ISL 2018-19: Need to check replay on offside call after I scored against Bengaluru FC - Mumbai City's Modou Sougou
When Modou Sougou sneaked in between Bengaluru FC defenders Albert Serran and Nishu Kumar to drop down and head the equaliser for Mumbai City FC, it was the only time the Senegalese forward managed to beat the offside flag during the entire Indian Super League (ISL) match.
Or was it?
Sougou was adjudged offside four times before that and 10 times overall in the game.
But there was a moment in the second half of the game when Sougou surged to the left side of the box and slotted the ball into the bottom-right corner beyond the stationary Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
The flag had gone up a second before Sougou shot, which explains why Gurpreet did not try to save the attempt.
However, Sougou believes he was not offside and the goal should have counted.
"For me, I have some doubts about some of the offsides and I will see the videos. In the second half, there was an offside and I scored. I have a doubt about whether it's really offside and I will check the replay," Sougou said after the 1-1 draw with Bengaluru FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Sunday.
A lot of yellow cards went against Mumbai City, who were reduced to 10 men after Sehnaj Singh was sent off for a second booking in the 51st minute of the game. Sougou and Rafael Bastos were booked for Mumbai, while Harmanjot Khabra and Rahul Bheke got into the referee's book on Sunday.
Sougou, however, said the referees need to be balanced in their decision-making.
"They have to keep balance. In my opinion, they have to keep balance. They give [us] a yellow card and the same way they have to keep balance for both teams," he said.
Yet, Sougou is happy that the 10-man Mumbai City managed to hold the table-toppers at their own den.
"We're happy with the draw because it was a difficult game and the red card made it tougher for us (to win). But overall, it was a great visit for us," the 33-year-old said.
Sougou, Mumbai's top scorer this season with five neat finishes, credited coach Jorge Costa for the draw.
"The coach told us to change our positions (after the red card). I was in the left and I shifted to the right to block the opposition," Sougou said.
"It was a great tactic by the coach because even with 10 men, we didn't lose our organisation. We still kept going, tried to play and score. With the 1-1 draw, we're happy with the results."
Mumbai City currently sit on the second spot on the ISL table with 21 points in 11 games. They can, however, be overtaken by FC Goa who are on 17 points with two games in hand.
When asked about Mumbai's hopes of making the ISL playoffs, Sougou said: "For me, it's still early to talk about the top four. We have so many teams to play ahead of us. We have to keep focus, continue our job and keep going.
"We have to adapt for each of the games. Some games are difficult. We work in one formation and depending on the difficulty of the game, we have to get the right answer.
"It's what we did in this game and we're happy about the result. All the team members are doing good and we have to keep going."