CHENNAI: It was truly David versus Goliath. On one hand you had East Bengal with all their history, one of the biggest budgets, fancy foreign imports and the title within grasp. In the other corner was Chennai City FC, a team who found out in December that they would be playing in the I-League. Their biggest victory of the season was, as per their owner, because of the fact that they successfully staged all home games. Making up their ranks were a mix of veterans, who many dubbed past their prime, and a bunch of youngsters whose CVs are headlined by their Santosh Trophy exploits. Their operating budget is well under Rs 2 crores, less than a tenth of their rivals’. Yet the final scoreline read: Chennai City 2, East Bengal 1.
At halftime, East Bengal were on their way to the top of the I-League table thanks to a goal from Willis Plaza. Then two youngsters — 21-year-old S Nandhakumar and 19-year-old Prasanth Karuthadathkuni changed the script, the latter scoring deep into extra time. Both goals Chennai scored were due to errors from rival goalkeeper TP Rehenesh. If East Bengal’s forwards had taken their chances, they could easily have scored three or four.
The first half was peppered with opportunities for East Bengal but their profligacy kept the scores level. They came close when Lalrindika Ralte hit the bar in the 26th minute. Finally, Plaza took his chance in the 42nd minute, when he headed in Rahul Bheke’s cross. Given how Chennai were struggling, it looked game over. But that changed when Nandhakumar equalised in the 57th minute. The TN youngster’s shot should have posed no problems for Rehenesh. Instead, it slipped between his fingers and went in.
The game looked set for a draw as the linesman signalled four minutes of extra-time. Chennai landed the knockout blow in the 93rd minute as Charles latched onto a ball and took a shot that Rehenesh weakly kneed away into the path of an onrushing Prasanth. On the sidelines, the Chennai bench celebrated as if they had just won the title.
The defeat meant East Bengal stayed second, three behind Aizawl. For Chennai, it marks the end of a impressive home campaign, which has seen them beat East Bengal, Aizawl, draw with Bengaluru and lose narrowly to Mohun Bagan.