Al Muharraq SC 1-2 Dempo SC (AFC Cup)
Dempo SC one of the most successful Indian club in the domestic circle in the previous decade and 5 times national champions qualified for the 2008 AFC after being crowned champions in the 2006/07 National Football League. Drawn into a group with Al Muharraq of Bahrain, Al Ansar of Lebanon and Sur Sports Club of Oman. Dempo started their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Al Ansar riding on the superb performance of their two talisman upfront, Ranty Martins and Edeh Chidi. But they lost 3-2 to Sur Sports Club and then were routed at home by Al Muharraq 4-0, Brazilian striker Rico scoring all four goals for the Bahrainian side. Dempo was set to travel to Manama next to face Al Muharraq. Al Muharraq who have won the Bahraini Premier League 34 times, were expected to once again register an easy win. In a tie that they absolutely needed to win, Dempo turned the tide against the Bahrain Champions in the capital. Riding on 2 goals from Ranty Martins, Dempo were leading 2-0 by the 62nd minutes before Rico scored his 5th goal against Dempo as he reduced the deficit from the penalty spot. Dempo went on to hold on to their slender one-goal advantage and pulled off a historic win in Bahrain. Dempo finished second in the group behind Al Muharraq but qualified for the knockouts by virtue of being the best second-placed team. They beat Home United of Singapore 5-4 on aggregate to proceed to the semi-finals where they lost to Safa Sporting Club of Lebanon. Al Muharraq went onto their only AFC Cup title to date in 2008 by beating Safa in the final.
Johor Darul Ta’zim FC 1-3 Bengaluru FC (AFC Cup)
We started this discussion with his FC Goa’s voyage in the AFC Champions League, we possibly can’t end this without talking about Bengaluru FC’s run in the 2016 AFC Cup. Bengaluru secured qualification in the 2016 AFC cup by winning the 2015 Federation Cup. They were put in a group with Johor Darul Ta`zim of Malaysia who qualified for the AFC Cup by being champions of the Malaysia Super League. The group also consisted of Ayeyawady United of Myanmar and Lao Toyota Fc of Laos. Johor Darul Ta’zim had a perfect record in the group, winning 6 out of 6 to qualify as group leaders, Bengaluru finished a distant second. Bengaluru went on to beat Kitchee of Hong Kong in the quarters. before ousting Tampines Rovers who had beaten Mohun Bagan in the Round of 16. Bengaluru was drawn against Johor Darul in the semis a team they failed to beat in the group stages. JDT defending AFC Cup champions in 2016 were favourites to book a place in the finals. Bengaluru drew the first leg 1-1 in Johor Bahru, before pulling off a sensational win at the Sree Kanteerava. JDT went ahead just after the first 10 minutes before Sunil Chhetri drew Bengaluru level 4 minutes before halftime and then grabbed a second in the 67th minute to put Bengaluru ahead. Juanan added a third goal 9 minutes later to put some daylight between them and the Malaysian side and Bengaluru held on to book a place in the AFC Cup final, to date the only appearance by an Indian side in a continental cup final. They lost the final 1-0 to Iraq’s Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya but the 2016 AFC Cup will always be close to the heart of not only Bengaluru fans but of every Indian football fan.
Follow IFTWC via our website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram pages/channels for all the latest updates on Indian Football and download our app from the play store.