Chennai clinch easy 3-0 win at home, Mumbai officially out of playoff race

CHENNAIYIN FC completely dominated Mumbai City on a rain-soaked encounter at Chennai's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The home team took a 3 goal lead in the first half courtesy strikes from Stiven Mendoza, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Bernard Mendy, then controlled the game in the second half to claim a comfortable win. Mumbai City are now officially out of the race to ISL semi-finals while Chennaiyin FC are one step away from a top four berth.

Chernnaiyin FC fielded most of the players who started during the 4-0 drubbing of Delhi Dynamos at home last Tuesday, with the exceptions of Mailson Alves and Harmanjot Singh Khabra (suspended) who were replaced by Alessandro Potenza (returning from suspension) and Zakeer Mundampara. 

Mumbai City came into this do-or-die game with four changes: Darren O'Dea and Rowilson Rodrigues were back in the defence while Ashutosh Mehta took over the right wing, and Frederic Piquionne became the new target man positioning himself ahead of Sunil Chhetri. 

From the very beginning it was obvious that the utterly rain-soaked conditions, which caused multiple patches of water-clogging on the pitch and a 15 minute delay in kick-off, was causing the visitors a lot of problems. They were struggling to navigate the pitch and judge the ball's movement on the wet pitch as play went on amidst heavy downpour. 

The hosts took good advantage of their opponents' distress and began knocking on their defence's door early on. Long distance shots from Jeje Lalpekhlua and Stiven Mendoza went over the crossbar. But once they managed to got close a few times, the inevitable happened.

A through ball from Zakeer Mundampara reached Stiven Mendoza inside the box, who went past Frantz Bertin and fired away on target. Subrata fell short and the ball found the net. Chennaiyin were 1-0 ahead and Stiven Mendoza had taken his goal tally up to 11.

And soon they doubled the lead. Dhanachandra Singh sent in the cross that Thoi Singh got a touch on, sending it to Jeje Lalpekhlua who sent the ball in from close range with ease. It was 2-0 to the home side and any remainining shreds of top four hopes that Mumbai were still harbouring were already in tatters, barely 20 minutes into the first half.

The adverse conditions were taking their toll on the players. Chennai's Raphael Augusto had to be replaced after he pulled his hamstring. Manuele Blasi came on to replace him.

The grip of the match was firmly in the hands of Materazzi's boys as more chances to extend the lead came their way. Mendoza fed Thoi Singh who had a golden opportunity to slot it in and score a second but he sent it above the target. A Bruno Pelissari free-kick was punched away by Subrata, but Dhanachandra managed to get the ball back to Pelissari who took a crack at the goal but the wet turf slowed the ball down and Subrata caught it.

Lalchhuan Mawia was the first person to get booked for a foul on Thoi Singh. Joining him in the elite list soon was Rowilson Rodrigues for a tackle on Pelissari.

Subrata Paul made a great save to deny Mendoza in a one-on-one situation. Minutes later he denied the striker again when a botched clearance saw the golden boot front-runner in possession inside the box. But all his efforts went to waste when a Thoi Singh cross reached Bernard Mendy whose flick went into the net. The half ended with Chennaiyin FC leading 3-0, and the hapless Mumbai City players looking defeated already as they made their way to the dressing room, their tired boots splashing water on the wet turf.

By the time they were back on the field kicking off the second half, the three substitutions had already taken place in their ranks. Selim Benachour had replaced Cristian Bustos, Thangjam Singh had come on for Juan Aguilera and Darren O'Dea had made way for Pratesh Shirodkar. Mumbai had now committed to to play the rest of the game with 7 Indians on the pitch.

Mumbai got their first real chance past the 50 minute mark when a Thangjam SIngh cross that Potenza attempted to clear with a header went straight to Sony Norde. Tha Haitian striker took a shot and keeper Edel tried a diving save, fumbled, but got hold of the ball eventually. 

Another of Thangjam's attempts to make inroads towards the Chennai box was foiled by Mehrajuddin Wadoo. 

Around the hour mark, Materazzi took his second substitution, replacing Thoi Singh with Godwin Franco. Soon after their first substitute Maneuele Blasi picked up a yellow for a foul on Pratesh Shirodkar. Then came a two footed tackle on Ashutosh Mehta from Bruno Pelissari, who went on the book as well. Then Materazzi took his final substitution as well, sending in Elano to replace the ever-clinical Stiven Mendoza. 

The home team decided to take things slow and keep the ball to see the game through, and that's what they did. Lalchhuan Mawia ran a few desperate raids for Mumbai and he got blocked every time. When Piquionne looked a bit threatening Bernard Mendy brought him down with impunity and picked up a yellow without regret. Later, Piquionne did manage to enter the box with the ball. He took the shot on the turn and it went way wide off target. The clock was well past 80 minutes by now.

Chennai managed to make a few moves as well. Elano dodged a number of Mumbai defenders to feec Jeje who passed it to Pelissari but the finisher went too wide.

Towards the end a great ball from Norde saw Chhetri through on goal but his shot hit the woodwork. And that was it. The match ended without any further surprises, with a 3-0 cakewalk in favour of Chennaiyin FC.

The playing conditions worked against Mumbai City, but that does not excuse the way they played tonight. Never did it look like they were in control of the proceedings. Their defenders came off like weaklings in front of the incessant waves of attacks from the Chennaiyin FC strikers and midfielders. And what stood out more than anything else was how, even before the match had kicked off, so many of the Mumbai players appeared to be dejected to the inevitibility of their loss. They did not even put up much of a fight. Now they have become the second team to be officially knocked out of the ISL semi-final race and their trip to Kolkata on Friday will be a mere diplomatic excercise.

But the exact opposite was true for Chennaiyin FC players tonight. They came in full of confidence, took charge of things even though the wet pitch and rains were a challenging terrain to work on, and soon they had carried forward the ruthless goal-scoring streak they had been on since their match against Kerala Blasters. They took this win like it was their birthright. And now, with 19 points on their pocket from 13 matches, they are on the verge of a semi-final berth. Depending on what happens tomorrow in the match between NorthEast United and Pune City, they may need a win or a draw on Saturday when they travel to Pune for their last regular season game. Chances are, it might become a de-facto quarter final, a do-or-die encounter between both teams, the prize being a place in the playoffs.