Goa secures a narrow win over Gokulam Kerala while Jamshedpur hammers ATK Mohun Bagan in Group C

The Matchday 7 of the 2023 Super Cup was full of close calls and surprises. After a forgettable start against The Red Miners, Goa recorded their first win in a do-or-die match over I-league side Gokulam Kerala while Jamshedpur bashed the ISL winners, ATK Mohun Bagan clear.

Goa 1-0 Gokulam Kerala

After starting their campaign with a loss against Jamshedpur, Goa finally managed to register their first win in the Indian Super Cup 2023. The Gaurs defeated Gokulam Kerala 1-0 and thrashed their hopes of advancing to the semi-finals as Iker Guarrotxena got his name on the scoresheet for the Gaurs.

Samuel Mensah Koney, Farshad Noor, Aminou Bouba, and Omar Ramos were the four foreigners that started for Francesc Bonet’s Gokulam Kerala. Similarly, Carlos Pena also chose to add four overseas stars to the starting XI – Fares Arnaout, Noah Sadaoui, Hernán Santana, and Iker Guarrotxena.

As the match got underway, The Gaurs looked dominant, while it also got clear that the Malabarians will try their luck on counter-attacks. The first close call came in the 8th minute when Fares Arnaout tried to put a cross into the net made by Noah Sadaoui which ended up hitting the crossbar. 

In the 18th minute, The Malabarians came close to scoring as Samuel gave Saurav a through ball, which was later passed to Noor, who got caught offside by the line referee. However, both sides looked lethargic as the match was halted for the half-time break with the score reading 0-0. 

As the second half started, Goa rushed toward Gokulam Kerala’s side desperate for a goal. Makan Chote and Brison Fernandes also started making aggressive forward runs in order to find a lead. 

The 49th minute of the match met with a brilliant save from Shibin following bullet attempts from Chote and Fernandes. Following Shibin’s save, the Malabarians claimed possession and built a decent counterattack, which eventually went wide by Saurav.

In the 55th minute, Sreekuttan got past Anwar Ali in the keeper’s box and scored leaving Arsh Singh stunned, however, the referee called the goal back for a free-kick as Ali was fouled. The Malabarians made a couple of changes in the 66th minute as Zaman and Raju got on board. 

A couple of minutes ago, Carlos Pena made an attacking change as Mendi came in the place of Samuel. The change seemed to be calculated as Mendi got near to scoring on an overhead ball in the 75th minute but Arsh was equal to the Goa substitute’s attempt.

In the 90th minute, the Gaurs finally managed to get on the scoresheet as their skipper, Iker Guarrotxena broke the deadlock on a rebound he got after Shibin’s heroic save of Noah’s strike. Goa bagged all three points as Guarrotxena’s last-minute goal became the ultimate difference between the two sides. 

Jamshedpur 3-0 ATK Mohun Bagan 

Jamshedpur captures the top spot in Group C after defeating ATK Mohun Bagan

Following a triumphing start, Jamshedpur bashed the 2022-23 ISL winners clear 3-0 on Matchday 7. With the help of a blazing first-half brace from Boris Singh and Harry Sawyer’s goal in injury time, The Red Miners hammered ATK Mohun Bagan.

Juan Ferrando decided to go with full strength as he named four overseas players in the starting line-up – Slavko Damjanović, Carl McHugh, Dimitri Petratos, and Hugo Boumous. On the other hand, Aidy Boothroyd chose Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Eli Sabiá, Rafael Crivellaro, and Daniel Chima Chukwu as the four foreigners in his playing XI. 

The first serious attempt of breaking the deadlock came from Ritwik Das in the 9th minute as he took a shot from the edge of the box, testing the Mariners’ goalkeeper, Vishal Kaith. Afterwards, both sides conceded a corner kick each but nothing solid was created from the set pieces. 

It was evident from the start that Aidy Boothroyd’s side was going to play possession-based football, hence, it paid off in the 21st minute when a decent cross from Rafael from the left flank found Boris Singh in front of the goal. Singh broke the deadlock and gave Jamshedpur the lead after just 20 minutes of the match getting underway. 

In the 25th minute, Pritam Kotal stole all the eyes as he came sliding and saved the ball from going inside the Mariners’ goal. Boris Singh tried finding Chukwu from the right flank with a through ball which he eventually failed. However, the ball still was going inside as Vishal Kaith came forward leaving the goal wide open. 

Damjanovic fouled Chukwu which led to a set-piece from a dangerous position. Without wasting the opportunity, Jamshedpur’s target man again smashed the ball straight into the net in the 37th minute, unfortunately, the goal was later disallowed as the shot was called offside. 

But, Jamshedpur soon managed to capitalise on a counter-attack in the 42nd minute as Ritwik pulled a brilliant cross that found Boris Singh, who completed his first-half brace putting his side in the driver’s seat. After the half-time whistle, Jamshedpur was comfortably leading the match 2-0.

Conversely in the second half, Jamshedpur was focusing more on defending while the Mariners were committing more men forward. Therefore, Boris also got booked in the 67th minute for his heavy challenge on Subhashish Bose. Following the harsh tackle, ATK Mohun Bagan skipper Eli Sabia also got in a heated brawl and ended up getting a yellow card too.

In the second minute of the injury time, Ishan Pandita was subbed in and just in the next minute, he assisted fellow substitute Harry Sawyer for Jamshedpur’s third goal of the night. Pandita took a long-range shot which got blocked by Kaith but Sawyer was at the right place to tap the ball in the back of the net and seal the victory utterly for the Red Miners.