Mumbai City FC vs Jamshedpur FC: Sakky and Krusher shine in 1v1
With a 3rd or 4th place finish yet to be decided for Mumbai City FC, Krusher and Deekay squared off in the opening game of the first fixture. Despite Deekay’s strong start, Krusher took the lead against the run of play but Jamshedpur bounced back strongly, pulling one back soon. A splendid elastico inside the box and a bomb finish gave Deekay the lead. Soon enough, Krusher found the back of the net again after a mix-up inside the box. Krusher once again scored a rocket to make it 3-2 just around the halftime mark. The MCFC boy, with just 8 minutes to go, buried the game by finding his fourth of the game and then the fifth with a penalty. The Mumbai boys once again took the lead in the co-op game, combining for a skillfully executed goal. Minutes later, Deekay and Arvind returned with the equalizer for the Men of Steel. 15 minutes into the second 45, the Islanders banged in one more to drive towards securing the tie and the third spot. But the Men of Steel once again came back to level it 2-2 and the tie would be decided by the final one. The deciding clash had Sakky and Arvind battle it out. A potential skill of the week move saw Sakky draw first blood for the Islanders. With Arvind getting a straight red card, Sakky rubbed salt in the wound by scoring his second of the night. The final nail in the coffin soon came with Sakky scoring the third and sealing the third spot for the Islanders.
FC Goa vs NorthEast United - Winning run ends but still unbeaten and going strong
Having FC Goa already at the top of the table, the opening game of the tie saw Aadizema and Saransh go head to head. Against the run of play, Saransh opened the scoring for the Highlanders. Aadizema, just like he’s done all season, returned with a blistering goal to make his first mark. Saransh once again came forward with his next one to make it 1-2. Aadizema's fighting spirit earned him the equalizer just before the break and then Saransh proceeded to find the back of the net three more times . Aadizema found one in the 86th minute but it was too late and the game ended 3-5. In the 2v2 game, Aadizema and Vanshaj combined like fire to open the scoring for Goa but soon enough, NorthEast United came back to make it 1-1, and eventually scored the goal that gave them the lead as well. A howler from NorthEast United handed FC Goa the second and the equalizer, which eventually ended with the same scoreline. Goa’s hopes of at least drawing the tie had Vanshaj facing off against Emaad of the Highlanders. The final game was a rollercoaster ride. First, Vanshaj scored the opener and Emaad found the equalizer. The same sequence happened thrice through the game, with Emaad coming back thrice. Goa’s relentless pursuit paid off with them finding the goal that kept their unbeaten run alive as they finally ended with a draw.
East Bengal FC vs Bengaluru FC: A clash filled with goals
CJ, representing Bengaluru took on Akshat of East Bengal in the opening game and boy did CJ make the best out of it. The boy from the blues opened the scoring and went to score three more just in the first half. Though Akshat tried to turn around with a goal, the Bengaluru representative banged in two more to bury the first game and go one up in the tie. The 2v2 game once again saw Bengaluru come to the fore, opening the scoring with finesse and then went on to add another one to their scoresheet. The third one was a thing of beauty, scoring a finesse from 30 yards out. East Bengal tried to get back in the game, pulling one back and reducing the deficit to two. Soon, the second one as well followed for East Bengal, this time with a simple finish into the net. Bengaluru sealed another block with them getting the fourth and fifth of the night to destroy any chance of an East Bengal comeback. East Bengal got one but the final nail came from Bengaluru in the form of their sixth goal. In the Shayantan and Sagnik matchup in the final game, the former gave East Bengal the perfect start, converting a penalty in the 15th minute. Sagnik pulled one back just minutes later to make it all square again. Yet again, Sagnik came back to get his second of the night and another step towards clean sweeping the tie.
The group stage of eISL has come to a close and we move on to the playoffs, with FC Goa, NorthEast United, Mumbai City FC, Bengaluru FC, Hyderabad FC and Kerala Blasters FC set to battle it out for the title. Until then, catch all the action on our official YT channel.
