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Chennaiyin FC overcame and profited from extremely rainy conditions as a first half blitz enabled them to beat Mumbai City 3-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday night. Goals from Stiven Mendoza, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Bernard Mendy saw Marco Materazzi’s side move to fourth in the ISL table – two points ahead of NorthEast United.
First Half: Chennaiyin overwhelm Mumbai City
Materazzi tinkered with his centre-back pairing once more, as Alessandro Potenza returned from suspension to replace Mailson whereas Zakeer Mundampara came in for the suspended Khabra in midfield. Nicolas Anelka expressed his dissatisfaction with his side by making four changes to the team that drew 1-1 with the Kerela Blasters. Frederic Piquionne, Ashutosh, Rowilson and Darren O'Dea were all given a start.
Within 30 seconds, the effect of the water puddles all over the pitch was apparent. Chennaiyin’s probing passes into Mumbai’s defence kept breaking down as the ball held up when it came across the water puddles. However, even the rain could not prevent Chennaiyin’s talisman Stiven Mendoza from exerting his influence on the game.
Having won the ball back in midfield, Zakeer played a wonderful through ball which found Mendoza’s darting run and he brushed off Potenza’s attention to calmly slot the ball under the goalkeeper. The rain nearly played spoilsport once again, as the ball slowed down massively before crossing the line. Mendoza however, didn’t mind and wheeled off to celebrate his 11th goal this season.
Anelka was cursing the rain gods once more as the downpour caused havoc for Mumbai yet again. Dhanachandra’s cross from the left was deftly diverted towards the penalty spot by Thoi Singh and would have comfortably run into Subrata Paul’s hands. However, the ball held up on a patch of water and stopped kindly for Jeje to chip over the stranded goalkeeper with a lovely finish that put his side 2-0 up within 20 minutes.
Mumbai City had no excuse; the conditions were the same for both teams and yet the visitors were barely able to string a pass together. The conditions caused further problems as Raphael Augusto pulled a muscle and was stretchered off, with Manuel de Blasi coming on.
Subrata Paul responded to the changed conditions too, charging down shots way earlier than he would on a normal pitch. Mendoza and Jeje were both prevented from further adding to the score. Paul could do nothing to prevent the third goal however, Thoi Singh put Mendy clear through with a lovely reverse pass & the centre-back produced a lovely chip to make it 3-0 in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.
Second Half: Anelka’s changes fail to make an impact on scoreline
Anelka was not subtle about his displeasure with his side’s performance making three changes at half-time; with Shirodkar replacing an awful Darren O'Dea while Selim Benachour and Saran Singh came on for Cristian Bustos & Juan Aguilera respectively.
Having rocketed into a relatively unassailable 3-0 lead, Chennaiyin slowed the pace of the game down, standing off Mumbai City. Coupled with the changes made at half time, this allowed Mumbai City to gradually come into the game. However, apart from a Sony Norde shot that nearly spilled out of Chennaiyin keeper Edel’s hands, Mumbai created little.
Norde repeated the same trick 20 minutes later, drawing a save from Edel with a firmly struck shot that had the keeper scrambling to kick the ball away. In the meantime, Materazzi made his final two changes, Godwin Franco replacing an injured Thoi Singh while Elano came on to huge cheers, replacing Stiven Mendoza.
The match descended into little more than a training exercise for Chennaiyin in the final few minutes, as Mumbai gave up any slim hopes of getting anything from the match, watching in agony as a Sunil Chettri shot struck the post in the final minute of stoppage time. As the final whistle blew, the visitors were confirmed to be out of the playoffs.
The few brave souls in the stands that did attend the game despite the rains were rewarded for their support as Chennaiyin turned in a magnificent first half performance to strengthen their chances of making the playoffs with one game against Pune City FC remaining.
