Goa outlasted a spirited Manipur 2-1 in extra-time in the second semifinal of the 77th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Golden Jubilee Stadium in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday.
Substitute Necio Fernandes turned out to be the star performer for Goa as he first produced the equaliser in the second half injury-time to cancel Manipur’s first half-lead and then found the winner late in the extra-time to take Goa through.
This was the 14th final entry for Goa. Earlier in the day, a 10-man Services held off a late resurgence from Mizoram to manage a narrow 2-1 in the first semifinal match. The two winners will now play for the crown on Saturday.
Both the semifinal encounters contributed enough to raise the adrenalin of the spectators but it was the spectacular comeback by Goa that made the second semifinal in the evening a treat to watch.
Goa made early inroads but it was Manipur which found the breakthrough in the 18th minute when N. Pacha Singh’s pile-driver, taken from around 30 yards, broke the defence of Goa’s goalkeeper Antonio Da Silva.
The latter seemed to misjudge the intensity of the shot and his feeble clearance saw the ball hitting the underside of the crosspiece before bouncing across the line.
This incident continued to separate the two sides till late in second-half injury-time (90+6 minute) when two substitutes combined to find the equaliser and give Goa the vital lifeline just when it seemed Manipur would walk away with the match.
Joshua D’Silva nodded down a midfield lob for Necio to finish with a spectacular bicycle kick to reignite Goa’s diminishing hopes.
Manipur had a chance to double the lead in the 84th minute when L. Sangkar Singh moved from the left to set up N. Imarson Meitei but Goa defender Mohamed Ali put a timely block to prevent the Manipur midfielder’s attempt from going in.
This save became crucial for Goa to make a comeback. Necio showed the knack of converting chances into goals once more when he got at the end of a Joshua cross to fire the winner home.
Manipur could have pushed the match to tie-breakers but Antonio put a valiant effort to deny Maibam Singh the equaliser.
The bruising encounter had a lot of casualties on the Manipur side, which could not agree to the possibility of a loss and indulged in unsportsmanlike conduct.
Its head coach Thangjam Saran Singh and manager Thangjam Ibotombi Singh were expelled with red cards for their vicious remonstration and threatening gestures in the 117th minute, just after Manipur conceded the second goal.
And substitute Sushilkumar Singh, who had come on in extra-time, then lost his cool, receiving marching orders in the last moments of the game.
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