Wilmar Jordan Gil, who scored four goals for NorthEast United against Churchill Brothers in the Super Cup.
| Photo Credit: K. Ragesh
On a dramatic final night of the league matches, NorthEast United had the last laugh. That was mostly due to one man: Wilmar Jordan Gil, who scored four of his team’s goals in the 6-3 win against Churchill Brothers on Wednesday.
The victory earned NorthEast the last semifinal berth of the Super Cup. In the other Group D match, Mumbai City defeated Chennaiyin FC 1-0, through the first-half goal by Ayush Chhikara.
That meant NorthEast and Mumbai finished with six points apiece. The tie-was broken by the head-to-head record: NorthEast had beaten Mumbai 2-1 four days ago. Chennaiyin took the third place in the group, with four points, while Churchill finished with just one point.
A win would have taken Chennaiyin to the last four, but it could not recover from the goal from Chhikara, who made excellent use of the superb pass he received, inside the box, from Bipin Singh Thounaojam on the left.
Meanwhile here, the Gil show was very much underway. It all began with a splendid long-ranger that stormed past a diving Churchill goalkeeper Nora Fernandes. There was no stopping Gil after that.
In the semifinals, Bengaluru FC will take on Jamshedpur FC here on April 21 and NorthEast will meet Odisha FC at Manjeri on April 22.
The results: NorthEast United 6 (Wilmar Jordan Gil 27, 43, 51 & 70, Gani Nigam 78, M.S. Jithin 90+1) bt Churchill Brothers 3 (Kingslee Fernandes 55, Martin Chavez 60, T.V. Mohammed Irshad 83-og).
Mumbai City 1 (Ayush Chhikara 33) bt Chennaiyin FC 0.