ISL 2016: Mumbai City FC reach semifinals for the very first time

Mumbai: Mumbai City FC qualified for the play-offs of the Indian Super League (ISL) for the very first time in the history of the tournament. The franchise also became the first team to qualify for the ISL season three play-offs as they beat Chennaiyin FC 2-0 at the Mumbai Football Arena on Wednesday.

The home team controlled the game from the beginning, as Chennaiyin struggled to keep up the pace with their opponents. The visiting team were second best throughout the game. Mattias Defedrico opened the scoring in the 32nd minute for the winners, Krisztian Vadocz scored the second goal in the 60th minute.

Mumbai coach Alexandre Guimaraes was delighted for his team, as they qualified for the semifinals. The ISL team do not play the next game until December 3. Guimaraes said that the time will be used to analyse the performances.

"We have time to think about that. First of all, we have to play our last game. It is very good to be in this position to be able to watch all the other teams who have the possibility to qualify. Study them, analyse them. Then we have to see which position we finish, because it will determine whether we play our first or second game at home.

"There are a lot of things to analyse. Now is just the time to congratulate the players and the organization for all the work from the beginning to reach this stage and achieve the goal the organization needed so much. We are very pleased to be a part of that," said Guimaraes.

Guimaraes also explained that the break will not break their momentum.

"Sometimes you lose this state of mind or the spirit when you're away, but we are together. We live together. All the time we're having communication. It's not possible that we lose this momentum and this situation of strength. We have one more game to play.

"We are the better team in defense, we had another clean sheet today. Players are getting better and better. We are very optimistic about what's next. What we have is not easy at all. And what we have to fight for is going to be harder," added the coach.

Mumbai sit at the top of the ISL standings, while Chennaiyin languish in the 7th position and face the prospect of failing to qualify for the play-offs. After the match, Chennaiyin coach Marco Materrazi was furious that his team was not awarded a penalty in the first half when Gerson had allegedly handled the ball from a John Arne Riise free-kick.

“What went wrong is that we conceded one goal. We were not given one penalty. In the second half they were very good in counter-attacks, but that is only because we were attacking all the time," Materrazi stated.

“We need to win the two remaining games to get six points. I think that in any case we have shown we can battle against any team, but in those cases if the referee doesn't see that the player is playing volleyball and not football, there's not much that you can do. Once you're one-nil down, it's very difficult to get back. But we are confident that we will get into the play-offs," the coach added.

When asked if he would not be a part of the Chennaiyin FC set-up next season if the franchise do not qualify for the play-offs. Materrazi said: “This is actually a very good question because something was written by a dishonest reporter that I will not be here if we do not make it to the play-offs.

"I have never said that. This really hurts me because in India I thought football was not like many other countries. I thought here these things never happened. I never said that and will never say that.

“The reporter should step up and make it clear what he was thinking when he wrote that. Apart from that, I am not the only one deciding about my future. It is my full responsibility as I have chosen the squad. It's not only me who is taking that call. If the club will be happy with my choices and with all I have done, then we can talk about it. It is not just my decision. I will always cheer for Chennai,” he concluded.