A fine brace by Chidi Edeh helped Sporting Clube de Goa beat Eveready 3-0 and set up a semi-final clash with Assam Rifles, Shillong, in the Durand Cup football tournament in Delhi on Monday.
In another quarter-final league match, Mahindra United, Mumbai, salvaged some pride by registering an identical victory margin over Mohammedan Sporting before bowing out of the competition.
The Goa side will now meet Assam Rifles in the first semi-final on December 14.
In the Group A encounter, Sporting Clube, who led 2-0 at half-time, outplayed Eveready in all departments of the game, with their foreign recruits Dudu MacPherlin, Chidi and Adbefyo Adewusi, ably supported by N Rajesh, tormenting the rival defence umpteen times.
Sporting took the lead as early as the fourth minute through a brilliant Chidi goal. Right-back N Rajesh made an overlapping run and tapped the ball to unmarked Chidi from near the right top edge of rival box. The Nigerian dodged past a defender, turned around to his left, sidestepped the advancing goalkeeper and shot home into an empty net.
Chidi made it 2-0 in the 20th minute, this time connecting a pass from N Rajesh, who latched on to the ball after Walter Gomes' low drive from outside the box was blocked by custodian Sibram Dey.
In between, Bibiano Fernandes shot straight to Dey when the Goa midfielder had only the goalkeeper to beat from a Chidi pass in the 14th minute.
After the breather, the Kolkata side attempted a comeback but failed to breach the rival citadel.
Sporting captain Dudu rounded off the tally in the 61st minute, heading home a Rajesh corner from the right.
Earlier, Yusif Yakubu scored a hat-trick (2nd, 80th, 87th minutes) for a lost cause as Federation Cup winners Mahindra United beat Mohammedan Sporting 3-0 in a Group C quarterfinal league match.
The Ghanian striker's efforts were not enough to prevent his side from exiting the tournament, having lost to Assam Rifles (0-2) on December 10.
Kolkata giants Mohd. Sporting also ended their campaign on a disappointing note with today's loss and a draw with Assam Rifles, who made it to the semi-finals by topping the group with four points from a win and a draw against the Mumbai and Kolkata sides respectively.
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