Super Cup 2018: Jamshedpur FC 1-5 FC Goa - 5 Talking Points

FC Goa are through to the semifinals of the 2018 Super Cup after a 5-1 win over Jamshedpur FC.

The match though was not even remotely as straightforward as what the scoreline suggests as a sterile affair early exploded like a lava-breathing volcano after one very controversial refereeing decision.

Here are the five talking points from the game.

---

#5 Referees get it wrong and chaos ensues

Here's the footballing part of it - Goa launched an attack as the seconds ticked away towards the end of the first half.

Brandon Fernandes set Coro up bang in front of goal, Coro scuffs shot horribly, Jamshedpur keeper Subrata Pal scrambles to prevent it squeaking into goal, palms it away, ball crosses the line, Brandon stops the ball, pulls it back into play, puts the ball in the back of the net and wheels away in celebration. Referee signals goal.

So, let's get the obvious out of the way first - the ball was clearly out. It was not even one of those borderline decisions, it was about 6 inches out of play. So the refs got this hopelessly wrong.

Jamshedpur were incredulous (understandably) that the goal was awarded because they'd seen the ball go out. They started surrounding the referee to express their outrage. Brandon and other Goa players pleaded their case saying the ball was in. All in all much confusion.

After over, five minutes, and pressure from the Jamshedpur players, the referee consulted his assistant and decided to rule the goal out. That set off the Goa players (again, understandably considering the delay) who were fuming that the referee had taken so much time and changed the decision. Tempers flared between both sets of players.

The correct decision was arrived at in the end; it would have been cruel to award that goal. But the consternation around the decision after such a delay after initially ruling it a goal was also understandable.

The drama also provided some comic moments though -

a) Pal grabbing Brandon by the arm and trying to get a confession from him about whether the ball went out.

b) Coro, in the midst of all the chaos, walked off and sat in the dugout. The refs didn't realize he was off the field and play continued for a minute before they realized it.

Truly, you could not have made this up. Blame Coro for it - he had a tap-in which he messed up, leading to all of this. Come on Coro!

#4 11 v 11? Nah, how about 8 v 8?

That's what we got when the players walked out on to the pitch for the second half.

Following the clashes at the end of the first half post the controversial referee decision, there were more after in the tunnel. We got to know that six players, three from each side, had been red carded after a brawl in the tunnel.

For Jamshedpur, keeper Subrata Pal, defender Anas Edathodika and forward Kervens Belfort were all sent off. While for Goa, defenders Sergio Juste and Bruno Pinheiro, along with Brandon Fernandes who was at the centre of it all, were all dismissed.

So we had an extremely long half-time break before things could settle down and action resumed. Rather hilariously, some of the red-carded players didn't know they had been sent off and actually came out for the second half, only to learn their fates as they approached the touchline.

Talk about drama after an opening 40 minutes that were rather dull and uneventful.

#3 Goa lose their men, but not their goal-scoring touch

Back to some of the few good moments in the game as far as the football was concerned.

Goa's opening goal was a beautifully taken one. In the 33rd minute, they strung together numerous passes before Hugo Boumous finally played Brandon Fernandes through on goal. The India winger had the beating of the last defender and was left with just the keeper to beat. He held his composure to put the ball in the back of the net.

With Manuel Lanzarote not playing in this competition, Brandon has gotten more opportunities. This was his second goal in two games after he scored in the victory over ATK in the previous round as well.

Coro then made up for his miss at the end of the first half when he put Goa up 2-0 from the spot in the 67th minute after Goa were awarded a penalty for a foul on Boumous.

Once they got the second goal, Goa settled down and went on to put Jamshedpur to the sword. Boumous added another couple of goals to take his tally to three for the tournament while Manvir Singh also got one to make the scoreline a lopsided one.

#2 Kervens Belfort - Can he score?

Haiti forward Kervens Belfort is a great team guy, Steve Coppell has huge trust in him and has given him countless opportunities both at Kerala Blasters last year and with Jamshedpur this season.

Yet you can't discount the fact that he is too wasteful with chances. It's one of the reasons he doesn't have a goal to his name this season, neither in the ISL nor the Super Cup. It has not been for a lack of chances though, some very good ones at that.

Like today's game - in the 39th minute, Belfort had a wide-open header right in front of goal from a corner. His leap was perfect, he was in position and just when you expected him to power it into goal, he put the ball over. These are the kind of chances that he's been missing. There was another half-chance a few minutes later where his touch let him down.

Had he scored there, Jamshedpur would have been back in the game.

Also, some important questions here:

• What does Belfort need to do to score?
• What were the two Goa defenders standing either side of Belfort doing allowing him a free header like that?
• Will Belfort return to India next season?

#1 What will be the consequences?

The immediate setback as far as this game was concerned for both teams was that they had to play the second half with just eight men each.

However, it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow once the disciplinary committee takes stock of the incidents.

One expects there will be more retrospective punishments coming the way of the red-carded players - both monetary as well as suspensions. There may also be some fines and sanctions coming the way of the two clubs for their inability to control the players and a failure to handle the situation.

Jamshedpur are out of the Super Cup, but Goa will certainly miss a few players in the next round and maybe even further down the road.

Watch this space.