Mumbai City FC is fielding an all-Indian squad at the Super Cup. Des Buckingham’s boys were still too good for Churchill Brothers, winning Group D’s opening match 2-1 on Tuesday.
A few days ago, when it played the AFC qualifier, against Jamshedpur at this very venue, foreigners like Ahmed Jahouh, Alberto Noguera and Greg Stewart had contributed handsomely in the 3-1 win. This team didn’t look as formidable, and it took an injury-time penalty for it to get full points.
Buckingham would not have been pleased with the way Mumbai conceded the lead, in the ninth minute. Vignesh Murthy’s pass back to the goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa proved disastrous. The ball was won, without too much trouble from the goalie, just inside the box, by Ansumana Kromah, and he had all the time and the space in the world to score.
The equaliser was scored by Mehtab Singh, seventeen minutes later, heading in a superb free-kick by Rowllin Borges. Just when it seemed the final scoreline would remain 1-1, Vikram Pratap was brought down inside the box by Joseph Clement. The resultant penalty kick was converted quite comfortably by the prolific Lallianzuala Chhangte.
Later, Chennaiyin FC opened its campaign with a 4-2 win over NorthEast United. The winner was leading 2-1 at half-time.
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