132nd Durand Cup: Mumbai City in quarters with dominant win over Indian Navy

Kolkata, Aug 19 (IANS) The reigning Indian Super League (ISL) League winner Mumbai City FC stormed into the quarterfinals of the 132nd Durand Cup, finishing their Group B campaign with a dominating 4-0 victory over Indian Navy Football Team.

Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Greg Stewart, Gurkirat Singh and Nathan Asher Rodrigues scored for Mumbai at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan here as the ISL club topped Group B with nine points from three matches. 

Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham named a very strong starting lineup making just one change by bringing in Lallinzuala Chhangte in place of Hmingthanmawia. He started with just two defenders in the lineup with defensive midfielder Yoell Van Nieff playing as the third centre back. 

Indian Navy head coach V.S Abhilash Nair also named his strongest lineup against the current runners-up.

Mumbai went on the offensive from the go, creating chances as the attackers were troubling the Navy defence continuously. Greg Stewart, L. Chhangte, Bipin Singh, Pereyra Diaz, Alberto Noguera and Vikram Partap Singh laid seize of the opponents'  defence. 

Navy goalkeeper Vishnu V.K. made some excellent saves and one of the defenders cleared off the line to deny Mumbai their first goal. 

However, their resistance was broken in the 34th minute as Mumbai took the lead. Bipin Singh’s pass from the left found Pereyra Diaz, who had to just tap in to make it 1-0 for Mumbai. 

The Islanders disturbed the net two more times but were denied on both occasions due to off-side calls. Mumbai continued to dominate the proceedings but could not double their advantage before halftime as Indian Navy kept their shape in defence and made it hard for Mumbai to find gaps.

Buckingham brought in Sanjeev Stalin for Vikram Pratap Singh and Mumbai shifted to a more traditional 4-3-3 formation. It did not alter their style of play as they continued to play their attacking football. Despite all the attacks, the Navymen had numbers in defence thwarting every move. 

It took 17 minutes for Mumbai to score again. Chhangte’s cross from the right was headed in by Greg Stewart even as he was surrounded by two defenders. Mumbai put the ball in the net again after a few minutes, but it was again disallowed for offside, the third time in the match. The Mumbai manager rang in the changes, introducing some younger players to get some match time. 

Gurkirat Singh received a through ball from Greg Stewart and finished past the Navy keeper to score his first goal of the tournament. 

Nathan Asher Rodrigues then applied the finishing touches to the match in the sixth minute of injury time. He took advantage of a loose ball from a corner inside the box and finished to give Mumbai their fourth goal.