Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kolkata: Mohun Bagan took a step closer to a first-ever appearance in the AFC Champions League after a 3-1 over Tampines Rovers saw the India champions advance to second preliminary round as the qualifiers for the 2016 edition of Asian football’s premier club competition kicked-off on Wednesday.
Jeje Lalpekhlua put Mohun Bagan one up with just five minutes of the first half at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium played before Cornel Glen doubled the advantage in the 41st minute having missed from the penalty spot six minutes earlier.
Yasir Hanapi pulled one back for Tampines with two minutes of the first half remaining before Fazrul Nawaz was deemed offside as he looked to have drawn the visitors level three minutes after the interval.
Mohun Bagan sealed the win with seven minutes left to play when Yusa Katsumi scored number three as the 2014/15 I-League advance set up a February 2 meeting with Shandong Luneng.
Lalpekhlua, who scored the equaliser as India went on to defeat title holders Afghanistan 2-1 to win the 2015 SAFF Championship, broke the deadlock five minutes after referee ?’s whistle signalled the start of the AFC Champions League qualifiers.
Haiti international Sony Norde outpaced Izzidin Shafiq and South Korean defender Kwon Jun and fed the ball to Dhanchandra Singh, whose cross from the left was flicked home at the far post as Lalpekhlua scored the first goal of the qualifiers.
Cornel Glen should have scored the second after the Trinidad & Tobago international was fouled in the box by Kwon, but Tampines keeper Izwan Mahbud kept out the 35-year-old striker’s 35th-minute penalty.
However, Glen would make amends six minutes later when he made it 2-0 to Mohun Bagan after being set up superbly by the increasingly influential Norde.
The home side had controlled the opening period but it was the visitors that were to have the final say of the first half when an unmarked Yasir Hanapi headed Hafiz Sujad’s 43rd-minute free-kick past Debjit Majumder.
Majumder was beaten a second time when, three minutes after the restart, when Fazrul Nawaz put Christopher van Huizen’s deep free-kick into the net only for Tampines to be denied the equaliser after the linesman flagged for offside.
Stags keeper Izwan displayed the form he showed when the Singapore international shut out four-time Asian champions Japan in a 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifier in Saitama back in June when the 25-year-old did superbly to keep out Glen’s 67th-minute header.
But Izwan was to be beaten for a third time when Katsumi scored the goal that sealed Mohun Bagan’s progress to the second preliminary round, with the Japanese midfielder finding the net after Prabir Das had headed Norde’s 83rd-minute corner towards the Mariners’ skipper.
Mohun Bagan will now travel to China to face Shandong at the Jinan Olympic Sports Centre Stadium next Tuesday with the winners taking on 2008 ACL runners-up Adelaide United in Australia on February 9, with a place in Group F of the 2016 AFC Champions League at stake.
Photo: Mohun Bagan