Welcome to Sportstar’s highlights of the Durand Cup 2022 second semifinal fixture between Bengaluru FC and Hyderabad FC played at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
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Match Report: Resilient Bengaluru FC reaches Durand Cup final after narrow 1-0 win against Hyderabad FC
HIGHLIGHTS
Bengaluru FC beats Hyderabad FC 1-0 and qualifies for the Durand Cup final. It will compete for the title against Mumbai City FC.
Nim Dorjee gets his head to the ball from the corner but cannot guide the ball on target. He came close but not enough to trouble Gurpreet.
Siverio with a thumping shot at goal and Gurpeet punches the ball away. It hits a BFC player and goes out for a corner.
Chhangte tries to cross the ball inside the box and it hits Leon Augustin’s hand. Hyderabad FC gets a freekick in a dangerous position. Last proper chance for Manolo Marquez’s men.
Borja with another cross inside the box but it is again cleared by the BFC defence.
Chinglesana with a great ball inside the box and Gurpreet had to come out and punch it away before it found a Hyderabad shirt.
Booking: Joao Victor of Hyderabad FC sees yellow.
Seven added minutes at the end of the second half. It is not yet over!!
Borja with a floating cross towards Ogbeche at the far-post. The Nigerian was eagerly waiting to get a header in but Parag does well to reach the ball and clear it.
Bengaluru FC sub: Siva Sakthi replaces skipper Chhetri.
Shot- Parag takes a shot from miles out and the result is nowhere on target. A moment of madness from the BFC player there.
Siverio backheels the ball to Joao Victor and the latter takes a first time shot at goal. But Gurpreet is alert and goes down quickly to make the save.
Hyderabad FC sub: Lalchungnunga Chhangte replaces Halicharan.
Leon Augustin makes a darting run down the right flank and delivers a low cross inside the box. But Chinglesana is there to stick a boot and send the ball outside the HFC box.
Bengaluru FC sub: Leon Augustin comes on for Prabir
Haicharan delivers a brilliant cross that finds Borja. Borja sets up Ogbeche for the shot and the Nigerian obliges. However, the shot is not on target and Bengaluru is safe for now.
Siverio finds Borja at the far-post with a wonderful ball. Borja goes for the first-time shot but cannot catch it well as the ball goes out for a Bengaluru goalkick.
Borja goes for a shot from an ambitious distance but Gurpreet sees it all the way as the ball goes out of play. That was never going in.
Hyderabad FC subs: Borja Hernandez and Nim Dorjee replace Odei and Yasir.
We haven’t really seen a lot of attacking play by Bengaluru in the second half. It is mostly sat back inviting A 1-0 lead is never safe so the Blues are taking a gamble here, considering the firepower HFC have upfront in the likes of Ogbeche and Siverio.
Hyderabad FC sub: Javier Siverio replaces Chianese.
Akash Mishra tries to swing a cross inside the box from the left but Prabir is there to make the block. Things haven’t really clicked for the HFC fullback till now.
Poojary gets past his marker Danish and drives a grounded cross at the centre of the box but Jhingan is there to clear the ball.
Bengaluru FC subs: Udanta Singh and Danish Farooque replace Roshan and Jayesh
Poojary tries to curl a shot with his favourite left foot from just outside the box but ends up botching his effort.
Tavora tries to slip a grounded cross to the middle of the box but it is cleared for a HFC corner.
The referee seems to have injured himself a bit here- a case of a twisted ankle. He is receiving medical treatment. He should be okay to continue by the looks of it.
A melee inside the box and Hyderabad has a chance to poke the ball inside the net but the BFC defence is alert enough.
Save: Ogbeche with a powerful header towards goal but Gurpreet is alert enough to make the save.
Booking: Roshan of Bengaluru FC is the first player to see yellow in the second half. That means if BFC reaches the final, Roshan will be suspended
Hyderabad FC sub: Sahil Tavora replaces Hitesh at the start of the second half
Bengaluru FC sub: Namgyal Bhutia replaces Rohit at the start of the second half
We are back for the second half of the second Durand Cup semifinal between Bengaluru FC and Hyderabad FC at the Salt Lake Stadium.
Odei's own goal keeps Bengaluru FC ahead at the break. BFC 1-0 HFC
Hyderabad FC with some late pressure in the first half but the Bengaluru defence disciplined enough to restrain the HFC attack.
Two added minute after the first half!!
Close: Chhetri shoots on a first-time volley but the ball did not dip enough to trouble Anuj. The ball rattles the net on the top of the goal and it is a Hyderabad goalkick.
BFC clearly sitting back and trying to defend its lead, at least for the half. But the likes of Chhetri always poses the danger of counter attacks for Hyderabad.
Shot: Akash Mishra shoots from distance but it is straight at Gurpreet who does well to catch the ball and hold on to it.
Bengaluru FC booking- Rohit becomes the second BFC player to see yellow in the match
30’ GOOOOAAALLLL!! ODEI puts it inside his own net!!
Battle of the fullbacks- Prabir Das and Akash Mishra both going for the ball but a shoulder barge from Prabir sees Mishra take a tumble and knock over the advertisement boards. Nothing serious though as both players shake hands and gets on with it.
Hyderabad FC currently leading possession with 60% of the ball compared to Bengaluru’s 40%
Yasir whips a cross inside the box from a HFC freekick but it goes straight to Gurpreet who catches the ball comfortably.
Chinglesana makes use of the open channels and finds Mishra with a good pass on the left. Mishra instinctively tries to cross the ball but sees it blocked.
Bengaluru FC booking- Parag gets booked for his foul on Chianese.
Jayesh Rane is played a good aerial ball and the player timed his run perfectly to stay onside. Under pressure, he lays the ball to Prabir who goes for a first-time cross but it takes a deflection and Hyderabad FC clears the danger.
Ogbeche looking to make a dangerous run inside Bengaluru’s box but Jhingan uses his upper body strength to stop the Hyderabad forward and clear the danger.
Chhetri tries to control the ball with his leg and shield it from Poojary. But play stops because the referee thought it was a high boot by Chhetri. The BFC skipper is not happy with the decision.
Chhetri with a loose pass and Narzary capitalizes on that. He makes a run and lays the ball to Ogbeche on his right for a shot. Ogbeche shoots but it is at a good height for Gurpreet who punches the ball away for a corner.
Joao Victor tries to get past Yasir- he attempts a cross from the right flank but it takes a deflection and goes out for a corner.
Bengaluru FC and Hyderabad FC have some serious crossing power from their fullbacks in Prabir Das and Akash Mishra respectively. We can surely expect some good balls inside the box from the flanks.
Fast start by Bengaluru. Roy Krishan trying to pressurize the Hyderabad defence but he is adjudged offside by the assistant referee.
We are underway for the Durand Cup 2022 second semifinal at the Salt Lake Stadium!!
Lineups out for the second semifinal
Bengaluru FC vs Hyderabad FC Predicted XI
Match Preview
Sunil Chhetri-led Bengaluru FC will look to qualify for its maiden final of the Durand Cup football tournament as it faces Indian Super League champion Hyderabad FC in the second semifinals here on Thursday.
The Blues will seek to erase memories of their last year's semi-final defeat when they had suffered a 6-7 defeat to eventual champions FC Goa in sudden death here.
There is little to choose between the two teams, but a battle of strikers is on the cards in the marquee clash.
Hyderabad did look flawless till Army Red beat it in an inconsequential final group league match and then Rajasthan United FC also gave it a stiff challenge in the quarterfinals, before succumbing to its overall quality.
BFC too has had stops and starts in its campaign and scraped through a 10-man Odisha FC in the quarterfinals, with the last touch winner from Roy Krishna following a monumental blunder by the Juggernaut's keeper in the dying seconds.
Both teams have also scored an identical 11 goals in the five games so far with HFC conceding three, while BFC has let in five.
What gives HFC the slight edge is that it has had seven scorers so far with Bart Ogbeche leading the lines with five strikes.
The Blues, on the other hand, have majorly relied on their striking trio of Chhetri (3), Krishna (3) and the pair’s understudy Siva Sakthi (4) for their goals.
Faisal is the only other BFC player to have scored in the tournament, and both Siva and Faisal have been preferred as substitutes thus far by coach Simon Grayson.
HFC coach Manolo Marquez was forthcoming in the pre-match press conference, saying, “I think if we have to tell something about them then that is that they signed better players in attack this year. They also have very good players from their academy.
"They're a very strong team physically. If you remember both games of last season we were very similar. We played better than them in the first half with our style and they played better than us in the second half with their style. We have to try to play with our style.” Bengaluru coach Simon Grayson also spoke about the familiarity between the two sides, saying, “It's going to be a tough game. We have to defend well and we have to score. HFC is a good side. But we are ready. Most of our players know the weakness and strong points of HFC.
"So we know what we have to do and we respect the opposition. Tomorrow we want to score more goals than HFC. Play balanced football and try to win the game.”
Apart from the battle between BFC’s strike trio and HFC’s Bart Ogbeche, Thursday's match could be a clash of two quality units with players like Akash Mishra and Suresh Wangjam and others on both sides capable of turning a big game.
It promises to be an exciting game of football with the big Durand Cup final prize up for grabs
-PTI
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