16 Friday 2024 | NEUFC Media

Kokrajhar, 16 August 2024: NorthEast United FC emphatically booked their place in the quarterfinals of the IndianOil Durand Cup with a resounding 5-1 victory over Odisha FC. NorthEast United FC finished at the top of Group ‘E’ with a perfect record of three wins from three. The draw for the quarterfinals is yet to be confirmed. Jithin MS stole the show with a quickfire brace (17’, 20’) in the first half to propel the Highlanders. Thoi Singh’s dancing feet created the third goal - an own goal by Tankadhar (56’), Guillermo (76’) added the fourth with a composed one-on-one finish before Thoi Singh (85’) found the back of the net to round off the scoring. Juan Pedro Benali’s team started on a front foot and created chances from the word go. Nestor Albiach’s flick just went wide of the mark in the opening minutes in a show of intent. Jithin MS was menacing on the left with his runs and opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Mayakkannan won the ball in the centre of the park and clipped it over Odisha FC’s backline. Jithin, playing on the defender’s shoulder, timed his run perfectly and calmly put the ball past Odisha keeper Niraj Kumar. Three minutes later, Jithin unselfishly tried to pass the ball to Alaeddine Ajaraie, who had squared it to Jithin but the rebound fell kindly back to his feet. Jithin did not waste any time in putting the ball in the back of the net to make it 2-0, a scoreline that remained unchanged at the break. At half-time, Benali shuffled the pack and introduced Michel Zabaco (for Hamza Regragui) and Guillermo (for Nestor) having earlier brought on Thoi Singh (for Ankith Padmanabhan) in the first half. Thoi added more spark down the flank and his dancing feet wreaked havoc in the Odisha backline. After flooring the nearest defender, he put a low cross in from the byline which Tankadhar inadvertently could only turn into his own net. Odisha FC’s Singson (64’) reduced the deficit midway through the second half with a brilliant long range effort. Ajaraie had been unlucky not to find the net himself but his clever ball put Guillermo one-on-one with Niraj. Guillermo, who earlier had a goal ruled out, showed his composure to slot home. Thoi Singh, who had been brilliant down the left flank and had come close to scoring earlier, finally got his reward. Mohammed Ali Bemammer chipped a ball to Thoi, who brought it down expertly and fired it into the bottom corner to put an icing on the cake.