Bhubaneswar: Despite the hecticness of playing a tournament just two weeks after curtains were drawn on Indian Super League (ISL), Kalinga Super Cup reached the final mile and ascertained its finalists on Wednesday.
“It’s true that at 4:30 (pm), the first half was very hot. It was difficult to play,” Manolo Marquez said after FC Goa got the better of Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the afternoon semifinal to become the first finalist of this edition.
“But we are very satisfied and very happy because in two days we will be playing the Super Cup final. And I feel that we deserve to be there because we have won three of the four games and there is just one more step to go.”
Goa’s 3-1 win over a Mohun Bagan squad, comprising mostly Indians and youngsters, was followed by Jamshedpur FC slogging it out against Mumbai City FC and finding a late winner from Rei Tachikawa to join Marquez’s team for the summit clash.
The 87th-minute piledriver was what made the difference in the second semifinal and the Japanese midfielder was delighted by his contribution.
“I am very happy with the goal. I had been waiting for that moment for almost 90 minutes. The ball came to me, I took the first touch and just shot,” Tachikawa told TOI while leaving Kalinga Stadium on Wednesday.
“But, you know, the most important thing is that it won the game for the team. Obviously, I’m happy with my goal, but I’m happier that we won.”
Goa’s player-of-the-match, Borja Herrera, however, was not thinking about scoring directly from the corner en route his spectacular Olympic goal.
“We have prepared for the set-pieces and I took it as we do in training. But fortunately, it went into the goal. But the preparations for the set-pieces are done by the coach, not by me,” the Spaniard, who also assisted Brison Fernandes in the opener before Iker Guarrotxena’s goal from the spot, said after the match.
‘This team is not ready to bounce back’: The defeat to FC Goa, however, took a bit of a shine off the high-flying ISL Shield and Cup winners as Mohun Bagan’s relatively inexperienced side failed to do a season treble.
“We conceded two goals within 12 minutes. But this team is not ready to bounce back and lacks experience (to do so). But I am happy that they are growing and developing and can fight for 90 minutes,” Bagan’s head coach for the Super Cup, Bastab Roy, said at the post-match interaction.
Deemed as an exposure trip for their youngsters, Roy and the club will be happy with the team’s performance, especially in the first half of the semifinal, given that they have already qualified for the AFC Champions League 2 with their ISL heroics.
That, however, is not the case for Petr Kratky’s Mumbai City after a disappointing ISL season followed by the defeat in the last four here.
“I think we were just tired. It was a short turnaround time for the players and the boys worked extremely hard. Look, now is the time for reflection. To go through everything, do the reports and sit down, reflect and make sure that we move forward and get better next year,” Kratky said as he joined his wards in signing off.