Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
It was Mumbai FC’s most crucial match of the season, as they desperately sought to cling onto their I-League status but, the match against Chennai City FC ended in a goalless stalemate.
Mumbai FC head coach Oscar Bruzon made three changes to the side which drew against Churchill Brothers. Thoi Singh made his return to the side after being sidelined for the past month, and he took his familiar position on the wings. Pratik Chowdhary returned to the side along with a front two of Karan Sawhney and Anderson Da Silva.
Chennai City FC lined up according to the script, with Captain Dharmaraj Ravanan retaining his place in the side. Brazilian Charles De Souza and Soosai Raj started the match upfront.
Mumbai FC started the match on the front foot, as Chennai City looked marooned in their own half during the opening 10 minutes, goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani almost outside his penalty box and dictating play. Reagan Singh right back for the men in yellow played a dangerous cross, but Anderson Silva couldnʼt manage to guide the ball on target.
Chennai City dealt with the oncoming waves of Mumbai attacks courtesy their organised defence. However, they did try to make life difficult for Mumbai FC, looking threatening whenever they got the ball, though the occasion to do so was quite limited. Karan Sawhney had a clear shot on goal from 35 yards out prompting a superb save from Chennai City keeper Karanjit Singh. Barely 30 seconds later the same player had a snapshot from the edge of the Chennai box, though this time he shot inches wide.
Debabrata Roy, the Chennai City left back almost scored a spectacular own goal as his clearance caught Karanjit Singh unaware who was forced to tip it over for a corner. Mumbai FC carved a great chance to score at the stroke of half time when Densill Theobald played in Farukh Choudhary with only the keeper to beat, but his effort though on target was saved well by Karanjit.
The second half started like a completely different match, as both the sides sought to kill the match quickly. Mumbai FC looked the more intent of the two, as Farukh Choudhary was thwarted spectacularly infront of goal courtesy a well-timed tackle. Chennai City looked content to sit back and absorb all the pressure, to counter attack as and when needed. Anderson da Silva managed to get a free kick in a dangerous area. Steven Dias stepped up to take the free-kick and was once again saved well by Karanjit.
As the clock ticked towards the last 15 minutes, it looked inevitable that someone would score for either team. Mumbai FC needed to score to have any hope of staying up. They almost did, as Alex Willian tied up Victorino Fernandes at the near post, who shot wide. The game increasingly was budging to one of desperation as four minutes of added time was announced.The game ended with the scores deadlocked at 0-0 and it looks as if it might be too late for Mumbai FC. Chennai City FC look relatively safe and secure in mid-table.
