Guwahati: Odisha FC (OFC) became the second team to make it to the quarterfinals in the Durand Cup after registering a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sudeva Delhi FC (Sudeva) in a Group D game at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium here on Monday.
Spaniard Saul Crespo scored a brace while Jerry got the third; to hand the Juggernauts a third successive win in the tournament. All the goals came in the first half.
Both Saul and Jerry have also scored three times now for Josep Gombau’s side who have scored 11 goals without return in their three group games so far. They take on Army Green in their final group game.
For Sudeva perhaps it was a gulf too big to bridge at this stage of the tournament and despite a spirited performance, especially in the first 30 minutes, they ended up the second-best side on the day by a distance and could not avoid the first loss in this year’s tournament. They can still go through, however, if they win big against NorthEast United in their last group game of the fixture.
Odisha practically killed the game with three first-half goals and it was more the manner in which they got them that perhaps did more damage. It began well though for Sudeva and they were matching the Juggernauts in attack in the first quarter of an hour.
The opening for OFC came in the 19th minute when off a Sahil Panwar corner, Crespo rose to head in despite having markers on the job. OFC had begun to take control.
In the 39th minute, a delightful ball from Raynier Fernandes found Crespo again, but this time he had more to do. He took a few steps forward to shrug off his marker, bent his knees slightly to attack the header low and deflected it from the near post, across the keeper into the far post.
A minute later Nandha Kumar Sekar struck from distance and given that the shot went through a maze of feet, perhaps unsighted Sudeva keeper Kabir Kohli who reacted a tad late to block the shot. The rebound however fell too kindly for Jerry, to miss getting his third of the tournament.
(IANS)
