AFC Women’s Club Championship 2023: Gokulam Kerala rides Veronica Appiah hat-trick to beat Bangkok FC 4-3
Courtesy the win, Gokulam Kerala FC finished second in Group A with four points from three matches. Hajar Dabbaghi scored the other goal for the Malabarians.
Football
Indian football club Gokulam Kerala FC ended their AFC Women's Club Championship 2023 campaign with a 4-3 win against local side Bangkok FC at the Chonburi Stadium in Thailand on Sunday.
Hajar Dabbaghi (44’) and Veronica Appiah (49’, 78’, 81’) scored the goals for the Malabarians while Plychompoo Somnuek (24’) and Kanyanat Chetthabutr (45’, 51’) netted for the Thai team.
Gokulam trailed thrice in the match but Ghanaian forward Veronica Appiah’s second-half brilliance handed the Indian club its first win of this year’s tournament. Gokulam Kerala lost the opener to Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds 0-8 before holding Chinese Taipei’s Hualien Women to a 1-all draw on Thursday.
The result means Gokulam finished second in the Group A standings with four points from their three matches. Urawa Red Diamonds topped the group and will face Group B winners Hyundai Steel Red Angels of the Republic of Korea in the final at a later date.
Up against the hosts backed by the home crowd, Gokulam went on the backfoot early on with midfielder Plychompoo Somnuek putting the home team in front minutes into the match.
Gokulam Kerala, who earned an entry to the AFC Women’s Club Championship 2023 after winning the Indian Women’s League (IWL) in May, were on the backfoot for the majority of the first-half but Hajar Dabbaghi scored against the run of play just before half-time to draw the Malabarians level.
However, the Indian side failed to take the lead into the break with Bangkok FC reclaiming their lead in added time through Kanyanat Chetthabutr.
After the restart, Veronica Appiah scored her first goal of the match but Kanyanat Chetthabutr struck again to give Bangkok FC the lead for the third time in the match.
However, it was the Veronica show after that. After dragging Gokulam level with just over 12 minutes of regulation time left, the Ghana striker headed the Kerala-based side into the lead just minutes later.
Gokulam held on to protect the lead and secured the win.
This was the Indian side’s second appearance in the AFC Women's Club Championship, which will make way for the AFC Women’s Champions League from next season. Gokulam finished third in 2021.