Bhubaneswar (Odisha)[India], April 24 (ANI): Inter Kashi knocked out Bengaluru FC in a shootout, after a tight game that finished 1-1. The victory means that they progress to the quarter-finals of the Kalinga Super Cup.
A last gasp equaliser set up a nail biting shootout finale for the two teams who had finished second in their respective leagues. Inter Kashi edged the shootout 5-4 to take the victory on Wednesday.
Goalkeeper Shubham Dhas was the saviour for Inter Kashi, making a fine save to keep Alberto Noguera’s spot-kick out of the goal. With David Humanes Munoz, Bijoy V, Nikola Stojanovic, Aritra Das, and Matija Babovic scored their penalties for Inter Kashi, while Ryan Williams, Sunil Chhetri, and Jorge Pereyra Diaz scored their spot-kicks for Bengaluru FC.
Contrary to all expectations, Inter Kashi were the ones who kicked strongly off the blocks, taking the game to the ISL runners-ups and at times in the opening quarter, looking the side with far better pedigree in their ranks.
In the 15th minute, they had their first big chance to go ahead, when Edmund Lalrindika. having drawn three players to him, stitched a ball through to Prasanth K. The forward had made a mazy run and evaded his marker and faced up to Gurpreet Singh Sandhu one-on-one, only to slam his shot against the upright. Minutes later, Edmund took matters into his own hand, expertly controlling an aerial ball in the box before dragging his shot just wide of the far post.
Bengaluru had seen enough and knew they had to up the ante. In the 22nd, Ryan Williams did just that, latching on to a long ball, and then swerving it around Shubham Das who had made an ill-advised charge off his line. Williams laid the ball off to Edgar Mendez in the box to fire at an empty goal, but his shot was blocked by a defender. The rebound fell to Alberto Noguera in the six yard box, and even the Spaniard’s shot was blocked off, Inter Kashi’s defenders putting their body on the line to protect the goal.
The momentum had shifted though, and soon enough Williams released Namgyal Bhutia on the right. The winger twisted outwards, before dragging the ball back to his left foot and firing just wide of the near post. The half’s antics weren’t done, and Kashi came close once again, when Edmund squared a ball back to Mario Barco. The forward couldn’t connect well with his first-time effort, and the attempt was picked off by the defenders.
Like in the first, Inter Kashi were again quicker at the start of the second half and tested Sandhu multiple times within the first 10 minutes, the best attempt coming from Nikola Stojanovic’s free kick. The Serbian had fired a perfectly placed shot to the far corner, bent away from the wall, only for Sandhu to dive at full stretch and palm it away.
In the 62nd minute, Bengaluru finally broke the deadlock, via Ryan Williams. A long ball from Noguera in midfield drew Das off his line, but the goalkeeper failed to collect the ball leaving it instead to Williams who calmly brought it under control, before finishing coolly from a sharp angle.
The game seemed to be drifting towards the inevitable result before Inter Kashi dialled up things in the final ten minutes. First, Bidyasagar Singh had a chance when Aritra Das cut the ball back inside the box from the left, only to have it cleared off his feet. Das’ fizzing cross found their target eventually though, and in the 87th minute Matija Babovic cheekily flicked it in, wrongfooting his marker and Sandhu to grab a late equaliser and send the game to a shootout.
In the subsequent shootout, Shubham Das guessed the right way and saved Alberto Noguera’s penalty to take Inter Kashi to the quarter finals.
Nikola Stojanovic was presented the Kalinga Player of the Match award.(ANI)
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