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Mumbai City FC came from behind against a spirited Indian Arrows to win 2-1 in the third match of the Super Cup 2018 Qualifiers at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on Friday, March 16.
It was the youngsters of the Indian Arrows side comprising mostly of India U-17 players, who had the more chances in the first half, which was otherwise bereft of too many goalscoring opportunities. Although it was Mumbai City FC who got the first chance of the match as early as the 7th minute when a snapshot by Brazilian midfielder Everton from inside the box, ricocheted off the post.
There match then slowly swung towards the Indian Arrows, with Sanjeev Stalin forcing a good save from Amrinder Singh of a free-kick in the 12th minute and Deepak Tangri being stopped by Raju Gaikwad who cut down a solo foray into the box.
The Indian Arrows clearly maintained their momentum in the second half with Rahul K.P. latching on to a stray ball in the 56th minute but he was able to only hit it straight into Amrinder’s hands as inexperience showed. The bar in came in his way on his next attempt as his shot struck in the 62nd minute. Finally, in the 76th, he outpaced Mumbai City FC captain Lucian Goian and calmly placed the ball to the left of Amrinder, into the back of the Mumbai City FC net.
As clock ticked by it seemed the Indian Arrows were heading towards a famous victory but the game turned on its head when a long ball on top of the Indian Arrows box was trapped by Everton on the right and he drove into the box and in the process was felled by Ashish Rai’s leading leg resulting in a penalty. Cameroonian Emana calmly slotted it past Prabhsukan Gill to make it 1-1 in the 90th minute.
An additional 30 minutes was always going to be tougher on the junior pros and in the 104th minute Goain managed to find Everton with a long ball who then unleashed a right-footer on the turn to bulge the net. Prabhsukan managed to get two hands on to it but could not keep the ball from going in.
The spirited Indian Arrows team tried to get back game in the dying minutes but Mumbai City FC held on and they will now go on to play East Bengal on April 5, in the main draw of the tournament which beings on March 31.
