Mohun Bagan kept their winning momentum intact after defeating Mumbai City FC in the quarterfinals of the Durand Cup and sealed their place into the semis.
Mohun Bagan coach Juan Ferrando fielded his team with a 3-2-3-2 formation for this exciting clash against Mumbai. He made two significant changes from the last match against Dhaka Abahani. Ashique Kuruniyan was brought in for Liston Colaco and Manvir Singh for Asish Rai. Both of them played a crucial role in the victory against a strong Mumbai side.
Mohun Bagan Starting XI: Vishal Kaith (GK), Anwar Ali, Hector Yuste, Subhasish Bose (C), Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul, Ashique Kuruniyan, Hugo Boumous, Manvir Singh, Jason Cummings, Armando Sadiku.
For this mouth-watering clash between two of the strongest Indian sides, thousands of Mohun Bagan fans turned up to the Salt Lake Yuva Bharati Krirangyan. The energy from the stand reflected into the ground and Mohun Bagan started the game very well.
At the very beginning, Mohun Bagan players tried to keep possession among themselves and build up attacks from the back. In the 9th minute of the match, Jason Cummings was trying to control a defense-splitting pass from Ashique Kuruniyan, and that time he was brought down by the on-rushing Mumbai Keeper Phurba Lachenpa. The referee blew his whistle for a penalty and the stadium started erupting in joy. From the spot, Jason Cummings lashed the ball into the net and put the Mariners in front.
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| Courtesy : MBSG Media |
As the game went on, Mumbai City started to settle down and kept trying to invade the Mohun Bagan defense. Just before the drinks break Jorge Diaz of Mumbai City places the ball into an empty net left by Vishal Kaith from the pass of Alberto Noguera.
Right after the two minutes of the equalizer, Manvir Singh guided a delicious ball from Hugo Boumous into the net with his head, and Mohun Bagan went into the break with a narrow one-goal lead.
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| Courtesy : MBSG Media |
Mumbai started the second half with an attacking approach and coach Des Buckingham brought in Vikram Pratap Singh in the place of Akash Mishra who had an average outing in this match. After that Mumbai looked threatening in attacks but at the same time looked horrible while defending. Taking advantage of their defensive problems, Mohun Bagan increased their lead in the 63rd minute. Anwar Ali scored his third goal of the season this time with a fine header from a perfect delivery by Ashique Kuruniyan.
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| Courtesy : MBSG Media |
After scoring the third goal, it looked like a game-set match for the Mariners. They defended deep with a lot of players in their box for the rest of the match. Mumbai kept trying for a comeback and were very close to scoring but somehow the defense of the Green and Maroon stood up like a wall in every single moment. As a result, Mohun Bagan secured a convincing win and broke their curse against the Islanders.
Just like the Dhaka Abahani match, Mohun Bagan started this match with two stickers. Jason Cummings looked to be improving after every single game. On the other hand, the Albanian hero Armando Sadiku looked not in top shape yet. Both the wingers Ashique and Manvir fired up the wings and also helped a lot in defense. Other players such as Hugo Boumous, Anirudh Thapa, and Anwar Ali looked sharp in this match.
After all, it was a great team performance that brought a smile to the faces of fans. Mohun Bagan are still in their early days and we hope the team will get the much-needed momentum from this performance to do well further this season.
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| Courtesy : Ray Sportz & Mariners Dé Xtreme |
