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The victorious Expolanka team
By David Stephens in Mumbai
Employing an aesthetic amalgamation of fluent passing, deft control and unstinting aggression, Expolanka barrelled their way through a strong line-up of Indian teams representing New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Chennai, to emerge South Asian Champions of the 2015 Standard Chartered Trophy, following action in Mumbai over the weekend.
The victory earned the Sri Lankans a berth at the grand finals of the fourth ‘Road to Anfield’ program - organised by Standard Chartered Bank – where they will square off on the hallowed turf of Liverpool’s home ground against 10 other teams who have qualified from their respective region.
Tuan Rizni, the tournament’s leading goalscorer, collects his award
Expolanka was the only team to remain undefeated throughout the Mumbai-leg of the tournament, which was played out in a round-robin format with each team meeting each other once in a bid to book themselves a place in the contest’s finals.
In their first game against Mumbai, Expolanka quickly found themselves a goal down when a marauding Ahsan Siddiqui slammed the ball past Sri Lankan goalie Abdur Rahman. However, they were able to regroup after a period of acclimatisation against a Mumbai team armed with equal potency in attack and defence.
Consequently, Siddqui’s strike would be the only one to rattle the Lankans’ goal for the rest of the tournament as they promptly shifted to a more disciplined gear in defence and adopted a ruthless rhythm in attack.
The game finished 1-1 when RaumyMohideen produced a sublime piece of skill, when, in his opponents’ half, he swivelled to his right and whipped in a shot which cannoned into the back of the net.
The competition’s Most Valuable Player Raumy Mohideen
With points on the board, Expolanka engaged in a swift demolition of all their Indian adversaries. Their passing especially was grading them a class apart from the opposition and they brandished it to its maximum devastating effect in their next game against Chennai.
In this encounter they manufactured mounds of opportunities, which were frequently parried away by Chennai’s agile goalkeeper before eventually landing the match’s telling blow. Expolanka’s striker, Tuan Rizni, whose darting runs were being poorly tracked by the Chennai defence, burst towards goal, collected the ball mid-stride and deftly deposited into the top corner of the goal. It was a moment which immediately marked the Lankans as firm favourites to book a ticket to Anfield.
The victory placed the Lankans one place below the team from New Delhi, who had put on an offensive clinic of their own against Kolkata to romp to a 4-0 thrashing and consolidated it with a 1-0 victory over Mumbai.
There was now a palpable sense amongst many of the assembled fans and teams that the competition had morphed into a broader India-Sri Lanka battle. In keeping with the mood, Expolanka upped the ante against Delhi, with a fascinating display of speed and tenacity.
The superior levels of fitness of the Sri Lankans were also playing a role in midfield skirmishes, with Expolanka’s players faster to react, releasing their attacking components to wreak havoc in Delhi’s half of the field.
Once again it was Rizni’s speed and brilliant movement off the ball which was generating the most concern for Delhi. With the existence of such a constant threat, it seemed only a matter of time before the Sri Lankans made a breakthrough and true to form, midway through the game, they struck. Rizni latched on to a probing cross to flick the ball between the posts.
With Delhi gunned down, Expolanka vaulted to the top of the table, and seemed likely to further entrench themselves in this position with another commanding performances against a demonstrably weaker Kolkata unit.
They proved this prediction sound by surgically dissecting Kolkata in every avenue of their game, with Rizni and the adroit Mohideen each knocking in a goal to book the Lankans a place in the finals.
Meeting them there were Delhi, who had failed to oust Chennai in their other match and looked to be fading fast in the fitness department.
In the finals, Expolanka reproduced much of the marvellous play they had exhibited throughout the competition, stifling all of Delhi’s offensive outlets and dancing their way deep into their opponents’ territory.
Yet again the ominous pace of Rizni created the first goal, as he gracefully broke free of his marker to lash home a rasping strike. By that point though, the Delhi side were in full shutdown mode and were struggling to gain any meaningful possession.
Towards the end they resembled the walking wounded and a dazzling one-two between Mohideen and Kasun Gomes provided the game’s death blow, as Gomes side-footed the ball past Delhi’s stranded keeper.
Expolanka was coached by M.H.Rumy, and his expert and vast tactical knowledge proved a decisive factor against opponents who often seemed extremely off-kilter in their approach.
