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It was a dream start for champions Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL) as they demolished FC Goa by 3-0 in a one-sided contest at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa. A brace from former FC Goa star Igor Angulo and a goal from Ygor Catatau secured three points on match day one for the defending champions.
It was one way traffic in the first half as the team led by Mourtada Fall ran the show. Des Buckingham’s side could have had a penalty in the 14th minute but the appeal was waved away by the referee. Mumbai though didn’t have to wait too long as Iván González gave away a silly penalty in the 33rd minute. The penalty was converted empathically by former Goa player Angulo to score his first of the season for the new club.
In a flash it was 2-0 for Mumbai as Raynier Fernandes’ through ball was picked immaculately by Angulo to score his second of the game in the 36th minute. The goal from the edge of the box was his 16th in ISL history. It took until the 43rd minute before FC Goa had their first shot on target as goalkeeper Mohammad Nawaz was called into action.
Juan Fenol’s side responded with a change at half-time as Nongdamba Naorem came on for Saviour Gama. Goa dominated the early exchanges in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, but it was Mumbai who took the first shot on target in the second half when Cassinho came close in 54th minute. Goa had a half chance at the stroke of hour mark, but the effort was ruled out as offside.
The points were made safe 15 minutes from time as an unmarked Ygor Catatau got on the end of an Ahmed Jahouh free-kick to make it 3-0. The Brazilian scored just seconds after coming on as a substitute. Mumbai goalkeeper Nawaz though had much different second half as he made an excellent save in the 80th minute to keep his clean sheet intact.
Passing accuracy of 82 per cent was the feature of the game for Mumbai. Despite collecting 12 points from losing position last season, FC Goa were unable to salvage anything from the contest. Fenol’s side did try to change the course of the game by bringing on youngster Devendra Murgaonkar and Jorge Mendoza in the second half, but those substitutions didn’t have much impact on the game. Next up for Mumbai is Hyderabad on November 27 whereas Goa takes on Jamshedpur on November 26.
