Igor Angulo turned out to be the thorn for FC Goa as he scored twice to help Mumbai City FC to a 3-0 win over the Gaurs at the Fatorda Stadium on Monday. Angulo, who was frozen out by FC Goa towards the end of the last campaign, moved to Mumbai in the summer and with a point to prove, Angulo did what he does best. Ygor Catatau also found the back of the net with his first touch for Mumbai as the Islanders cruised to the win and got a winning start to their title defence.
Raynier Fernandes shone for Mumbai City FC on the night while FC Goa will have to go back to the drawing board and improve their creativity for the upcoming games. FC Goa had more of the ball, had better pass accuracy but Mumbai City FC were more effective.
Mumbai City FC had a brilliant first half where they saw their main man, ex-FC Goa striker, Igor Angulo find the back of the net twice to put Mumbai City FC 2-0 up. For the first 20 minutes, both teams were cagey and the pace of the game was low but once Mumbai got going, FC Goa were left all hassled.
Mumbai City FC were denied a penalty early on when Leander D’Cunha brought down Vignesh Dakshinamurthy in the box but they not the second time when Ivan Gonzalez fouled Cassio. Angulo stepped up from the spot and gave Mumbai the lead with an affirming strike into the far right corner.
Three minutes later, Ahmed Jahouh did extremely well to pass to Raynier Fernandes who made an inch-perfect pass to Angulo. The striker took one quick touch and slotted the ball home.
FC Goa inexperience at the back showed as Leander, Papuia and Sanson struggled to keep pace and hold their shape very well. FC Goa also struggled to move the ball up in spaces that matter while Mumbai put their pressing game to use, won the ball in dangerous areas and created chances.
Mumbai had a golden chance to go 3-0 up when Raynier had the ball completely unmarked but his shot hit the post.
The second half started better for FC Goa as they got more control of the ball and starting taking the game to their opponents. Juan Ferrando brought on Nongdamba Naorem, Devendra Murgaonkar and Jorge Ortiz to change the face of the game and get Goa back in the game.
Goa had a few good moves, found better spaces and did get going but not in terms of goals.
Des Buckingham then made a triple substitution for Mumbai City FC and brought on Ygor Catatau, who scored with his very first touch to put Mumbai 3-0 up. The FC Goa defence was once again at fault there as no one marked him and then Dheeraj let the ball slip in.
FC Goa kept going despite being three goals down but Mumbai stayed compact and it proved to be too huge a hill to climb for the Gaurs.
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