A bizarre red card shown to Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club’s Haitian forward Sony Norde appeared as the turning point in the final of the 118th IFA Shield final as the Bangladesh side despite dominating lost to Kolkata Mohammedan Sporting 3-4 in tie-breakers at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan, formerly known as Salt Lake Stadium, yesterday.
After 120 minutes of endless end-to-end football could not see a winner, the breathtaking final went to the penalties with both side locked at 1-1.
It took Mohammedan’s substitute goalkeeper Naseem Akter, who came on in the 118th minute, to produce two brilliant saves against Linkon and Didar to rob the luck from the Jamals and hand the Kolkata Black and Whites the title of the fourth oldest club cup competition after 43 long years.
Backed by thousands of supporters the hosts attacked right from the opening whistle which however did not puzzle the visitors who matched with equal brilliance.
The much talked about footballer in the tournament Norde opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a glorious free-kick before Mehrajuddin Wadoo cancelled out the lead at the stroke of the first-half mark.
The Bangladesh Premier League giants dominated and enjoyed ball possession throughout the game before the momentum was literally robbed from them with the dismissal of Norde. Mohammedan’s Brazilian defender Luciano Sabrosa was closely guarding Norde in the 82nd minute when suddenly he fell down with hands on his faces prompting the referee to call it a foul.
Referee Santosh Kumar without any further consultancy with his linesmen showed the red card to the Haitian which saw the Jamal players burst into anger. Replays clearly indicated they had every right to oppose the decision as it was a clear play-acting from the Mohammedan defender who was untouched by Norde.
The drama was yet to begin as Santosh also cautioned Luciano not once, but twice during the brawl of the Jamal and Mohammedan players resulting in a send-off to the Brazilian as well.
Sheikh Jamal dominated from their very first attack and emphasised on aerial crosses from the wings. They could have taken the lead on five minutes as Wedson skipped past two defenders to break into the penalty area, but his cut back deflected off a defender on to the keeper.
A silly foul on Norde gifted Jamal a free-kick from 25 yards and he did what he does best to give his side the lead. The Haitian forward curled the free-kick that sneaked in from the top left corner. Josimar outmuscled his marker seconds before the breather to find Wadoo unmarked who slotted home the equaliser.
Sohel Rana almost retained the lead four minutes into the second-half but the midfielder fired wide before Norde saw his scorching shot from 25-yards grasped by Mohammedan goalkeeper Luis Barreto in the 63rd minute.
With two red cards and each side down to 10-man the game opened more in the last few minutes with Jamal continuing to mount pressure.
In the 115th minute substitute Alli Amisu almost scored for the visitors but Barreto was once again up to his task producing an excellent fist away on his angular shot.
Jamal coach Joseph Afusi earlier brought in goalkeeper Ziaur Rahman to replace Hemel. He also made another tactical change bringing in Alli Amisu for Emeka. Alli, however, frustrated Afusi by missing to convert in the tie-breaker.
Wedson, Nasir and Yasin managed to convert from the spot for Jamal while Khanthang Paite, Manish, Nirmal and Mehraj scored for Mohammedan.
