Kolkata: Fourteen matches in, this season of the Indian Super League (ISL) sure is warming up. Jamshedpur FC came from behind to beat East Bengal 2-1 bringing the high-flying home team to the ground with a thud. That an excellent long-range effort from Rei Tachikawa in the 87th minute made the difference was appropriate for a match that ebbed and flowed.
East Bengal had begun with a bang, scoring seven goals in two matches. Youssef Ezzajjari, Miguel Ferreira, Edmund Lalrindika and Anwar Ali, India’s best ball-playing central defender, were the first among equals in a team that had started with two straight wins for the first time. Exactly the kind of situation head coach Oscar Bruzon felt was right for Anton Søjberg to debut in red and gold.
Who would have then thought that Jamshedpur FC, who have had barely three weeks to get ready, would have nine points from three games. By the first water break, the visitors had tested Prabhsukhan Gill thrice and Rapahel Messi Bouli put the ball in the net once. The gangly forward was flagged off-side. Given that match officials too had a significantly longer off-season than they would have wanted, this was an excellent call.
At a time when uncertainty is the only certainty, Jamshedpur FC have not only replaced Khalid Jamil with a proven winner in Owen Coyle but also given the head coach a two-term deal. They have retained the core that Jamil guided to the semi-finals and added players from East Bengal, Mehdi Talal, Messi Bouli and Mark Zothanpuia among them.
East Bengal’s high defensive line held when Messi Bouli and then Sanan Mohammed broke through but this was going to be match tougher than NorthEast United and Sporting Delhi. Mohammed and Vincy Barreto, the visiting team’s wide men, ensured that. It led to Bruzon replacing right back Lalchunnunga in the 24th minute and then Bipin Singh as part of a triple substitution in the 69th.
That said, East Bengal are a lot stronger than versions of the immediate past. Lalrindika put the home team ahead in the 41st minute. Used as wide right to accommodate Søjberg, Lalrindika had put down an early marker turning Mohammed the wrong way and earning a free-kick by drawing a foul from Nikola Stankovic. For the goal, he timed his run to meet Bipin Singh’s ball and beat Zothanpuia before scoring with an easy tap-in. Ezzejjari could have got the insurance goal in the 44th but the striker with four goals in two games failed to keep a free header from close on target.
Stephen Eze made East Bengal pay for that. Eze, who had scored in the 1-1 draw against Mohun Bagan Super Giant last season, equalised in the 61st minute. Stankovic, whose free-kicks drew Gill out of goal and always spelt danger, delivered into the mixer and the tallest player on the pitch headed home. The move that had led to the corner-kick had Talal being denied by Gill from close after Messi Bouli had found the Iranian forward.
East Bengal pushed hard and Albino Gomes was tested twice in close succession by Ezzejjari and Jay Gupta. For the first half, Søjberg looked like a jay walker caught in rush hour traffic. The Dane has been among regular football in the second rung in the USA but it was evident he had not bedded in. Reined in by Stankovic before half-time, he exerted more influence as space opened up but had an undistinguished 69 minutes.
By then, Jamshedpur has settled into a good rhythm. It showed in the slick three-touch move involving Mohammed, Talal and Tachikawa that led to the winner. Freed by a clever back-heel from Talal, Tachikawa let fly three minutes after coming on, the long-ranger arcing in at the far corner stunning the 22,899 into silence. As Coyle wound down the clock with four substitutions in added time, a Vishnu effort that flashed across goal and another of his deliveries that David Lalhlansanga couldn’t reach were the closest East Bengal came to finding an equaliser.
