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Football
The Mahindra United team poses with the trophy after winning the Durand Cup defeating Churchill Brothers 5-0 in the final in New Delhi on Saturday.
NEW DELHI, FEB. 16. Mahindra United made it a `no contest' on Saturday, one of the most lop-sided finals in 106 years of the Durand Cup. Mahindra United drubbed Goa's Churchill Brothers 5-0 to lift the coveted trophy for only the second time. Sparsely-filled stands greeted the teams as the final of Asia's oldest tournament got underway at the Ambedkar Stadium on a sunny afternoon. Mahindra had the edge all right, given its performance in this tournament and in the National Football League. Yet, the eventual margin was beyond expectations. Some of the sheen might be taken away from the Mahindra effort if one takes note of the fact that Churchill played with just 10 men for 78 minutes. Stopper Osumanu Husseni handled a goal-bound ball to concede a penalty and receive the red card from referee Rizwan-ul-Haq and though Churchill had the chances later to salvage some of its reputation, it turned out to be a fatal blow. Jules Alberto, the Mahindra midfielder who was adjudged `player of the tournament', slotted home from the spot and later added one more as the Mumbai men ran riot against a disjointed, dispirited, clueless Goan side. Only on two previous occasions had more than five goals been scored in the final of the Durand. In 1889, Highland Light Infantry beat Simla Rifles 8-1, while Somerset Light Infantry defeated Black Watch 6-1 in 1896. Statistics hardly mattered beyond a point in this final in which one team seemed to have given up all hope all too early. To defend with a man less was of course a Herculean task, especially against a bunch of in- form players, led by Alberto. Alberto had a memorable outing. With the two goals in the final, the 26-year-old midfielder had four in the tournament. Midfielder Khalid Siddiqui and the two Nigerian strikers Austin Okolo and Bala Usman were the other scorers for Mahindra, which received Rs. 4 lakhs to go with the trophies. Churchill ended up with Rs. 2 lakhs and its reputation in tatters. Mahindra was placed in an advantageous position as Husseni deliberately stopped a goalbound effort by Bernard Oparanozie with his hand. Churchill paid dearly for that lapse by its stopper. The Goan side had to pull Noel Wilson back and that meant its midfield was left to scramble time and again. Alberto and S. Venkatesh, who played in place of an injured Khalid Jamil, kept Okolo and Usman busy and Mahindra stretched the rival defence taut with some clever wing-play. The move to play Venkatesh and use Oparanozie to keep Churchill's midfielder Wilson in check worked out nicely for Mahindra. ``Our plan was to disturb their midfield combination. Also the performance by Venkatesh showed our bench strength,'' said Mahindra coach Harish Rao. Churchill was pushed further on the defensive when Siddiqui, left unchallenged by two defenders, found the mark with a 20-yard left-footer. Siddiqui's effort lacked the power but it seemed to have taken goalkeeper Edward Ansah unawares. Ansah did bring off a couple of good saves later on, but also allowed an easy one for Mahindra in the second half. It was a forgettable day for the Ghanaian. The last quarter proved dreadful for Churchill as Mahindra scored three goals in a span of nine minutes. Alberto, shockingly unmarked near the top of the box, during a flag-kick sequence, scored in the 70th minute, finding a narrow corner on the right to Ansah's dismay. Soon, the lanky Okolo converted a rebound from the goalkeeper and then Usman completed the tally in the 81st minute. The organising committee awarded Rs. 5,000 each to five promising players - Tapan Ghosh (Mahindra United), Chandan Das (East Bengal), L. Angan Shangai (Army XI), Subhash Choudhary (AIFF under-19) and Sunil Chhetri (City Club).
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