Durand Cup: Eduardo Bedia Pelaez’s extra-time goal helps FC Goa emerge champion

Durand Cup Final: Eduard Bedia’s extra-time goal in the 105th minute helped FC Goa beat Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-0 to lift the 130th Durand Cup for the first time in history at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Sunday.

The final kicked off on a lively note in front of 34,000 spectators with both Mohammedan Sporting and FC Goa both going on the attack from the word go.Though both teams were looking to attack, they were failing to keep possession for longer durations. The first shot of the match came from Marcus Joseph in the third minute but it was wayward.Soon after, FC Goa created a chance but a mix-up between Nemil and Romario in the box led to an easy save for the Mohammedan SC keeper.As the half started to progress, the temperature started to increase and the foul count also started to increase. Mohammedan was at the receiving end of the cards as they received three yellow cards within a span of 17 minutes with the names Azharuddin Mallick, Nikola Stojanovic and Shaher Shaheen going into the book.The match was slowly starting to open up now, as chances were being created more often, but none of them were being converted. A sudden moment of uproar came for VYBK in the 35th minute when a shot from Milan Singh went flying into the goal from a distance but a foul was called by the referee just before the shot was taken and the disappointment of the crowd was clearly visible. For FC Goa, Romario had the best chance of the half when the defence was completely foxed by a cross from Sanson Pereira from the left flank, but Romario sent the shot wide of the goal post.The first half ended with the scores tied at 0-0.The second half saw FC Goa dominating possession, but the same didn’t result in concrete chances as they lost the ball far too easily in the final third. In the meantime, Mohammedan finally made their first change of the match bringing on Brandon Vanlalremdika for Azharuddin Mallick, who was already on a yellow card. FC Goa also made their first change in the 85th minute, with Redeem Tlang coming on for Romario Jesuraj.The last few minutes saw some moments of excitement. Mohammedan made some good runs down the left flank in the last 5 minutes but again failed to make them count. In injury time, Redeem Tlang came close to scoring the first goal, but the angle was too steep and the ball went across the face of the goal. With the scores tied at 0-0 at the end of regulation time, the final went into extra time.While the first half of extra-time seemed that it would end goalless yet again, it was the magician from FC Goa, Eduardo Bedia, who came up with the goods. The FC Goa captain scored from a fantastic free-kick awarded just outside the Mohammedan box in the 105th minute owing to a foul by Milan Singh.Though Mohammedan was desperate for a goal in the second half of extra time, they seemed out of sorts, much like their performance in regulation time. It seemed that FC Goa would have no issue sealing the deal but a moment of scare came for the Gaurs with just 2 minutes to go in extra time as a Nikola Stojanovic shot from distance demanded a flying save from, FC Goa keeper Naveen Kumar.