Shillong, Aug 12: For the second year in a row, Shillong Lajong qualified for the quarterfinals of the Durand Cup as one of the two best second-placed teams.
They did this even though there are still two games to go in Groups D and F, which will be played today.
All six group winners and the two best second-placed teams will progress to the quarterfinals.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Indian Navy teams both have 4 points each. Victory today would push them to first place in their respective groups and the teams that would then be in second position would not threaten Lajong or Diamond Harbour.
To explain this, ITBP will face Group D leaders Bodoland FC (6 points) today. Victory for ITBP would take them to 7 points, while Bodoland’s +2 goal difference would fall. Similarly, the Navy are currently second with 4 points, behind Real Kashmir on 6. The Navy will take on Group F bottom side TRAU (1) today. Victory for the Navy would see them move to first place with 7 points, dropping Real Kashmir to second. Again, Real Kashmir only have a goal difference of +2, meaning that they cannot become one of the two best second-best teams.
SLFC won two Group E games before losing to defending champions NorthEast United 2-1 in a spirited encounter.
Having NEUFC in their group was always going to make progressing to the knockouts more of a challenge but the Reds demonstrated that they deserved to get there.
Undoubtedly, their opening 6-0 win against Malaysian Armed Forces (the second biggest margin of victory this year after Diamond Harbour’s 8-1 whacking of the Border Security Force) has helped them immensely in getting ahead of the chasing pack on goal difference. However, the 3-1 victory that followed against Rangdajied United was no less crucial.
The Durand Cup organisers have yet to announce the knockout fixtures. However, as Shillong is one of the venues, it is more than likely that Lajong will play here at the JN Stadium in Polo in their quarterfinal match.
(Durand Cup media file photo)
