Defending champions Est Bengal suffer defeat in Federation Cup

Defending champions East Bengal suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Sporting Clube Goa while Mohun Bagan hammered Shillong Lajong 6-0 in the 35th Federation Cup football tournament here today.
Victorino Fernanades (18th) and Beevan D'Mello (85th) scored either side of halftime to hand Sporting their first win of the competition. Ryuji Sueoka (58th) scored from the spot for East Bengal in the Group B match at Manjeri.
The eight time Federation Cup champions East Bengal were profligate throughout the match with James Moga hitting the bar twice and Chidi Edeh, Sueoka all missing chances.
Sporting have three points now from two matches while East Bengal have only one from the same number of outings.

Sporting made the most of some porous defending from East Bengal in the 18th minute. India International Victorino Fernandes nodded in Rowlin Borges's centre from close after left-back Saumik Dey was caught out of position and East Bengal custodian Gurpreet Singh erred with the flight of the ball.
East Bengal got the spot kick in the 58th minute when red and golds captain Harmanjyot Khabra was brought down just inside the box by goalkeeper Ravi Kumar. Sueoka made no mistake from the spot sending home a low shot past Ravi Kumar.

East Bengal were made to pay dear for their missed opportunities as Beevan gave Sporting the match-winner. Substitute Stephene Barreto's right-wing floater was turned in by Beevan.

In Kochi, captain Odafa Okolie and Christopher Chizoba struck two goals each as Mohun Bagan hammered Shillong Lajong 6-0 to brighten their chances of making it to the semifinal.
Odafa scored in the 10th and 77th minutes while Chizoba found the target in the 24th and 60th minutes. Yusa Katsumi and Ujjwal Howladar netted one each in the Group C encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.