BFC seal maiden AFC Cup berth

I-League champions Bengaluru FC on Wednesday booked their maiden semi-final berth in the AFC Cup football tournament on a 1-0 aggregate against Tampines Rovers of Singapore after the second leg of their quarter-final tie ended in a goal-less draw in Singapore.

Bengaluru had beaten Tampines 1-0 in the first leg in Bengaluru last week, courtesy C.K. Vineeth’s strike.

BFC thus became only the third side from India to have qualified for the semi-finals of the AFC Cup, the continent’s second tier club competition. Dempo and East Bengal achieved the feat earlier in 2008 and 2013, respectively.

Last year, Bengaluru had bowed out of the tournament at Round of 16 stage.

For Bengaluru coach Alberto Roca, a former assistant manager of FC Barcelona, it has been a fairytale start in his stint as this was his second competitive match in charge of the side.

It was a disciplined tactical performance deployed by Roca that saw Bengaluru hold out for a goalless draw against Tampines at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

Iran beat 10-man India 3-0 Ten-man India went down 0-3 to Iran to bow out of the AFC Under-16 Championships at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Wednesday.

India finished on one point from three outings while Iran topped Group A with seven points from three matches to march into the quarter-finals.

India coach Nicolai Adam made two changes to the starting XI — Lalengmawia and Ninthoi replacing Aniket Jhadav and Aman Chetri, respectively.

Even as both teams started on a cautious note, Iran were able to have more men in the final zone. The first goal came in the 23rd minute — a slippery Mohammad Ghaderi squeezing in between the two central defenders to blast in after being fed by Amed Khodamoradi.

Iran also scored from two penalties — Mohammad Sharifi converting one from the spot in the 82nd minute and then one in injury time.