Durand Cup 2022: Chennaiyin FC held; ATK Mohun Bagan stunned

Indian Super League Prediction

April 28 2024, 07:30 PM

ATK Mohun Bagan

Odisha

Bengaluru, August 20: Chennaiyin FC were held 2-2 by Army Red FT in their opening match of the Durand Cup 2022 at the Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal while ATK Mohun Bagan suffered a shock 2-3 reversal at the hands of Rajasthan United at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) in Kolkata.

For Chennaiyin, Julius Duker (89th) and Edwin Vanaspaul scored late (90+4th) while L Khongsai (55th) and Liton Shil (90+6th) scored for the Armymen.

Chennayin fielded eight new players in their starting line-up in - Ajith Kumar, Fallou Diagne, Aakash Sangwan, Duker, Sajal Bag, Jiteshwar Suingh, Jockson Dhas, and Petar Sliskovic - while skipper Anirudh Thapa, goalkeeper Debjit Majumdar and Narayan Das were the old faces.

Slow start

After a slow start, Thomas Brdaric's men eased into the game and dominated proceedings for most of it. Croatian forward Sliskovic was played through by Jiteshwor but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

Thapa then made a lunging effort right at the brink of half time but the Army Red custodian showed good reflexes to deny the two-time Indian Super League (ISL) champions as both the sides failed to break the deadlock at half-time.

Breaking deadlock

Army Red broke the deadlock through L Khongsai's header from a corner 10 minutes after the change of ends. Trailing by a goal, Chennaiyin changed gears in a bid to find the much-needed equaliser in the final quarter of the game.

In the 69th minute, Duker's shot hit a flurry of red shirts to deny Chennayin a way back into the contest. A couple of minutes later, Sliskovic got a double chance inside the box but failed to find the back of the net.

Heart-thumping action

The final moments of the match witnessed heart-thumping action as three goals were scored in a span of 10 minutes. Duker scored the equaliser for Chennaiyin from Thapa's corner in the 89th minute.

Edwin Vanasapaul scored his first goal for the club to hand Chennayin the lead with a thunderous volley from outside the box. But two minutes later Liton Shil equalised for Army Red to draw curtains on the nail-biting contest. Chennaiyin FC will next face reigning ISL champions Hyderabad FC in their second group stage fixture on August 26.

ATK Mohun Bagan stunned

Meanwhile sentimental favourites ATK Mohun Bagan suffered a shock 2-3 reversal at the hands of Rajasthan United at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) in Kolkata in the second match of the day.

For the records, Durand Cup is Asia's oldest and the third football tournament largest in the world. The 131st edition of the tournament features 20 teams including the 11 Indian Super League teams that were mandated to participate in the tournament. The 20 teams are divided into four groups of five teams each. In the group stage, each team will play the four other teams of their respective group in single round robin fixtures with two table-toppers proceeding to the quarterfinal.