Mumbai City FC display strong character to grind out historic AFC Champions League win

Indian football fans are feeling optimistic once again. After all, they witnessed history on Monday night when Indian Super League side Mumbai City FC edged Iraqi giants Al Quwa Al Jawaiya (Air Force) 2-1 in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh for a famous win in Asia’s top tier club competition, AFC Champions League.

To understand the gravity of the win, one needs to look at the past performances of Indian clubs at the competition. Indian heavyweights such as East Bengal, Mohun Bagan, Churchill Brothers among others have tried their hands in the continental championship, which underwent a change in format in 2002, but have always struggled to deal with the quality of Asian rivals. Barring last season’s FC Goa’s three draws at the group stages last season, clubs have struggled to reach the group stages more often than not and quite frequently had to make an early exit at the play-off stages.

All that changed on Monday night when a five-minute passage of play saw the Islanders turn the tide in their favour in their second Group B encounter. Reeling 0-1 at the 63rd minute and crumbling in their own defensive third under some intense pressure from the Iraqis, no one fancied a comeback from the Indian outfit. Stats further demoralised them as by the time Al Quwa Al Jawaiya scored the opening goal after 13 attempts, Mumbai were yet to register a shot on target.

However, a lapse in concentration by the leading side’s right back Ali Kazem, who first lost the ball to winger Bipin Singh and then conceded a foul inside the penalty area right after, gave Mumbai the look in they needed. It was Mumbai’s Diego Mauricio who forced Kazem into a foul inside the box and then duly converted the penalty to put his side on level terms. Rahul Bheke then had the final say in the game as he headed in a perfectly placed corner kick by Ahmed Jahouh.

Those two moments do make for a great highlights package but gives you just a peek into the match that saw Mumbai City FC churn out this unexpected win. Make no mistake, Iraqis were arguably the only team in Group B against whom Des Buckingham coached-side fancied a positive result. And even if we ignore all the history, a win was still tricky for the ISL side as the Iraqi champions came into the match beating UAE league titleholder Al Jazira 2-1 in their opening group game.

On the other hand, things looked uncertain for the Islanders, who didn’t just lose the first match against far superior Al Shabab 0-3 but walked into their second consecutive match without their prudent goal scorer Igor Angulo. Buckingham in fact, dropped last-match starting forward Cassio Gabriel from the squad to bring in Mauricio as the No 9.

To make it further uncomfortable, Mumbai also fielded winger Lallinzuala Chhangte in an unfamiliar central attacking midfielder position in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The 37-year-old gaffer used a double pivot of Jahouh and Lalengmawia Ralte while the formation switched to a compact 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 every time the Iraqi side took control of the ball.

The confidence in Mumbai players was found wanting too as they appeared to succumb to early and persistent pressure from the Air Force forwards, who forced Indian defenders into farcical errors including a foul from goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa inside the box in the 9th minute. However, Mumbai City FC had luck on their side as the foul went unnoticed while the opponents failed to bury their chances despite finding space from both the wings.

Mumbai did eventually overcome their early jitters and started building up the game patiently through short passes from the back. But with Chhangte, whose pace and trickery makes him one of the best wingers in the country, out of place, it meant that any effort to get the ball to him and expect him to make those telling passes seemed futile.

Buckingham did rectify his mistake by bringing in Australian attacking midfielder Brad Inman as No 10 while switching Chhangte to the right flank for Vikram Pratap Singh. The change finally led to them finding momentum in the second half when the Australian found Chhangte free on the right flank on two occasions at least to give Mumbai the impetus and belief in the final third moments before the turnaround.

However, the comeback wasn’t possible without their captain Mourtada Fall, who raised the standards high for his teammates to follow. The centre-back was the only consistent performer with the ball and the fact that Al Quwa Al Jawaiya had as many as 20 attempts (6 on target) and they managed to convert just one of them pays further homage to him. The Senegalese solely frustrated the opposition forwards on several moments with his last-ditched tackles and almost blocked the first goal before it ricocheted off him to nicely fall in front of goal scorer Hammadi Ahmed. The standout moment still was his last-gasp lunge to stop a goal-bound Hussein Jabbar in the 23rd minute of the game to keep the score at a deadlock.

Last but not the least, Mumbai wouldn’t have been in the game if not for their Moroccan midfield maestro Jahouh, who was the architect behind Mumbai’s short-pass buildups early on. The deep-lying playmaker dropped deep and often played between the two centre-backs for the full backs – Mandar Rao Dessai (left back) and Amey Ranawade – to express themselves high up the field during attacks.

However, it’s safe to say it wasn’t Jahouh’s night by his own high standards as he struggled to find his customary diagonal balls as often he would have liked to. Also, for someone who likes to calmly hold the ball and spray passes as per his wish, Jahouh’s lack of pace and agility was exposed against Air Force’s high pressing.

Despite all of that, the 33-year-old midfielder showed his class when the team was in need as the dead-ball expert set up Bheke with a looping corner kick for the winning goal. His retaliation exactly expresses the shift that Mumbai put on the night and showed they came in prepared, albeit in patches, to absorb all the pressure against a far-more experienced Champions League side. They emanated the image of the 2021 ISL winners, who exactly knew how to grind out such positive results under pressure. And with the confidence high with the win and a second spot in the group ideally up for grabs, Mumbai may think they have a shot at making another history by becoming the first Indian side to reach the knockout stages.