Chennaiyin beat Delhi to enter Stafford Final

pic: KSFA Media 

The first semi-final of Stafford Challenge Cup witnessed some exciting moments before Chennaiyin FC got the better of Delhi FC in tie-breaker at the Bangalore Football Stadium today. The reserve team of Chennaiyin was quick enough to take a lead in 18th minute from Givson Singh. Talented Sajal Bag made it 2-0 from a beautiful long ranger in the added time. 

After changing ends, Delhi showed urgency to come back to the game, however, didn’t have enough sharpness in their attack to score, though they did reduce the score in the half-way via penalty, and finally equalled few minutes before the regulation time. 

The game went straight to penalty shoot-out. Though Chennaiyin missed the first shot while Delhi successfully converted the same. Delhi wasted 3rd and 4th shot while Chennai scored the rest of the shots thus moving to the final of Stafford Challenge Cup.

Chennaiyin pip Kickstart to qualify for Stafford Cup semi-finals

The Group D final round matches of Stafford Challenge Cup were interestingly poised. Before taking their opponents today, local favourite Kickstart FC and Chennaiyin FC were equal on points (3), head-to-head (2-2), and goal difference (+1) - their opponents were ARA FC and Kerala United FC respectively. ARA RC too were in contention, they needed to win against Kickstart, which also required Chennaiyin to lose against Kerala United). 

Both games were scheduled on the same time today morning - Kickstart FC Vs ARA FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium and Chennaiyin FC Vs Kerala United FC at the HAL Ground. 

Kickstart FC did convincingly win 3-1 against ARA FC, however their win was not enough compared to Chennaiyin FC’s 9-0 thrashing to Kerala United FC pipping Kickstart to qualify for the semi-finals.

BFC play out 1-1 draw against Sreenidi Deccan, Chennaiyin beat ARA in Stafford Cup

KSFA Media 
Bengaluru FC Media 

Chennaiyin FC, Chennai, became the first team to log full points defeating the ARA FC 1-0 in a Group D match of the Stafford Challenge Cup 2023 football tournament on Friday. In another match in Group C, local hopefuls Bengaluru FC drew with Sreenidhi Deccan FC, Hyderabad, 1-1 after leading by an early goal.

In the first game today morning, Bengaluru FC did well to take the lead in the 15th minute when Harmanpreet Singh rushed in to tap home the ball following a melee inside the box.  Harmanpreet, Thoi Singh, and captain Biswa Darjee combined well to threaten the opponents, but their finishing let them down.

Sreenidhi Deccan worked the ball at a fast clip and looked like finding the equaliser any moment. It did come in the 68th minute when skipper Arunkumar managed to chip the ball beyond the reach of goalkeeper Lara as the ball landed into the net.

After being on level terms, it was the Deccan side which let BFC off the hook when skipper Biswa Darjee failed to beat Lara in a one to one situation. The game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Chennaiyin beat ARA 1-0

Keeping up a steady flow of attacks, Chennaiyin Fc carved out the ARA defence and opened up scoring chances, but their finishing let them down. This was evident when their skipper Senthamil failed to fill an untenanted net with goalkeeper Sangramjit Roy Coudhury out of his charge. But he made amends soon after when a lob from Rajat Roy hit the crossbar and rebounded back into play. Senthamil was close on hand to fill the net.

ARA boys tried their best to force the pace and attack from both flanks but the CFC defence did not yield. They were backed well by goalkeeper Mohanraj who rushed out time and again to bring timely saves.

Chennaiyin could have made it 2-0 but midfielder Sharon’s long chip hit the crossbar and rolled out. In the dying moments, substitute Zomuansanga failed to tap home a pass from Senthamil. Though they tried hard, the Ahmedabad boys failed to break the compact opponent defence and crashed to defeat.

South United held to a 1-1 draw by Chennaiyin Reserves

South United Media 

South United FC (SUFC) were seconds away from registering their first win of the Hero Second Division League but were thwarted by a 92nd minute goal by Krishna Pandit. 

The opening few minutes saw SUFC dominate possession and make inroads into the Chennaiyin FC (CFC) half. They created some half chances early on troubling their backline but were unable to find a penetrative attack.

In the 15th minute, David took on a speculative shot from the distance that seemed more hopeful than anything, and it found its way past a flapping CFC keeper to give SUFC a 1-0 lead. CFC started to get into the game once they were a goal behind but struggled to test the keeper. Their threat from long throws seemed ominous in terms of being able to get a result form the game.

Meanwhile, CFC seemed poor at the back, allowing the SUFC down the wings and only thwarting attacks with last ditch challenges.

The second half saw CFC defend much better, they found themselves pushing SUFC back at times 

but the backline stood strong for the home side.

On one occasion, the keeper Jayanth had to intervene with a potentially match saving effort as Krishna Pandit got onto the end of a cross and directed the ball towards goal.

The goal that came for CFC in the 92nd minute came as a corner was floated into the box and after pinging around the box, it landed at Krishna’s feet and despite some pressure on him, he found the back of the net with a great driven strike.

Having waited till the 92nd minute to pull off a rescue act, the Chennaiyin FC Reserves side denied SUFC their first win of the season.

South United FC hold Chennaiyin FC Reserves in thrilling 3-3 draw

South United Media

An early lead for Chennaiyin FC indicated that they were going to have an easy cruise to a win but with a quality performance, South United clawed back into the game to walk away with a point. 

The game began at SSN Stadium in Chennai with the home team Chennaiyin FC in control and they capitalised on their quick start with some early goals. Krishna Pandit scored in the 11th minute to give his side an early lead, Rohmingthanga struck twice in the next 5 minutes to make it what seemed like an unassailable 3-0 lead by the 17th minute mark. 

South United FC seemed to settle down and find their groove only once they were trailing by three goals. They began creating some dangerous chances and found a quick breakthrough in the 22nd minute as Aaron ran on to a superb through ball from Magesh and cut the ball back for Sudipta to finish. 

The visiting team kept the pressure on the CFC Reserves goal on for the rest of the half and were seemingly denied a couple of penalty shouts. Both teams walked in at half-time with the visitors still trailing by 2 goals. 

Another penalty shout early in the second half saw SUFC come away frustrated again as the decisions went against them once again. It remained an exercise of attack versus defense as SUFC pushed forward and CFC remained pegged back in their own half. 

The 65th minute saw Cletus Paul replace Sharukh Rahman as SUFC threw forward all they had. They won a penalty in the 70th minute that Cletus stepped forward to drive home. 

With the score at 3-2, South United kept plugging away looking for an equaliser, but their quest for parity was dented by the sending off of Amit Tudu in the 81st minute as he saw a second yellow. 

The ten men of the visiting team still dominated the game though against a flailing Chennaiyin FC side. Their labours bore fruit in the 89th minute as Aaron’s cross found Cletus in the middle of the box and the striker smashed it into the back of the net. 

What had already been a dramatic game could’ve got better for South United FC as they had a chance to score form a corner late on but they were unable to convert it and had to settle for a draw.