MADGAON: The ribbons had been tied to the trophy, the victory parade was ready and the celebrations were all but a signal away from commencing. There was one problem though! Chennai City FC never turned up. The Coimbatore-based club could have wrapped up the title with a victory over Churchill Brothers in Goa on Wednesday.
Early on in the game, things were going their way when a free-kick from Sandro Ramirez took a deflection and found its way into the Churchill net. Yet, that was as good as it got for coach Akbar Nawas’s outfit.
Former East Bengal striker Willis Plaza scored an equaliser in the 38th minute. Churchill then took the lead just after half-time through Remi. Pedro Manzi briefly restored parity again in the 69th minute through a penalty only for Plaza to score a 71st minute winner. The 3-2 scoreline would hold despite repeated efforts from Chennai to find a vital goal. That the visitors were pushing every man forward meant that Churchill too had multiple chances to find the net, but they were unable to convert those chances.
The result leaves the title race in a tantalising position with every possibility of it heading to the final day of the season for the fourth straight year. Chennai City have 40 points from 19 games while East Bengal, the only club who can overtake them, have 36 from 18.
The Red and Gold face defending champions Minerva Punjab on the latter’s home turf next. A win means East Bengal will march into their final match against Gokulam Kerala on March 9 knowing that another win, with Chennai City dropping points against Minerva in Coimbatore, will net them the title. But if East Bengal don’t win against Minerva, Chennai will win the title on Sunday itself. As for Chennai, they will know that they have only themselves to blame for taking the title race to the very end.
Their form towards the latter part of the season has been patchy — perhaps a consequence of fatigue caused by the attacking style Nawas has employed all season. Their last six games have only yielded three wins, with a 3-3 draw to NEROCA sticking out as an opportunity missed. They do have one ace up their sleeve though — a better head-to-head record over East Bengal means that Chennai will be crowned champions if the two clubs finish level on points.