Reliving the most exciting match of the week: FC Goa 7-0 Mumbai City FC
FC Goa took on Mumbai City FC in a crucial game in the Hero Indian Super League at Goa’s Fatorda Stadium as they looked to strengthen their grip on the top spot in the table. Mumbai City, who sat fifth in the table, were looking to move into the top four spots with a win in Goa.
However what followed was a catastrophic evening for Nicolas Anelka’s men as FC Goa’s strikers ran riot, resulting in a 7-0 drubbing for the away side. The game wasn’t the most exciting as a contest as it was one-way traffic since the minute FC Goa opened the scoring, but the plot and the sub-plots along with the sheer shock of the happening made it a match to remember for the viewers.
The game saw seven records being broken or made within the space of ninety minutes of football at the Fatorda Stadium and made the 100th game in the ISL history a certainty in the history books for reasons other than the mere number.
Thongkoisep Haokip, who was awarded the Emerging Player of the Game, became only the second Indian players to score a hat-trick in the ISL, while Hero of the Match Dudu Omagbemi’s hat-trick in the same game was the first time in the ISL that two hat-tricks were scored in the same game. Haokip’s opener was only coincidentally this season’s 100th goal as the annihilation of Mumbai City FC was the biggest win in the history of the competition.
Around 20,000 Goan supporters who had flocked to the Fatorda Stadium would have hardly predicted such a delightful performance from the home team. Jonathan Lucca in the home team midfield had a game full of running and incisive passes, and was rewarded with the Fittest Player of the Match award. That though wasn’t the case for the first thirty minutes of the game when it was goalless and Mumbai City FC more than made their presence felt.
But in the 34th minute, Leo Moura, who won the Moment of the Match, found a gap in the Mumbai City FC defence and fed the ball to Dudu, who was tackled rather desperately by full-back Ashutosh Mehta, only to see the ball fall to Haokip, who walked it into the net to give FC Goa the lead and brought up the century for the season.
Once they took the lead, Goa didn’t look back and were relentless going forward as Dudu Omagbemi, who was making his first start for Zico’s men, made it 2-0 just before the break and made Mumbai’s task very difficult. The visitors did however pose a threat throughout the first half and almost pulled one back but FC Goa goalkeeper Kattimani saved Anelka’s attempt late in the half.
The Goans were completely rampant in the second half and wasted no time in squashing any hopes of a comeback that Mumbai City may have harboured as Haokip netted his second and Goa’s third in the 52nd minute to put the game beyond the Mumbaikars.
Dudu then fired two quick fire goals post the hour mark to complete his hat-trick and completely deflate Mumbai City FC, who found themselves 5-0 down.
But it was to get worse for Anelka’s men as Haokip completed his hat-trick with a 79th minute goal before substitute Reinaldo also got among the goals to cap off a truly remarkable evening for FC Goa.
The mauling of Mumbai City FC put FC Goa in a handsome position to make the playoffs while Mumbai City FC’s season looked to be dented beyond repair.
The records and the milestones which the game threw up made it even more interesting and the ISL couldn’t have asked for a more headline making 100th game. The game also showed the unpredictability of the ISL as FC Goa completely bludgeoned a Mumbai City FC side which had earlier in the season beaten The Gaurs 2-0 fairly comfortably.
This game will go down as one of the markers of ISL season two and that makes it the most exciting ISL game of this week.