Kolkata: There will be sterner tests in the Indian Super League (ISL) for sure but ignore NorthEast United (NEUFC) at your peril. On a stage as grand as Asia’s oldest football tournament and at an intimidating Salt Lake stadium, they won their first tournament, rallying superbly to overcome a 0-2 first-half deficit before prevailing in the tie-breaker of the 133rd Durand Cup final here on Saturday.
Mohun Bagan Super Giant lost, a region won. A region that keeps giving players for India with assembly-line regularity.
Vishal Kaith’s heroics in the shootout had kept the defending champions alive in the season opener. In the final, the closest the Mohun Bagan goalie came to pulling off a save was getting a hand to Parthib Gogoi’s penalty. It was not going to be his evening. NEUFC goalie Gurmeet Singh had earned that right for a team that had never played a final before.
Gurmeet saved Liston Colaco’s shot flying to his right before denying Subasish Bose. 4-3 was how the tie-breaker, taken right after regulation time which ended 2-2, finished.
Guillermo Hierro, who had scored the equaliser, skipper Miguel Zabaco, Gogoi and Alaaeddine Ajaraie, who had a goal and an assist from open play, scored for NEUFC. For Mohun Bagan, Jason Cummings netted with a shot retaken after Gurmeet had left his line early before Manvir Singh and Dimitrios Petratos converted.
The defending champions had calmed nerves with a Cummings’ penalty in the 11th minute, following that up with a peach of goal from Sahal Abdul Samad in first-half stoppage time. Most among the 52,391 would have thought the match had been put to bed. The live performance of Hindi chart busters had the crowd grooving and they didn’t need much encouragement to join in singing the closing bars of “Vande Mataram”. It segued with the chant for justice for the trainee doctor at RG Kar hospital who was raped and killed on August 9.
Petratos then tested Gurmeet with an audacious long-ranger, soon after coming on as a second-half substitute for Samad. The cauldron was buzzing.
And why wouldn’t it? Asheer Akhtar had grabbed at Samad’s shirt and Cummings converted the penalty. Greg Stewart then danced past two players but shanked the shot. A ball from Samad found Manvir Singh but Gurmeet shinned the shot to safety. Then Samad scored in 45+5, running from behind to complete a slick move started by Ashish Rai and continued by Colaco haring down the left.
But they had not come on a holiday, skipper Zabaco and coach Juan Pedro Benali had said. NEUFC had scored 16 goals en route to the final, the first in the history of the club that turned 10 this year. “Do you think we have anything to lose?” Benali had asked. We will enjoy the occasion, he said.
It had sounded like the usual pre-match talk till Ajaraie arrowed a shot into the bottom corner. Three minutes later, in the 58th, Ajaraie turned provider and Hierro said thank you with a first-time volley. As the Spaniard embarked on an airplane celebration, the stadium was shrouded in silence. Gaps were opening in Bagan’s half and it needed Kaith’s saves off long-rangers from Macarton Nickson and Jithin MS to prevent NEUFC from winning it in regulation time.
Playing three central defenders to accommodate their bevy of attacking players meant Bagan had to use Colaco and Manvir Singh as wingbacks. It remains a compromise that can prove costly. NEUFC tried probing that from the off, Ajaraie lobbing one over the defence but Jithin’s header was stopped by Kaith. Another time, it needed Anirudh Thapa to track back and clear.
But when Jithin found Ajaraie inside the area in the 55th minute, Manvir was a step behind. Hierro was on skipper Bose’s blind side to meet Ajaraie’s pass with Colaco nowhere close. Early days, Mohun Bagan coach Jose Molina had said of the defensive frailties. Mumbai City will be watching.
The stadium had emptied in a flash but for one corner which chanted: “Who are we? NorthEast.” The lights had dimmed but in black shirts emblazoned with “champions” in gold, NEUFC players, staff and owner John Abraham were enjoying the occasion. Just as Benali had hoped.