Vishnu’s header puts East Bengal in the semi-finals, 22 years after their last Durand Cup

East Bengal had the ball for most of Sunday against a side of soldiers and still needed a header just before half-time to get past them. It was not comfortable and it was not pretty, but it puts the reigning Indian Super League champions in the Durand Cup semi-finals, where SC Delhi are waiting on Wednesday.

Vishnu’s header, and not much else

PV Vishnu scored the only goal of the quarter-final in the 38th minute at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, heading in a cross from Christopher Ikonomidis. Antonio Lopez Habas picked an attacking shape, with Dani Ramirez, Ikonomidis and Vishnu playing behind David Lalhlansanga, and for long stretches Indian Army FT defended with everyone behind the ball and waited for a counter that never quite arrived.

The problem for East Bengal was the finishing. Chance after chance went begging, including a run of openings after Jesin TK came on, and a one-goal lead against a defensive side is the sort of thing that turns a routine evening into a nervous one. They got through. Against SC Delhi that profligacy will cost them.

Delhi arrive unbeaten and scoring in fives

SC Delhi are the awkward opponent in this draw. They have not lost in the tournament, and their quarter-final against debutants FC Raengdai at the Birsa Munda Football Stadium was a demolition dressed up as a comeback. Chongtham Kishan Singh put Raengdai ahead with a long-range strike, and then Delhi scored five. Joseph Sunny came off the bench for two of them, with Rodriguinho, Juan Sebastian Pena and Augustine Lalrochana adding the rest.

That semi-final is on Wednesday, 19 August, in Kolkata. The other half of the draw is decided on Monday: Mohun Bagan Super Giant play Jamshedpur FC at Salt Lake at 4pm IST, and Shillong Lajong host NorthEast United at the JLN Stadium in Shillong at 7pm IST. The winners meet in Shillong on 20 August.

Twenty-two years without Asia’s oldest trophy

East Bengal have won the Durand Cup 16 times, one behind Mohun Bagan, and none of those 16 have come since 2004. That final was a Kolkata derby, and Chandan Das scored twice, the second of them in the last minute, to win it 2-1. Everything the club has achieved since, including last season’s ISL title, has happened without this trophy going back to the Red and Gold.

They have already lost a derby in this edition. Mohun Bagan beat them 1-0 in the tournament opener on 25 July through Sahal Abdul Samad, which was Habas’s first competitive match in charge after he replaced Oscar Bruzon in July. Habas has three ISL titles from his time at ATK and Mohun Bagan, which is exactly the sort of CV that makes losing an opening derby to Mohun Bagan land harder than it should.

The 135th Durand Cup, first played in 1888 and the oldest football tournament in Asia, is the curtain-raiser for the Indian season, and the ISL itself does not restart until 4 September. For East Bengal that means two matches, or possibly three, to put a trophy on the board before the league they currently hold begins. Given how the group stage started, the club will take a scruffy 1-0 and a semi-final at home without complaint.

Follow the Durand Cup knockouts with us