Kolkata: The 1000th match in the Indian Super League (ISL) petered into a dull draw. For brain fades and bravehearts, the one that followed in Saturday’s double-header will be remembered. Down to nine for over one hour, East Bengal held on against Mohammedan Sporting. The 0-0 draw will feel like a win. It was the stuff that could turn around a season. At the bottom of the standings and after their first point of the season, East Bengal sure hope it will.
They had come into the match on the back of an achievement unique for the season, of being the only India club alive in an Asian competition. Exactly what the team and its fans needed going into the seventh match in the league after six successive losses. The goalkeepers were tested early, East Bengal’s high line caused them jitters but also caught Mohammedan Sporting off-side repeatedly and Dimitrios Diamantakos had made one strong run. The match was settling down into an equal, if scrappy, contest between teams at the bottom of the standings.
Till Nandhakumar Sekar and Mahesh Naorem lost their minds. Amarjit Singh Kiyam swung Sekar around like a wrestler leading to the East Bengal midfielder lashing out his right arm. Kiyam was booked for the foul, East Bengal were awarded a free-kick but Sekar was shown a straight red for retaliation. Irked, Naorem kicked at a water bottle and being on a booking for a seventh-minute foul on Lalremsanga, the Mohammedan Sporting right back, it meant a second caution. In two minutes, 29th and 30th, East Bengal were down to nine. Petulance and a punch in the face shredding whatever plan East Bengal coach Oscar Bruzon may have had.
They were the kind of offense that deserves harsh punishment and Bruzon did not mince words. There will be action for “misbeahviour” on the pitch, the Spaniard told the official broadcasters. At another point in the television interview, he termed the actions “shocking.” Naorem, he said, has lost form and let his frustration show. “It goes against the interest of the team.”
Their wings clipped, literally, after the expulsion of two internationals, East Bengal ceded space and possession and got down to protecting their goal. “An exercise in restraint, the story of our season,” said Bruzon. Hijazi Maher was wobbly twice but after they were two players light, the Jordanian central defender roused himself into producing a memorable performance. From back to front, from Prabhsukhan Gill to Diamantakos plowing a really lone furrow, they defended resolutely.
Large tracts of the Salt Lake stadium pitch looked like an empty parking lot as Mohammedan Sporting pushed up. But for a team capable of such indiscipline, East Bengal defended with focus for over 70 minutes, including added time. East Bengal fans got behind their team, the roars getting louder with every minute they struck off the clock. They defended the crosses and put bodies in the middle forcing Mohammedan Sporting to aim from range.
After comprehensive defeats to Mohun Bagan Super Giant and Hyderabad FC, this was another match that showed Mohammedan Sporting how different ISL is from the I-League they had won at a canter. Apart from the misses, they will remember this night for the angry exchange between Alexis Gomes and Mirjalol Kasimov, the former being substituted at half-time. “It is difficult to play against a team which has eight players in the box,” said Andrey Chernyshov, the Mohammedan Sporting coach. It was a problem Mohammedan Sporting, who had one goal from open play in seven rounds and three overall, could not solve.
