To put together his crew for the demanding season forward, Mumbai City FC coach Des Buckingham ought to contemplate taking part in on loop footage of the 2 objectives they conceded in opposition to Nassaji Mazandaran of their AFC Champions League (ACL) opener on Monday.
Playing their continental fixtures at Pune’s Balewadi Stadium since their dwelling floor, the Mumbai Football Arena in Andheri, doesn’t meet AFC requirements, the house crew was overwhelmed 2-0 by the Iranian Cup winners, who had been making their ACL debut.
The scoreline doesn’t inform your complete story although. For one, Nassaji had simply two pictures on the right track and each of them ended behind Mumbai’s web. Buckingham’s boys, alternatively, took a complete of 13 pictures however couldn’t breach the Iranian defence.
FT: MUM 0⃣-2⃣ NSJ
Not our night time however a variety of takeaways from the sport to get higher.
Onto the subsequent problem now. 💪#MUMvNSJ #IslandersInAsia #MumbaiCity #AamchiCity 🔵 pic.twitter.com/dACFbVfnND
— Mumbai City FC (@MumbaiCityFC) September 18, 2023
With Lallianzuala Chhangte on the suitable flank, Bipin Singh on left, and playmaker Greg Stewart within the centre, Mumbai had been in full management of proceedings on a wet night time, launching assault after assault proper from the beginning. However, they had been denied by the physicality of the Iranian defenders, or had been punished for the dearth of a correct centre-forward, somebody able to turning half-chances into objectives, identical to Nassaji did.
In the opening half-hour, Chhangte created three possibilities, and missed one himself when his shot from a good angle went simply large. Bipin too created a few alternatives, sending in threatening crosses, however Mumbai fluffed every little thing.
Nassaji appeared to be struggling up entrance and it was clear they had been lacking an important participant — Iraqi striker Alaa Abbas couldn’t be part of the crew because of visa bother.
“He is our main striker,” coach Seyed Mehdi Rahmati had stated within the pre-match press convention. “Not granting him a visa is a very big problem for us.”
As it turned out, Nassaji didn’t want him in spite of everything. In the thirty fourth minute, profiting from some informal defending, Nassaji skipper Hossein Zamehran received the ball simply exterior the penalty space. After a lovely flip, he threaded a ball to Ehsan Hosseini on his left who ran previous Mumbai skipper Rahul Bheke with ease, managed the ball together with his left foot, and calmly slotted it previous onrushing goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa.
Frustration for hosts
Mumbai performed with renewed gumption after conceding. Their lone striker Jorge Pererya Diaz lastly appeared to be combining properly with the likes of Lalengmawia Ralte and their new signing Yoell Van Nieff, but it surely was Chhangte and Bipin who had been taking turns creating and lacking possibilities. They virtually drew degree in first-half harm time when Chhangte lobbed a ball in and Bipin related properly. His highly effective volley although, was simply off course.
It was extra of the identical early within the second half. Chhangte utterly miscued an open likelihood created by a artful Stewart pushback, whereas Bipin’s tried cross solely discovered the goalkeeper. It was clear they had been getting impatient.
Nassaji had been affected person and received their reward courtesy a howler by Mumbai’s new signing, left-back Akash Mishra, within the 62nd minute.
All Mishra, who joined from Hyderabad FC, needed to do was clear the ball when the crew was below strain. Instead, he tried to go previous substitute Farshid Esmaeili, who stole the ball on the sting of the field and centred for Mohammadreza Azadi to drill it previous Phurba to thwart Mumbai’s hopes of begin to their marketing campaign.
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The hosts tried every little thing to get again into the sport however the Nassaji defence simply wouldn’t relent.
Mumbai City FC had been banking on three factors from this dwelling fixture however with this loss, discover themselves in dire straits, particularly since their subsequent sport is away to Uzbekistan’s Navbahor Namangan in October earlier than they play hosts to the Neymar-led Al Hilal in November.
Last 12 months, Mumbai completed second of their ACL group with two wins and a draw from their six matches and had been aiming to do one higher this time. Without a correct No.9, nonetheless, they appeared a shadow of the crew that went on an 18-match unbeaten run final 12 months to win the League Shield title (topping the ISL group stage).
Coach Buckingham has his job minimize out, and although the loss will undoubtedly harm, it might be an eye-opener simply six days earlier than the beginning of their Indian Super League marketing campaign.