Bengaluru FC defeated Sporting Clube de Goa by 3-2 at the final matchup on the first day of Futsal Club Championship 2021-22 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.
Both teams in Group B started with a safety-first approach to assess the opponents first. Sporting opened the scoring six minutes to the end of the first half through Llyod Cardozo. Meanwhile, Bengaluru FC went one man down as the referee gave the marching orders to Shighil in the ninth minute.
It was a box-to-box affair as both teams tried to breach opponents more than often, but eventually the Flaming Orange could hold on to the slender 1-0 lead till the halftime whistle.
As the second half started, Sporting Clube de Goa's numerical advantage blew off as Clive Miranda was on the receiving end of marching orders. Six minutes later, Rohit Totad joined the party for the Goa outfit to double the lead.
Seconds after the clock crossed the half-hour mark, Bengaluru FC's effort finally paid off as Macarton Nickson breached the Sporting defence. Since then, it was all Blues as they thudded attack after attack to penetrate the opponents twice and open their campaign with an all-important win. Skipper Robin Yadav intercepted a ball in the other half of the court and scored the equaliser seven minutes to the final whistle.
The Sporting boys tried to stage a winner in the dying embers of the match but failed to thwart the resurgent Blues from scoring the winning goal. An unmarked Edwin Rosario wrapped up the win seconds before the final whistle.
Sporting Clube de Goa will now be facing Kuppuraj FC for their next encounter on Sunday while Bengaluru FC will be going against Speed Force on the same day.
( With inputs from ANI )
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