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After an eventful night under the sparkling sky of Kolkata, India cheered for the first ever ISL football match. The maiden match way played between Saurav Ganguly's Atletico de Kolkata and Ranbir Kapoor's Mumbai City FC.Kolkata saw it's first home victory, defeating Mumbai by 3-0. We give you our review of the match.
The game started with short and sturdy passes with players being physically aggressive on both the sides. Referee Chris Penso, by showing up the first yellow card within two minutes of the game to Mumbai City's captain, Nabi, made it very clear that he will not tolerate any kind of foul play.
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During the first half, Kolkata had more possession over the ball and after two failed attempts by Sahni and Garcia, the 28 years old Ethiopian player Fikru, scored ISL's opening goal at 26 minute which he celebrated with his somersaults and dance moves. There was great momentum in the team but the passes weren't neat. Mumbai, on the other hand, lacked of coordination in front and midfield. They received more yellow cards, mostly because of unnecessary tackling (Stohanzl tackled Fernandez after the ball was already released). Highlights for the first half were referee's decision of not awarding Fikru penalty on being tackled by Raju, Mumbai City's captain, Nabi, had to be replaced because of an on-field injury, début of vanishing spray on the Indian ground and Roy's beautiful save of Cmovs' free kick.For the second half, Fikru had a poor start and was mostly seen off-side. There seemed a turn of events and Mumbai City's back line looked stronger. They had more ball possession and shots on target. If it weren't for Kolkata's goalkeeper, the match could have well ended in favour of Mumbai as defenders were no where to be seen. Other two goals for Kolkata came in at 68 and 92 minute.
In the nutshell there was lack of coordination in both the teams. At times there was chaos on the midfield and space had to be created. Indian players lack pace and technique but both the goalkeepers look promising. Native players need to learn how to break into players like Cmovs who challenge the opponent bodily.
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Our player of the match is Atletico de Kolkata's goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhary. He turned out to be his team's saviour when their defence miserably failed. The goalie looked completely exposed in the second half and saved more than 8 on-target shots leading his team to victory.
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