Mahindra United stumble into semis; JCT out

Sporting Clube de Goa and Mahindra United offered a drab encounter, with neither side showing any inclination go for goal. Most of the first half was confined to the midfield, as the two sides remained content holding on.

Olushola Ogundare of Sporting Clube came close in the 21st minute but failed to head the ball home with only Mahindra custodian Sandeep Nandi to beat. Minutes later, Yakubu Yusif returned the favour as he miscued one free hit at the post from 17 yards, hitting it straight to Sporting Clube custodian Luis Xavier Barretto. The game continued to drag in the second half.

The momentum of the game increased during extra-time, but as it stretched, the memories of the Federation Cup quarter final started haunting Sporting Clube de Goa, where the Goans had gone down to Mahindras in the shoot-out after dominating the match. The Goans went all out in search of that winner but their worst fears came true when the match stretched to spot kicks. Mahindras brought in their Federation Cup hero Subhasish Roy Chaudhary in place of their skipper Sandeep Nandi. Chaudhary had bailed them out twice in a similar situation at the Federation Cup in Ludhiana in September.

And the script remained unchanged as Samananda Singh hit one to the crossbar, enough to carry the Mumbaikars home as their penalty takers hit the target without any difficulty.

In the last quarter final, four-time champions JCT were pitted against twice champs Salgaocar SC, Goa. Going by their recent performance, JCT were easy favourites.

However, it was the Goans who got the lead in the seventh minute against the run of play when PK Anil Kumar headed the ball past Karanjit Singh off a Felix centre. Salgaocar struck again in the 31st minute; with Shylo Malswam Tulunga giving his side a commanding 2-0 lead over the last year finalists.

Sunil Chhetri sniffed an opportunity during injury time of the first half to net the ball with a header to curtail Salgaocar’s lead to 1-2.