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FC Goa marched into the semifinals of the Indian Super League with a comfortable 3-0 win over Jamshedpur FC. It was a straight shootout between the two sides to determine who would take the fourth and final playoff spot and in the end, Goa ran out comfortable winners.
The encounter itself had plenty of drama though, despite the one-sided scoreline. Here's a 5-point guide to take you through what was an incident-filled game in Jamshedpur.
7th minute - Disaster for Jamshedpur as Subrata Pal has a moment of madness
The game was underway. Jamshedpur looked like they were going to take charge up front to try and nick an early goal against Goa. Then one long ball, a very good one at that, from Manuel Lanzarote saw things go south for the hosts.
Coro had managed to find space between the two centre-backs, Tiri and Andre Bikey, and was looking to latch onto Lanza's ball. Subrata Pal then did the unthinkable. In a moment of complete brain fade, he rushed out of his box to meet the ball and ended up using his hand to try and control the bouncing ball. Bonkers!!!
Had he stayed in his box, it would have been an easy gather for him.
The referee had absolutely no hesitation in showing him the red card for the offence. Subrata was distraught as he walked away into the tunnel, head in his hands.
His silly, silly error came in the most important game for his side this season, a virtual quarterfinal, and that too in just the seventh minute of the match, with the added punishment of his team now down to 10 men. Jamshedpur needed the win, not Goa. With his sending off, all of their best-laid plans went to waste.
What a way to sabotage your own team's chances of winning and hand the initiative to the opposition!!!
Coro opened the scoring
29th minute - Coro makes it 1-0 to Goa
It's difficult enough to keep Goa quiet when you have all 11 men on the field, so you can imagine how much tougher it gets when you're down to 10.
Jamshedpur managed to steady the ship a bit and keep Goa out for about 20 minutes, but then in the 29th, that man again, Coro broke the deadlock. Lanzarote sent Seriton Fernandes away down the right flank with a neat pass and the right-back galloped onto the ball and played it superbly into the box. Coro was left with a simple finish from close range to put his side ahead.
His 17th goal of the season.
33rd minute - The circus is in town
Goa came into this match needing just a point to qualify.
After 10 minutes, they had a man advantage with Subrata's dismissal and soon enough they were up a goal and cruising. Why then Ahmed Jahouh decided to engage in some theatricality, no one knows.
Jerry Mawhmingthanga left a high foot around Jahouh's right arm when going for the ball. Jahouh reacted to the challenge by immediately falling to the ground and clutching his neck and throat area, like somebody had delivered a karate chop/kick to him there.
Tiri was visibly furious at the Goa midfielder's playacting, Bikey as well. This led to a fracas out on the pitch as tempers flared on both sides. Jahouh, who moments earlier was on his back lying on the ground, suddenly sprung back up like nothing had happened at all to get involved himself. Even the respective dugouts were jawing at each other on the sidelines.
It took some calming down from the referee and no one was booked in all this altercation - not Bikey for shoving Jahouh in the chest, not Jahouh for simulation.
51st minute - Coro breaks the offside trap and Jamshedpur hearts with a second goal
Down 0-1 in a must-win game, with the odds stacked against them, the one thing Jamshedpur needed was to not concede an early goal in the second half.
But six minutes into the half, Lanzarote once again found his Spanish countryman Coro with a delicious ball over the defence. Coro timed his run perfectly to break the offside trap and provided the finishing touches to this match by dispatching the ball into the bottom right corner.
His second and Goa's second put the game well and truly beyond Jamshedpur's reach as if it wasn't an uphill task already. Game over.
A sixth assist for Lanza for the tournament.
For Coro, an 18th goal in 18 games. What a debut season it's been for the Spaniard!
75th minute - A deja vu in front of the Goa goal
I guess Naveen Kumar wasn't happy that Subrata Pal would hog all the headlines for his atrocious sending off despite Goa's big win. So what does he do?
He emulates what Subrata did earlier on - comes out to meet a long ball and blocks it with his hand outside the penalty box. Absolutely preposterous! What was he thinking?
After Lanzarote had scored to make it 3-0, they were out of sight in this match and just needed to see the game out while making sure no one did anything stupid or picked up an injury. And then Naveen did this!
Naveen has featured in the last four games in place of Laxmikant Kattimani, who Sergio Lobera lost patience with. Kattimani was a walking disaster and had a direct hand in many of the goals Goa conceded. Goa's better defensive record probably has something to do with Kattimani going out and Naveen coming in.
This really was something unprecedented. I would love to pore over the history books to see if this has ever happened in a match - both keepers sent off for handling the ball outside the box. Comically nonsensical is what it was.
