Kalinga Super Cup 2024 Final: East Bengal FC defeated Odisha FC 3-2 (A.E.T.) in the final of the Kalinga Cup 2024 to win the cup and end their 12-year title drought in magnificent style. The game was evenly poised for both the outfits as they were a subject of springing surprises throughout the tournament and ousting hot favourites to make it to the final.
The final was marred with a bunch of yellow cards and couple of red cards as the fixture was an electrifying spectacle with bodies flying in for those lunging tackles, sprinting off the ball to create spaces, deep-lying passing with man-to-man marking and box-to-box playmaking. The final was beyond the expectations as such end to end gameplay led the sides force extra time as 90 minutes weren't enough to pick a winner.
Odhisha FC opened the floodgates of goals via a Diego Mauricio strike in the 39th minute to take a 1-0 lead at half-time. Two goals within 11 minutes from East Bengal completed a terrific comeback for East Bengal before a dramatic and controversial penalty for Odisha FC in the dying minutes of added time forced the game into extra time.
Both the sides showed extreme resilience until 'the man for the moment' Cleiton Silva scored the winner in 111th minute to seal the deal for East Bengal as Odisha FC were shell-shocked by the manner in which they conceded the winner.
Kalinga Super Cup 2024 Top Goalscorer List
1. Cleiton Silva (East Bengal): 5 goals
2. Ahmed Jahouh (Odisha FC): 3 goals
3. Diego Mauricio (Odisha FC): 3 goals
4. Dimitrios Diamantakos (Kerala Blasters): 3 goals
5. Carlos Martinez (FC Goa): 3 goals
6. Nestor Albiach (NorthEast United): 3 goals
7. Daniel Chima Chukwu (Jamshedpur FC): 3 goals
8. Ayush Chhikara (Mumbai City FC): 3 goals
9. Nandha Kumar (East Bengal): 2 goals
10. Saul Crespo (East Bengal): 2 goals
The exceptional goalscoring form of Cleiton Silva not only helped East Bengal clinch the cup, but also helped the Brazilian in winning the Golden Boot award for Kalinga Super Cup 2024.