Mumbai City FC rue missed chances in Asian Champions League loss

A penalty that should have been awarded, a shot careening off the crossbar, and a goalmouth melee at the death that should have resulted in a goal – Mumbai City FC had their chances to win on Thursday night. But against an Al Jazira side looking for their first win of the competition, luck, poor finishing and poorer refereeing meant that the Islanders suffered their second defeat in three games of the Asian Champions League.
Coming into the game, Mumbai were upbeat. Having achieved their target of winning one match in the group stage – becoming the first Indian club to do so – they were looking to go one step further. In front of them were Al Jazira, a UAE Pro League club that is amongst the best in Asia, but had lost their opening two games, including to Air Force Club, the team Mumbai had narrowly edged out.
The start of the game was similar to how Mumbai have approached this tournament. An endeavour to keep possession, especially a defensive line that was constantly being hounded, were successful to a point. But eventually, Mumbai would run out of the quality required to pass a high pressing line and give the ball up in sensitive areas – inviting Al Jazira to attack.

A valiant performance from #TheIslanders, but it wasn’t meant to be.. ⛔
Watch the highlights from #AJCvMUM below ⤵️#IslandersInAsia #ACL2022 #AamchiCity 🔵 pic.twitter.com/4x9DiVarXO
— Mumbai City FC (@MumbaiCityFC) April 15, 2022
And attack they did. Once again, just like in the Air Force Club match, it was the inability of the opposition to finish in the final third that kept the Indian club in the game. That, and the occasional moment of brilliance from goalkeeper Mohamed Nawaz, who replaced Phurba Lachenpa from the previous match. After the match, Al Jazira coach Marcel Keizer said that tiredness also played its part. Nine of his players have now played 90 minutes of football three times in the span of nine days.
Mumbai managed to evade Al Jazira’s shots at goal until the 40th minute. Substitute Mehtab Singh, brought on after Amey Ranawade suffered an injury in the early minutes of the game, was unlucky to touch a deflected ball with his fingers in the penalty box. The referee blew his whle and up stepped Ali Mabkhout to take the penalty. The UAE international, with 79 goals in 103 matches for his country, aimed for Nawaz’s left-hand side and despite the goalkeeper getting his hand on the ball, it still went in for the only goal of the game.
The three chances
Mumbai’s 90 minutes against Al Jazira could have been salvaged three times. The first chance came minutes after Mabkhout had scored. Mumbai striker Diego Mauricio was given space to run with the ball Al Jazira defenders. The striker, who has been instrumental in these three games in holding the ball in the final third and allowing Mumbai players to link up with the play, chose to go for goal. But just when he entered the box, he was brought down for what should have been a stonewall penalty. But the referee didn’t see it that way and instead awarded Mauricio a yellow card for playacting.
The second chance came late in the game after some sustained pressure from Mumbai. Previous match’s hero Rahul Bheke, forced to play on the right-hand side due to Ranawade’s injury, was bringing the ball along the touchline. He then lofted what seemed like a cross, but was actually a shot on target, towards the Al Jazira goal. The ball rebounded off the crossbar and went out of play – yet another moment that could have changed the complexion of the game.

But the best chance for Mumbai was their final corner of the match in the 90th minute. Substitute Raynier Fernandes was at the end of a corner from Lallianzuala Chhangte. Fernandes had all the time in the world at the far post, with no Al Jazira player tracking him. But the midfielder completely mimed his shot and Mumbai fell to last spot in Group B after Al Shabab and Air Force played out a 1-1 draw.
“I thought in the second half, we were fantastic. We played very well in the last 20 minutes with nine Indian players and two foreigners,” said coach Des Buckhingham. “We created several chances but were unfortunate not to take them. In the first half, we created several clear-cut chances and should have been level before the half-time whle. It’s a bit frustrating not coming back with the result and because we settled back deep, we had few chances in front of goal.”