IWL: KRYPHSA, Gokulam Kerala's road to final

Gokulam Kerala defeated Kenkre FC in the semis to set up its maiden IWL final with KRYPHSA, which beat defending champion Sethu in the other semifinal.

KRYPHSA will take on Gokulam Kerala in the final on February 14, Friday.

Kangchup Road Young Physical and Sports Association (KRYPHSA) FC will face Gokulam Kerala FC in the final of the fourth edition of the Indian Women's League (IWL) at the Bangalore Football Stadium on February 14.

Manipur's KRYPHSA took on Maharashtra's Kenkre FC in the first semifinal wherein it beat the western Indian outfit 3-1. Ratanbala Devi netted a brace, while Roja Devi scored another to progress to its maiden IWL final.

READ | IWL: KRYPHSA sets up final with Gokulam Kerala

In the second semifinal, Gokulam Kerala silenced defending champion Sethu FC 3-0 to set up the summit clash with KRYPHSA. Sabitra Bhandari, Gokulam's Nepalsese sensation, added a brace before Manisha opened the account.

KRYPHSA and Gokulam will play in their maiden IWL final on Friday.

KRYPHSA was a semifinalist in 2017-18 edition, losing to Rising Student's Club, which was eventually crowned the winner. Gokulam Kerala, on the other hand, reached last-four last year, where it lost to Manipur Police 2-4.

Here's how the two teams advanced to the final:

KRYPHSA's road to finale

KRYPHSA finished as the table topper of Group A, winning all of its five group-stage matches. The Manipuri outfit conceded no goals in the group stages.

It started the 2020 IWL campaign with a 4-0 win over Kickstart FC Karnataka and followed it with a 2-0 victory over the mighty Sethu. Later, it registered consecutive 4-0 wins over Baroda FA and BBK DAV FC. In its last group-stage fixture, the Chaoba Devi-coached side defeated FC Kolhapur 1-0 to progress to the semifinal, wherein it got the better of Kenkre FC.

Group stages  ( KRYPHSA goalscorers in brackets ) KRYPHSA 4-0 Kickstart Karnataka FC [Dangmei Grace (14', 35'), Anju Tamang (19'), Ratanbala Devi (63')] KRYPHSA 2-0 Sethu FC [Ratanbala Devi (45+2', 60')] Baroda FA 0-4 KRYPHSA [Roja Devi (57'), Anju Tamang (77'), Ratanbala Devi (80'), Ranjana Chanu (90+2')] BBK DAV FA 0-4 KRYPHSA [Anju Tamang (18'), Ratanbala Devi (61', 85'), Sweety Devi (90+5')] KRYPHSA 1-0 FC Kolhapur [Ratanbala Devi (19')] Semifinal ( KRYPHSA goalscorers in brackets ) KRPHSA 3-1 Kenkre FC [Ratanbala Devi (18', 38'), Roja Devi (62')]

 

Gokulam Kerala's road to finale

Qualifying from the 'Rest of India' pool, Gokulam was put in Group B where it finished at the top with a 100 percent record. The Kerala outfit scored 28 goals and conceded two in the group stages.

Coached by PV Priya, Gokulam beat Sreebhumi FC 1-0 in the opening match. Later, it sealed two huge-margin victories over Kenkre (10-1) and Odisha Police (7-0). It stretched its winning performance with a 5-1 victory against Bangalore United FC and 5-0 win over Bidesh XI SC to cruise to the semifinal. In the last-four, it thumped Madurai's Sethu.

Group stages  ( Gokulam Kerala goalscorers in brackets ) Gokulam Kerala 1-0 Sreebhumi FC [Sabitra Bhandari (67')] Kenkre FC 1-10 Gokulam Kerala [Karishma Shirvoikar (3', 18', 51'), Sabitra Bhandari (7', 19', 45+2', 48', 61'), Manisha (20'), Grace Hauhnar (31')] Gokulam Kerala 7-0 Odisha Police [Sabitra Bhandari (5', 52', 53', 74', 83'), Agbo Esperence (90'), Grace Hauhnar (90+3')] Bangalore United 1-5 Gokulam Kerala [Sabitra Bhandari (46'), Kamala Devi (51', 59', 90+3')] Bidesh XI SC 5-0 Gokulam Kerala [Kamala Devi (4'), Sabitra Bhandari (63'), Umapati Devi (82'), Karishma Shirvoikar (86')] Semifinal  ( Gokulam Kerala goalscorers in brackets ) Gokulam Kerala 3-0 Sethu FC [Manisha (21'), Sabitra Bhandari (44', 83')]