Bhubaneswar: A ten-man Bengaluru FC began their Super Cup campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Odisha at the Kalinga Stadium, on Friday. A fortuitous Ahmed Jahouh goal (21’) gave Sergio Lobera’s side all points in a Group D clash, the second half of which the Blues played with a man short after Ryan Williams was sent off at the stroke of half-time.
The absence of the national team players owing to the Asian Cup in Qatar, saw Zaragoza hand young goalkeeper Sahil Poonia his Bengaluru debut, while another youngster in Lalremtluanga Fanai, started in the middle of the pitch alongside captain Keziah Veendorp.
The Blues had the first big chance of the game early on, when Amey Ranawade could clear a cross from Naorem Roshan only as far as Sivasakthi Narayanan. The striker hit the ball on the go, only to see Mawia Ralte thwart the attempt.
However, it was Odisha who grabbed the lead against the run of play when Poonia failed to judge the bounce on Ahmed Jahouh’s harmless-looking freekick before watching it bobble in for a lead that shouldn’t have been. Things went from bad to worse for Bengaluru who were reduced to ten men just after the whistle for half-time was blown, with Ryan Williams being shown a red card for a verbal tirade directed at the fourth official.
Despite being pegged back by a goal and short on a man, Bengaluru took complete control of the game, and even came close to an equaliser just shy of the hour mark. Exchanging a smart one-two with Sivasakthi, Javi found himself through on goal, but delayed his shot and allowed Ranawade that extra second he needed to nick the ball off the Spaniard.
The Bengaluru No.10 came close minutes later, with an audacious overhead kick that Ralte managed to palm away for a corner. Zaragoza’s men threw everything at Odisha who, despite looking shaky at the back, managed to keep Bengaluru at bay.
The Blues have four days to regroup before they take on FC Goa who were 2-1 winners over Inter Kashi in Friday’s early kick-off.
