Youssef Scores Twice In Debut As East Bengal Ease Past NorthEast United In Their League Opener
EBFC: 3 (65′, 70′ Y. Ezzejjari; 90+2′ M. Figueira)
NEUFC: 0
Finally a winning start for East Bengal in the Indian Super League! Ever since the Red and Golds joined ISL, they had never won the first game of the league. But finally that streak comes to an end as new forward Youssef Ezzejjari scored a brace in his debut game for the Kolkata side and Brazilian magician Miguel Figueira adding a third to the tally.
After missing out on winning IFA Shield and AIFF Super Cup in the final, both in penalties, Oscar Bruzon had one last shot at redemption. After taking charge of East Bengal after Carles Cuadrat resigned, he took East Bengal to the quarter finals of AFC Challenge League last season. Since the start of this season, East Bengal have been looking one of the best teams in the country. But unfortunately they were knocked out by Diamond Harbour FC in Durand Cup semi final, lost IFA Shield final to Mohun Bagan in penalties after going up in the first half and also lost the Super Cup final to Goa, again, in penalties. Thus the league becomes East Bengal’s last shot at redemption. And the start indeed is promising.
East Bengal started the game with their key defender Kevin Sibille being left out of squad due to injury. The first half saw both teams put on attacks but East Bengal wasting way too many chances. The first most dangerous chance came at 36th minute when Bipin Singh passed the ball inside the box for Youssef and before he reached it, NorthEast defender Zabaco had a touch on the ball which almost went in for an own goal, but luckily for them, it went out for a corner. From the corner the ball went to Rashid on the right edge of the penalty box and he took a powerful shot from outside the box which rattled the crossbar. Rashid, known for his long range attempts, has scored 2 goals for East Benagl so far and both came from a long range effort. But this time the post was in his way. Within a minute Miguel showed his ‘Samba Magic’ and put a beautiful cross from the left flank, but Nandhakumar’s header went way off target. Miguel again got inside the box using his skill but his shot went off target too. The teams went to the dressing room with a 0-0 score at the half time.
After wasting many chances in the first 15 minutes of the second half, Oscar brought on Edmund Lalrindika in place of Nandha and that was a great move from the Spanish coach as Edmund soon made the right flank flow smoothly with pace. At 65th minute came the breakthrough. Jeakson played a pass toward Bipin on the left wing, Bipin made a beautiful precise cross inside the box towards Youssef and the Spanish forward made no mistake in heading the ball past Gurmeet Singh and break the deadlock. Within five minutes came the second goal. Anwar went up to the attacking midfield area and gave through pass to Edmund as Edmund received the ball and looked for options and finally tried to make a pass but his lob hit the arms of Zabaco and took a slight deflection and landed just in front of Youssef. Ezzejjari’s left footed shot from inside the six yard box was nowhere possible to save.
Another chance came for East Bengal within five minutes of the second goal as substitute PV Vishnu made a pass inside the box from the left side. But Edmund could not reach the ball in time and direct it towards the goal. NorthEast had their best chance of the game at 84th minute when a cross from the right wing hit the second post but that attack was soon cleared out. In the second minute of the additional time, Vishnu played a through ball to Miguel as he went past one defender and from the left side of the penalty box shot the ball towards the second post and made it 3-0. Miguel also could have had his brace but his shot at the last minute of the game went slightly off target and hit the side netting.
As East Bengal finally gets a win in the opening game of ISL for the first time ever, the number of chances wasted would surely be a point that will keep Oscar thinking of a remedy. With the league being shortened, the room for error must also decrease as after a comfortable win against the current Durand Cup champions, East Bengal supporters can start dreaming of winning the league after over two decades. Oscar Bruzon has said he will be going match by match, so now for him and the team, the focus shifts to upcoming Saturday when they face SC Delhi at the Salt Lake Stadium.