This is Sportstar's blog/highlights of the ISL 2020-21 encounter between Mumbai City FC and Kerala Blasters FC .
That's it for today. Thanks for tuning in!
MCFC defeats KBFC 2-0 in match 44 of the 2020-21 Indian Super League at the GMC Stadium in Bambolim, Goa, on Saturday to move to the top of the points table, with 19 points from eight outings.
Meanwhile, Kerala Blasters FC stays ninth with six points from the same number of matches. Tomorrow is Super Sunday and there will be two games - SC East Bengal vs Odisha FC and ATK Mohun Bagan vs NorthEast United .
MATCH REPORT |
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Mumbai City FC midfielder Ahmed Jahouh takes home the 'Winning Pass of the Match' award, while his skipper, teammate and goalkeeper, Amrinder Singh, wins the 'Player of the Game' honour.
KBFC head coach Kibu Vicuna: We lost the game in the first 11 minutes. We can't concede two goals like that. We committed mistakes and we deserve this. But we need to continue fighting. We started the second half really well. We played in the opponent's half, pressed high, recovered balls and didn't give away the ball easily. We created more chances than Mumbai but weren't able to put the finishing touches. That's why we lost.
MCFC manager Sergio Lobera: The first few minutes are very important for us. We spoke before the game about this and I'm very happy with our start. But after we scored two goals, the situation changed. I'm not happy with the way we played in the second half. We had too many chances to score again but we committed errors and lost our tempo. However, I'm very happy with the performance of Amrinder Singh and our defence.
Post-match quotes from both camps coming up next.....
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
AND IT'S FULL-TIME!!!
90+3' Kerala has been extremely unlucky tonight. The team has been denied by the post, poor first touches and the linesman's flag. Meanwhile, Mumbai could have scored more too.
90' Five minutes of stoppage time to be added on at the end of the second half. CROSS! KBFC's Nishu Kumar gets the ball on the left flank after a deflection from MCFC's Vignesh Dakshinamurthy. However, his cross to the far post is cleared away by Mourtada Fall.
88' DOUBLE SUBSTITUTION! Two more changes for Mumbai City FC. Vikram Pratap Singh and Mohamad Rakip come on for Raynier Fernandes and Amey Ranawade, respectively.
86' Mumbai City FC is clearly happy to waste time now. KERALA CHANGE! Vicente Gomez leaves way for Givson Singh in the middle.
83' CROSS! The substitute Seityasen Singh with a good move forward on the right wing. He sends in a cross into the box. But his teammate and forward, Jordan Murray is unable to reach the ball.
80' KERALA SUBSTITUTION! Head coach Kibu Vicuna makes a second attacking change finally. He decides to bring in the fresh legs of Seityasen Singh to replace the tired Sahal Abdul Samad.
78' ANOTHER MUMBAI CHANGE! This is a like-for-like substitution from Lobera. Cy Goddard replaces Hugo Boumous in the middle.
76' And it's time for the final cooling break of the match!
74' DOUBLE SUBSTITUTION!!! Mumbai manager Sergio Lobera brings in Vignesh Dakshinamurthy and Bartholomew Ogbeche for Mandar Rao Dessai and Adam le Fondre.
72' PENALTY MISSED!!! Hugo Boumous took over Mumbai's penalty duties from Adam le Fondre. He drills the ball to the right of Kerala goalkeeper Albino Gomes, who makes a brilliant save. He makes his third penalty save of the tournament. Unbelievable!!!
71' ANOTHER MUMBAI PENALTY!!! Sandeep Singh slides in on Hugo Boumous inside the Kerala box and the referee points to the spot. Replays show that the KBFC defender clearly got the ball first. The Blasters are unlucky here.
68' BOOKING! It's a Kerala Blasters FC yellow card now. And, this one is a role reversal. Sandeep takes down Mumbai City FC's Boumous near the halfway line to go into the referee's book.
65' YELLOW CARD! MCFC midfielder Hugo Boumous is booked by the referee for a bad tackle on KBFC player Sandeep Singh.
62' KBFC CHANCE! Jessel Carneiro with a move forward for Kerala. Mumbai's Hernan Santana recovers the ball but he wastes time before the clearance and Sahal Abdul Samad gets to the ball. However, the deflection off Samad is an easy collection for Amrinder Singh.
59' SUBSTITUTION! Kerala Blasters FC manager Kibu Vicuna makes his first change of the night. He brings on Rahul K. P. to replace Lalthathanga Khawlhring in the middle.
55' GOAL RULED OUT! OFFSIDE!!! Facundo Pereyra sends in a cross into the box for KBFC during a corner. Costa Nhamoinesu heads the ball towards Jordan Murray. Murray finds the back of the net with his effort, however, the assistant referee raises his flag for offside.
52' CLOSE! Vicente Gomez finds Lalthathanga Khawlhring on the right wing with a through ball. Khawlhring enters the box and has a shot on target but MCFC defender Mourtada Fall puts in a brilliant tackle at the right time to avert the danger.
49' CHANCE! Hernan Santana plays the ball to his Mumbai teammate Mandar Rao Dessai on the left flank. But Mandar's touch is not good enough as the ball goes out for a Kerala throw-in.
47' No changes for both teams in the second half. Two goals (both for Mumbai City FC) and two yellow cards (one for each team) so far. Kerala Blasters FC has definitely started this half with a positive intent.
THE SECOND HALF IS UNDERWAY!
The first 45 minutes of an entertaining ISL 2020-21 game comes to an end. Mumbai City FC holds a 2-0 lead over Kerala Blasters FC right now. Forty-five minutes and stoppage time to go. Stay Tuned!
AND IT'S HALF-TIME!!!
45+3' It's so surprising that the scoreline is still 2-0. Mumbai could have scored at least five and Kerala with two good chances as well. Too many missed chances so far.
45' Three minutes of stoppage time to be added on at the end of the first-half. CHANCE! Bipin Singh charges in from the left and crosses the ball into the box for his Mumbai teammate Hugo Boumous, who sets up Adam Le Fondre at the edge of the box. However, Le Fondre's chip goes over the bar.
41' VERY CLOSE!!! Jessel Carneiro's long throw into the box from the left is headed away by Mourtada Fall. The ball falls in front of Lalthathanga Khawlhring, who is unable to touch the ball with a diving effort. Even a slight contact would have troubled Amrinder Singh for sure.
38' YELLOW CARD! A first booking for a Kerala Blasters player now. Vicente Gomez goes into the referee's book for an extremely poor tackle on MCFC's Raynier Fernandes.
35' CLEARANCE! Kerala Blasters is trying hard to find a goal here but the Mumbai City defence is alert. Mandar's mistimed pass is cleared away at the right time by Mourtada Fall.
32' It's time for the cooling break now!
29' SAVE! Mumbai City FC skipper Amrinder Singh denies Vicente Gomez with a brilliant dive to his left. Mourtada Fall's poor clearance led to this Kerala Blasters FC chance, where Gomez took a shot from just outside the box.
26' YELLOW CARD!!! Amrinder Singh is booked by the referee for stopping Lalthathanga Khawlhring from taking a quick throw-in. Some end-to-end stuff here!
24' WHAT A CHANCE! Bipin Singh has the ball on the left flank for Mumbai. He evades an opposition player and enters the box. However, his shot is straight at Albino Gomes. COUNTER-ATTACK! The ball is quickly played to Khawlhring, who rushed forward on the right wing but MCFC keeper Amrinder comes off his line to make the clearance.
22' FOUL! Once the second set-piece is delivered, Costa Nhamoinesu is pulled up for a foul on Mourtada Fall. KBFC messes up a good opportunity to score from the free-kick.
20' CORNER AND FREE-KICK FOR KBFC! Finally, the Kerala attackers are beginning to find their feet. Khawlhring wins the corner first after pressing high on the field behind Hernan Santana. Sahal Abdul Samad is then fouled outside the box by Hugo Boumous during the corner.
17' CHANCE!!! Mandar Rao Dessai received a fine pass on the left flank and looked to send a cross into the box. But he changed his mind at the last moment and had a shot. The ball misses the target by a whisker.
14' Mumbai City FC has completely dominated Kerala Blasters FC so far, when it comes to both passing stats and attacking stats in the final third.
11' ANOTHER MUMBAI GOAL!!! HUGO BOUMOUS SCORES! MUMBAI CITY 2 - 0 KERALA!! This was from a long ball from Ahmed Jahouh who was in the other half. He sent it towards Boumous who sprinted past the Kerala defence which was caught napping. The Frenchman slotted the ball past keeper Gomes with a calm finish.
7' FOUL! Sandeep Singh jumps high to recover a ball in midfield. But he ends up completing a clash of heads with Adam le Fondre. The Mumbai striker is down and the referee awards a free-kick against Kerala Blasters.
3' GOOOAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!! LE FONDRE SCORESSSSS!!!!! MUMBAI CITY 1 - 0 KERALA BLASTERS!!! The English striker hits it straight through the middle and kind of nutmegs KBFC goalkeeper Albino Gomes. Le Fondre bags a sixth goal this season, while Gomes is absolutely frustrated for letting the ball slip through his legs.
2' EARLY PENALTY!!! Kerala centre-back Costa Nhamoinesu with a mistimed tackle on Mumbai midfielder Hugo Boumous inside the box. The referee, after some hesitation, awards MCFC a penalty.
7:30 PM: AND THE MATCH BEGINS!
7:10 PM: CAN KERALA MAKE IT TWO IN TWO?
6:50 PM: LOOK WHO'S BACK FOR MUMBAI!
6:30 PM: The team lineups are out!
MCFC XI: Amrinder Singh (C) (GK), Amey Ranawade, Mourtada Fall, Mandar Rao Dessai, Bipin Singh, Rowllin Borges, Raynier Fernandes, Hugo Boumous, Hernan Santana, Ahmed Jahouh, Adam Le Fondre.
COACH: Sergio Lobera.
KBFC XI: Albino Gomes (GK), Costa Nhamoinesu, Jessel Carneiro (C), Nishu Kumar, Sandeep Singh, Jeakson Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad, Vicente Gomez, Lalthathanga Khawlhring, Facundo Pereyra, Jordan Murray.
COACH: Kibu Vicuna.
KBFC XI:
6:10 PM: Adios 2020, hello 2021!
2020 saw loss, defeat, death and suffering. But it also gave us a few moments to hold on to. We cherish these little mercies as we step into a brand New Year. Here's wishing all our readers and subscribers a very Happy New Year.
5:50 PM: Podcast: Shyam Vasudevan and Aashin Prasad review the ups and downs of matchweek 5 of the Indian Super League on The Full Time Show .
Follow Sportstar's full coverage (Latest news, Interviews, Features, Points table, Quiz, Videos) of ISL 2020-21 here. Click here
The Indian Super League (ISL 2020-21) marks the return of major league competition in India after the nationwide lockdown to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak was first imposed in March.
The seventh edition of the ISL got underway inside a bio-bubble in Goa on November 20.
The tournament, spanning over four months, will see 11 teams play each other in a league and playoff format across three venues. Following the inclusion of SC East Bengal, this season will feature 115 games, up from 95 last season.
MATCH PREVIEW:
Mumbai City FC is enjoying a dream start to the Indian Super League (ISL) campaign ever since the arrival of coach Sergio Lobera. However, the Spaniard felt the 12 days break affected the team’s momentum as it prepares to take on Kerala Blasters at GMC Stadium, Bambolim in the first match of 2021.
“Two-week break is a long time without competition games. To analyse this situation, when you are in good momentum it's not good to stop. It’s better to continue playing. But on the other hand, it's good to have more time to spend in the training session,” expressed Lobera, whose side is currently second with 16 points from seven games and a win against Kerala will help it reclaim the top spot from ATKMB.
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"It's difficult but at the same time it's easy because we have good players,” stated Lobera and added, “But given a choice, I wouldn't prefer to take a long break and then play two games in three days.”
Lobera is unbeaten against Kerala in the last six encounters having won five and drew one. But that was a different story. On Saturday, it would be a battle of two teams having similar ideologies and styles of play.
“It's going to be difficult as they have a very good team and a great coach and they try to play in a similar style of play to that of us,” said Lobera.
“As a coach, if you want to win, you need to work on balance,” added Lobera, whose side has conceded just three goals and scored as many as 11 maintaining a perfect balance in the team. Lobera revealed that Hugo Boumous is fit and there are no injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s clash.
Meanwhile, Kerala Blasters, which has significantly improved in its last three games having scored five goals and average almost 12 shots per match. And coach Kibu Vicuna will look to break the club’s jinx against Lobera.
“They are a good team with very good players. They are playing well and are one of the best teams in ISL. We are improving in the training sessions and are happy with the way we are training,” Vicuna stated.
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