Despite their territorial dominance, Hyderabad FC were at the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline in their opening 2021/22 Indian Super League match. A day earlier, FC Goa were beaten 3-0 by Mumbai City FC.
Hyderabad were left to rue missed chances as they were beaten 1-0 by Chennaiyin FC in their Super League opener. HFC were unable to force the ball into the net and allowed Chennaiyin to steal the points with a 66th-minute spot-kick.
Edu Garcia enjoyed a fine first half, during which he forced Vishal Kaith into making a couple of superb stops. However, the Hyderabad forwards were largely missing their shooting boots on the night. Both Bartholomew Ogbeche and substitute Nikhil Poojary blazed their shots over the bar from close range, much to the chagrin of head coach Manolo Marquez.
Hyderabad did have the ball in the net shortly after the restart; Edu’s freekick from the left wing evaded everyone inside the box, including Kaith, and nestled into the corner. However, the referee ruled the goal out for offside against Chinglensana Singh, who was adjudged to have interfered with the play.
Things got worse for HFC when Hitesh Sharma brought down Anirudh Thapa with a clumsy challenge inside the box; Vladimir Koman scored from the spot to give Chennaiyin the lead, which they held onto until the end.
A day earlier, Mumbai City FC have begun their title defence in perfect fashion, beating FC Goa by a margin of 3-0. Cassinho and Igor Angulo combined to carve out the first big chance of the game for City in the 10th minute: the two passed their way through the Goa defence before Angulo sent a tame shot towards the goal.
Minutes later, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy picked the ball close to the halfway line and almost ran all the way to the Goa goal before being cut short in his stride by a poor tackle from Leander D’Cunha – the referee, somehow, not awarding a penalty for that challenge.
The referee did point to the spot in the 33rd minute when Cassinho was fouled by Ivan Gonzalez. Angulo scored from the spot and added his second minutes later with a toe-poke finish from the edge of the box.
FC Goa probed for a way back into the match, but Ygor Catatau came off the bench to score Mumbai’s third in the 76th minute and put the game beyond any doubt whatsoever.
