ISL 2018-19: FC Pune City vs Northeast United FC 5 Talking Points
FC Pune City played to Northeast United FC in a crucial game for both the teams. The Stallions and The Highlanders both came into the game on the back of wins. Pune looked to be s different team under Praduym Reddy while Northeast United FC has been a completely different side this season under Eelco Schattorie.
The last few weeks before the AFC Asian Cup break is very crucial for the teams due to the crunched schedule. The teams would also like to make use of momentum that they gained to pick up as many points as possible before the break.
Pune started the game with a very high pressing game, while Northeast United decided to play their usual short passing game. Both the teams had their fair share of chances in the first half, but it was Northeast United who took the lead through Bartholomew Ogbeche from a Gallego corner. The scoreboard read 1-0 in favour of Northeast United FC during the halftime break.
The second half began on the same note as the first half, and Pune pressed hard for the equaliser, but Northeast was resilient at the back and defending well. Juan Cruz Mascia doubled the lead for the Highlanders in stoppage time through a penalty to give Northeast United FC a 2-0 victory over FC Pune City.
On that note let us take a look at the five talking points from the game
#5 NEUFC lucky, Pune unlucky?
I generally don't bring in luck into the game of football, but there is always an element of luck at play when a game is played. The element of luck generally in control of things that are not in the player's hands and affects the course of the game. The thing that touched the game today was the referee decision regarding two penalty shouts. One denied, One given...
Pune was unlucky to see their shout for a penalty being denied by the referee in the first half. The incident saw the ball strike Gurwinder Singh outstretched hand during a clearance NEUFC defence made from an FC Pune City corner. The replays clearly showed that the ball hit the Punjabi Centre backs outstretched arm, but for some reason, the referee decided not to give the penalty.
In the dying minutes of the second half when Pune was attacking and was in search for an equalising goal NEUFC got the ball and moved forward, Juan Cruz Mascia cut in from the right and entered the box and had minimum contact with Sahil Panwar but the Referee decided to award the penalty to Northeast United FC. The penalty sealed the victory for NEUFC.
While I don't mean to condemn the referee for his decision to award NEUFC the penalty, I feel Pune should have had a penalty awarded in the first half. If that was given in the first half, then the dynamics of the game could have changed a lot.