MATCH REPORT: Highlanders break into top 4 as Mumbai pays price for unchanged strategy
A BRACE FROM Diomansy Kamara saw NorthEast United bring down Mumbai City 2-0 at Guwahati tonight, dealing the visitors' semi-final dreams a major blow, making their own way into the 4th spot on the ISL points table in the process.
NorthEast United head coach Cesar Farias went for a wholesale change to the squad that lost so heavily to Kerala Blasters. He brought in the likes of Seityasen Singh, Bruno Herrero, Francis Dadzie, Diomansy Kamara, Yumnam Raju, Siam Hanghal all came into the team. Even the Senegalese forward Victor Mendy, who was yet to make an appearance for the Highlanders, was given a start, benching last game's goalscorer Nicolas Velez.
Mumbai City, too, went for a number of changes. Rowilson Rodrigues, Juan Aguilera, Frantz Bertin, Thangjam Singh all got a start. Anelka switched to a 4-4-2 formation where both himself and Sunil Chhetri were playing up front. Sony Norde, the Haitian winger just back from national duty, was placed on the bench because it was too early to play him for the entire match.
But the visitors started on a good note. The match began with Thangjam testing NorthEast keeper Rehenesh with a volley, which the latter saved. Soon Benachour sent a good through ball to Anelka but the player-coach got caught offside.
The home team countered. Especially debutant Mendy was eagerly active up front. But when he got the ball at a reasonably scoring distance he shot it way above target. A scooped ball from Herrero went to Seityasen Singh who found Francis but Pavel Cmovs dispossessed the striker.
A good chance for Mumbai City came about when a cross from Anelka reached Sunil inside the box but the Indian captain's header was slightly too high for the crossbar.
Chhetri was fed again via a pin-point pass from Juan Aguilera but Aiborlang Khongjee got in the way and made sure the ball was kept out.
And then came the blunder that saw Mumbai City go down. Rowilson Rodriguez made some light contact from behind with Diomansy Kamara inside the box. The NEUFC striker went straight down, a bit too easily, but it was enough for the referee to award a penalty to NorthEast United and a yellow card to Rowilson.
Bruno Herrero took the penalty and converted by sending Subrata to the other side. The home side took the lead to a raucous welcome of the crowd.
When the game resumed they almost struck again. A cross from Yumnam Raju and a pass from Victor Mendy to Francis Dadzie created pressure inside the Mumbai box, but both were eventually cleared. The half ended there; with NorthEast United leading 1-0, thanks to a sheer error of judgement from Rowilson Rodrigues who needlessly pushed Kamara and allowed him to make a meal of it inside the penalty box. Mumbai City were the better team for most of the first half, and they came out in the second period with all cylinders firing.
Early on, Anelka and Chhetri combined to venture ahead. Two NEUFC defenders were onto Anelka but he managed to keep the ball and take a shot at the goal through a defender's legs. But Rehenesh dived to his left and made a good save on the low shot. Anelka's face in reaction to that said it all; this was the best chance he had created all season.
On the other end, Dadzie fed Seityasen who let fly but Subrata palmed it away. The ball came back to Seityasen but the second shot was clumsy and hit the side netting.
Then Kamara breached the Mumbai defence and passed the ball to Victor who took the shot but Bertin managed to get a deflection on the ball and it went out for a corner.
As the clock ticked on, Mumbai got more attacking players on the field. Thangjam got replaced by Subash Singh. Cesar Farias also went for fresh legs, swapping Victor Mendy for Nicolas Velez.
Subash got a harsh welcome from Yumnam Raju who brought him down and got booked in the process.
Then Bruno Herrero fed Nicolas Velez going forward but as he attempted to cross the ball into the box it was blocked by Keegan Pereira.
The game picked up a lot of intensity after the 70th minute. Cristian Bustos got booked for a foul on Seityasen Singh. Keegan got a good ball from Juan Aguilera but lost possession.
Then Sunil Chhetri came very close to scoring. A pass from Anelka saw him run straight in with the ball. He directed the ball towards the goal with his left foot on the run, and it beat the keeper but just missed the post by an inch or two. Sunil held his head in despair. It was a crucial chance that went begging.
Mumbai made their big move. Juan Aguilera made way for Sony Norde. The visitors now had a number of natural strikers on the field; all looking for that one goal that would bring them back into the game.
The home team made a change up front as well. Marquee Simao Sabrosa came on for Francis Dadzie as the clock neared the 80th minute.
Velez sent a great coross in for Seityasen. The latter took the shot, but just about missed the goal.
Newly introduced Sony Norde was trying his best. He made a run up the left flank from the midfield, then sent the ball to Anelka, dead in front of the goal, well inside the box. The player-coach took a first-time crack at the incoming ball with his left foot. It flew straight at the goal, but keeper Rehenesh reacted quickly to slap the ball far, far away. The final chance to turn things around saw Mumbai fall short, yet again.
And then came the knock-out blow. From a Simao Sabrosa free-kick. He sent the ball into the box, and a number of players lunged for the ball. But it was Diomansy Kamara who headed the ball down onto his own feet. By the time he turned towards the goal, keeper Subrata Pal had fallen over, and Frantz Bertin was standing nearby but could do little to stop him short of making a red-card foul. So Kamara was free to make the light kick; the ball found the goal. It was the second goal of the night from the Senegal striker. He celebrated a bit too much and got booked for that but it was all right. NEUFC were 2-0 ahead with 5 minutes to spare.
The game was over already. But a couple of moves happened in the end. Another Simao free-kick saw Velez shoot the ball into the goal but the linesman ruled offside; although replay showed he wasn't. But the Highlanders weren't in much of a complaining mood. The final whistle went off. They had won, and duly broken into the top 4, with 16 points from 11 matches, knocking Pune down a step in the process.
For Mumbai City, this may very well be the end of the road. They are on 12 points from 11 matches, languishing on the 6th place in the points table. Technically they can still make it but seeing that 2 of their remaining 3 matches are away at Chennai and Kolkata it will be mighty hard for them to make the top four from here. After the few wins at home they have not been good travellers at all, drawing two and losing the other two. And the dressing room situation went from bad to worse. It's hard to look at the way the team failed to react in time as the control of the match slowly went out of their hands despite a good start.
It's hard not to judge Nicolas Anelka as the leader of the team. The player-coach has been terrible on the pitch every time this season, and his decision to play yet another full game also raises many questions about his decision making. Granted, Sony Norde could not be played all game, but in a desperate situation like this he should have been brought on earlier. But he wasn't. And Mumbai stuck to the old strategy that took them nowhere. And they paid the price.
For NorthEast United, this was a vital win. A semi-final place is definitely not guaranteed yet and they will now make their way to Goa to play possibly the toughest match of the season. But their last two games, against Delhi and Pune, are both at home. So after struggling for so long and spending much time at the bottom of the table, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for them. Whether or not Cesar's boys can hold on to the momentum from tonight's game and make it to the semi-finals will be one of the most interesting things to watch as the ISL regular season enters its decisive lap.
