ISL 2019-20: Mumbai City Vs Kerala Blasters Live Commentary

1 Vs 1

77' Amine Chermiti	75' Messi Bouli

FULL TIMEEE: So, a game that was played in a very high intensity was brought to a very anti-climatic end as regular halts due to fouls and tackles meant that there was hardly any passage on undisputed play in the final few minutes. Nevertheless, two goals within a span of two minutes in the final quarter of this game meant that both these sides take away a single point from this particular match. This certainly isn't the result that Mumbai would have desired of; neither would have Kerala, and the frustration was visible towards the fag end of the game. Both the coaches shook hands warmly and then moved into the pitch to address their players at the conclusion of the game. The Manjappada electrified the atmosphere tonight and they still haven't stopped cheering for Messi Bouli as I write this. But, what does this result mean for both these teams now? Well, they have been unable to churn out a victory in either of their last six games and that means it is a long enough drought for them to be languishing at the bottom of the points table. It would be interesting to witness what both these managers say in the post-match press conference. Until then, its a goodbye from me, Tarkesh Jha and my senior colleague Sabin Castelino from this live commentary blog. I hope you had as much fun reading about this game as we had witnessing it in front of our eyes. Have a good night, all of you! 90+3' The play was brought to consistent halts in the injury time and this clearly did not impress Schattorie as he kicked aside a bottle in disgust, or rather, anger during the injury time. 90+3' The corner taken by Larbi is headed away but Bipin pounces upon the loose ball to send in a brilliant diagonal pass that sways across the Kerala defenders inside the box and lands ahead of Sougou and Kevyn. This was undoubtedly a move that Mumbai should have capitalized upon to gain hold of the three points. Ugh! 90' CORNER FOR MUMBAI AS WE MOVE INTO THE INJURY TIME NOW! 88' Hali Charan Nazary has posed a threat from the left flank upon his arrival on the field. Cindoncha sprayed the ball across the left wing that Nazary gained control of on the run and as he moved closer to the byline in search of a low cross, Rowlin Borges does well enough to track back and clear the ball out for a corner through which Kerala do not produce anything notable. 86' The official attendance recorded and announced right now in the stadium for this game is in excess of 6000. That's really quite an impressive count considering how bleak the atmosphere seemed to be in the initial few minutes of the game. 84' The goals have disrupted the momentum of the play as there has been no clear cut, concrete attacking move after Chermiti pulled the score level in the 77th minute. Eelco Schattorie is extremely livid as he lashes out at the linesman as Kerala take a free-kick in the other half. The coach is possibly asserting about the thought that Chermiti was possibly offside in that goal of his. As they say, it is a game of very fine margins. Jorge Costa plays a vital roll of his dice as he puts in Serge Kevyn in search of another goal and the goal-scorer Amine Chermiti has been brought off the pitch as the substitute. 77' MUMBAI SCOREEEEE! AMINE CHERMITI RISES UP AGAIN!!! Sarthak Golui puts in a cross from the right flank that is headed towards Sougou's path by Mohammed Larbu. Sougou puts the ball in Rehenesh's path, the ball bounces back and Chermiti is wise enough to push the ball into the net amid the skirmish that took place in a really messy situation. 75' GOAL FOR KERALA! AND ITS THEIR MAN MESSI BOULIIIIII!! RICHLY DESERVED! Kerala swiftly manage to transition their defensive phase of play into the attack as Carneiro puts in a cross that is firstly saved by Amrinder. Then, Messi Bouli pounces upon the second ball from a close range to hand Kerala the lead. 72' Ah, what entertainment. Kerala Blasters' long-throw specialist, Raju Gaikwad takes a long run up and literally punts the ball hoping that it would end up in one of his forwards' head inside the box but unfortunately the only person who managed to get hold of it was Amrinder Singh, of all people! 69' Mumbai move ahead with precision and intent as they show some good composure in the opposition's half with Larbi, yet again, being the one orchestrating the move. Here, they interlink brilliantly and pass the ball for Rowlin whose layoff for Bipin ends up with the latter failing to control the ball and conceding away a goal-kick. Disappointing, to say the least. 66' Mohammed Rakip has been having an impressive game for Kerala Blasters as quite a lot of their notable phases of play has resulted in him initiating the move from the right flank. On the other hand, Sarthak Golui has been flawless in a new position, the right-back role, which was occupied by Souvik Chakraborty ahead of this game. Will these two fullbacks manage to pull off a credible move for either of teams in the last 25 minutes? SUBSTITUTION FOR KERALA! Samuel Lalmuanpuia has been brought into the field in place for Sahal Abdul Samad who was nowhere to be seen in the pitch for almost an hour after 'that' one good move early on in the game. 62' Mohammed Larbi is in some mood this evening! His passes, the touches and link-up play with Rowlin Borges results in Borges cutting across Kerala's midfield line and laying off a simple pass for Bipin to shoot the ball  in. Sadly, Bipin fails to do so but Larbi yet again emerges as the main man at the centre and this time lays off the ball for Sougou whose pass inside the box is very ordinary to say the least and the move doesn't yield anything productive eventually! 59' It seems like Messi Bouli has come in with a straightforward aim of pulling off an overhead goal tonight. Seityasen Singh had glided across the left flank seamlessly and put in a shot for Messi whose near attempt for an overhead goal went in vain as his control wasn't assertive enough and hence Amrinder was alert enough to get hold of the ball and kill the move right there. 55' ROWLINNNN....  Mato Grgic plays in tandem with Larbi and then Chermiti who plays in an excellent pass threading through the backline for Bipin Singh who fails to put in a sprint spirited enough to get at the end of that brilliant pass. However, there was more drama left as the ball from goalkeeper is collected and brought into control by Rowlin, who punts up a wonderful long ball that could have possibly resulted in a Beckham-esque goal from the halfway mark as we, from the media box, waited for it to happen in a collective gasp. Alas though, it was nowhere near as good as that one! 54' Bipin Singh, who had an excellent game against FC Goa, the last time Mumbai City FC played at home has now substituted Raynier Fernandes. Probably, Costa is looking to put Sougou to a more central position along with Chermiti and hence Bipin has been roped in to provide some more width and creativity from the flanks for Mumbai! 52' Sahal Abdul Samad puts in a blistering run and even beats Rowlin but Pratik is there to swat the ball away. 49' Paulo Puts in a cheeky pass to Amine but Sougou is unable to collect the resulting header as Vlatko puts in a superb sliding tackle! 46' The Tuskers are on the press in the second half as the two teams are trying to gain an upper hand against each other to end their losing streaks. HALF TIME:  Well, how do you sum up this half for both these teams? To put it into perspective, Mumbai could be quite proud of how they have fought back in the last 15-20 minutes or so. Kerala started off the game quite promisingly, and have been very incisive with their attacking moves with Messi Bouli impressing one and all with his mavericks on the ball, near and inside the box. On the other hand, Mohammed Larbi and Raynier Fernandes have struck back a comeback of sorts for the home team with Chermiti and Sougou being equally responsible for their credible minutes of play towards the end of the first half. If not for certain offside calls and a little more decisiveness, Mumbai could have been a goal or two ahead of Kerala at the half-time. The deadlock is yet to be broken so far but the nature of game has been such that it can be promised that we can see a few goals coming our way in the second half. Join us in 10 minutes or so as I rush back to have my dinner before the referee starts off the second essay in a jiffy! Tada. 44' YELLOW CARD FOR RAYNIER FERNANDES! Costa is unhappy, unsurprisingly.  There have been plenty of tackles in this match that have been left unattended by the referee but the loud uproar that this particular one emanated from the fans meant that he felt almost pressurized to book Raynier, who otherwise has been playing quite well in this match. Both these coaches have had quite a few opinions on the referees in the league this season, and those thoughts would continue to float around if such decisions would be taken over and again.   41' AHH SOUGOU COME ON!! Mumbai have been defending in numbers tonight, almost eight men were behind barring Raynier, Chermiti and Sougou for this particular phase of play. But the ball was cleared out for Raynier, who passed it on for Chermiti and made a brilliant run through the centre. Chermiti's pass has the perfect weight behind it but Raynier fails to get at the end of it and as the entire stadium sighs in surprise, Modou Sougou, off all the people here, fails to put in a more powerful shot as his attempt is rather comfortably taken care of by Rehenesh. 37' Plenty of action for Mumbai in the last few minutes, and Larbi has been critical to all these moves so far. Until now, he has tried two very weak headers but here he was trying in a cross for Chermiti who was in a very promising position to tap the ball in but the linesman is quick enough to call it an offside and the Tunisian sits on the field in despair due to the same. Mumbai need to be wary of this now. Quite a few of their moves have failed to result into anything notable due to these repeated offsides. 34' Mumbai finally springing up some credible action here now! And it's a pretty good one, while we are at it. Raynier Fernandes plays off a pass for Mohammed Larbi who slices in a slick pass for Modou Sougou at the right-hand side of the 18-yard-box. Sougou puts in a cross that was intended to be met by Chermiti in the centre but Rehenesh shows good awareness to charge ahead and clear away the move. Eelco Schattorie is visibly disgruntled as he hurls some words and walks back to the dugout from the touchline in disgust. 31' MATO GRGICCC! Oh yes, the senior defender absolutely rams into Mohammed Rakip as the right-back looked to arrive in a promising position to deliver a cross into the box. The sliding tackle gained notable appreciation amongst the fans but it needs to be seen for how long Mumbai continue to survive these persistent waves of pressure that Kerala are exerting upon them right now. 29' Kerala have been excellent in the past ten minutes or so, and this move that ended with Messi Bouli doing  a brilliant piece of footwork inside the box that was thwarted away by Sarthak Golui. The defender has been omnipresent inside the box for MCFC tonight, and this was yet another reminder of how he has improved by leaps and bounds throughout the course of the ongoing season. 25' MESSIIIIIII...very nearly, very close! Oomph, that was one of those breathtaking moments from the game, a phase of play that emanated a collective sense of awe amongst all the people present in the ground. Rakip starts off the move from the right flank, and then Seityasen Singh dons the pivotal role in delivering a lofted pass in for Messi Bouli..who, wait for it..tries an excellent overhead kick from inside the box that would have very nearly kissed the inside of the net if not for Amrinder! What a moment, a surreal attempt at goal of sorts..! 21' The game began after the foul, but surprisingly not from the point where Amine was felled! However, Grgic tries to release Chermiti with a pinpoint long ball, but the forward is unable to time his run to perfection and hence the linesman is quick to call him out for being offside. Mumbai have grown into the game in the past few minutes, and Kerala would be ruing themselves for not capitalizing their early moments of dominance into a goal. 18' AHH THAT WAS NASTY!! Vlatko Drobarov really bangs into Amine Chermiti's shin near the touchline and the Tunisian falls down amid uproar from the home team's fans. Costa cries out loud for a booking to be given for Drobarov and the referee finally succumbs to the pressure and hands over a yellow-card to the defender; who actually, quite amusingly is now trying to convince the referee as to why he wasn't culpable for this mishap! 16' Well, the Manjappada make quite a noise for literally anything that goes around on the field, don't they? Haha, Rakip plays the ball across the backline for Jessel to collect it in the left-back slot. Carneiro then tries to play a quick diagonal ground pass tilting towards the centre but Grgic does well to put his feet to it and divert it for Amrinder to put a pause over that phase of play. 13' AMINEE!! Paulo Machado takes control of the proceedings as Mumbai charge ahead and then he spreads the ball wide for Chermiti, who plays a pass back to Machado, and then the reverse happens that ends up with Chermiti looking for a cross for Larbi to head in but Raju Gaikwad is present at the centre of the box to prevent Larbi getting at the end of the cross. 11' Messi steals the ball from Pratik Chowdhary in the right side of the penalty box but Subashish Bose is alert enough to thwart away any possible threat. They play some patient passes in their own half before releasing a long ball for Modou Sougou to chase who sprints brilliantly but is unable to bring the ball under control. 9' Prasanth has moved in to a very central position from where he looks to start off a move. He puts the ball in Rakip's way who again passes it back to him from where Prasanth tries an ambitious left-footed cross-field pass that is headed away from the ever present Sarthak Golui! 6' Ooff Sahal!! As we had pointed out in our preview ahead of this game, Sahal Abdul Samad would most likely torment the Mumbai City backline throughout the course of the game. Here, he moves in brilliantly, diagonally from the left flank with the ball following his lead. He passes it to the right flank from where a cross comes in but eventually goes in vain as the weight behind it was way too much. 3' The corner is utterly wasted by Kerala as they move the ball back to their central defenders and look to initiate a move from the inward left flank. They win a free-kick, that is again pitted way off the right-sided goalpost by their captain Sergio Cidoncha. Kerala have been dominating the possession thus far in the game. 1' Mato Grgic returns to centre of the backline after a lengthy layoff and he can been already arranging the defensive line. Maybe, he was the leader that Mumbai missed all this while at the back. On the other hand, Kerala get to action very swiftly as they move the ball around quite seamlessly and that results in Jessel Carneiro putting in a cross from the left flank that resulted in a corner for the Blasters. KICK OFF!!! 7:25 PM: The Kerala Blasters' fans have outnumbered the Mumbai City FC fans here by the looks of it in the Football Arena! Woah, that's quite some feat. By the way, our very own senior correspondent from Mumbai, and even an AIFF-certified referee, Sabin Castelino says that he had once sent off Jeakson Singh in an U-15 football match. Talk about nostalgia... 7:23 PM: And the players are out here amidst immense cheers from the crowd. Time for the national anthem.  7:10 PM: The pre-match obligations are on, as the logo has been put up at the centre circle as 15 kids are now idly standing waiting for the players to emerge from the tunnel. The attendance isn't inspiring for this game, and this might have a lot to do with Mumbai's consecutive 4-2 losses in their previous two home matches. Costa needs to ensure that they put a brake to that shambolic run, and who better than Kerala Blasters to milk out three points from? 7:00 PM: The seats are filling up thick and fast with Manjappada making the most of the noise from the stand right beside the one where we are sitting. Players from both the sides have been warming up for quite some time now whereas the entire hullabaloo here has been regarding Amrinder Singh's 50th ISL match for the Islanders! We congratulate the custodian for this remarkable feat but will he be successful in maintaining a clean sheet tonight? Well, Mato Grgic's return could help in that. Stay tuned for more action as we await the kickoff in about half an hour! 6:50 PM: LINEUPS ARE OUT! Mumbai City FC: Amrinder (GK), Pratik, Grgic, Amine, Machado (C), Raynier, Rowlin, Subhasish, Sarthak, Larbi, Sougou Serge Kevyn, Mohammed Rafique, Bidyananda, Ravi Kumar (GK) , Souvik, Bipin, Valpuia Kerala Blasters:  Rehenesh (GK), Rakip, Raju Gaikwad, Irom Prasanth, Jessle, Sahal, Cindoncha (C), Raphael Messi, Vlatko, Jeakson Bilal Khan (GK), Darren, Hali Charan, Pritam, Abdul, Lalmuanpuia, Lalrutthara 6:30 PM: GOOD EVENING MUMBAI! It's been a long wait for the third home of Mumbai City FC, nearly a month since that fateful evening against FC Goa in early November. Some things have changed since then. Some things have remained the same. For starters, Mumbai are playing a more convincing and arguably better brand of football. On the contrary, they are yet to win a single match ever since their first game of the series. And guess what, the opposition from that night return again here to face Jorge Costa's side as Kerala Blasters would aim to take three points away from the Mumbai Football Arena when the final whistle blows at around three hours from now. It's a perfect match, by the way. Both Mumbai and Kerala are yet to win a single game ever since their respective opening encounter of the season. Would any of them break that placid deadlock tonight? Only time will tell..(or the referees)! Welcome to ISL 2019-20 Mumbai City FC Vs Kerala Blasters live commentary of Khel Now, where we will bring you all the live action from Mumbai Football Arena in Mumbai. Mumbai City FC Vs Kerala Blasters Kick-Off: 7:30 PM IST To read the preview of the match, click here. To read the pre-match press conferences of the match, click here and here. Jorge Costa admitted his side will be under pressure against Kerala Blasters "I can admit that we are playing under pressure tomorrow. Because we need to win three points and be closer to the place we want to be and I think we deserve. So, we are playing under pressure and it is okay, pressure is a part of football,” the Portuguese tactician said. Eelco Schattorie feels Mumbai City are playing better football than last season “I think Mumbai are in a similar situation as us. They also had injuries. Even when they played against us, they lost an important player, (Rowllin) Borges, who was last year with me. Mumbai is playing better football than last year and more attractive. Last year, it was more counter-attacking,” he quipped. “They have been a bit unlucky with results, but their team has not changed much this season and that can influence their gameplay. I think they should be higher up the table for the way they’ve played,” Eelco Schattorie added.