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NorthEast United FC hosted FC Goa in Match 40 of ISL at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday.
The home side came into the match after a dismal 5-0 thrashing against table-toppers FC Pune City that led to the sacking of their head coach Joao De Deus. Former East Bengal coach Eelco Schattorie took charge as the assistant coach and Avram Grant joined the John Abraham-owned side as the technical advisor. The Highlanders started the match in ninth position with just four points from seven matches.
FC Goa, who had a troubled experience just three days ago with the plane fiasco on their way to Kolkata took the field with some changes to their line-up. The Gaurs were placed fifth on the table with a tally of 13 points from their seven matches.
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NorthEast United won the match 2-1 as they inflicted an upset on high-flying FC Goa after a string of poor results. Marcinho was the hero of the match grabbing a goal and an assist on the night. Manuel Arana had levelled for the visitors just seven minutes after the Marcinho goal. Seminlen Doungel scored the winner latching onto an incisive pass from Marcinho to secure the three points for the Highlanders.
NorthEast United FC
TP Rehenesh (6) - The NorthEast United custodian was sharp between the sticks and safely collected the crosses which were put in the box by the FC Goa wingers and full backs. He was beaten by Arana from a close angle once, which resulted in Goa's only goal, but had a solid game overall.
Mamadu Samba Cande (6.5) - The burly centre-back, also known as Sambinha was strong in the defence and he had the task of marking ISL season 4's top-scorer Ferran Corominas, who was constantly trying to make good runs. Sambinha made some crucial interruptions and managed to contain the deadly striker.
Nirmal Chettri (6) - The experienced right-back for the Highlanders was a little hasty on Saturday as he got booked early on in the first half. The former India national provided good support from the right wing for the home side and sent in a couple of telling crosses.
Jose Goncalves (6.5) - The captain of the home side was a rock in the Northeast United defence and was the major reason why his team was able to keep Goa subdued in the first half. His mistake led to Arana's goal but that was a rare blip on a highly impressive night.
Reagan Singh (6) - The former Mumbai FC left-back was forced to do defensive duties tonight as he had to negate the threat of Goan midfield maestro Manuel Lanzarote and he handled his responsibilities quite well.
Seimenlen Doungel (8) - Barring a few in-roads in the Goan box, Doungel had a quiet game compared to his usual standards in the first half. He started the second half with a bang as he found himself at the end of a through ball from Marcinho and then on being in an one on one situation with the goalkeeper, Laxmikant Kattimani Doungel calmly chipped the ball in the back of the net.
Martin Diaz (7.5) - Diaz played centrally and was the pivot between the defence and the attack along with Rowlin Borges.The Uruguayan moved the ball around well across the pitch and kept looking for the incisive runs of his forwards with the aerial through balls.
Rowlin Borges (7.5) - The Indian defensive midfielder was highly industrious and strong in the midfield halting FC Goa in their stride on a number of occasions. Borges swiftly distributed the ball to the wings as he kickstarted the attacks for the Highlanders.
Marcio de Souza Junior (9) - Marcinho, as he is probably known, was the major source of all attacks for NorthEast United and even managed to score a goal as he latched on to a cross from Danilo Cezario. Marcinho was the provider for Doungel's goal that gave the home side the lead for the second time in 90 minutes.
Holicharan Narzary (7) - The Indian international made some fast paced runs along the wings and kept the Goan wing-backs on their toes.
Danilo Cezario (7.5) - The Brazilian provided the assist for the first goal and was instrumental in creating a series of attacking moves. He left the Goan defence jittered on a number of occasions.
Substitutes:
Robert Lalthlamuana (4.5) - The winger came on for the final 15 minutes and had little time to make any sizeable impact on the match.
Abdul Hakku (4) - The centre-back came on at the 90th minute in place of Marcinho to reinforce the NorthEast United defence as they strived to hold on to the lead.
FC Goa
Laxmikant Kattimani (4.5) - The FC Goa custodian had a poor night as he was beaten twice in the first hour of the match by Marcinho and Doungel. Kattimani also conceded an indirect free-kick but saved it.
Seriton Fernandes (5.5) - The right-back for the away side was busy on the wing and kept Reagan Singh of NorthEast United on his toes with the overlapping runs. Fernandes provided some good crosses and combined well with Lanzarote.
Sergio Juste (4.5) - The centre-back for FC Goa was brought into the side by Sergio Lobera but had a forgetful night as the defence was caught napping multiple times. Doungel's goal was conceded on account of poor positioning by the defensive pairing of Juste and Chinglensana Singh.
Chinglensana Singh (5) - The other central defender who was brought in the side due to the congested fixtures of FC Goa was poor in the defence as Cezario, Marcinho and Doungel exploited his weakness.
Mandar Rao Desai (5.5) - The makeshift left-back for the away side had a forgetful game as he took the place of Narayan Das in defence. He was poor defensively as Cezario got the better of him many times and Desai, who usually plays as a winger, struggled to keep him in control.
Ahmed Jahouh (6) - The Moroccan central midfielder had a very busy night as he was constantly kept on his toes by the NorthEast United midfield. Jahouh tried to find the runs of his wingers with his usual well-taken aerial balls but had fairly little success on Saturday.
Pronay Halder (5) - The rough and tough midfielder from Kolkata had an unusually quiet night. He was constantly beaten by Marcinho in the centre of the park as he struggled to keep the NorthEast midfield in check.
Brandon Fernandes (5.5) - The creative midfielder from Goa was pretty quiet on the night. The former Mumbai City FC man could not get into the rhythm and was kept in check by the Highlanders.
Manuel Arana (7.5) - Spanish midfielder Arana was the best man on the pitch for FC Goa as he grabbed their only goal just before the half-hour mark. He had many chances to attack the NorthEast goal and could have had more strike to his name on the night.
Manuel Lanzarote (6) - The Spaniard midfield star for the Goans was heavily marked on the pitch but still managed to create a few chances for the Gaurs.
Ferran Corominas (5.5) - The top-scorer of ISL had an off day as the Highlanders' centre-back pairing kept him in check all throughout the game.
Substitutes:
Edu Bedia (5.5) - The industrious midfielder came on around the hour mark in place of Halder. He came close to scoring from a corner and constantly tried to find the equaliser.
Mohammed Ali (5) - The FC Goa centre-back came on in place of Juste but had a poor outing for the final 30 minutes.
Manvir Singh (5) - The young Indian striker was brought in the last twenty minutes as Lobera went in search of the equaliser. He came excruciatingly close to finding an equaliser as he hit the post from point blank range.
