Chennaiyin FC lose narrowly to FC Goa amidst questionable refereeing

Chennai, December 26, 2019: Chennaiyin FC succumbed to a narrow 3-4 defeat at the hands of FC Goa in an Indian Super League encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Thursday. Trailing 0-3 at the break courtesy defensive errors, CFC fought back in the second half only to be edged out eventually on a night when refereeing inconsistencies and inefficiencies again came under the spotlight. The hosts finished with ten men as right-back Edwin Vanspaul was sent off in the closing stages.

Versatile Afghan defender Masih Saighani came in for the suspended Brazilian Eli Sabia at the back. There was also a return from injury for local midfielder Dhanpal Ganesh, who started on the bench.

CFC began much the brighter team, moving the ball around quickly with the likes of playmaker Rafael Crivellaro and winger Lallianzuala Chhangte. The hosts should have had a penalty in the second minute for Ahmed Jahouh’s blatant push on Andre Schembri inside the box, but referee Umesh Bora decided to look away.

CFC’s passing at the back though was suspect on occasion, which eventually led to Goa’s opener in the 26th minute. Left-back Tondonba Singh erroneously passed back to Ferran Corominas, who found Hugo Boumous at the edge of the CFC box. The Moroccan passed to an onrushing Jahouh who scored with a first-time shot past Vishal Kaith.

The referee was again in the spotlight minutes later as Chennaiyin tried to draw level. From the second phase of play following a set-piece, the hosts’ skipper Lucian Goian won the ball off Carlos Pena, only to be caught on the follow-up by the Goa defender. The man with the whistle waved away Goian’s penalty claims.

And it was Goian who was culpable soon after, not getting enough on his back-pass to Kaith as Brandon Fernandes pounced on the loose ball to make it 2-0.

Minutes later, most in the crowd thought CFC had pulled one back. After Mourtada Fall had fouled Chhangte just outside the Goa box, Rafael stepped up and curled one that crashed into the side netting with goalkeeper Mohammed Nawaz well beaten.

Goa landed another sucker punch on the stroke of half time, making it 3-0. Coro fed Jackichand Singh on the right, whose cross beat everyone to find Boumous at the far post. The CFC defence stood still as the Moroccan scored from close range.

With a mountain to climb, CFC Head Coach Owen Coyle brought on Jerry Lalrinzuala for Tondonba at the break. It was all Chennaiyin after the restart with wave after wave of attack as Rafael pulled the strings along with able support from the likes of Anirudh Thapa and Germanpreet Singh.

Thapa struck the post from a long range drive on 49 minutes as CFC kept getting closer. Their perseverance did pay off in the 57th minute, as an unmarked Schembri headed home from close range from a Rafael corner to make it 3-1.

And it was 3-2 two minutes later, with Rafael this time getting his first goal of the season. Chhangte did tremendously well to win the ball off Seriton on the byline and pass it to Valskis. The Lithuanian found Rafael in space inside the box, the latter taking a touch and firing it low past Nawaz as the Marina Arena erupted.

But just as CFC went for the equalizer, Goa scored their fourth of the evening. Coro beat the offside trap and ran onto Boumous’ through ball to slot it past Kaith.

Chennaiyin kept going though and made a couple of changes in the last quarter of the game. Dragos Firtulescu replaced Schembri as Deepak Tangri made his CFC debut, coming on for Masih. 

Into the last ten minutes, Goa goalie Nawaz was lucky to remain on the pitch, as he took out Chhangte and Valskis outside the area. Having pushed the ball out of the area with his hand, Nawaz went through Chhangte who collided with Valskis, but the referee only chose to show a yellow card.

Minutes later, Rafael was felled in the box by Mandar Rao Dessai as he tried reaching Valskis’ dinked ball. But the referee ignored the contact and instead booked the CFC playmaker for alleged simulation.

Rafael did manage to make it 3-4 in the first minute of five stoppage time minutes, a sumptuous curling strike from just inside the box following a corner.

In the ensuing seconds though, the referee brandished a second yellow card to Edwin for a foul as CFC went down a man. In search of the equalizer, Germanpreet tried winning the ball off Edu Bedia but fouled him in the process. The referee booked Germanpreet but ignored Bedia’s blatant kick on Rafael while lying on the ground. There was further drama as yellow cards were shown to both head coaches Sergio Lobera and Owen Coyle for apparent arguments on the touchline.

With all the card brandishing and further stoppages eating up more than two minutes of the stipulated five added on minutes, the referee conveniently chose to blow the full time whistle with 95:30 minutes on the clock, as CFC fell just short of taking a point from the game.