Bengaluru FC became the first Indian club to reach the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup final by trouncing holders Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim 3-1 in the semi-final second leg here on Wednesday.

The two-time I-League champions won 4-2 on aggregate and now take on Iraqi club Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in the final on November 5 in Doha, Qatar.

Bengaluru remained indebted to skipper and mercurial forward Sunil Chhetri who scored a brace on either side of halftime with defender Juanan adding gloss to the scoreline after the visitors had taken the lead through Safiq Bin Rahim early on in the game at the Kanteerava Stadium.

Johor scored as early as in the 11th minute, skipper Rahim heading in from close after Bengaluru goalkeeper Amrinder Singh failed to parry away Safee Ali’s venomous strike.

Despite taking the lead, the hosts looked comfortable in midfield and should have taken the lead when Chhetri was denied by the crossbar after a good touch from the Johor keeper initially saw the ball fall back out to play from where Eugeneson Lyngdoh hammered a low shot at goal which Izham Mohammed punched away.

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The rebound fell to the skipper on the edge of the six-yard box. Trying to power the ball into the top of goal, the veteran forward found the horizontal bar. Chhetri though found the net minutes later, nodding in a free header off a Lyngdoh corner, which was won by Chhetri himself.

Both sides went into the break at 1-1.

BFC dominated proceedings after the restart with Chhetri and Alwyn George coming close to taking the lead in the tie. In the 66th minute, the Kanteerava erupted in joy as Chhetri – in imperious form — scored a goal of the highest quality by making space for himself from well outside the box to beat Izham all ends up.

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Centre-back Juanan, filling in the void left by Curtis Osano this season, joined the act nine minutes later turning in Lyngdoh’s free kick with aplomb to net his first goal for the southern outfit.

With the tie and the semi-fnal all but won and separated by a few minutes from history being rewritten in Indian football, the I-League champions brought on full-back Keegan Pereira replacing Chhetri in a tactical move.

The farthest any Indian club has reached before in the continental meet — an equivalent to the Europa League – is the semi-final where both Dempo SC and East Bengal lost.

Bengaluru expressed delight at their achievement by tweeting: “Thank you, India. This is for you! History created. Bags packed because…”

IANS

A 10-man India were upstaged 0-3 by a superior Iran and bowed out of the AFC U-16 Championship 2016 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi.

Mohammad Ghaderi (23rd minute) put Iran in the lead before the break while Mohammad Sharifi (82nd, 90+) converted a couple of penalties towards the end.

Courtesy Wednesday’s result, India finished on one point from three outings while Iran topped Group A with seven points from three matches to march into the quarter-finals.

India coach Nicolai Adam made two changes to the starting XI, Lalengmawia and Ninthoi replacing Aniket Jhadav and Aman Chetri respectively. But mispasses in the midfield didn’t help the hosts’ cause. The trapping at times was bad and the physically superior Iranians managed to win most of the second balls.

Even as both teams started on a cautious note, Iran were able to increase manpower in the final zone. The first goal came in the 23rd minute — a slippery Ghaderi sneaking in between the two Indian central defenders to blast it in after being fed by Amed Khodamoradi.

India’s sole chance in the first half came in the 17th minute. The rush of adrenalin forced Komal Thattal to go for glory after he had sped into the rival box. A back pass to Lalangmawia who was perfectly positioned to tap it in into a yawning goal could have given India the lead.

Changing over, Nicolai brought in his first substitution — Aniket coming in for Mohamad Rakip in the 46th minute. The first cross into the box by the hosts came in the 49th minute, but Iran goalkeeper Gholam Zadeh leapt above all to gather Ninthoi’s floater.

India suffered a jolt when they were down to 10-men — Boris was given marching orders after receiving his second yellow card in the 55th minute.

Ten minutes later Lalengmawia was replaced by Aman, as Nicolai went all out for the equaliser. The third substitution came in the 69th minute when Narender was put in place of Sarif Khan.

Iran, taking full advantage of their numerical superiority, were dominating by then and had not Indian goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh intervened on a couple of occasions, the scoreline could have been wider.

A 10-man India, nevertheless, laboured hard. But as it in the first half, and even in the entire championship, mispasses spoiled the counters. Iran looked composed with the support for each other in the midfield.

It eventually paid dividends as Iran scored from two penalties with Mohammad Sharifi converting a brace from the spot in the 82nd minute and then one in injury time.

IANS