Hamid's goal takes East Bengal into Durand Cup quarters
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Kolkata: Moroccan newcomer Hamid Ahadad scored on debut as East Bengal FC subdued high-flying Namdhari FC 1-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday, becoming the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of this year's Durand Cup.
The all-important goal came in the 68th minute when Namdhari goalkeeper Niraj Kumar missed the flight of a corner kick taken by another red-and-gold debutant Miguel Ferreira and Hamid — who replaced Greek forward Dimitrios Diamantakos seven minutes earlier — headed it home and send home fans in the stands into rapture.
While Namdhari finished their Group A engagements with two wins and one loss, Oscar Bruzon's team — also on six points now — assured itself of topping the group by dint of head-to-head superiority and qualifying for the knockout stage with a game in hand.
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Indian Air Force and South United FC — other two teams of the group — are already out of the knockout race with one point each.
Wednesday's scoreline, however, barely reflected true narrative of the contest. Not only did East Bengal miss a chance to win by a much bigger margin, it could have also easily been a more remarkable debut for Miguel, who rejoined the Spanish coach Bruzon following their successive stint with Bangladesh's Bashundhara Kings.
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The Brazilian attacker was denied by the post not once, but thrice, in the first half itself.
That East Bengal enjoyed almost 70% of possessions and Namdhari finished the game without having a shot on goal told a whole different story.
Namdhari came into the match with back-to-back wins. But Bruzon started with four foreigners — Miguel, Saul Crespo, Diamantakos and Mohamad Rashid — in a move aimed at gaining early ascendancy.
They duly started on the front foot, dominating the proceedings with consummate ease but their search for early goals failed to bear fruit. Miguel represented the team's attacking aspirations, hitting the post with his left-footed scorcher from 22 yards in the 21st minute.
The Brazilian came calling again soon, but his two headers were denied by the woodwork again.
Dominating with possession but without luck, Bruzon signalled Hamid to get ready and the Moroccan came, saw and changed the complexion of the game.
Namdhari — who focused mainly on defending in numbers — tried to find a route back into the contest using their Brazilian striker Cledson Degol and Ghanaian defender Lamine Moro in set-pieces. But Bruzon introduced another debutant, Argentine defender Kevin Sibille, and Souvik Chakrabarti to ensure that their passage to the knockouts was not queered.
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