AFC Cup: Churchill Brothers 0-4 Kitchee – Goan club eliminated from the group stage

Churchill Brothers 0-4 Kitchee (Counago 14, 17, Tarres 57, Cheng Siu Wai 81 )

Churchill Brothers: Sandip Nandy,Denzil Franco, Dharmaraj Ravanan, Lamine Tamba, Raju Yumnam , Jaison Vales (Bineesh Balan 46),Lenny Rodrigues, Asley Fernandes (Sanjay Balmuchu 46), Balal Arezou; Henri Antchouet & Sunil Chhetri.

Kitchee: Wang Zhenpeng, Fernando Recio (Tsang Chi Hau 67) , Zesh Rehman, Chu Siu Kei, Kwan Yee, Pablo Counago, Jorge Tarres, Huang Yang, Cheung Kin Fung, Lam Ka Wai (Chan Man Fai 73) & Cheng Siu Wai.

File Photo; Credit: Churchill Brothers Media

I-League’s would-be champions Churchill Brothers have been eliminated from the group stage of the 2013 AFC Cup after being thrashed 4-0 by Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC in a Group E match in Pune on Wednesday.

Former Spanish youth international Pablo Counago bagged a brace while Jordi Tarres and Cheng Siu Wai were the other scorers for Kitchee, who were the better side throughout and now are on the verge of the round of 16.

Churchill Brothers technical director Subhash Bhowmick made just one change to the lineup that started at the weekend against Mohun Bagan as Raju Yumnam replaced Saran Singh at left back. With the Goan club needing a win to keep their round of 16 hopes alive, all three strikers started with Balal Arezou in a left midfield role and Henri Antchouet and Sunil Chhetri operating upfront.

The biggest team news for Kitchee was that their Pakistan international Zesh Rehman started despite spending 24 hours at the New Delhi airport and missing the Hong Kong club’s only training session on Tuesday. Counago and Barcelona-born Jordi Tarres, who had scored six in four AFC Cup games before this clash, also started.

Churchill needed an early goal and they did have the first real attempt of the match when Lenny Rodrigues found some space but his shot missed the target.

Kitchee, who had won the reverse fixture 3-0, soon created their first real opening when Lam Ka Wai’s lobbed effort beat Sandip Nandy but went over the bar.

The Hong Kong club went in front through Counago after just 14 minutes when the former Malaga player went past a couple of Churchill players and slotted past Nandy.

Minutes later, Counago doubled Kitchee’s advantage as he pounced on a clearance from Lamine Tamba and found the back of the net. The I-League club were simply shell-shocked and unable to find a response.

Churchill were probably feeling the effects of a demanding schedule as this was their third game in seven days. The I-League’s champions-elect were struggling to open up Kitchee and could have been easily been further behind at the break.

Nandy, who has the maximum clean sheets in the I-League, produced a brilliant save to deny Tarres while midfielder Cheung Kin Fung hit the bar.

Bhowmick made two substitutions at the interval as Bineesh Balan replaced Jaison Vales while Sanjay Balmuchu came on for Asley Fernandes. The fresh legs seemed to have helped Churchill and they could have pulled one back through Antchouet, whose goal-bound effort was stopped by Kitchee goalkeeper Wang Zhenpeng.

But just when Churchill were looking to get back into the game, Kitchee went three up through Tarres. The Spaniard maintained his record of scoring in every AFC Cup game this season and virtually sealed the points after just 57 minutes by netting from close range.

With Beto also left out of the match squad, Bhowmick didn’t have much quality to introduce from the bench and the players that were on the pitch didn’t look like bringing Churchill back into the contest.

India captan Sunil Chhetri had a very quiet outing while Antchouet was also well marked by the Kitchee defence. Arezou did have a couple of decent opportunities but he failed to test Kitchee custodian Zhenpeng.

The Hong Kong club were happy to play within themselves in the closing stages and Zhenpeng did have to make another fine save from Bineesh to preserve his team’s clean sheet.

Churchill’s afternoon got worse in the 81st minute when Hong Kong international Cheng Siu Wai completed the rout by tapping home a cross from the right wing.

The Goan club are no longer in contention for a place in the knockout stage despite still having to play one more game away at Indonesia’s Semen Padang on May 1 while Kitchee will reach the round of 16 for the second straight edition if Singapore’s Warriors FC fail to beat Padang in the day’s other group game.