It was a disappointing night for NorthEast United as Mumbai City FC handed them their third straight home defeat. It wasn’t an all-around performance by Mumbai as the home team had more possession, but the fact that they made better use of all the opportunities, ultimately made the difference.
Here are the five talking points from the match.
#1 Wellington Lima’s Blunder
As the 26-year-old Brazilian walked his way into the dressing room, he had tears in his eyes and offered a heartfelt apology to the home fans. He knew what he had done; he had potentially knocked his team out of the playoff contention, though numerically, it’s still possible.
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In the dying moments of the first half, Nirmal Chettri played a back pass to the home team goalkeeper and it went all awry as Lima’s error led to the goal.
Mumbai City’s Sony Norde charged at him with pace, Lima negotiated the ball around the Haitian, but as he was to kick the ball to clear it, Norde poked the ball from behind to the feet of Jackichand Singh, who finished into an open goal.
An error of epic proportions by the Brazilian goalkeeper, who should have booted the ball clear instead of being cute and trying to play his way out of trouble
#2 Vingada’s woes!
Nelo Vingada, the NorthEast United’s coach did not have his best team at disposal, with Nicolas Velez, Romaric and Subrata Paul sitting out.
Hence, he had to start with Sumeet Passi while Didier Zokora played the holding midfielder role, moving up from his usual centre back position in the team. Emiliano Alfaro once again led the attack, alongside Katsumi Yusa and Holicharan Narzary.
But more than their injured players, it was the coordination within their team-mates that NorthEast United missed the most against Mumbai. The forward line was too slow compared to the midfield and this resulted in a lot of mistimed passes and aimless crosses.
#3 Albino Gomes’s brilliant saves
One man that Mumbai fans should thank in their victory over NorthEast United is their goalkeeper Albino Gomes. The 22-year-old goalkeeper had a fantastic night as he pulled off several fantastic saves to deny NorthEast an equaliser or even a lead. The first of many saves came in the 30th minute when Alfaro hit a ball from point-blank range, but Gomes’s brilliant reflex punched the ball away to safety.
Even in the second half, he continued his fine performance, saving corners and neutralising some really strong NorthEast attacks. In the 73rd minute, there were five back to back attempts by NorthEast United which followed after a corner kick. These resulted in yet another corner and Yusa’s curling ball found Seityasen Singh's header which was on target.
But it was Gomes again who kept things at bay by making another brilliant save.
Because of his brilliant performance, the goalkeeper was adjudged the ‘Player of the match’.
#4 The divers
The match saw numerous dives and falls by the NorthEast United players which didn’t really help the team. Forward Emiliano Alfaro was handed a yellow card on charges of simulation in the 63rd minute and this was the first time he was booked for the same.
The Uruguayan forward has often fallen inside the box and often ends up rolling on the ground theatrically. NorthEast United will now miss their leading scorer for the next match as Alfaro has been suspended for a match for getting four yellows.
The problem with the home team is the persistent lack of finishing, something that has stayed with the team throughout the three years of the league.
#5 Mumbai’s mentality
What made the difference in the match between NorthEast United and Mumbai was the away team’s mentality. This was well pointed out by the coach in the post match conference. The match saw several heated moments – a verbal battle between the Mumbai coach and Zokora to Katsumi’s clash with Ralte.
This, however, had a great effect on the home team, who were agitated and making needless fouls and aggressive in their tackles. One could see the team being overly aggressive which worked against them as Mumbai City FC were calm and composed, and controlled the game better.
It is a daunting task to play in Guwahati for any away team as the crowd are loud and are the NorthEast United’s ‘12th man’.
Alexandre Guimarães’ men now sit on top of the table and have a 2 point lead over Delhi Dynamos, who have a game in hand.
