Mumbai City FC – 2 (Pereyra Diaz 34’ Stewart 62’ Gurkirat 75’ Nathan 90+4) Indian Navy FT – 0
Kolkata: Mumbai City FC finished their Group B campaign after a dominating 4-0 victory over Indian Navy FT and will now look forward for the quarterfinals in the 132nd IndianOil Durand Cup being played here at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan. Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Greg Stewart, Gurkirat Singh and Nathan Asher Rodrigues scored for Mumbai. Mumbai finished the Group B with nine points from three matches.
All 43 games of the 132nd IndianOil Durand Cup are being telecast LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 2 channels as well as livestreamed on SonyLIV
Mumbai City FC Head Coach Des Buckingham names a very strong starting lineup making just one change bringing in Lallinzuala Chhangte in place of Hmingthanmawia. He started just two defenders in the lineup with defensive midfielder Yoell Van Nieff playing as the third centre back. Indian Navy Head Coach V.S Abhilash Nair named his strongest lineup against the current runners up.
Mumbai were on the attack from the go, creating chances as the attackers were troubling the Navy defence continuously. Greg Stewart, L. Chhangte, Bipin Singh, Pereyra Diaz, Alberto Noguera and Vikram Partap Singh were breaching the defence with ease. Navy goalkeeper Vishnu V.K made some excellent saves and the defender cleared off the line to deny Mumbai their first goal.
Their resistance was broken in the 34th minute as Mumbai took the lead. Bipin Singh’s pass from the left found Pereyra Diaz who had to just tap in to score. Mumbai disturbed the net two more times but it was disallowed due to off side calls. Mumbai continued to dominate the proceedings but could not double their advantage before half time as Indian Navy kept their shape in defence and made it hard for Mumbai to find gaps.
Des Buckingham brought in Sanjeev Stalin for Vikram Pratap Singh and Mumbai shifted to a more traditional 4-3-3 formation. It did not alter their style of play as they continued to play their attacking football. In spite of all the attack, Navymen had numbers in defence thwarting every move. It took 17 minutes for Mumbai to score again. Chhangte’s cross from the right was headed in by Greg Stewart even as he was surrounded by two defenders.
Mumbai put the ball in the net again after a few minutes but it was again disallowed for off side, the third time in the match. Mumabi gaffer brought in the changes introducing some younger players to get some match time. Gurkirat Singh received a through ball from Greg Stewart and finished past the Navy keeper to score his first goal of the tournament. Nathan Asher Rodrigues then applied the finishing touches to the match in the sixth minute of injury time. He took advantage of a loose ball from a corner inside the box and finished to give Mumbai their fourth goal.
Super Sunday Tomorrow
Mohammedan SC will face Jamshedpur FC in a Group B fixture which will be played at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan.
In the earlier kick off of the day, Northeast United FC will face Downtown Heroes FC which will be played at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati at 2:30 PM. A win for Northeast United will guarantee their place in the quarterfinals.
