ISL: Bengaluru control semifinal first leg to take 2-0 lead to Goa

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Bengaluru FC walk into the second leg of their ISL semifinal against FC GOa with a 2-0 lead after a controlled display at home in the Kanteerava on Wednesday.

An own goal from Sandesh Jhingan and a superb Edgar Mendez finish saw the packed home crowd -- who'd braved traffic on this packed Wednesday evening (IPL side Royal Challengers Bengaluru were playing simultaneously at the nearby Chinnaswamy) - go home a happy bunch.

It was the visitors who started the brighter, though, with Sahil Tavora, Carl McHugh and Borja Herrera in the centre chanelling play wide quickly to Udanta Singh and Brison Fernandes. BFC struggled to impose themselves, before Goa's tempo dropped around the 20th minute. With Alberto Noguera getting on the ball more often, BFC started to control play without forcing much action in the final third.

This led to a fairly dull phase of play where the two coaches looked to exert their tactical superiority. Gerard Zaragoza had his BFC playing in a skewed 4-4-2 diamond, with the more centrally-inclined Suresh Singh tucking in on the left and the forward-minded Sivasakthi Narayanan holding width on the right. This formation had worked wonders in their eliminator against Mumbai City on Saturday - affording Noguera, Edgar Mendez and Ryan Williams freedom of movement across the final third.

It didn't work quite as well here, but as the game wore on, you could see the forward trio's movement was straining Goa's defensive shape. In the 42nd minute, it told, albeit with a massive slice of (mis)fortune. Suresh snapped into a tackle in the middle, won the ball and immediately played in Mendez out wide on the right. He swung it deep for Ryan Williams who cushioned a header back into the middle, where an unmarked Suresh (who is now making a habit of these late runs) sliced it wildly wide. So wide, in fact, that Mendez was able to recover on the right wing and swing in another cross - which was diverted into his own goal in spectacular fashion by a diving Jhingan.

The second half saw Noguera boss the game for large parts, with the collective pressure telling just six minutes into the half. Namgyal Bhutia - who was superb defensively - swung in a delicious cross that was wrapped into the far corner by Mendez. The centre forward's finish was excellent, but even more so was the movement. Two steps forward and a step back and he'd lost his marker - once free in the box, he was never going to miss.

Goa threw themselves forward towards the end, but it was in a rather haphazard manner. The introduction of Dejan Drazic injected some urgency into their final third play, but apart from an Odei Onaindia header that flashed high (tough chance, stretching) and a Boris Singh shot that was saved well by (an otherwise untroubled) Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, nothing materialized in the final third for Goa.

The night's loudest cheers were reserved, of course, for the second half introduction of Sunil Chhetri (minute 57), but apart from being caught offside almost every other move, the great man had no impact on the game. He won't mind, though, with the 2-0 result a strong one to take to the Fatorda for the return leg on April 6. As good as FC Goa have been all season, they'll need to play their best football to make it past what's developed into a very stubborn Bengaluru side.

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