Defending champion Odisha FC beat Mumbai City FC by Diego Mauricio’s penalty conversion in the second semifinal of the Kalinga Super Cup at the Kalinga Stadium on Thursday, to progress to the title round for the successive occasion. It will meet the Kolkata giant East Bengal FC in the final on Sunday.
The opening session was evenly fought out with the host Odisha enjoying the advantage of playing more foreigners compared to Mumbai City, which opted for a young side while employing just two foreign recruits in the starting list.
Mumbai City coach Petr Kratky had the option of fielding the four national team players, who had rejoined the squad but preferred to rest them ahead of a grueling ISL schedule.
Having parted ways with its Scottish forward Greg Stewart early this month, Mumbai City attack lacked the edge that would help it break the otherwise solid Odisha defence.
Mumbai had a chance in the very first minute when Pereya Diaz’s header on a Van Nieff’s corner went off the upright. Odisha, which employed the full quota of six foreigners allowed in the tournament, got into the attack mode after some initial hesitancy and created at least three good openings.
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Two of the attempts, coming once each from Roy Krishna and Diego Mauricio, was saved by the Mumbai goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa while another went wide.
Finally it was Phurba’s mistake of bringing down Mauricio inside own box that gave Odisha the penalty in the 42nd minute, which the Brazilian striker utilised to find the target in the end.
Odisha held on to the slender lead as Mumbai City made some attempts to equalize after the break.
Sanjiv Stalin, the young Mumbai City defender, saw his shot tipped over by the Odisha goalkeeper Mawia Ralte in the 55th minute as Mumbai City made a strong comeback. Next Mehtab Singh saw his header coming off the post as frustration mounted in the Mumbai City ranks.
Odisha tried to find the insurance goal but both Krishna in the 68th minute and Isaka Ralte in the 90th minute could not find the target from close.
The injury-time saw some nasty action that led to the expulsion of three Mumbai City players. Defender Rostyn Griffiths was sent for his challenge on Carlos Delgado following which a fight broke out and referee Harish Kundu showed red cards to Diaz and Gurkeerat Singh for participating in the brawl to see the match ending on a sour note.
The result: Semifinal 2: Odisha FC 1 (Diego Mauricio 42-pen) bt Mumbai City FC 0.
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