Salgaocar, Churchill enter semis
Defending champions Salgaocar and Churchill Brothers booked semifinal berths after registering facile wins over their respective opponents in the 34th Federation Cup football tournament on Monday.
Salgaocar defeated Pune FC 2-1 for their third straight win. They will play I-League champions Dempo in the semis.
In the Group D match in Jamshedpur, Salgaocar scored through Luciano Sabrosa and Anthony D’Souza. Douhou Pierre netted the Pune goal.
At the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, Churchill Brothers routed a 10-man Air India 4-0 to emerge Group D toppers, making it three Goan teams in the last-four.
Churchill would face either Sporting Clube or East Bengal in the other semifinal, also in Siliguri, on Sept 27.
The summit clash will be held on Sept 30.Churchill’s goal flurry began with Henry Autchouet’s strike in the 22nd minute. Beto doubled the lead when he scored from a brilliant freekick in the 64th minute. Air India were reduced to ten men when Mickey Fernandes was red-carded for fouling Beto.
Akram Moghrabi (84th) and Bikramjit Singh (90th) completed tally for Churchill.
In an inconsequential Group D tie, Mohammad Rafique struck a brace to help Prayag United SC blank United Sikkim 2-0 while Mohun Bagan beat Mohd Sporting 2-1 with goals from Sabeeth and Manish Maithani. David Sunday scored for Sporting.
Bagan, the 13-time champions, are already out of the tournament along with Mohd Sporting.
