Durand Cup: Gokulam Kerala beats Mohun Bagan 2-1 to win title

Tune in for live updates and commentary from the 2019 Durand Cup final between 16-time champion Mohun Bagan and first-time finalist Gokulam Kerala FC.

Updated : Aug 24, 2019 22:08 IST

A Marcus Joseph double took Gokulam Kerala FC to the Durand Cup title as it beat Mohun Bagan 2-1.
A Marcus Joseph double took Gokulam Kerala FC to the Durand Cup title as it beat Mohun Bagan 2-1.
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A Marcus Joseph double took Gokulam Kerala FC to the Durand Cup title as it beat Mohun Bagan 2-1.

 

So that's it from my side. Thanks for tuning in today and see you soon again!

MATCH REPORT | Durand Cup: Marcus brace guides Gokulam Kerala to first title

Mohun Bagan was the favourite heading into the final of the 2019 Durand Cup but Gokulam Kerala FC has overcome yet another Kolkata giant in this tournament. Kudos to the team from Kerala!

IT'S FULL-TIME. Gokulam Kerala wins the 129th edition of Durand Cup by beating Mohun Bagan 2-1.

90+7' ANOTHER RED CARD! The Mariners were very furious here. Fran Morante, who was on the bench, is red-carded for shouting at the referee and linesman. The Mohun Bagan camp is clearly not happy with the referees of the match after the denied penalty. GKFC looks set to bag its first-ever Durand Cup title.

90+6' PENALTY NOT GIVEN! Francisco Gonzalez puts in an amazing cross but his teammate and striker Salva Chamorro heads it over the bar. What a chance for Mohun Bagan!!! Was there a handball on the way?? Looks like one, but was it intentional? Muhammad Irshad jumped in to block the cross but it hit his hand and the Bagan players are claiming a spot-kick here. But the referee gives nothing.

90+3' A COUPLE OF CLOSE CHANCES FOR BAGAN!!!! But it's still Mohun Bagan 1 - 2 Gokulam Kerala FC. Fran Gonzalez and VP Suhair are getting forward with lots of intent but the end product is not good enough. Joseba Beitia is absolutely screaming at his forwards. The Bagan players have to stay calm here in order to find the leveller.

90' Six minutes to be added on! Tempers are flaring here!!!! A number of players are getting into an argument, which is involving lots of pushing and shoving!!!!! Bruno Pelissari and Fran Gonzalez are at the centre of it. YELLOW CARDS!!! And the referee sends both the foreign players into his book. GKFC is happy to waste time, while Mohun Bagan players are getting agitated.

87' RED CARD FOR JESTIN GEORGE! Gokulam Kerala down to 10 men. Jestin receives a second yellow card for a terrible tackle on Kima. Three minutes plus stoppage time to play and it was a senseless tackle from the GKFC player. Mohun Bagan might definitely sense a big chance to equalise here.

82' SUBSTITUTION! Muthu Irulandi Mayakkannan will be replacing Shibil Muhammed for Gokulam Kerala FC. Mohun Bagan manager Jose Antonio Vicuna is very animated on the sidelines. Meanwhile, his opposite number Fernando Santiago Varela is just keenly observing the contest almost motionless.

78' Another chance for Mohun Bagan! Alexander Romario Jesuraj puts in a low cross to Francisco Gonzalez, who tries to score with a back-heel, but CK Ubaid is well placed to make the save for Gokulam Kerala. A nervous last 10 minutes ahead for the debutant from Kerala. 

74' SUBSTITUTION! GKFC makes its first change of the night. The star from the semifinal against East Bengal Bruno Pelissari replaces the star from today's game Henry Kisekka. We have witnessed some amazing counter-attacking football throughout today's final!! And both the coaches are introducing fresh forwards into the game showing their positive intent.

69' Mohun Bagan is on a full-attack mode as its fans are cheering it through. GKFC is coming forward on the counter here. And Henry Kisekka fails to score after receiving a brilliant cross from Meitei. That was a great chance to increase the lead for Gokulam Kerala FC. The Bagan defenders get away with it.

64' AND IT'S 2-1 now!!! Now the other goalkeeper makes a terrible mistake! CK Ubaid fumbles and drops the ball into goal as Salva Chamorro hit a shot straight at him. Joseba Beitia took the free-kick, which led to the goal. VP Suhair's header set up Chamorro. The crowd has gone into a frenzy here!!! Loud shouts of 'Mohun Bagan, Mohun Bagan, Mohun Bagan' can be clearly heard.

59' SUBSTITUTION! One more replacement for Mohun Bagan as one Francisco replaces another. Gonzalez comes in for Morante. Attacking change! A few moments later, Bagan keeper Debjit Majumdar makes a good save to deny Shibil Muhammed who fired in a powerful shot.

55' YELLOW CARD!! Mohun Bagan striker Salva Chamorro is booked for a silly foul on CK Ubaid, while trying to go for a shot on goal. The Bagan players are trying everything in their attempt to find a goal but no success as of now. SUBSTITUTION!!! Alexander Romario Jesuraj is replacing Surabbudin Mollick for the Mariners. 

51' GOAL!!!!!!!! Gokulam Kerala 2 - 0 Mohun Bagan! Marcus Joseph scores his 11th goal of the 2019 Durand Cup. A third hat-trick of the tournament on its way??!!! Naocha Singh came up with a brilliant through pass to find his skipper. And Marcus took care of rest of the business. He calmly took the ball forward and tucked it in past Debjit's near post. YELLOW CARD! He removes his shirt to celebrate and is booked for the offence.

48' Mohun Bagan had started play in the second half of the 2019 Durand Cup Final. And within a few minutes, the side's forward VP Suhair goes forward evading some opposition players and takes a powerful shot from a distance, but GKFC goalkeeper CK Ubaid is placed well to make the timely save. 

The second-half is underway!

Mohun Bagan had better possession, more shots, more shots on target, more corners and more successful passes in the first-half but Gokulam Kerala FC has the lead. The defenders of the Mariners are to be blamed for this. They need to comeback stronger for the Kolkata giant to have any chance to win a 17th Durand Cup title. 

HALF-TIME IS HERE! Gokulam Kerala FC 1 - 0 Mohun Bagan.

45+2' Just one minute of stoppage time was added on but after that goal looks like the referee is adding one more now. Gokulam Kerala had the better chances in the first forty-five minutes and it has deservedly gone ahead.

45+1' AND IT'S A GOAL!!!! Gokulam Kerala FC goes ahead against the run of play. The team's left-footed skipper who already has two hat-tricks in the tournament stepped up to take the spot-kick and he made no mistake at all. He powered a shot pas Debjit, who had dived the right side. The Mohun Bagan defence finally pays the price for being rusty throughout the first-half.

44' PENALTY FOR GKFC!!!! Debjit Majumdar finally makes a mistake! But he had to take one for the team. Marcus Joseph dribbled past few Bagan players and found a lonely Henry Kisseka in the middle. Kisseka was eventually one on one with Debjit and he evaded past the goalkeeper, who took him down having no other option. A YELLOW CARD is shown to Debjit as well! 

40' The last time a club from Kerala won the Durand Cup is way back in 1997. FC Kochin had beaten today's finalist Mohun Bagan 3-1 during that year's final. Will the Mariners lose to a Kerala club in the title showdown once again? Or is a 'special seventeen' on its way? 

37' Gokulam Kerala is coming up with a threatening move here. Bagan players are falling all over the place. 2019 Durand Cup's top-scorer Marcus Joseph puts in a wonderful cross for Henry Kisekka but once again Debjit Majumder gets to the ball first and fists it out. THAT WAS CLOSE!! The midfield players from both teams are regularly coming up with new moves. Brilliant!    

34' Debjit Majumdar has been brilliant today. He hasn't made many eye-catching saves in the match but his positioning and distribution have been on point. He always gets to the ball before an opponent. His match awareness is making up for the repeated mistakes his defenders are making.

31' Marcus Joseph comes up with a cross from the left flank, but few Gokulam Kerala FC players fumble in the box, before Bagan goalkeeper Debjit Majumdar grabs the ball. He gets the ball away very quickly. YELLOW CARD!! GKFC midfielder Jestin George is booked for a mistimed foul on Mohun Bagan striker Salva Chamorro. Both teams have had a number of good chances today but ultimately the finishing has been poor so far.

27' FREE-KICK FOR GOKULAM KERALA! As usual, the left leg of captain Marcus Joseph will take it. A good dummy from Sebastian Thangmuansang who runs past the wall to receive the pass from Marcus. But the GKFC skipper came up with a heavy one there. Sebastian was unable to get to the ball as it rolls past him for a goal-kick. 

23' Nongdamba Naorem makes an amazing run dribbling past two players in the process. He finally passes the ball to Joseba Beitia, who shoots it with his inner foot, but the ball goes just inches away from the target. Both teams are attacking extremely well on the counter here. Some amazing football on display here today.

19' YELLOW CARD! Malemnganba Meitei is booked early on for a silly foul on Ashutosh Mehta. Or did the Bagan player make the most of it? Replays suggest so! Joseba Beitia will once again take the free-kick. He actually puts in a brilliant ball but Andre Ettienne stands tall to save his side from further trouble.

16' FREE KICK FOR MOHUN BAGAN! Joseba Beitia takes the kick for the Mariners. He almost found Fran Morante there. But Shibil Muhammad comes to the rescue with a header for his side. It's a throw-in for Bagan. Suhair makes another move in but the has been cleared out by the Gokulam defence.

13' Joseba Beitia puts in a long ball for Salva Chamorro, but GKFC shot-stopper Ubaid CK comes out to head it out at the right time. And at the other end, Henry Kisekka makes a good run from the left flank, to make a pass towards his skipper Marcus Joseph but the ever-running Fran Morante is there to clear the ball out.

9' Mohun Bagan was looking to make a number of moves within the first few minutes but now it's all Gokulam Kerala. The Bagan defence looks to have gone to sleep in the last few minutes. GKFC would have been ahead by now had its players been more clinical with their finishing. The team had at least two clear-cut chances and the Kolkata giant is looking very rusty here.

6' WHAT A CHANCE! Gokulam Kerala with a team move and Meitei makes a mess of it. Henry Kisekka began the move, Irshad and Jestin gave him ample support. Marcus Joseph received the ball from Jestin George and teed up Malemnganba Meitiei who doesn't connect well despite having only the goalkeeper to beat and puts it off target. Poor stuff from the GKFC man!

2' Here we go!! This is the final match of the 2019 Durand Cup. Mohun Bagan has won the competition 16 times (same as East Bengal) and one more title will make it the most successful team in the history of the tournament.

AND IT'S KICK-OFF!!

NOTE: This is Mohun Bagan's 29th Durand Cup final (most in the tournament's history), while Gokulam Kerala FC is playing in the title showdown in its debut season.

The players are out and the toss is done and dusted!

TEAM NEWS:

- Gokulam Kerala FC had also won all three of its group stage games. It beat the like of Chennaiyin FC, Indian Air Force and TRAU to make the semis. Kerala skipper Marcus Joseph is the top-scorer of the tournament with 9 goals.

-  Mohun Bagan made the 2019 Durand Cup semifinals as Group B winner. It had registered three wins in as many games in the league stage. The team beat Mohammedan SC 2-0 in its opening game, while it beat ATK 2-1 and Indian Navy 1-0 on August 8 and August 17 respectively.

MATCH PREVIEW:

Following their gruelling semifinals the other night, Mohun Bagan and Gokulam Kerala are focused on recovering in time for the all-important final of the Durand Cup football tournament to be held at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Saturday.

Sixteen-time champion Bagan overcame stiff resistance from Real Kashmir to record a 3-1 win in extra-time to reach another summit clash. GKFC edged past East Bengal on penalties (3-2) after a 1-1 stalemate to ensure its maiden appearance in the final.

Tough final

“It is going to be very tough. Both teams played 120 minutes in this heat. Humidity is very high. The players need to recover soon,” said Bagan coach Kibu Vicuna on the eve of the final on Friday.

“Both teams have the same possibility to win. It is 50-50.”

Each side acknowledges the opposition’s strengths.

“Gokulam have good players. The last match they played in a different shape. Of course, their captain (Marcus) Joseph has scored many goals, that is their strength. Henry Kisekka is also a good player,” said Vicuna.

For GKFC coach Santiago Varela, Bagan “have a very good striker in Salva Chamorro. Joseba Beitia and Morante are also good. Bagan as a whole is a very good team.”

The finalists also understand where they need to concentrate.

“We need to focus on our style. We will try to put all our energy to play as per our style,” said Varela.

“We have to adapt to all situations. Here we are away from home. Bagan has obviously played many times here.”

The GKFC coach will have to think how he can use Brazillian midfielder Bruno Pelissari, who is not ready to play for the whole duration.

Vicuna wanted Bagan to show overall improvement. “We have to improve every aspect of the game – defensively, offensively, transitions, set-pieces. We have a lot of things to improve. We have just started the season.”

The Spaniard was happy that defensive mid-fielder Fran Gonzalez was ready to train ahead of the title clash.

The two rivals know that winning the prestigious crown in the pre-season means a lot.

The final of the Durand Cup will be live streamed on Hotstar and telecasted on Star Sports 3.

Welcome back to the LIVE coverage of the Mohun Bagan vs Gokulam Kerala FC Durand Cup final fixture.

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