The Hindu : Sport / Football : Mahindra ousted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

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Sport - Football

Mahindra ousted

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, NOV. 24. Upsets were the order of the day on the opening day of the 26th Federation Cup football tournament at the Sree Kanteerava stadium here on Wednesday evening. Defending champion Mahindra United (Mumbai) was sent packing by Fransa FC (Goa) at 3-2 while Tollygunge (Kolkata) out-scored Salgaocar (Goa) 5-2 via tiebreaker (regulation time 1-1).

Salgaocar has itself to blame as its frittered chances galore with Felix Brebru being the main culprit.

Tollygunge took the lead in the 27th minute when Surajit Bose headed in a Kabijit Khotel cross from the right. Salgaocar equalised in the 74th minute through Bello Rasaq following a goalmouth melee. The 30 minutes of extra time too failed to produce a result and the tiebreaker was resorted to. Tarif Ahammad, Suley Musah, Akeem Abolanlee and Suman Dutta were on target for Tollygunge. For Salgaocar, Marcos Pereira hit the cross bar while Bello Rasaq's feeble try was saved by Kalyan Chaubey. Only Bernard Pires managed to score for the Goan team.

Fransa showed fizz and fluidity to rankle the Mumbai side. Backed by a compact midfield — where Jules Alberto and Desmond Fernandes stood out — the Goa team ripped apart the Mahindra defence, which was minus Mahesh Gawli, into shreds.

Mahindra showed a total lack of cohesion and the few raids that it managed were bereft of the sting. Abhishek Yadav produced both the goals for his side but he lacked support from Ghanian striker Charles Asamoah.

Fransa began well and Sebastiao Endro produced the perfect finish to a fine Jules Alberto through after outpacing stoppers Odartey Lawson and Covan Lawrence. Mahindra managed the equaliser towards the dying minutes of the first session. Abhishek using his captain Khalid Jamil as a wall sent a crisp right footer into the far corner.

On resumption the teams looked more aggressive and three goals came in a span of six minutes.

After Surkumar Singh tested Chaubey with a left footed long ranger, which was tipped over in style, it was the jittery Naseem Akhtar who conceded the goal. Standing in for Sandip Nandi, nursing a knee injury, Naseem looked clueless against a Jules Alberto free-kick from 30 yards out. Two minutes later Abhishek Yadav got past the defence to make it 2-2.

But in the 80th minute substitute Peter Rodrigues deflected home a Sanjeev Maria free-kick from the left to give the match to Fransa.

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