NorthEast United conceded their first defeat of the season as Mumbai City FC got better of the Highlanders by a solitary goal at the Mumbai Football Arena, Andheri. The scoreline might suggest otherwise, but it was a very interesting match with both teams playing neck to neck.
Here are five talking points of the match:
#1 Vingada's plan for Mumbai City FC
Nicholas Velez and Sityasen Singh found their names in Nelo Vingada’s starting XI as he played a peculiar 3-5-2 formation in NorthEast United’s first away game of the season. Considering the depth of Mumbai’s attack, NorthEast also started with their marquee signing Didier Zokora.
The intention was to defend well and rely on counter attacks to score. With fast players like the duo named above starting, Vingada had a definite plan for Mumbai.
Within moments from the kickoff, NEUFC’s shape changed to 4-1-4-1, while Mumbai playing 4-2-3-1 started dominating the attack. Playing with a high backline, for most part of the first half, Mumbai kept the ball at the visitors’ end. But a tight defensive framework of the NorthEast defenders perforated no space for MCFC forward line to attack.
And keeping true to the strategy, NorthEast did show promising counter in the first half, as towards its end one could see quite a lot of close chances for the visitors, which they could not convert.
#2 The Battle of marquee players
It was a very intense battle between the two marquee players as Zokora, playing as a Centre Back, was assigned to cut the supply chain to Diego Forlan. Mumbai midfielders played quite a few through balls for the veteran Uruguayan, but almost all of them were intercepted by Zokora, giving him no space to breathe.
Interestingly, the attack of both the teams was led by two compatriots from Uruguay, Forlan and Emiliano Alfaro. And in an interesting blend of play, Alfaro, who scored two goals against Goa, outclassed Mumbai defence with his pace, while Forlan did not seem that impressive.
However, to their luck it was the former who went off the pitch with a goal, while the NorthEast player remained goalless.
#3 Mumbai's Impressive midfield trio
Three names shone from the Mumbai end and all of them are from the midfield. Hungarian midfielder Krisztian Vadocz, Pronay Halder and Sehnaj Singh.
The first of the trio was the crucial linkage between the defence and the attack. He intercepted dangerous balls, moved them forward, created passes and kept the supply on for the forward line. Halder, on the other hand, played way up today, not in his usual position and kept the pressure on NorthEast.
As for Sehnaj Singh, this would a memorable match for him as he shielded quite a few important moves by NorthEast and also kept alive the pressure up front.
#4 The Decisive Penalty
The match ended 1-0 in favour of Mumbai, and that’s probably the most unfortunate way to lose a match for NorthEast. It was an unnecessary suicidal pass to Reagan Singh, which he, of course, fumbled with. The left back collected the ball late and in the due process fouled Pronay Halder.
Spiderman Subrata Paul, who yet again was having an eventful night was now in front of the 2010 World Cup Golden Ball award winner Diego Forlan and the Uruguayan’s strike powered into the net. To his credits, Paul did guess the shot right and also got a touch of his hand on the ball. But the shot was too powerful to be stopped.
#5 North East's never-say-die Attitude
The match might have ended in a loss for NorthEast, but from the overall performance of the team, Nelo Vingada might be a happy man. It was their third match in 6 six days and majority in the playing XI played all the games.
But despite this, the team did show a good game, particularly after conceding the goal. Romaric, in the first half had two very powerful attempts at the goal, while Katsumi took a brilliant free kick. In the second half, Alfaro made some stellar runs.
The team just needs to improve on their accuracy of long balls and convert the chances they create. The never-say-die attitude of the team was commendable with particularly Subrata Paul coming out and attacking in the final 30 seconds of the match.
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