The Hindu : Sport : Sporting Clube de Goa enters quarterfinals

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Saturday, Nov 03, 2007
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Sport

Sporting Clube de Goa enters quarterfinals

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Nigerian strikers Olushola Ogundare and Boniface Ambani kept the Indian army under measure as Sporting Clube de Goa defeated Army XI 2-1 and entered the quarterfinals of the 120th Osian’s Durand Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Friday.

Sporting opened early through Ogundare and then substitute Bibiano Fernandes struck the second goal as the Goan team made amends to the over-defensive show against the same team during its debut year in 2005. The win helped Sporting avenge its 2005 final defeat.

Sporting Clube de Goa will take on Mahindra United on Sunday. Mahindra defeated Border Security Force (Jalandhar) 1-0 in the last pre-quarterfinal match on Friday.

The winner came in the 86th minute through a penalty converted by Nigerian Yakubu after a BSF defender handled the ball in the box.

Earlier, Sporting started with two Nigerians upfront. Ogundare and Ambani immediately went into attack mode to leave the Army line-up in disarray. Eight minutes into the start Ogundare headed in a seemingly innocuous pass to put the Goan team 1-0 up.

On changing the ends, Ogundare and Ambani moved in tandem before setting up Joseph Pereira, but his left-footer went wide of the right post.

Sporting created a few more chances when Bibiano set Ambani in the 56th minute, but the striker failed to finish.

Sporting coach Peter Vales immediately replaced Ambani with another Nigerian, Eze Isiocha. The substitute striker straight away broke through the defence in a solo effort and reached the goalmouth before two Army defenders came rushing in. His wild shot hit the crosspiece — a dismal end to an otherwise spectacular move in the 69th minute.

Two minutes later, Isiocha found Bibiano in the striking range and the Goan forward made no mistake in slotting in.

Again, Isiocha was up to his tricks and beat four defenders to set up for another strike in the box. But he lost time in getting a clear view of the post as four Army defenders blocked his sight. Isiocha finally hit a weak shot that went wide.

Army found the goal through Ramachandran, who took advantage of a goalmouth melee and reduced the margin.

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