Kolkata football giants East Bengal made history on Thursday, becoming the first Indian club to enter the final of an Asian level tournament, when they beat Indonesia's champion club Petrokimia Putra 8-7 in their backyard, after a marathon penalty shoot-out in the LG ASEAN Cup semi-finals, in Jakarta.
The game was tied at 1-1 even after 120 minutes of play. However, steely nerves and the never-say-die spirit of the Indian club league champions saw them sail through even after being reduced to 10 men in the 88th minute.
The victory will earn East Bengal US $30,000. If they win the final, they will take home $50,000.
East Bengal take on Tero Sasana, who beat Perak of Malayasia 3-1 in the other semi-final.
Earlier, East Bengal had lost to Tero 0-1 in their opening match.
For East Bengal, Baichung Bhutia, Bijen Singh, Suley Musah, Chandan Das, Douglas D'Silva, Surkumar Singh and M Suresh converted the spot-kicks. Only Malswama, who took the fourth kick, shot over.
For Putra, Zainal Ekchuan, Indraju, Pdudu Putra, Daniel Fernando, Chan Jhe and Ekwe converted. Captain Sasi Kirono missed the fifth shot, while Loko's miss in the sudden-death gave East Bengal the passage to the final.
Earlier, Petrokimia Putra shot into the lead against the run of play midway through the first-half after a lapse in concentration by East Bengal goalkeeper Sandip Nandy, conceded a direct free-kick to the home team 18 yards from the goal.
From the resulting kick, in the 23rd minute, Zainal Ekwuan's grounder ricochetted off the side post and entered the net, sending the home crowd ecstatic (1-0).
Just when the game seemed to be slipping away from the Red and Gold brigade's hands, 18 minutes into the second half, Surkumar's probing centre was headed down by Sasty Duley to Bhutia, and the Sikkimese wild cat struck with a cool left foot to restore parity (1-1).
Bhutia also established himself firmly as the top scorer of the tournament, having scored seven goals so far, including one today (the goal in the penalty shoot-out is not included).
The champion club of India stepped up the heat thereafter and in the 22nd minute of the second-half, gutsy keeping by Sabani kept Putra afloat when Douglas D'Silva's scorching header was saved by him.
East Bengal forced as many as five corners in a span of a 20-minute blitz in this period. In between, Surkumar's solo effort was kept out by the side post.
However, the twist in the game came in the 88th minute when the Thai referee showed dependable defender Mahesh Gawli two yellow cards after the defender kicked a loose ball to the Putra half when a foul was given to the home team. This, of course, came as no surprise to the Kingfisher team as they have been a victim of poor refereeing throughout the tournament.
In the first-half, East Bengal began on a hot pace, making waves of attacks on the Indonesian club champions on their home ground.
After Douglas D'Silva's scorcher was fisted over by keeper Sabani and Bhutia tried an extravagant bicycle kick off a Surkumar cross from the left, the golden chance of the day came and went East Bengal's way in the 10th minute.
Alvito D'Cunha, showing silken touch, dribbled past Flavian and Zainal to send a deft cross from the laft that the Putra goalie missed. Bhutia, who was lurking close by, headed over with an open net begging before him.
East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmik had to make a forced change midway through the first half when Mike Okoro had to leave the ground after a hard tackle. Malswama replaced the burly Nigerian.
After changing sides, the East Bengal defence survived a scare right in the beginning when a quick Putra moving down the left saw Sandip fumbling with a cross and Fernando's shot was saved of the goalline by Mahesh Gawli. In the 16th minute of the second half, Surkumar's blockbuster ricochetted oof the crosspiece and returned into play, denying East Bengal yet another chance.
East Bengal will miss the services of Gawli in the final, and Douglas D'Silva, who has two yellows in the tournament, is also suspect. With Debjit not fully recovered and Okoro leaving the field with his right shoulder heavily strapped there are more signs of worry for East Bengal.
However, East Bengal has a strong reserve bench and the likes of Kuluthangan, Bijen and Malswama will have to take extra pressure in the final.