MATCH REPORT: 1st season win for NE in game marred by cards and confrontations
A MATCH RIDDLED WITH cards, confrontations and controversial decisions made for a highly tense encounter at Guwahati tonight as NorthEast United claimed their first win of their 2015 campaign by beating Chennaiyin FC 2-0.
Cesar Farias made all-out changes to the team that started against FC Goa. New signing Andre Bikey was brought straight into the starting line-up. To make room for the extra foreigner, Rehenesh was used as a keeper instead of ex-Chennaiyin Bracigliano. Aiborlang Khongjee, back from national duty, got his first start. Israil Gurung, Bruno Herrero, Boithang Haokip and Holicharan Narzary also made it back to the starting eleven. Marquee player Simao Sabrosa, recovered from injury, made his way into the bench.
Chennaiyin FC also fielded a squad full of surprises. Top scorer Stiven Mendoza and marquee player Elano were both rested. Bernard Mendy, Dhanachandra Singh, Bruno Pelissari, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Manuele Blasi and Fikru Teferra all made into the starting line-up.
Contrary to all expectations and perhaps due to the all-encompassing changes made to both teams, NorthEast United started brightly and actually dominated in terms of possession, attacking play and shots on goal. There were a couple of mistakes from Rehenesh in the middle; Kamara and Silas got close a few times but neither side managed to open the scoring.
Things started getting out of hand with towards the end of the half when referee Matt Conger lost control of a situation following a penalty decision in the 38th minute. Potenza had brought Hengbart down inside the penalty box, so he got yellow carded and Diomansy Kamara stepped up to take the spot kick. His delivery was poor and Edel easily stopped the penalty.
Directly following that Chennaiyin player Harmanjot Singh Khabra walked up to the referee and used abusive language. Matt Cogner immediately flashed him a yellow. But Khabra lost cool and kept mouthing off so Cogner showed him a red card.
At first it was not clear why Khabra had been sent off and confusion reigned throughout the stadium. Next moment it was Diomansy Kamara who fouled Fikru and got another yellow card. This sent the tension around the game off the charts as even the coaches started having a verbal battle in the sidelines. As the referees ran in to get the situation in control, players also ran in, pushing and shoving ensued and chaos reigned. In the end, when things had calmed down, Chennaiyin captain Bernard Mendy was given a yellow card for his conduct during the sideline spat.
As the match ran into several minutes of extra time, Fikru picked up a yellow of his own, by going at Andre Bikey with a high boot.
All in all, the half saw six yellow card and one red card. It was a period where the football took a backseat to disciplinary incidents, which is never healthy in a game of football. NorthEast United, who were especially disappointed with the missed penalty in the first half, had the chance to make up for it by snatching a win against a 10 man Chennaiyin which would be instrumental in reviving their campaign.
The second half started with both managers making their chess moves in substitution. Materazzi made a slightly defensive substitution by bringing in Raphael Augusto in the place of Bruno Pelissari. Cesar Farias made a double substitution for the home side, substituting penalty-waster Kamara with Nicolas Velez and replacing Holicharan Narzary with Sanju Pradhan. Very soon, Stiven Mendoza made it onto the pitch for Chennaiyin, replacing Fikru.
Dadzie was having some impact. His ball for Haokip was a good set up but the finisher went wide. Then Mendoza got in on the act, invaded the NEUFC box and shot the ball over the bar in an unnecessary attempt at glory. He could have passed.
Around the 74th minute, Cesar took his third substitution, bringing in marquee Simao Sabrosa instead of Franciz Dadzie. Immediately, Materazzi replaced Manuele Blasi with Elano.
Right after coming on Elano got to take two free kicks on successive minutes. Both times he delivered it directly to Rehenesh at goal who duly caught them. Bikey, meanwhile, picked up his first yellow on his debut by pushing Stiven Mendoza.
Tensions flared again when Boithang went down with an injury but Nicolas Velez decided not to stop the game. Elano pushed him off the ball to tell him off for that.
Then Simao Sabrosa got into a spat with Mehrajuddin Wadoo. The referee intervened and booked both of them. But their verbal battle continued even after being reprimanded.
Then at the very end of regulation time, the game turned on its head again through yet another controversial moment.
A shot from Velez hit the post. As the ball came to Simao he stumbled and fell along with Jayesh Rane. But the referee thought it was a foul committed on him and pointed to the spot for a second penalty to NorthEast United. Another round of protests ensued from the Chennaiyin players as manager Materazzi tore off his badge in anger and walked off from the pitchside.
Elano was given a yellow card for protesting. And Simao Sabrosa took the spot kick. Edel judged it right, dived on the right side, but missed it by an inch. After such a long wait, NEUFC were now looking at their first win of the season.
But the already soured mood of players and staff was steadily turning to bitter. Nicolas Velez was given a yellow for a foul and it was followed by another bout of protesting.
When the match resumed Chennaiyin went all out to get the equalizer. But NorthEast exploited that with a counter attack as Sanju Pradhan sent a brilliant ball to Nicolas Velez whose neckbreak run saw him clear of the defenders and facing a lonely Edel. The Argentinian put the ball past Edel and sealed the match for NEUFC by a 2-0 margin.
The match ended and the Highlanders had earned their maiden win. But the bitterness around the match continued as Bernard Mendy immediately ran to Cesar Farias to confront him. That saw another bout of pushing, shoving and verbal spats in the touchline involving several players and team staff. It took a while to calm the situation once and for all. The match which had taken a turn for the worse in the first half ended on an equally bitter note.
Marco Materazzi will be the most disappointed man tonight because even after going a man down they had stayed in the game with some great defending efforts. The penalty decision at the very end of the game came as an anti-climactic sucker punch that will leave a bad taste in everybody's mouth.
For NorthEast United, these three points are paramount. And their overall performance will say that they deserved it. But perhaps even Farias will not appreciate the way they came. The good things to take away from this game will be the immediately effective return of marquee Simao Sabrosa. Bikey proved himself to be a good addition to the team as well. Bolstered by these new players and newfound momentum this can prove to be the turning point of their campaign.
But the match will remain memorable for its confrontations and a card-happy referee. 9 yellow cards and 1 red card made this game as one of the most carded games in ISL history. The sub-par officiating adds to the record of poor refereeing that this ISL season has been continously demonstrating.
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