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Atletico de Kolkata and FC Goa played a rather drab draw in the first leg of the second semi-final of the inaugural Indian Super League tournament. Both teams looked cautious on the back of a 3-0 drubbing of Chennaiyin FC in the first leg and were wary of a similar scoreline in the game.This has kept both teams very much in it and the tie could slide anywhere though FC Goa are slight favourites as they looked unstoppable at home near the end of the league stage.The game was dull, but still has raised quite a few points that can be debated upon.Here are the five talking points:
#1 Depleted Atletico de Kolkata side took the field
After a glorious start, Atletico de Kolkata limped their way into the semi-finals courtesy of a 1-1 draw against FC Goa. But the game forced Kolkata to go into the first leg of the semi-final depleted with their star striker Fikru sidelined due to an injury in addition to formidable defenders Arnab Mondal, and Biswajit Saha coming into the game with niggles, while Jofre Mateu and Baljit Sahni were suspended for the game having collected four yellow cards in the league stage.
Kolkata throughout the course of the game missed their frontman Fikru the most as they failed to look a threat in front of goal, while the absence of Joffre depleted the supply to the frontline though Garcia had fair control in the area.
Kolkata looked a different side and seemed to be content waiting to turn the show in the second leg when they have a richer side to their disposal.
#2 Not the best pitch to play on
It is a term one associates with the game of cricket and seldom do we read this term in the game – the pitch at the Salt Lake Stadium hasn’t been conducive to best football.
The recently laid pitch at the Salt Lake Stadium in the city of joy gave signs of this problem in a few of the league stage games as well where the ball seemed to be bouncing too much, making it hard for either side to play their football, especially given the fact that either team likes to play quick, passing game.
Pitch had its impact in the game and fans across various social media platforms were found lambasting the pitch and the consequent low quality and boring affair at the Salt Lake Stadium which had 53,000 odd spectators witnessing it live on the ground having spent hours in the line to buy tickets.
#3 FC Goa were rather wasteful
Atletico de Kolkata might have won the Twitter battle, but the game was controlled by the visitors who had a lion’s share of possession in the game and were at it right from the start. FC Goa’s star player off-late had a couple of good early chances, but the youngster failed to make the most of it, unlike his recent games and as it panned out, Romeo Fernandes failed to add another to his tally and failed FC Goa to get ahead with a knick in the second leg.
The best chance of the game had fallen to the 22-year-old after a defence splitting ball from Slepicka found him, but Edel did well to get to the ball first.
The scorers in the recent game against Chennaiyin FC in the league stage, Andre Santos and Miroslav Slepicka too had good chances fall their way, but failed to beat Edel in between the sticks.
Atletico de Kolkata too had an odd chance in each half but followed the footsteps of the visitors as they too lacked goal-poaching artistry in the final third.
#4 Cavin Lobo made immediate impact after coming on
To a lot of people’s surprise and the Atletico de Kolkata fans’ agony, Cavin Lobo has had scarce presence on the field for Atletico de Kolkata despite winning them a couple of games in the league stage single-handedly and getting them the much needed momentum. What’s worse was the fact that an average player in Rakesh Masih had found a constant starting berth.
Cavin Lobo though, made a second half appearance in the game with Habas hoping for the Goan to turn it around against his home state and the East Bengal attacking midfielder did change the dynamics of the game and twisted it in the favour of Kolkata.
Cavin Lobo looked impressive right from the start, adding much more mobility and creativity in the attacking areas for the home side and made them look more penetrative. The only thing Lobo failed in providing was an all-important goal, as a result of which either side ended the game without netting a goal.
#5 Both teams adopted cautious appraoch
Having seen Chennaiyin FC go down badly just a day before and putting themselves almost out of contention of a final berth, both teams today were wary of the fact and more than looking to win the game, wanted to play it safe and keep the game alive for them going into the second leg.
Though both teams had their chances and could have generated a different scoreline, the attempts were feeble and neither team seemed brave enough to go all out for the winner.
Side-effects of seeing Chennaiyin FC go down 3-0 when they tried too hard in the game made both teams edgy and they preferred to keep it alive till the very end rather than going all out in the first leg itself to open a way where they find it hard getting back in the second leg.
Given the rule of away goals don’t apply here, a 0-0 scoreline has kept the game very open, though Kolkata must be ruing missing a chance of getting a win given FC Goa buoyed by the home crowd seem almost unstoppable at home and would go as 60-40 favourites, a stat identical to today’s possession figures.
