It was on December 20 last year when Chennaiyin FC staged a wonderful comeback and beat hosts FC Goa to the coveted Indian Super League title. The hero of the match and the entire league was their diminutive Colombian striker Stiven Mendoza.
Mendoza took a little bit of initial time to come to terms with life in India and the ISL but once he got acclimatised, it spelt doom for the opposition. In his nine appearances in the first season, Mendoza managed to net four times while he featured in all 16 games for Chennaiyin FC in the title-winning campaign and scored 13 goals to end the season as the top goal scorer in the league.
Every time, Chennaiyin FC took field, Mendoza was the obvious alert and with the opposition wary of him and marking him tightly, he gave an account of his heading abilities as well with smart moves on the field. Mendoza was quick, had technical abilities, could pass the ball well and most importantly, read the game well.
His understanding with the likes of Elano and Jeje Lalpekhlua helped the Chennai side open defences at will. The trio wreaked havoc on the opposition. Though Chennaiyin did not have the best of starts, they came to life, thanks to Mendoza, at the business end to qualify for the semi-finals, and then eventually, winning the title.
No Mendoza and no solutions
As fate had it for him, his impressive performances during the course of the two editions of the Indian Super League caught attention of the biggies and the youngster was snapped up by Major League Soccer side New York City on loan. Playing alongside the legends Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa was a huge upgrade for the striker and Mendoza affirmed his decision to snub the ISL for the 2016 season.
With the striker unavailable for the third season of the ISL, it left a gaping hole in the Chennaiyin FC Side even before the start of the season and he was an obvious miss. The southern side, now looking for replacements, put their money on Dudu Omagbemi and Italian Davide Succi.
Omagbemi has been in the Indian circuit for three years now, starting off with Salgaocar before moving to East Bengal. He then made his ISL debut with FC Pune City in 2014 but his most remarkable feat was a hattrick for FC Goa last season. Apart from the hattrick, the Nigerian just managed one goal in six appearances, while he netted just thrice for FC Pune City in 12 games.
In the I-League Dudu had a decent goal scoring record with five goals in 10 games for Salgaocar and nine in 18 for East Bengal. But that form never made its way into the ISL, raising worries for the Abhishek Bachchan-owned side.
Succi, on the other hand, came from Serie B side Cesena and managed just 22 goals in 81 games, not giving any signs of being a prolific goal scorer.
Chennaiyin FC’s hopes all rested on star Indian striker Jeje Lalpekhlua who was in red hot form for India, scoring at will for the national side.
Replacements failed to deliver
But as things have panned out, the strikers have failed to deliver and despite some help from the midfield, the team has managed just 16 goals in 13 games, conceding 20 times in the process. As a result, Chennaiyin FC, for the first time in the ISL, have not made it to the playoffs stage.
The lack of goals meant that Chennaiyin FC failed to kill games and with the defence not standing tall, offered a way back to their opponents. In the opening game for the defending champions against Atletico de Kolkata, in what was a positive move, youngster Jerry Lalrinzuala was called upon as a substitute and was deployed at left back.
With minutes to go for the final whistle, he gave away a penalty and Iain Hume made no mistake to restore parity and force Chennaiyin to take away just a single point.
Chennaiyin then went down 1-3 to Delhi in the next game adding injury to insult. But the tables were about to turn as Chennaiyin managed to register two wins on the trot against FC Goa and NorthEast United.
Letting in late goals
Just as it started to look rosy for the defending champions, they were struck a blow in the final few minutes of the game against FC Pune City. A silly foul from Harmanjot Khabra helped Chennaiyin win a free-kick in a dangerous position. With Chennaiyin having failed to kill the game and a golden chance to snatch a point off them, Anibal stepped up and struck a lovely free-kick to put the game back even and let three points slip away.
Things did not change much thereon. In the Southern derby against Kerala Blasters, Chennaiyin FC had controlled the game and bossed it around, but had only a goal to show for their efforts. With the game progressing, Chennaiyin were hit again as Kerala Blasters got a goal to even the scoreline. With five minutes to play, Chennaiyin conceded one more before a late goal, one minute before the 90th minute, sealed it for Kerala.
It boiled down to a do-or-die clash against NorthEast United and Chennaiyin were helped by an early goal from Dudu. But as the story has been so far, they let the Highlanders in with a soft goal. Dudu struck twice again only to see the visitors draw back level twice, the last goal being in the sixth minute of added time.
Chennaiyin FC are now out of the running for the playoffs and have only themselves to blame. The absence of a prolific scorer, the inability to kill games and the bad habit of conceding late goals put together scripted Chennaiyin’s early exit.