Kalyani, April 11 Almost 21 years since an East Bengal team last won a league title in Indian football, the club’s women’s team sealed the Indian Women’s League (IWL) trophy with a careful and tight 1-0 victory over defending champions Odisha FC.
To add further salt to the wounds, Odisha are now placed to suffer relegation, their fate not entirely in their own hands with one game left. Soumya Guguloth scored the winning goal in the 67th minute.
In their third season in the women’s top division, East Bengal halted all challenges with ease. They have beaten all teams, bar one — Gokulam Kerala — in the league this season and will no doubt look to amend that statistic heading into the final game of the season on April 18, when they will also be officially handed the trophy in Kalyani.
Despite thoroughly dominating the first half, East Bengal’s sudden freeze in front of the goal extended into this game, too. Their forward trio of Maurine Achieng, Soumya Guguloth, and Elshaddai Acheampong were guilty of not finishing good chances throughout the first half hour.
The best of these fell to Achieng, who forced a brilliant diving save from Nandini off a sharp header from Sandhiya Ranganathan’s cross in the 35th minute. The next period of the game belonged to Odisha, though, with Pyari Xaxa almost single-handedly bursting through East Bengal’s experienced defensive line before firing high when faced with just Panthoi Chanu to beat.
In a chaotic end to the half, both teams traded more chances, Xaxa’s header from a corner was cleared by Karthika Angamuthu, and Acheampong’s long-range pile driver curled just wide of the far post.
The gap between the two sides this season is evident from their places on the table, but the pitch would not suggest it. Odisha brought all the momentum to the second half, and Xaxa was guilty of missing the best chance of the game when she poked a loose ball inside the six-yard area wide. The chance had been created from a corner, and East Bengal looked relieved.
Just as it seemed that the game was going to drift by without much scoreboard action, Anju Tamang, who had scored in the 1-1 draw with Sribhumi in the previous match, after returning from injury, came on to inject some energy into the hosts’ attack.
Tamang almost immediately tested Nandini’s reflexes, volleying from inside the box to draw a save. In the 67th minute, she turned provider, playing an inch-perfect pass that split the defence and allowed Guguloth to run free toward the goal. The forward finished it first time, with Nandini stranded, and duly brought out the celebrations.
East Bengal were perfectly placed now, not just to win this game but also the title itself. Odisha were playing for a chance at survival and played like it, desperation evident in every attack.
It didn’t matter, though, as the hosts held on, buoyed in huge part by players who had done this before and won the league itself, to complete the result and win the title.
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