Indian Super Cup 2018 : Mumbai City FC vs East Bengal, 5 Talking Points

Usual suspects, Katsumi Yusa and Al-Amna helped East Bengal to a 2-1 win over Mumbai City FC in Thursday's Indian Super Cup encounter.

Emana's wonderful free-kick went in vain as Mumbai found it extremely difficult to keep up with the tempo set by East Bengal tonight. Here are the major talking points from tonight's well-contested encounter.

#1 Al-Amna at the end of several cynical tackles

Al Amna took the fight to East Bengal

East Bengal began today's game against Mumbai City on the front foot. The Kolkata based outfit looked positive and took the game to their opponents from minute one. At the heart of their attack was Al-Amna.

The Syrian midfielder positioned himself intelligently in the middle of the mark and made the most of the empty space in front of him. He ran with intent and looked extremely dangerous going forward.

As a result, Mumbai's players were forced to bring him down with several cynical tackles. Zakeer was booked as early as in the 2nd minute as the men in blue looked on edge early on.

#2 Mumbai City struggle to keep up with EB's intensity

East Bengal

were

focused on the task at hand

Tonight's Super Cup clash was a matchup between the ISL's 7th best team and the I-League's 4th placed outfit. While Mumbai have always been a defensive side, they were put to the test by East Bengal tonight.

Al -Amna, Cavin Lobo and Katsumi Yusa ran riot in the middle of the park for EB and pinned Mumbai deep into their own half. The likes of Lucian Goian, Sanju Pradhan and Raju Gaekwad had a torrid time in keeping up with the wave after wave of attacks that East Bengal mounted.

When Mumbai did have the ball, they did well to break dangerously on the counter. On the whole, though, it was EB who dominated proceedings, especially in the first half. Their players were quicker and their passes were far more incisive.

#3 Emana stuns East Bengal with a sublime free-kick

Emana proved his worth

In the run of play, Mumbai City FC took the lead courtesy a sublime free kick from Achille Emana. It was all East Bengal for the first 20 minutes of the game as they ran riot and dominated proceedings.

But after Sahil Tavora was brought down outside the box, Mumbai's creative linchpin sensed an opportunity to stun EB. Emana's curling effort nestled right into the top right corner as a keeper, Ubaid struggled to get any contact on the ball.

The free-kick lacked pace but Emana managed to get an unreal amount of swing on the ball as it swerved from the far right before it knocked the post and went into the goal. That had quality written all over it.

#4 Katsumi Yusa restores parity with a well-taken header

Yusa was a force to reckon with

Having scored 5 goals in the first 9 games of the season, Katsumi Yusa had managed to score only a solitary goal in his last 10 matches. Tonight, he was once again back in the thick of things, scoring the all-important equaliser for East Bengal in the first half.

Having gone down to a stunning free kick by Emana, EB didn't take much time to hit back their opponents. Laldanmawia Ralte hugged the touchline before releasing an inch-perfect cross for Yusa.

The Japanese made a late run into the box and caressed his header passed by Amrinder Singh. While he did well to latch on to the ball, Mumbai were guilty of being lax in defence as they allowed the diminutive midfielder far too much space.

#5 Did captain, Cavin Lobo deliver the pass of the season?

The captain came through for his side

After attempting to push things through for East Bengal for large parts of the match, Al-Amna was finally rewarded with a goal late on in the match. Fortunately for him and his side, it proved to be the winner in a game in which open chances were few and far between.

Captain, Cavin Lobo released Ralte with a peach of an aerial ball down the right wing, which cut open Mumbai's back four to bits. The winger's shot was parried away by Amrinder but straight into the path of Al-Amna who buried his shot into the net with a first time shot.

After helping his teammates shine, the Syrian was due to a goal and he was gifted one. That goal was solely possible courtesy Lobo's pass which might go down as the pass of the season. The midfielder sprayed a magnificent through ball on the turn from distance.