A penalty that should have been awarded, a shot that crashes off the crossbar and a melee at the goalmouth in death that should have resulted in a goal: Mumbai City FC had their chances of winning on Thursday night. evening. But against Al Jazeera seeking their first win of the competition, luck, poor finishing and poor refereeing saw the islanders suffer their second loss in three Asian Champions League games.
Going into the game, Mumbai was upbeat. Having achieved their goal of winning a match in the group stage, becoming the first Indian club to do so, they were looking to go one step further. Facing them was Al Jazira, a UAE Pro League club that ranks among the best in Asia but had lost its first two matches, including to Air Force Club, the team Mumbai had narrowly beaten. .
The start of the game was similar to how Mumbai has approached this tournament. An effort to maintain possession, especially by a defensive line that was constantly being harassed, was successful up to a point. But eventually, Mumbai would run out of the quality required to gloss over a high pressing line and give up the ball in sensitive areas, inviting Al Jazeera to attack.
brave performance of #Icelandersbut it wasn’t meant to be.. ⛔
See the highlights of # AJCvMAMÁ down ⤵️#asianislanders #ACL2022 #AamchiCity ???? pic.twitter.com/4x9DiVarXO
— Bombay City FC (@MumbaiCityFC) April 15, 2022
And they attacked. Once again, as in the Air Force Club match, it was the opposition’s inability to finish in the final third that kept the Indian club in the game. That, and a few other moments of brilliance from goalkeeper Mohamed Nawaz, who replaced Phurba Lachenpa in the previous match. After the match, Al Jazeera manager Marcel Keizer said that fatigue also played a role for him. Nine of his players have already played 90 minutes of soccer three times in the span of nine days.
Mumbai managed to evade Al Jazeera’s shots on goal until the 40th minute. Substitute Mehtab Singh, brought on after Amey Ranawade suffered an injury early in the match, was unlucky enough to touch a deflected ball with his fingers in the penalty area. The referee blew his whistle and put Ali Mabkhout forward to take the penalty. The UAE international, with 79 goals in 103 appearances for his country, aimed down Nawaz’s left flank and, despite the goalkeeper’s hand reaching into the ball, he came on for the only goal of the match.
the three chances
Mumbai’s 90 minutes against Al Jazeera could have been saved three times. The first chance came minutes after Mabkhout scored. Al Jazeera defenders gave Mumbai striker Diego Mauricio space to run with the ball. The striker, who has been instrumental in these three matches by holding the ball in the final third and allowing the Mumbai players to connect with the game, opted to go on goal instead. But just as he entered the box, he was brought down by what should have been a Stonewall penalty. But the referee didn’t see it that way and instead gave Mauricio a yellow card for playing.
The second chance came late in the game after sustained pressure from Mumbai. The hero of the previous match, Rahul Bheke, forced to play on the right side due to Ranawade’s injury, carried the ball down the touchline. He then fired what looked like a cross, but was actually a shot on goal, towards the Al Jazeera goal. The ball bounced off the crossbar and went out of play, yet another moment that could have changed the face of the game.
But Mumbai’s best chance came from their last corner of the match in the 90th minute. Substitute Raynier Fernandes was at the end of a Lallianzuala Chhangte corner. Fernandes had all the time in the world at the far post, with no Al Jazeera player tracking him down. But the midfielder completely missed his shot and Mumbai fell to last place in Group B after Al Shabab and Air Force played out a 1-1 draw.
“I think in the second half we were fantastic. We played very well in the last 20 minutes with nine Indian players and two foreigners,” said coach Des Buckingham. “We created several chances but we were unlucky not to take advantage of them. In the first half, we created several clear chances and should have equalized before the half-time whistle. It’s a bit frustrating not to come back with the result and because we settled in so deeply we had few chances in front of goal.”
