Bengaluru FC rout Young Challengers 8-0 in BDFA Super Division league

Bengaluru FC Media 

Bengaluru FC began their BDFA Super Division Campaign with a comfortable 8-0 victory over  FC, at the Bangalore Football Stadium, on Saturday. A hat-trick from Thoi Singh (42’, 45’, 50’, 78’) and goals from Rajanbir Singh (10’), Clarence Fernandes (21’), Sudheer Kotikala (58’) and Monirul Molla (73’) ensured all the points for Jan Van Loon’s side. 

Bengaluru began the game on the front foot and opened the scoring early. Damaiphang Lyngdoh’s low cross into a crowded 18-yard-box found the feet of Rajanbir, who smashed it into the back of the net from close range to give BFC the lead. Twenty minutes into the game, a well-worked corner routine went in favour of the Blue Colts who capitalised and doubled their lead. Amay Morajkar’s cross found Rajanbir, who tapped it into an empty net to make it two. 

The pace of the game slowed down with both teams keeping the ball in the middle of the park, but Bengaluru switched gears and bagged two more goals in the last five minutes of the first half, courtesy of Thoi. 

Into the second half, it took BFC just five minutes to score another goal as Thoi completed his hat-trick. A sublime through ball from Amay Morajkar from the center of the field, found Thoi who kept his composure and slotted it past SK Sadekuddin to make it five. 

Sudheer got in on the action just eight minutes later with a powerful finish from just outside the 18-yard-box to make it six. Substitute Monirul made a huge impact in the game and scored with a sublime volley before setting up BFC’s eighth goal. Molla’s pass found Thoi, who scored his fourth with an easy tap-in. 

The Blue Colts next face Rebels FC on 31st August, at the same venue.

 

Bengaluru FC Colts make semifinal with 1-0 win over Roots FC

A late winner from Lalremtluanga Fanai was enough as Bengaluru FC edged 1-0 past Roots FC in a Zone ‘B’ encounter of the Puttaiah Memorial Cup, at the Bangalore Football Stadium, in Bengaluru, on Saturday. The victory is the Blue Colts’ second on the trot, having beaten Kodagu FC 5-0 in the opener early on in the week.

Earlier, Jan van Loon made one change to his side as Dipesh Chauhan replaced Sharon Padattil in goal. A first half that saw majority of the action in the middle of the park saw both sides struggling to create chances. Thoi Singh came closest to breaking the deadlock when he met a cross from Sudheer Kotikala, but the winger’s shot blazed over the bar. 

Bengaluru had their best chance of the half just moments before the break when Robin Yadav’s shot from distance tested the Roots goalkeeper, but the shot was parried away to safety. Into the second period, Bengaluru came out firing and found the net within five minutes of the restart. 

Akashdeep, found deep by Thoi, sent in a cross for the forward to run onto but the side-footed attempt was off-target. Only moments later, Thoi’s freekick was tipped over the bar. The Blue Colts continued to push forward and saw another big chance go begging when Akashdeep was found unmarked in the 18-yard-box by Felixson Fernandes, with the defender's low cross met with power by the striker, but the effort was off target.

With five minutes left to play in regulation time, substitute Lalpekhlua made an instant impact off the bench, setting up Fanai with a deep cross. The winger, who skipped past his man, sent in an inch-perfect pass for the midfielder, who nodded it beyond the goalkeeper.

The Blue Colts face Kickstart FC next, on 15 August, at the same venue. 

 

Bengaluru Colts begin Puttaiah Cup campaign with 5-0 win

Bengaluru FC Media 

Bengaluru FC begin their Puttaiah Memorial Cup campaign with a 5-0 victory over Kodagu FC, at the Bangalore Football Stadium, on Thursday. Akashdeep Singh (34’, 47’), Thoi Singh (53’), Lalhmingchhuanga (81’) and Edwin Rosario (86’) were on target for the Blue Colts.

It was a cagey first half with both teams struggling to create chances early on, but the Blue Colts broke the deadlock through Akashdeep with ten minutes left to the break. Shighil’s darting run down the wing saw him find empty space to put in a low cross for the forward, who smashed with power beyond the goalkeeper’s reach to make it 1-0.

The chances kept coming from there, but the referee blew the whistle for half-time before Bengaluru could double their lead. Into the second half, the Blue Colts ran riot, scoring from kick-off courtesy of Akashdeep once again. The forward picked up a cross from Thoi and slotted it beyond the ‘keepers reach.

Sudheer Kotikala, who made his debut in Blue set up BFC’s third of the evening. The forwards’ cross found Thoi in space and the winger capitalised with a smart finish from close range. 

Robin Yadav was brought down in the box late into the game and Lalhmingchhuanga stepped up to the occasion and struck it with power into the top left corner to make it four. With four minutes left on the clock, the goalkeeper split the ball and Edwin was there to tap it into an empty net. 

The Blue Colts face Roots FC next, on Saturday, at the same venue. 

 

Bengaluru colts go down to Leicester City in PL Next Gen Cup

Bengaluru FC Media 

Bengaluru FC’s opening encounter of the PL Next Gen Cup saw Naushad Moosa’s side go down 6-3 to Leicester City at the Leicester City Academy Grounds, in Loughborough, on Wednesday. The Foxes, who raced to a 6-0 lead through goals from Kian Pennant (13’, 27’), William Alves (18’) and Chris Popov (21’, 52’, 61), were met by a resolute second half performance from the Blue Colts, which saw Sivasakthi Narayanan (67’, 73’) and Damaitphang Lyngdoh (68’) find their name on the scoresheet. 

Moosa’s boys started bright and came close to scoring inside the first five minutes when Bekey Oram’s shot was saved by Arlo Doherty in the Leicester goal. Only minutes later, the hosts took the lead when Popov drove free down the right to find Pennant, whose initial effort was saved by Sharon Padattil, only for the England international to slot home on the rebound. 

Earlier, Damaitphang Lyngdoh, Thoi Singh and Lalremtluanga Fanai were named in midfield by Moosa, with Akashdeep Singh, Thoi Singh and Sivasakthi tasked in the attacking third. At the back, Robin Yadav and Felixson Fernandes marshaled a backline that had Namgyal Bhutia and Clarence Fernandes as fullbacks with Sharon in goal.

Leicester’s second came through Alves, who managed to latch onto a deflected effort to volley goalward and past Sharon. Just past the 20 minute mark, Popov scored his first of the evening, with a heavy deflection off Robin Yadav leaving Sharon rooted as the ball looped over and went in off the upright. Pennant would add another for the Foxes ahead of the break, as the Blue Colts made their way down the tunnel with a 4-0 deficit.

Into the second period, Bengaluru were pegged back again by Popov, who scored his second with a neat finish from the edge of the box. Popov rounded off his hat-trick from the spot after Dipesh Chauhan, on in the second half for Sharon, was adjudged to have fouled the Welshman in the box. 

Despite their 6-0 deficit, the Blue Colts kept pushing and found the net for the first time through Sivasakthi, who slid the ball through Doherty just past the hour mark. Moments later, a set-piece routine saw Leicester clear the ball in a haste, allowing Damaitphang Lyngdoh the opportunity to strike from distance, through a crowd and past Doherty, to make it 6-2. 

Bengaluru refused to relent, and scored again in the 73rd minute when Sivasakthi’s strike from distance evaded Doherty’s dive. Dipesh was called into action once again when Clarence Fernandes, making his competitive debut for the Blue Colts, was adjudged to have brought Pennant down in the box. The winger stepped up, but his spot-kick was saved well by Dipesh, who then proceeded to recover and save the strike on the rebound to keep the score unchanged.

Bengaluru continued to push forward in search of goals, but the referee called time on the proceedings, sending Naushad Moosa’s men towards an encounter for third place, for which the Blue colts will face Nottingham Forest on 30th July, Saturday, at the same venue.

Bengaluru FC beat Indian Navy to make Durand Cup knockouts

Bengaluru FC Media

Naushad Moosa’s Bengaluru FC side scripted a remarkable second-half comeback to make the knockout rounds of the 2021 Durand Cup, with a 5-3 win over Indian Navy at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, in Kolkata, on Tuesday. Goals from Jijo (18’), Sreyas (29’) gave the Services side a two-goal lead heading into the break before the Blues came out all guns blazing in the second period, with strikes from Leon Augustine (52’), Harmanpreet Singh (60’, 80’), Ajay Chhetri (73’) and Thoi Singh (90’ + 1’) sealing the points. Vijay (90’ + 3’) added a consolation goal for the away side in extra time.

Naushad Moosa made one change to the team that drew 2-2 with Delhi FC, with Bidyashagar Singh replacing Leon Augustine.

Blues’ goalkeeper Lara Sharma had to be alert to deny Indian Navy in the opening minutes, doing well to push a corner onto the post and out of play. At the other end, on the five-minute mark, Sivasakthi Narayanan broke free but the Indian Navy defence did well to cut out his pass into the box.

Indian Navy took the lead in the 18th minute when Jijo latched onto Lara’s clearance from a corner and volleyed home from the edge of the box. Sivasakthi had a chance to put the Blues back on level terms, but skied his effort after Harmanpreet Singh found him free in the box. Instead, Indian Navy doubled their lead ten minutes later through Sreyas VG, who ran free down the middle and placed his finish into the far corner.

The Blues almost pulled one back just past the half hour mark, when Ajith Kumar did well to bring down a long pass but couldn’t find Harmanpreet at the far post.

Leon, replacing Bidyashagar at the start of the second half, put his name on the scoreboard with a well-taken finish, after Sivasakthi’s flick sent him one on one with the ’keeper Bhaskar Roy. The scorer then turned provider, when he found Harmanpreet with an inch-perfect pass, and the forward made no mistake in finding the back of the net to make it 2-2.

With momentum on their side, the Blues pressed forward and won a penalty, after Biswa Darjee was brought down in the box. Ajay Chhetri made no mistake from the spot, finding the bottom corner to complete the turnaround and put the Blues 3-2 up. Harmanpreet added another goal to his name, chipping the ball over the onrushing ’keeper and finishing into an empty net.

The Blues added another goal in stoppage time, when Sivasakthi broke free down the right-wing and found Bekey Oram, who toyed with the Indian Navy defence before finding Thoi Singh, who placed his finish between two defenders and the ’keeper to put the Blues 5-2 up. Vijay then reduced the deficit for Indian Navy in the final minutes of added time, making it 5-3. 

The win sees Bengaluru progress to the quarterfinals, where they take on Army Green, who finished second, with six points, in Group B.

 

Nail-biter on card as blues take on nemesis Mumbai FC

AIFF Media 
Bengaluru FC Media 

With the sole intent of consolidating the good start, Hero I-League title contender Bengaluru FC (BFC) take on Mumbai FC (MFC) tomorrow at the Sree Kanterava Stadium, Bengaluru. 

Both teams have made a perfect start to their league campaign – BFC winning both their home ties convincingly and MFC winning a home and away. Bengaluru tops the points table with a better goal difference. 

MFC have always been a hard nut to crack for the champions. In the last three editions of I-League, they’ve manage to beat them only once, that is last year at home. 

Roca, whose two timely substitutions in the last match paid rich divided sounded cautious. He said, “After two wins, they’ll come stronger mentally and they have enough talents to put us in trouble, but we’re ready for a hard battle.”  

Thoi Singh and Karan Sawney, two former BFC men have truly prospered for Mumbai in the last match. 

Bengaluru have signed few Indian players lately - Lenny, Harmanjot Khabra, and Mandar Rao Dessai among them have featured in the starting eleven. 

According to Roca, “It is not easy for the new players to understand the philosophy of the new club from the first week. What I want from them is to be at par with the existing team at the earliest. But we have to give them time for that.” 

“We are trying to build a superior team, this team is under construction, we’re adjusting things, and not completed yet!” added coach. 

Roca is completely aware of opponents’ strength, which is speed. They have a good forward in Victorino Fernandes, he plans to cut the supply of long balls. 

BFC’s philosophy is to build the game from behind against MFC’s counter attack theory. So for Roca it is important not to lose the ball and give Mumbai the opportunity to counter attack.
Bengaluru would want to bag full points before they play a difficult away game against East Bengal this weekend. 

The Essel Group-owned MFC is trained by Santosh Kashyap, a shrewd coach capable of upstaging the big-wigs! 

Talking to the media, coach sounded positive, “Great start for us in I-League, our players have put in the best effort, and team is high on confidence.” 

Kashyap is targeting for a top three finish. “I have great respect for BFC, we are going to meet the strongest opponent. Believe tomorrow’s match is going to be a championship match for us.” he adds.   
Mumbai will take the field sans foreigners, owing to transfer formalities, which is yet to be completed.

Kashyap is content with his current batch, “I believe in Indian players and they have responded positively in such a short span of time. Boys have been fantastic on home as well as away matches.” 
“I have trust and confidence in them; they are doing good job!” adds the Mumbai-based coach who believes in playing attacking style of football. 

The match is scheduled at 7 pm and will be telecast live on TEN2.