The defending champions of the Indian Super League had a bit of a shocker on Saturday as they bowed to Hyderabad FC in a rather strange way. Despite producing a stellar performance in their opening fixture against Goa (3-0), they had no answer to the blistering counter-attacking brilliance of the young guns in Hyderabad FC, which eventually proved to be decisive.
Hyderabad started on a positive note, winning a corner with the very first play after kick-off, and kept the pressure in the opening few minutes. But once Mumbai City got the ball, they moved it beautifully and with a stroke of luck and genius, they got the opener.
Cassio Gabriel tried to wiggle his way through a crowd of defenders inside the Hyderabad box, but an awkward clearance fell straight in the path of the onrushing Ahmed Jahouh. The Moroccan’s first touch was splendid, and it gave him enough space to shoot it past the keeper from close range. He hammered it with full power, giving no scope for Laxmikant Kattimani to prevent it.
It took less than five minutes for Hyderabad to respond, with Hyderabad’s new Australian recruit Joel Chianese working his way into the opposition box with great pace and footwork. Bipin Singh tried to get a touch on the ball and tangled his legs, thus bringing him down. The referee pointed to the spot, and Joao Victor slotted home a confident penalty.
The game started to open up after the second goal, with both sets of players having decent opportunities on the break. Hyderabad’s midfield made some stunning recoveries inside Mumbai’s box, and one of those led to Asish Rai having a decent shot at goal from an acute angle, which was saved well by the keeper.
Bartholomew Ogbeche, the striker who starred in Mumbai’s title-winning campaign last time, came close to scoring on a couple of occasions, but finally did so with a sensational team goal. Hitesh Sharma’s defence-splitting pass from the middle gave Aniket Jadhav the room to work his way into the box on the right side.
His cut-back and Ogbeche’s run were timed to perfection, and the Nigerian was in too good a position to not provide Hyderabad their first lead of the tournament.
Rowlin Borges came in the 70th minute and made quite a mark in no time, as he kept winning free-kicks and tried to kick-start some good moves. But it was Hyderabad’s substitute who had a bigger impact, as Rohit Danu, who came on for Aniket Jadhav, produced a debatable third goal that sealed the deal for the Nizams.
Javi Siviero tried to sneak a foot to finish a well-placed header in his path from Victor, but he seemed to have gotten the ball and knocked down the defender in the process. Danu, the 19-year-old super sub for Hyderabad, fired it past the keeper’s bottom left to settle the game for the side, who managed to see out the remainder quite easily.
