At the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in West Bengal, the 134th Indian Oil Durand Cup’s Group A encounter saw Emami East Bengal, the reigning champions, easily defeat South United FC, the debutants, 5-0 on Wednesday.
The winners were the Kolkata giants, who won all three points thanks to goals from Lalchungnunga, Saul Crespo, Bipin Singh, Dimitrios Diamantakos, and Mahesh Singh.
In the first half, East Bengal’s technical advantage over the youthful and inexperienced Bengaluru team made it one-way traffic.
South United was defending deep inside their own half while the 16-time champions had the majority of the possession.
They took the lead through Lalchungnunga in just twelve minutes. Lalchungnunga found SUFC captain Noel’s headed clearing and hammered it into the top corner to give his team the lead.
After 17-year-old left back Abdul Salha took Edmund Lalrindika down in the box, Crespo converted a penalty kick to double the lead in the 36th minute.
With Vishnu hitting the post twice and Crespo missing three free headers, the score at halftime may have been very different if East Bengal had taken use of their opportunities.
The SUFC was fortunate not to let up more than two goals at halftime, despite occasionally defending with seven players within their own box, which caused mayhem. Goalie S. Nishanth of SUFC contributed to the cause as well by making a few excellent saves.
East Bengal launched an onslaught in the second half, but SUFC’s strong defence limited the opposition’s space.
With their efforts, Mahesh Singh, David Hmar, and Mohammad Rashid came very close during this time.
In the 80th minute, two replacements combined to convert a sweeping move to score the third goal.
Bipin Singh’s first-time curling attempt found the net past the goalkeeper’s hands after Diamantakos’ deft through pass between two defenders.
After the goalie failed to collect the ball that was thrown directly at him, Diamantakos scored East Bengal’s fourth goal by completing a free kick from the box’s edge that trickled into the net.
In order to complete a five-star effort, East Bengal subsequently scored a fifth goal in the ninetieth minute when captain Mahesh Singh skilfully found the top corner with his weaker right foot.
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