Another 500 miles to the bank: Ticked off. We managed to win India’s biggest cup competition. The team gelled fantastically(despite our cup tied players we brought in and weren’t available) but the final was a freaking penalty shootout win after dominating the match really. I’m not going to dwell much on it because we did win in the end. Let’s walk you through the matches we played.
In the group stage we got paired with Mumbai City FC again(Touted to be in the playoff race this season), Neroca(I realize the rivalry exists because Neroca is in Mizoram too) and the Indian Navy(These are just filler teams to show the other teams that are usually part of the Durand Cup).
First up was Indian Navy and you can see the difference between a real professional team and someone who does this competition for fun(It’s the Navy man you really think they would have time like us football teams?):
Our new CB scoring 3 times and all of them being from corners should tell you everything you need to know about this match really.
Next up was Mumbai City FC and I was seriously happy:
It’s going to be a battle to keep Denzell if he keeps up these kinds of performances man. Then our team leader captain finishing it off with a penalty sealed it off. The thing is they had chances but their shooting was horror really.
Then the more difficult match was against still in the I-League Neroca showing how big rivalry matches can get:
There was a bit of danger when they pulled one back but in the second half we did drive our domination home. Even if they did bring another back before full time. But we were through with a flawless record and comfortably. My only worry was Mumbai City but seeing how well we played against them I was happy.
Then to the knockouts. First up was a grudge match against Kerala Blasters and we managed to hold onto a narrow lead and get through to the next round.
Cagey affair really. Both sides never had a lot of chances. But a hopeful long ball from the LB and Denzell managed to thump it past a determined keeper who was set to keep stopping us really. And we managed to keep the ball when it was absolutely needed. What’s more is these guys were the holders. Not once but TWICE. So I’m happy with the win because it is Kerala Blasters and also beating the holders.
The way this goal was scored encapsulated my feeling perfectly:
Next was ATK Mohun Bagan which did terrify me but we handled it well honestly:
The opener was a thing of beauty really. The recruitment at ATK Mohun Bagan went the same way as me in terms of getting a foreign keeper but he had a goddamn howler. The corner came in and Aigner won the header and he caught the ball yes, but he was INSIDE the goal when he did. That made me almost fall on the floor laughing really.
Have a look for yourself:
Then the second goal was equally special. A free kick from our Player/Coach(Doesn’t change my mind that I will give him a coach role when his contract expires).
And with that we made it to the final which wound up being against Jamshedpur. We have a bit of history from the Super Cup when we first got an unlikely win and then a more convincing one the second time out but if you told me the third time would be difficult I would have never believed you.
This is why I said I wouldn’t have believed you. We absolutely dominated this match. It infuriated me so much when THEY were the ones who scored first. Not to mention how some of the offside goals were super marginal to be honest that made me more angry(Especially the one from Jangra). We kept huffing and puffing and finally we managed to draw level after the first shot hit the post and the rebound was bundled in. From the interviews we hit the post around 4-5 times really so you can see why I was miffed for so long. Extra time didn’t yield a winner so we had to go to penalties. And our foreign keeper really came up clutch for us. Saving two freaking penalties and then finally one of our homegrown players netted the winning penalty to win us the Durand Cup which adds another 500 miles to our bank.
Honestly, the ISL and the Super Cup will give us the necessary miles to finally break into the Middle East actually(1000 and 500 miles respectively). And right now with the signings finally not cup tied our team is slated to easily finish in the playoff spots in the ISL(Top 4 go into a Playoff stage to determine the winner). After getting said cup tied players back this is how our lineup looks like now:
The RW you see that’s only 2 stars is fooling you. He was on fire throughout the Durand Cup honestly and his crossing and dribbling are really good quality for this league seriously. The reason for Gahlot starting is because Bose got a major injury in the Durand Cup final and he’ll only be back by the end of December sadly.