Five Federation Cup classics in the I-League era
India’s version of the FA Cup starts in another seven days and Sportskeeda starts the build-up by listing five classic Federation Cup clashes in the I-League era (since 2007). The list is in no particular order but with East Bengal reaching the final five times, winning four of them, in that period it’s no surprise to see the red-and-gold brigade feature heavily in this piece.
East Bengal 4-3 Kalighat MS (2012 group stage)
Photo Credit: AIFF Media
Going into this final quarter-final group stage match, East Bengal’s semi-final hopes were not in their hands as even a win against Kalighat MS wouldn’t be enough if Sporting Clube got a bigger victory against ONGC, who also had a chance of going through if East Bengal failed to win. Both matches kicked off simultaneously in Siliguri and Trevor Morgan’s decision to rest first choice centre backs Uga Okpara and Gurwinder Singh backfired as Kalight MS raced into a two goal lead inside the first 15 minutes thanks to strikes from James Giblee and Tanmoy Kundu. East Bengal hit back with a quickfire double from young Manandeep Singh but Christopher regained Kalighat’s lead by once again exposing the shortcomings in East Bengal’s backline.
Just when it looked like the Kolkata giants would go into the halftime break trailing, Edeh Chidi was brought down inside the box by Kalighat keeper Souvik Mondal and the referee pointed to the spot. The Nigerian converted the penalty to bring East Bengal level but there wasn’t good news from the other game as ONGC were leading 1-0 at the break and at that stage were going through. So a draw wasn’t going to be enough for Morgan’s side and it didn’t take them long to go in front in the second half and once again the goal came from a Chidi penalty. East Bengal squandered chances to increase their advantage and be absolutely sure of progression. But it didn’t prove to be costly as ONGC defeated Sporting Clube 2-1 to send the red-and-gold brigade through to the semis for the sixth straight edition.