Muristek
Daman Singh
Chandigarh, April 13
What seemed like going down the same road of despair turned into a glorious night for Mumbai City FC. Mumbai City became the first-ever Indian club to win a match in the AFC Champions League (ACL), the apex Asian club competition, being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Islanders, who became only the second Indian club to be part of the ACL
After FC Goa, now have a win and a loss from the event, even as four games remain. They, thus, have eclipsed their ISL counterparts' record of three draws in six games, their best results.
Ahead of the tournament, they were tagged the underdogs and talks of a gulf in class, in abilities that enveloped them were easily discernible in the 3-0 outclassing by Saudi Arabia's Al Shabab in their Group B opener. They had zero shots on target then. But on Monday night, the critics were left with some rethinking to do — the Des Buckingham-led side trumped Iraqi giants Air Force Club — three-time winners of the AFC Cup — 2-1.
"There's a whole range of emotions going on right now. We knew how tough it was going to be competing against such well-resourced and experienced teams," Buckingham said of the milestone win.
Where a solitary win was his primary goal coming into the competition, more history could be tasted against the UAE's Al Jazira tomorrow. With Al Jazira looking shaky following their 1-2 and 0-3 losses to Air Force and Al Shabab, respectively, the group stage is wide open now. With 10 group winners and six best runners-up — three each from the West and East regions — making it to the knockouts, this is the best shot for an Indian club to make the quantum leap.
Risk takers
Mumbai sure do like to take risks — whether it is playing short in their own box in the face of incessant pressure or putting bodies on the line to defend a lead.
They began with fluent passing but it took some poor defending from the two sides in the first half to open up a few goalscoring avenues, though they weren't taken well. However, Mumbai's self-inflicted errors in the first 15 minutes when playing out from the back were more egregious. They were lucky that Alaa Abbas didn't punish them for a reckless back-pass, and this happened on two occasions. Mumbai had a few chances too but the Iraqi side always looked more threatening going forward and getting in behind Mumbai's high backline. If it wasn't for skipper Mourtada Fall's exceptional reading and well-timed slides throughout the game, the contest could've been irreversible.
In the second half, the opponents intensified the pressing and Mumbai were hurried into mistakes. The Iraqi team's passes were crispy, shots rained on goal and from a short corner move, substitute Hammadi Ahmed finally broke the deadlock in the 59th minute.
Moroccan Ahmed Jahouh, who was regulating the tempo for Mumbai, and Apuia Ralte, a picture of ball-winner and accurate passer before the interval, were choked in the middle. At the back, they were being carved open regularly as against Al Shabab. This sequence played out until the penalty equaliser 11 minutes later from Diego Mauricio. With the Iraqi side rattled and gradually receding from their predisposing game, they lost their grip on the match as an unmarked Rahul Bheke's thumping header created history.