin in extra time in a match full of excitement. That is their 8^th victory in Fed cup. Climax Lawrence scored the first for the visitors in the 5^th minute of the 2^nd half, Arnab Mondal equalized for the Red & Gold brigade in the 60^th minute of the game and the stalemate was not broken in the entire 90 minutes. The match then headed towards extra time and Manandeep Singh put East Bengal ahead once again in the 100^th minute and Edeh Chidi hammered the last nail in Dempo’s coffin in the 109^th minute of the game, while veteran Mahesh Gawli minimized the margin for Dempo with 8 minutes to go for the final whistle.

It was the mother of all battles, clash of the titans when the two best teams in the country faced off against each other in Siliguri. In the first half, both the sides started the game at a slow pace, they tried to measure each other’s strength and on different occasions both teams had few good opportunities but they failed to convert from those.

In second half we got to see two completely different sides on the field, firstly Dempo pressed their foot on the accelerator and got the result as midfielder Climax Lawrence scored a sitter just in front of the topbox. That goal seemed to evoke the famous East Bengal spirit and Arnab Mondal scored from a superb header following a corner off Mehtab Hossain from the right. Both the teams had chances but they failed to score in the entire 90 minutes and the match headed towards extended period.

In extra time we got to see the Red & Gold brigade in their famous rhythm as Manandeep scored from the rebound after Dempo custodian Subhasis Raichoudary partially blocked Lalrindika’s shot in the 100^th minute of the game. And within 10 minutes, Manandeep turned provider, sending Chidi free with a long ball and this time time the Nigerian scored himself rather passing the ball to someone else. Mahesh Gawli tried to unsettle East Bengal by beating the East Bengal custodian Abhijit Mondal for the second time, but their fightback was not sufficient to spoil the dream of East Bengal.

East Bengal captain Mehtab Hossain. who had to leave the ground in last year’s Fed Cup final, completed his redemption this year. Sometimes it looked like he had 10 oxygen cylinders connected to his heart. Due to the yellow card problem, East Bengal missed two of their key defenders Gurbinder Singh and Okpara, so Mehtab had to play a bit deeper compared to his normal midfield position, but he completed his duty. During the match he was everywhere, working as a link between defence and midfield and leading the attacks from the midfield.

It was a tactical battle between the two best coaches in the country and it has to be said regarding strategy, Morgan completely outclassed and outsmarted his counterpart Armando Colaco. He made the right change at the right time, introducing Nirmal Chettri and Lalrindika Ralte, which increased the pace of the game and the penetration ability for East Bengal in latter stages, while Dempo boss Armando Colaco made two blunders by taking off two of his best gamemakers, Climax Lawrence and Anthony Perera.

It was also a battle between Bengal and Goa and this time Bengal kept the flag high for us. It was also the 57^th birthday of East Bengal coach Morgan and he couldn’t have gotten a better gift than that victory.

On the country’s football map, Siliguri is known as the second home of East Bengal and we got a really vociferous crowd, always chanting and shouting for their homeside which boosted the morale of the Red & Gold brigade.