The Hindu : Sport / Football : East Bengal swamps Island FC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 22, 2004

Sport

Sport - Football

East Bengal swamps Island FC

By Amitabha Das Sharma

KOLKATA, APRIL 21. Kingfisher East Bengal continued its victorious march in the international arena running down Maldives' Island FC 3-0 in a Group `E' encounter for the AFC Cup here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday.

This was East Bengal's eighth successive win this season and it consolidated its leadership in the group league.

With two more matches to go in the league, East Bengal leads the four-team group — having Negri Sembilan of Malaysia and Geylang United of Singapore apart from Island FC — with full 12 points after its fourth straight win.

This puts the red-and-gold brigade as the best bet for a quarterfinal spot from the group, in the inaugural edition of the continental club contest.

East Bengal's foreign recruits featured in the success as all the three goals were realised through individual contributions from the two Brazilians — Cristiano Junior and Douglas da Silva — and one Nigerian — Mike Okoro.

Douglas got the opener with a brilliantly taken freekick in the ninth minute. Junior with his opportunism got the second goal in the 36th minute before Okoro nodded in a 84th minute corner to complete the count for the host.

The East Bengal approach clearly matched the call of its coach Subhas Bhowmick, who had hoped to make the best out of the match against the weakest opponent of the tournament. Channelling the attack through the flanks, the host struck before the opponent could settle down. The exchanges got more open as the visitor tried for the equaliser mounting sharp counter-offensives.

Island FC stuck to its task well and forced open the famed East Bengal defence twice but Ismail Mahmed (14th minute) and the African striker Seydou Diallo (29th minute) squandered two easy chances close from the goalmouth.

While the visitor bungled with opportunities, the host continued the scoring as Junior struck his fifth goal of the match — that made the Brazilian striker the most prolific scorer in the group — with barely nine minutes remaining for the interval.

The other star in the East Bengal attack, Baichung Bhutia, remained largely off-colour and the best that was seen of him was a desperate dive to feign a push by a opponent defender in the Island box. He was fortunate to escape without being penalised by the Bangladesh referee, Taib Hussain, who otherwise was quite strict booking five players in the match.

The second session was much more subdued as the host, apparently content with the two-goal lead, slowed down the proceedings.

The islanders too lost much of the sharpness evident in the first session. The only good chance coming their way was frittered away by substitute striker Ilyas Ibrahim, who failed to connect a well-directed cross from Ahmed Sunain. The host justifiably added the finishing touch with Okoro extending the margin off a not-so-convincing header with only six minutes remaining.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport