New Delhi: In an absolutely shocking match, Churchill Brothers rained goals at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa, by thrashing bottom-of-the-league Vasco 9-1!
Who ever said Indian football was boring?
Churchill Brothers are known to play entertaining, attacking football, but if someone bet that they would score nine goals on Friday against Vasco, the guy's a genius, and now rich! Odafa was the centre of attraction once more, as he scored six of those nine goals, with Felix (2) and Vashum completing the scoring. Vasco's lone goal came via Leister Fernandes.
Vasco had been impressive in the second phase of the I-League thus far, proving hard to beat, and coach Elvis Goes was sending warning signals to rivals, but they fell flat today, after a record margin saw Churchill garner three points which keeps them in the title race.
Vasco started the game well, and had quite a bit of possession in the opening minutes, often passing it around well among each other. However, they lacked the creativity in the final third, and often handed possession back to Churchill in the areas which mattered. Churchill took advantage of Vasco's wasted possession, as in the 42nd minute, Odafa snatched the ball from Cardozo, raced ahead past the keeper and coolly slotted home to give his side the lead.
Vasco didn't learn from their mistakes, as Pires gave the ball away to Felix Chimaokwu in a dangerous area just two minutes later, and the in-form striker made no mistake in burying the ball in the net, just inside the far post. Churchill then went into half time with a two-goal lead, but not even the most optimistic Churchill fan would have expected what was coming in the second period.
Odafa made it three at the 50-minute mark, as he headed home from Robert's cross, which had rebounded off Vasco keeper Kattimani. Elvis Goes' side were lucky not to go 4-0 down just a minute later, as Leister Fernandes kept his cool to make a goalline clearance from Gouramangi Singh's header.
However, they couldn't stop Odafa six minutes later, as he collected one of the many long balls Churchill were delivering from the back, and zoomed past the Vasco defence to slot home, and complete his hattrick. Vasco tried hard, and even got a goal in the 68th minute, thanks to the two Fernandes combining well. Menino sent in a cross which was diverted in easily by Leister, and it seemed Vasco were going to do enough to prevent a tennis score.
After that, though, it was all Churchill, as last season's runners-up scored five more goals in the last 18 minutes! First up, it was Felix, who scored his side's 5th and his 2nd in the 72nd minute, after which Vashum made it six five minutes later.
But who would have the last say? Odafa of course! The captain is always the star of the show for Churchill, and he proved to be so again, as he thumped three goals in the last ten minutes (82',89',90') to complete a jaw-dropping "double hattrick", and help his team set a new record for the largest winning margin in the I-League, and also for the highest goals scored in an I-League game.
The win takes Churchill onto 30 points, one behind Sporting, and three behind Bagan. The top two both face tricky fixtures this weekend, with Bagan taking part in the Kolkata derby against East Bengal, and Sporting playing Mumbai FC in Mumbai.
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