Chennai: Chennaiyin’s fortress was breached on Friday. The leaders of the Indian Super League went down to FC Goa 1-3 for their first defeat at home. The visitors had carved the win in stone by going 3-0 up by the hour mark and a goal from Chennaiyin substitute Jean-Eudes Maurice deep in injury time was a mere statistic.
Even though the result at the Nehru Stadium didn’t affect Chennaiyin’s position at the top, it ensured Goa’s progress to the semifinals. Atletico de Kolkata and FC Pune City are likely to join Chennaiyin and Goa in the last four.
Chennaiyin appeared sharper in the opening minutes but the net bulged at the other end in the 23rd minute. An all-Indian cast was involved in the goal. Mandar Rao Dessai’s fierce left-footer bounced off the crossbar after Chennaiyin goalkeeper Shilton had got a faint touch to it and Romeo Fernandes fired home the rebound expertly.
Chennaiyin’s Denson Devadas should have booted the ball to safety but the defensive midfielder dawdled inexplicably to allow Romeo lash in his third goal of the tournament and become the top Indian scorer.
Goa struck again four minutes from half-time. The build-up wasn’t great but the ball fell invitingly to former Arsenal left-back Andre Santos near the centre of the box. The Brazilian beat Paul with an angled shot.
Conceding the second goal before the break clearly deflated Chennaiyin, even though they tried to inject some dynamism into their game in the second half by introducing Balwant Singh, Bojan Djordjic and Maurice in quick succession.
Paul was at fault for Goa’s third. The goalie failed to catch Narayan Das’ shot from the left and the Czech Republic’s Miroslav Slepicka had the ball in the net in a flash.
