Federation Cup: Salgaocar SC Held By Mumbai FC To A Goalless Draw

The match started off with Salgaocar SC playing in their trademark 4-2-3-1 formation with Ryuji Sueoka, Ishfaq Ahmed and Francis Fernandes playing in behind the striker - Chidi Edeh, making it a forward four while springing an attack. Mumbai FC, however, as analysed by Goal.com earlier in the week, played with five defenders hoping to counteract the Goans’. And they managed to do just that in the first few minutes by not allowing any of the Salgaocar players getting a clear shot on goal.

On the tenth minute mark, Jaspal Parmar found space on the edge of the box and his shot from 23-yards out tested the Mumbai FC goalkeeper, Ishan Debnath who was up to the task and gathered the ball cleanly. Three minutes later, Mumbai FC had a chance of their own when their striker, G.Friday was fouled on the edge of the penalty area. Ebi Sukore stepped up to take the freekick and fired his shot straight into the Salgaocar wall, eventually leading to the ball being cleared.

Moments later, on 16 minutes, Sueoka dispossessed the Mumbai midfield and sent the ball wide to Chidi whose low cross from the right was intercepted by a diving Kingsley Chioma. With the strikers kept at bay for the next fifteen minutes, the frustrations seemed to be rising and this was vindicated when G. Friday was booked for a needless late tackle on the Salgaocar goalkeeper, Karanjit Singh.

Seconds later, on the other end, even Mumbai’s goalie was in action as Francis’ cross from the right was cut back by Ishfaq via header to find Sueoka, whose scuffed bicycle kick went straight into the palms of Ishan, who hardly even had to move.

At the stroke of half time, Mumbai FC had the best chance of the game as Sukore’s cross found S. Kuttymani, who headed the ball wide of the far post, six yards out. Deep into stoppage time, Nicholas Rodrigues fouled Rocus Lamare and was rightly booked for the offence. The referee soon blew for half time and the first half ended 0-0.

The first 10 minutes of the second half were basically played in the midfield. The game then got ugly when there were a series of recurring fouls on the Mumbai FC players.  Khalid Jamil, the Mumbai FC coach knew that a change was needed and so, the Mumbaikars made a change bringing on Ashutosh Mehta for Kuttymani. Minutes on, Mehta got a taste of the ugly action going-on on the pitch when he was elbowed on the face by Chidi. The Salgaocar striker was correctly yellow carded.

On 74 minutes, Dane Pereira's missed clearance sent Sueoka clear down the right. The Japanese delivered a low cross into the box which was agonising close to the reach of a diving Chidi Edeh as Mumbai FC survived a real scare. There were all signs that the Goans had switched into the second gear. Three minutes on, some quick-slick passing by Sueoka and Francis saw the ball eventually fall to Chidi, whose curling effort from outside the penalty area hit the bar – a moment when Salgaocar were so close to breaking the deadlock but yet so far.

The final five minutes of the game, saw Biswajit Saha booked for a sliding challenge on Ashutosh Mehta. Ashutosh was then, booked when he dived. Salgaocar were denied a penalty in the final few seconds of injury time and the game ended 0-0.

Even without having a pre-season, Mumbai FC were resolute in their defending and will take an awful lot out of this game in terms of the character they showed until the final whistle. As for Salgaocar SC, they played their fluid, attacking game and will bemoan their missed chances but will certainly be pleased by their overall attacking rhythm. However, they will look to find the back of the net in their next group game.

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