EB, Salgaocar in semis

Taking on Salgaocar on Wednesday will be East Bengal who suffered a 0-1 reverse against MEG, Bangalore, but yet made it to the knock-out stage by virtue of a better goal difference. That outcome left East Bengal tied with MEG and Air India on three points in group B but the former’s 4-0 win over Air India in an earlier match more than made up for their loss today.

“The whole team was very complacent, including myself. We deserve the result,” said a boiling Subhas Bhowmick, coach of the Kolkata giants, after the match.

The Bengal team actually did well, maintaining a high percentage of ball possession and creating opportunities for the strikers. Unfortunately, none of those chances were converted.

On the other hand, MEG cashed in one moment that came their way when captain Ajit Kumar headed in after the experienced East Bengal goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee failed to hold on to a high cross.

As late as the 85th minute, East Bengal had an easy chance for an equaliser but Chandan Das, with an open net in front of him, let his team with a poor header that went wide.

Salgaocar though were on song today, and the amateur arc could do nothing but face the music. Early in the 12th minute, Omagbemi blasted in a powerful left-footer after the shot from Sebastio Endro from the left had hit the near post.

That set the tempo for the match. However, Salgaocar thwarted them with tight defending. After the break, Omagbemi scored his second goal feeding on a pass from Dharamjit Singh in the 53rd minute and then punished a shoddy piece of goalkeeping by Jembo Singh who failed to gather a simple cross and left open the net for the Nigerian to complete his hat-trick.