Mumbai: It was a show of sheer dedication and commitment by the Subrata Paul-led Mumbai City FC as the home side won their second game on the trot and outclassed the leaders of the Indian Super League (ISL) FC Goa by two goals, courtesy a Sunil Chhetri penalty and a beautiful cross header by Frederic Piquionne that invariably found the back of the net, to jump to sixth spot, here in a mouth-watering encounter at the DY Patil stadium on Sunday. Mumbai now are level on points with fifth placed Atletico de Kolkata.
Mumbai did not tinker much with the set-up of the team that reaped benefits for them last time around against Delhi Dynamos (Mumbai won 2-0). India’s top goal scorer Chhetri played number 10 behind Piquionne who replaced Subhash Singh. The move worked wonders for the Ranbir Kapoor co-owned outfit as the Gaurs found it difficult to track Chhetri’s whereabouts.
What was surprising to notice during the match was Goa’s starting XI saw star players such as Romeo Fernandes, Mandar Rao Desai, Joffre Mateu Gonzalez on the bench which raised questions among a few if the side from the coastal state faced a conundrum with their team combination going into this match.
At the start of the game, FC Goa took maximum possession of the ball but Mumbai fought back and from there on, took the game away from the visitors. The Gaurs had no other choice but to think out of the box, but found themselves fouled inside the penalty area when Goa’s Raju Gaikwad caught the referee’s attention pulling Piquionne jersey — the making of a penalty.
And Chhetri didn’t disappoint although Goa’s custodian Laxmikant Kattimani went the right way - 1-0 Mumbai in the 33rd minute.
Goa too managed to come close to scoring initially during the first few minutes of the game when defender Narayan Das registered the first shot on the goal which flew past the post. The Zico-coached side did come seemingly close for another goal when Leonardo da Silva Moura was unable to pierce the strong Mumbai defence helmed firmly by Lalchummawia Fanai, Pavel Cmos and Darren O’Dea.
Mumbai Haitian star Sony Norde was in the thick of things once again as he almost registered a goal to his name early in the match, but his shot was ricocheted off FC Goa’s defence. The Blue brigade enjoyed their good run with fine passes backed with good saves by skipper Paul.
The second goal came in the 48th minute when Norde’s short free kick to Juan Aguilera on the left flank swung into the box where Piquionne went in front of his marker to guide the ball into the back of the net with his head. The crowd went berserk along with the players after a beautiful crafted goal that saw a slow clap from marquee coach-cum-player Nicolas Anelka.
The night was Mumbai’s but it wasn’t done until fans saw former Chelsea veteran Anelka feature in for the second time in the ISL in the 75 minute. The match in total saw seven yellow cards in total with five of those going to Mumbai, who next meet NorthEast FC on Wednesday.
