Match Review:
Just two days after the derby loss to arch rival East Bengal Mohun Bagan played their next match as they hosted Mohammedan Sporting on a midweek "other derby" of Kolkata.Karim Bencherifa made three changes in his starting line up as Sandip replaced injured Shilton under the bar,Eche made his way in the team in place of Rowilson Rodriguez and Manish Bharghav came in place of Sabeeth.Mohammedan Sporting coach Aziz started with Tolgay upfront as lone striker supported by Jerry Zirsanga and Ishfaq Ahmed on both flanks.Penn as playing from box to box midfielder's role supported by Rakesh Mashi as the blocker and Anthony Soren as a attacking medio.
Luciano-Mehraj,Collin Abranches-Nabi formed a formidable back four.Both teams played a failry open game for 90 minutes but off form Tolgay and a fitness deprived Odafa struggled to find their old form as both of them looked pretty ordinary.Tolgay looked out of ideas every time he had the ball while Odafa on the other end was looking like a old war horse with battle scars as he limped and crawled in the opponents half for most of the match.Katsumi has not yet lived upto the expectation of his last season with ONGC as he failed to connect with Odafa. Mohammedan Sporting midfield looked more threatening as Ishfaq aand Anthony provided pace and momentum moving forward while Penn Orjii was talisman in Mohammedan Sporting midfield with neat skills and box to box midfield abaility.Rakesh Mashi did his defensive job well and occasionally pushed forward to give Mohammedan Sporting attacks more options with his long range shooting skills.
As the match progressed Odafa played the ball to Eric as he unleashed a thundering strike with his left foot which flew past the cross bar,Odafa had few good chances inside the box but the striker who would have "proverbially" tore the net apart produced some uncharacteristic weak shots which were either wide or easily saved by goalkeeper Louis Barreto.Tolgay got one great chance to put his team on lead but he too drove it wide past the goalpost.
Probably the best chance of the match came to Ajay Singh in injury time of 90+ minutes as found empty space on the right side of the box on "one -on-one" situation but he too shot it wide.Coach Aziz fielded a surprise selection in his starting XI as he left out Joshimar the seasons top scorer and preferred an off form and low on confidence Tolgay for 80 mins.
As both teams lost plenty opportunities the Coaches of both the teams will have lot to worry about their goal scoring options with Odafa still searching for mach fitness and some goals to get back to his lethal best and Australian Tolgay whose performance graph has been falling to an all time low since he left East Bengal two seasons back !
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