East Bengal Reclaims Their Throne After 22 Years As They Defeat Kashi In A Nail-biting Final Matchday
IKFC: 1 (15′ Planas)
EBFC: 2 (49′ Youssef, 73′ Rashid)
Twenty two years is a long time! Long enough for generations of supporters to change, long enough for a club’s history to change and long enough for kids to grow up listening to stories of the good-old times and dream of witnessing similar glory for their beloved club. Thursday night at Kishore Bharati Krirangan saw those kids see their club lift the national league, saw those elders watch their club win after over 2 decades, saw the country get painted to Red and Gold, again. For twenty two long years, East Bengal supporters waited to see the club lift the league and Thursday night was the night when all their heartbreaks, defeats in the last day, sorrows, tears all came to an end as East Bengal lifted the Indian Super League.
Thursday night at Kolkata was a bitter-sweet night. When on one stadium East Bengal ended their long wait for the league, just over 10 Km away, at Salt Lake Stadium, their arch-rivals Mohun Bagan SG failed to defend their ISL title. East Bengal FC stepped onto the pitch as the table toppers and needing a win to secure the league title. In case East Bengal won by a margin of one goal, MBSG needed to win their game against SC Delhi by a minimum margin of seven goals. Except for the two Kolkata giants, three other teams were still contenders for the title and they too were playing their respective games at the same time, a picture Indian Football has never seen before in ISL.
From the very first minute of the game East Bengal had their aim set, score goals and win it. East Bengal were missing Edmund Lalrindika who scored in the derby but was sent off at the last minute. EB started making attacks from the beginning of the game, attack after attack, shots after shots but all were going out or being somehow stopped by the Inter Kashi goalkeeper. By the first quarter of the game, East Bengal were looking really dangerous as they had a proper control over the game. But at 15th minute the whole stadium was stunned and silenced when Planas broke the deadlock and gave Inter Kashi the lead, completely against the run of play. In what was the first most dangerous attack of Kashi in the whole game, that suddenly made them look like a potential kingmakers. A long ball from the defensive third went inside the penalty box and Planas scored in the first touch. Anwar Ali was behind him and Sibille running on the side had no way to block that and last man Gill failed to get a hand to the ball. A right foot stunner from the Spanish silenced the packed stadium.
Within two minutes East Bengal had an opportunity. The initial cross inside the box was cleared and Miguel’s pass was blocked, and finally Rakip’s cross failed to find any white shirt inside the box. Within a few minutes, they had a golden opportunity to equalise as the cross from Bipin Singh found Youssef inside the 6 yard box but astonishingly his effort went flying over the goalpost. The home side could have doubled their lead when Planas again found himself with the ball inside the box but his shot was blocked by Prabhsukhan Singh Gill. For the remaining part of the first half, Kashi made attacks after attacks and Gill somehow had to manage those repetitive attacks.
East Bengal went into the dressing room, down by one goal but when they came out in the second half, they looked like they have found their motivation back. The supporters were starting to get anxious and frustrated but then came the equaliser. At the 50th minute, Anwar made lofted pass towards Youssef. He got the ball inside the box and made a false which nutmegged the keeper and then the Spanish forward made no mistake in pushing the ball past the Kashi defenders to get his team back to level terms and adding fuel to the gallery’s energy. There were some attacks after that but the main moment came at the 73rd minute of the game. Kevin Sibille passed the ball to Bipin on the far right, his cross inside the box was simply touched and put in the back of the net by Mohammad Rashid. Rashid, who missed a crucial penalty in the tie-breaker of Super Cup just few months prior, had given the Red and Golds the lead. After scoring he ran straight to the gallery and climbed on the fence to celebrate with supporters. The gallery erupted, so did millions of supporters of the century old club, scattered all over the world as the title was less than 20 minutes away. Miguel had a chance to seal the game at the last minute of regulation time but his shot went slightly wide and hit the side netting.
Mohun Bagan SG also came back from 1-0 down to win the game by 2-1 but by the time referee blew the full time whistle at Kishore Bharati Krirangan, MBSG did not have enough time to score 6 goals and defend their title for a consecutive third time. As the final whistle echoed around the stadium, years of pain, frustration and longing gave way to scenes of unbridled joy. Tears flowed in the stands, strangers embraced one another, and a sea of Red and Gold erupted in celebration as East Bengal were crowned champions once again, bringing an end to a wait that had stretched over two decades. All the supporters, a little over 8000, soon took the fields under their control and the field of play was just a big ocean of Red and Gold jerseys. Miguel, Youssef, Edmund, Oscar and his assistant manager was lifted by the supporters, given garlands and were covered in Red and Gold colours. Oscar Bruzon and co. had done what many famous and iconic coaches before him failed to do. Former Spanish manager Alejandro Menendez came close to winning I-League in 2018-19 but came second by 2 points. Carles Cuadrat surprisingly had a disappointing run in the ISL but his successor Oscar Bruzon did it, finally brought back the national league to Leslie Claudius Sarani. The trophy is more than just silverware, it is redemption, it is the reward for unwavering loyalty, it is proof that some dreams, no matter how distant they may seem, do come true if you are willing to fight for it with all your strength and dedications.
Due to the supporters crowding the whole ground, the trophy ceremony had to be done in the VVIP gallery. Miguel Figueira won the Golden Ball and Youssef Ezzejjari won the Golden Boot with 13 goals. After the win the trophy came to the club tent at Maidan at midnight and supporters were waiting there to see it. The club plans to do a proper trophy ceremony tomorrow at their club ground but whatever happens, this night will always be immortal and unforgettable for the Red and Gold supporters. A night where loyalty won, a night where the spirit of East Bengal won, and a night where the millions of refugees who lost their ancestral homes won. A night to remember for all time, always.