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In a match between two winless teams, India's Aizawl FC hosted Bangladesh's Abahani Dhaka in an AFC Cup, Group E game at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati. Both teams were desperate for points considering their results in the opening two rounds. It was the team from Bangladesh in the end that got on the board, with a convincing 3-0 victory on the road as Aizawl remain stuck on zero points at the bottom of the group.
Here are the main talking points from the game:
#1 Disastrous start for Aizawl
It seems to be catching on!
Just like in the Manchester City v Liverpool and Roma v Barcelona games last night in the UEFA Champions League, we got another early goal in Aizawl's match today. And by early, we mean really early.
Unfortunately for Aizawl, it was they who conceded the goal. The referee had just blown the whistle for the opening kick-off and in under two minutes, Abahani Dhaka found themselves in front. Rubel Miya put the Bangladeshi side in front after receiving a nice pass from Emeka Onuoha inside the box and chipping over the onrushing Aizawl keeper.
It was the worst possible start Santosh Kashyap and his boys could have asked for in such a crucial game.
#2 Alison makes it two
Reeling from that early goal, Aizawl struggled to get going and before they could get back on their feet completely, things got worse.
Dhaka doubled their lead in the 17th minute through Ndukaku Alison after a goalmouth scramble. From a corner, Dhaka got a good delivery in which was met by their striker Sunday Chizoba. However, Aizawl keeper Lalawmpuia managed to block the effort, but the rebound fell conveniently to Alison who was left with a simple tap-in.
2-0 to Abahani Dhaka in the 17th minute meant that Aizawl were really under the pump.
#3 Aizawl respond, but fail to take their chances
Despite being rocked by the 0-2 deficit, the Mizo side composed themselves and got back in the game.
They managed to get on the ball and enjoyed a good 25-minute spell where they created openings and put the visitors under some pressure. However, they were guilty of not doing enough with these changes.
Some of the shots they took were straight at the Dhaka defenders which could be easily blocked. The best chance for Aizawl came in the 22nd minute when Alfred Jaryan thought he had scored. From a corner, Aizawl whipped the ball in and the Dhaka keeper came out to punch the ball. But his punch was an errant one and ended up falling straight to Jaryan who took a shot at goal.
A couple of Dhaka defenders, however, blocked Jaryan's goal-bound effort with a superb goal-line clearance to deny Aizawl. While he could do nothing about this save, Jaryan was guilty of passing up a good opportunity later on. In the 31st minute, Leonce Dodoz and him attempted a nice little interplay between them just outside the box before Dodoz played it to Jaryan and continued his run, expecting the return ball. But Jaryan took the shot himself and the chance was gone.
#4 A third setback
Aizawl were creating pressure but were yet to test the keeper.
As they kept frittering away the good openings that they manufactured, one got the feeling that the misses were going to prove costly.
And that's exactly what happened in the 36th minute when Dhaka pretty much sealed the three points with a third goal.
It was Japan's Seiya Kojima this time who got on the scoresheet with a lovely assist from Sunday Chizoba. Dhaka left-back Mohammed Faisal swung in a wonderful cross in from the left into the box which was met by Chizoba. The Nigerian, instead of going for goal and seeing Kojima in space, headed it down into his teammate's path. Kojima took a touch before calmly slotting it past the Aizawl keeper.
The third goal completely deflated the home side and nipped any hopes of a comeback in the bud.
#5 Abahani lock down Aizawl
After being clinical with their chances in the first half, the visitors went on to lockdown Aizawl in the second.
They put men behind the ball, content to give the home side all the possession. They made sure they didn't leave any gaps for Aizawl to exploit and made it tough for them to get a good look at goal with their shot attempts.
In the end, this match was decided by how Abahani Dhaka took the chances that came their way while Aizawl were a bit wasteful with theirs. The Dhaka keeper did not have a noteworthy save to make in this match. On the other hand, Aizawl's defence was easily breached as has been the case in their other two matches as well.
With this loss, it's three defeats in three matches now for Aizawl in the AFC Cup, not the most memorable debut campaign. They have scored just the two goals while conceding nine. With three games remaining, their hopes of getting out of the group to look extremely slim.
