Defending champions Mumbai City bow out of semi-final race after a 2-1 defeat against Hyderabad
Reigning champions Mumbai City crashed out of the top four race with a 2-1 defeat against Hyderabad in ‘Match 108’ of the 2021-22 Indian Super League season. Rohit Danu and Joel Chianese were on target for the Nizams, while the Islanders’ solitary goal was scored by Mourtada Fall.
Hyderabad head coach Manolo Marquez made four changes to the team that lost 3-0 against Jamshedpur. Laxmikant Kattimani was back in goal at Gurmeet Singh’s absence, while Nim Dorjee Tamang, Juanan and Rohit Danu replaced Akash Mishra, Abdul Rabeeh and Aniket Jadhav.
On the other hand, Mumbai City head coach Des Buckingham also made four changes to his starting XI after a 3-1 defeat against Kerala Blasters. He too opted for a goalkeeping change, replacing Mohamad Nawaz with Phurba Lachenpa. Amey Ranawade returned in the backline to replace the suspended Rahul Bheke, whilst Vinit Rai and Vikram Pratap Singh came in for Brad Inman and Lallianzuala Chhante respectively.
Both teams started the game with a calculative approach with the first major opportunity coming to the Nizams in the 14th minute, which they utilized perfectly to break the deadlock. A corner from Danu found Sauvik Chakrabarti in a good area, but his shot was saved by Phurba. Following a pinball situation inside the box, the ball somehow made its way to Juanan who showed his presence of mind to play out a pass to Danu instead of lashing at it, and the Indian winger did well to tuck it into an unguarded net.
Having nothing to lose, Buckingham’s team threw the kitchen sink at Marquez’s men straight after going down. Bipin Singh found Igor Angulo with a cross in the 17th minute, while five minutes later, Vikram launched a cross for Cassinho. However, both of the Islanders’ foreigners failed to guide their headers on target.
In the 35th minute, Vikram decided to go for goal himself and pulled the trigger from outside the box. While his attempt was blocked by a yellow shirt, the rebound fell to Ranawade whose shot struck the side netting.
These missed opportunities came back to haunt the reigning champions, as against the run of play, the Nizams doubled their lead in the 41st minute. A long ball by Mohammad Yasir from the deep found Chianese in a fantastic position with only Phurba to beat, While the former Perth Glory attacker failed to receive the pass in the first attempt, Mehtab Singh’s lack of agility allowed him to have another go and this time around, he did find the back of the net.
Javi Siverio played well for Hyderabad in Bartholomew Ogbeche’s absence
Like the first half, the Islanders dominated proceedings in the second half as well, albeit with no ultimate end product to show. However, they did get a goal back in the 76th minute when Cassinho’s perfectly weighted ball from a freekick found Fall in place, who should also be given credit for directing his header into the left corner.
The Nizams could have restored their two-goal advantage in the 83rd minute when Nikhil Poojary went for glory after beating his marker Vignesh Dakshinamurthy with his box of tricks, but his effort was brilliantly saved by Phurba. In what was Mumbai City’s last attack of the season, Raynier Fernandes found Diego Mauricio inside the box with a lobbed ball, but the Brazilian striker failed to guide his header on target.
With this triumph, Hyderabad has finished their league campaign in the second position in the standings with 38 points from 10 matches but might get demoted to third place, depending on the outcome of the game between Jamshedpur and ATK Mohun Bagan. Mumbai City will have to settle for the fifth position, having accumulated 31 points from their 20 fixtures.