Half Time Report: Battle of nerve and grit sees Goa dominante in goalless first half

Starting Line-Ups:

FC Goa - Laxmikant Kattimani, Gregory Arnolin, Lucio, Pronay Halder, Mandar Rao Desai, Bikramjit Singh, Jofre, Leo Moura, Romeo Fernandes, Dudu Omagbemi, Rafael Coelho

Chennaiyin FC - Apoula Edel, Dhanachandra Singh, Bernard Mendy, Mailson Alves, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Manuele Blasi, Thoi Singh, Bruno Pelissari, Stiven Mendoza, Jeje Lalpekhlua

A BATTLE OF nerve and grit saw FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC play out a high-tempered, physical first half that had everything in it but a goal in the ISL 2015 grand finale at Fatorda.

While Zico chose to field an unchanged side from the 2nd leg of the semi-finals against Delhi Dynamos, Materazzi pulled off a surprise move, benching marquee medio Elano in favour of Bruno Pelissari up front, switching to a more aggressive 4-3-3 in an attempt to lessen the pressure that FC Goa defenders were inevitably going to put on Stiven Mendoza.

But there was prressure all right. Not just on Mendoza - in fact he got a major share of it - but on just about anybody on the pitch in this pressure cooker of a game. And it was a physical battle from the get go.

Goa started the game well but suffered a major early setback when Dudu Omagbemi clash with Mailson Alves over an aerial ball and went straight down. He had to be stretched off, straight to the hospital, for further check-up. Jonatan Lucca replaced him. 

Then Mehrajuddin Wadoo kicked Mandar Rao Desai in the shin and the latter had to receive treatment on the field for a minute or so. Eventually he recovered and carried on with the game. 

But Mehraj was still at it. When Jofre advanced up the left flank Mehraj pulled him down and tis time he received a booking.

The resulting free kick saw Jonatan Lucca line up from a scoring range, and he almost managed to breach the wall. The ball took a deflection from a defender's leg and went out for a corner.

Goa kept on attacking. Romeo ran up and took a shot but Edel stood tall and made the save. 

Then Chennaiyin FC tried to put together a counter attack and in a bizarre occurence, when Mendoza was fed the ball and tried to enter the Goa penalty box, Leo Moura blatantly brought him down in a potential red card offence. But the referee ignored it. What's  worse, as Mendoza appealed frantically for the foul, Goa keeper Laxmikant Kattimani pushed him to the ground, off the ball, in what amounts to violent conduct; another straight red offence. Both the referee and the linesman apparently did not see it. 

The referee, however, was spot on when Bruno Pelissari dived inside Goa box. 

Leo Moura, trying as hard as he could, had a good shot at the goal but Mehraj put a stop to that, deflecting it out for a corner. Moura then went on to foul Mendoza just as he was about to start another run.

But still Mendoza found a gap. He combined with Jeje and suddenly the Goa defence was caught napping. The Colombian was striaght through the defence line and had a clear shot at goal but Laxmikant pulled off a great save to deny him.

As the first half neared a goal-less closure, fouls were still happening all over the place. Dhanachandra Singh brought down Bikramjit from behind in what Zico thought was a bookable offense but the referee did not think so.

So at half-time in the Hero ISL 2015 final the scoreline read 0-0. It has so far been a highly physical battle. Zico has adopted a clear strategy of stopping Mendoza by hook or by crook, and it has so far neutralised most of Chennai's attack. Goa, in fact, have been the more aggressive side, both in terms of raids on the opposition half and the number of fouls. And that's not counting the number of fouls that should have been given but were not.