A Thousand Scars, One Immortal Crown, read a tifo from one of the galleries of the Kishore Bharati Stadium, which was only about two colours on Thursday evening: Red and gold.
The days of taunts, barbs and memes riddled with sarcasm are finally over. After years of disappointment and agony as well as the scars they have had in the previous editions of the ISL, East Bengal have finally slayed the demons.
They came from behind and prevailed over a gritty Inter Kashi 2-1 to win the ISL for the first time ever, painting the city red and gold.
But what’s more important is that the red-and-gold brigade are national champions after 22 long years. The last time East Bengal were national champions was in the 2003-04 season, when they emerged winners of the then National Football League.
Their arch-rivals Mohun Bagan Super Giant, too, were in the title race, though they had to beat Sporting Club Delhi by a big margin. Bagan, too, registered a come-from-behind win with Manvir Singh (89th minute) and Jamie Maclaren (90+8) scoring two late goals after Clarence Fernandes had put the visitors ahead at the Salt Lake
Stadium.
Both East Bengal and Bagan finished with 26 points each. But East Bengal sealed the title by virtue of a superior goal difference (19) than that of Bagan (14).
The fans’ joy knew no bounds as soon as the referee blew the final whistle. In a matter of a few minutes, almost the entire turnout swarmed the field, as the presentation ceremony had to be delayed.
The start, though, was far from what East Bengal and their fans had expected. Although Brazilian Miguel Figueira was doing his best to try and break the tight Inter Kashi defence and even tried a bicycle kick that was blocked by rival defender Sandip Mandi early in the sixth minute, East Bengal got a rude shock soon after.
With the game into its 15th minute, Spaniard David Munoz floated a long ball for Alfred Moya, who was the lone man upfront for Inter Kashi. Just as measured the long ball was, Alfred’s execution was even better as he placed home a right-footed volley off it at one go. Defender Anwar Ali, who was the only one there to thwart Alfred, could only watch.
Goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill, though, could have done a shade better by not advancing much from his position. A little before the half-hour mark, Inter Kashi could have doubled their lead if not for Prabhsukhan’s save, after Alfred had unleashed another right-footer off a Rohit Danu setup. A minute prior to that, Youssef Ezzejjari missed a sitter as he blew a left-footer over the horizontal off Miguel’s centre.
The pressure was mounting on East Bengal as Inter Kashi led 1-0 at half-time. However, five minutes into the second half, a botch-up from the visitors’ goalkeeper, Shubham Dhas played a big role in East Bengal restoring parity. And their fans are finding some voice.
Anwar sent in a long pass for Ezzejjari, who tried to beat the rival goalkeeper. But the ball sneaked in between the goalie’s legs and Ezzejjari was quick to push home a left-footer into the open net.
Coach Oscar Bruzon’s men then had a spring in their steps.
The Inter Kashi defence, which allowed East Bengal barely any room to take a shot at the target in almost the entire first half, started looking shaky. Eventually, the holes in their defence became bigger and East Bengal cashed in on it.
Bipin Singh unleashed a diagonal centre from the right, and Palestinian-origin Mohammed Rashid broke free to slot home a left-footer off it. That was practically the game and the trophy for East
Bengal.
It’s also a double for East Bengal, after their women’s team won the Indian Women’s League last week.