Chennaiyin FC once again looked a pale shadow of the team that romped to the title last year as they were outplayed by an in-form FC Mumbai City side, who cruised to a 2-0 win at the Andheri Sports Complex on Wednesday. Mumbai qualified to the semi-finals of the competition for the first time, also becoming the first team this season to progress to the next stage.
The goals, which came from Defederico and Krisztian Vadocz were of supreme quality as Marco Materazzi’s ploy to play a high-line backfired miserably.
Coming into the game after a resounding 5-0 win against Kerala Blasters, an unchanged Mumbai side controlled possession in the first half. Chhetri had a disappointing day in front of goal, blasting two good chances over the bar but was instrumental in creating the opener.
The veteran Indian striker made powerful run to the by-line from the left flank and his accurate cut-back was finished with aplomb by Defederico, who has emerged as the heartbeat of the Mumbai side.
Chennayin enjoyed their best passage of play after going behind for the first time and pinned Mumbai in their own half for a significant amount of time. Amrinder Singh, though, wasn’t tested enough by the Chennaiyin forwards, who had an off-day.
The second goal, which came on the other side of the break, was a moment of sheer genius from Vadocz, controlling the ball with his chest and cannoning the ball to the bottom corner with a left-foot shot.
That knocked the stuffing out of Chennayin and Alexandre Guimares’s side could have built on their lead if not for some lackluster finishing in the final exchanges of the game. Chennaiyin keeper Karanjit Singh timed his jump to perfection to push out a Forlan free-kick and made a point-blank save in the final minutes of the game from Mumbai substitute Thiago Cunha.
Brief scores:
Mumbai City FC 2 (Matias Defederico, Krisztian Vadocz) beat Chennaiyin FC 0