The Gaurs certainly lacked the intensity to match their marauding rivals Mumbai City who never looked back once Sunil Chhetri had given them the opening goal - courtesy a contentious penalty. French striker Frederic Piquionne stamped his class with a stunning header to seal Goa's fate much to the delight of a Sunday partisan crowd even as Mumbai's marquee player Nicolas Anelka made his first appearance of ISL2 in the final 15 minutes
Sudhakar Shanbhag
PANAJI
Football is definitely a beautiful game. And, the advent of Indian Super League into Indian sporting space has definitely added another dimension to the sporting spectacle in this cricket-mad nation. On Sunday, the dream city of Mumbai was abuzz in anticipation that India might just get it right at the iconic Wankhede Stadium where Dhoni and Co were playing the decider of the Paytm ODI series, which sadly did not go in host's favour. Though the match had started around lunch time on a hot Sunday, Goans living in Mumbai and those in Goa were also eagerly awaiting FC Goa to stage a grand show in another Mumbai suburb - Navi Mumbai where the classy DY Patil Stadium was all set to host an ISL encounter against Mumbai City FC.
Yes, there were two clashes in the offing for a Sunday audience one in cricket and the other in football. For Mumbai City, their supporters were hoping to witness an upset to table-toppers FC Goa who flew down to the shores of his coastal city hoping to maintain their winning form intact after notching two back to back wins over NorthEast (3-1) and Kerala Blaster (2-1), with the last being at home and the former being away. Zico had admitted before the match that playing Mumbai would be a challenge, especially with Sunil Chhetri and Sony Norde being the in-form duo.
But Mumbai, fresh from their maiden 2-0 win over high-flying Delhi Dynamos this ISL could have given them the ideal tonic, just enough to pump in that extra adrenalin to go the distance against the visiting Gaurs, who too were upbeat and fresh from their home triumph over Blasters.
As they say in cricket, wickets can lift a fast bowler's spirit, Mumbai too kept the Gaurs guessing and constantly tested their defensive powers with raids that kept Laxmikant Kattimani alert in the goal while giving Anelka hopes of an early lead.
The first half-hour failed to produce a goal but not without dropping enough hints that Goa were not looking in sync with the demands of the match. At times, the Gaurs did manage to raise their hood though intermittently. The spark was missing, one would not disagree that Narayan Das did give a good account of himself as his gait and speed proved visibly disturbing to the Mumbai defence.
But once a controversial penalty went Mumbai's way and was successfully converted by Sunil Chhetri in the 33rd minute, it seemed as if the India captain had made a statement and appeared to have continued from where he had left against Delhi last match where he had signed off with brace. Chhetri's celebrations this time appeared ominous as he pranced towards his peers with purpose and intensity that promised more damage from his team.
And how right was Chhetri as it was Zico who was at the receiving end in the match as Anelka had a plan in mind to rattle Gaurs' weak defending skills that had left gaping holes in the field. French star Anelka and Mumbai's marquee did make an appearance during the final 15 minutes of the match replacing the electrifying Sony Norde, not after his team was rewarded with another goal by countryman Frédéric Piquionne, who transformed the course of the match with a stunning header just after the break and rightly won the 'Transformer of the match' award. That probably broke the back of the Goans, who until this match had shown the fans that they had the penchant to hit back with a win after falling behind. Twice Gaurs had managed to recover from being a goal down and, this had happened against the NorthEast for a 3-1 win and against Kerala Blasters (2-1).
On Sunday, none of that happened. Goals by Chhetri and Piquionne subdued Goa, who never appeared to have hit rhythm. They apparently flopped against a Mumbai outfit that played to a plan and breathed venom sending the partisan crowd into raptures. Injuries to key players also did not help Zico's cause, but the Gaurs simply had not answer to a charging Mumbai who lifted their game to a new level on a night Anelka stepped on to the field!
