Dominating Chennaiyins shoot themselves in the foot by conceding 2 penalties to Goa

CHENNAIYIN FC made a mess of things as they awarded two penalties to visitors FC Goa, which they courteously converted to walk away with a 2-0 win and a move to the top of the ISL points table.

Materazzi made four changes to the Chennaiyin starting line-up, bringing Thoi Singh, Bernard Mendy, Harmanjot Khabra and Fikru Teferra back into squad to significantly boost the pace up front. Zico's FC Goa, meanwhile, went for a highly defensive 5-3-2 formation, bringing Laxmikant Kattimani back in the goal, Narayan Das and Raju Gaikwad in defence and midfield while Rafael Coelho got his debut for the franchise to be the 6th foreigner in the outfield, playing up front.

The match started on an exciting note as Mendoza got a shot on goal in the very first minute that Kattimani somehow managed to save. But as the match went on things became less and less interesting. Goa had obviously come in with an express intention to disrupt Chennai's natural game as they kept the ball as much as possible to frustrate the opponents. Chennai were obviously the more attacking side but their struggles bore no fruit. 

The Goa defence was hard at work from the get go. Luciano picked up an early yellow for a professional foul on Mendoza. The Gaurs defenders looked happy to clear the ball at the earliest opportunity rather than take a risk and build a counter. The few times Goa put together an attack things ended in corners and free-kicks as the Chennai defenders were clear-happy as well.

Narayan Das had a good half, pulling off a couple of blocks in situations that could become mildly interesting, especially the Mendoza pass to Elano around the 35th minute that he cleared for a corner.

Elano took the corner, which he delivered to Mendoza. The joint leading goal scorer took the shot but missed the target by half a foot.

Towards the end of the first half Mehrajuddin Wadoo broke free with the ball and made a run into the Goa box. But his shot was just a bit too high.

At the very end Fikru Teferra picked up his routine yellow card by bringing down Lucioano.

The first half ended goalless, in a rather boring affair that both coaches would have been happy with. A draw was arguably not a bad result for either team so they started the second half without taking any substitutions. 

Things were going on in the same vein in the second half. A couple of free kicks. A yellow for Gregory Arnolin. Karanjit pulled off a great save off a Leo Moura shot but the Brazilian was offside anyway. Bernard Mendy and Karanjit knocked into each other inside the penalty box and Mendy went out for a few minutes to receive treatment.

Perhaps the Chennaiyin fans would have preferred if he had stayed out a bit longer. Because within minutes of coming back, he fouled Coelho that gave away a penalty to Goa. Leo Moura duly put it away, giving the away team a massively relieving 1-0 lead.
 
The match turned from here. Goa became more and more active in the midfield as they pressed harder in search of a second. 

The Chennai defenders turned more and more aggressive under pressure. Elano got on the referee's book for a tackle on Lucio from behind followed by a push. 

Then Goa almost paid dearly for shifting to attack mode as a through ball took advantage of their high defensive line and Mendoza invaded the box with only Kattimani ahead of him. But a bad touch saw him lose control of the ball and Kattimani collected. 

Then Chennaiyin conceded a penalty again. A shot from Moura hit Mehrajuddin Wadoo's thigh then his hand. The referee booked the defender and pointed to the spot. This time, Jonatan Lucca stepped up to take it and converted.

It was the 7th penalty that Chennaiyin FC had conceded in 8 matches. And they were trailing 2-0 at home with 10 minutes to spare, against a team they had beated 4-0 away from home. Tempers flared up with some ugliness. 

Harmanjit Khabra put a high-studded kick on Leo Moura's shin. It was a reckless thing to do; fouls like these had ruined careers before. Moura was understandably livid with Khabra. But referee Santosh Kumar intervened and immediately showed Khabra a straight red card. It was the second red card of the tournament for the East Bengal midfielder whose reputation of sketchy field ethics has followed him to ISL.

The match ended 2-0 and FC Goa climbed straight to the top of the table with 14 points from 8 matches. In a way this match seemed like a repeat of the first game where bad moves by Chennai defenders had awarded 2 easy goals to ATK. But tonight was an even more prominent example of Chennaiyin FC shooting themselves in the foot.

Goa had come in prepared to defend by biting down on the ground. They did their job well, denying the home team the lead they came close to getting a few times. It was boring but effective. And their patience was rewarded when Chennai defenders made mistakes. Their win sets up a great match-up on Sunday as they travel to Balewadi to face FC Pune City, the team they de-throned from the top of the table.

For Chennaiyin FC, seemingly freak individual mistakes are becoming too common to ignore. Materazzi should be keen to look into it before taking on NorthEast United at home next Tuesday. Though they have been knocked down to the 6th place now (10 points from 8 matches), their campaign is far from endangered; but this is the time for them to introspect about where things have gone wrong; Conceding 7 penalties in 8 matches should ring alarm bells in any manager's head.