FC Goa top table with clinical win

The little white spot, 12 yards away from goal, gobbled up Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League here on Thursday. FC Goa converted two second-half penalties to condemn the home team to a 2-0 defeat at the Nehru Stadium.

Chennaiyin’s penalty count went up to seven from eight matches and Zico’s Goa accepted the presents gleefully to grab the league lead with 14 points.

Rafael Coelho Luiz, who joined Goa only for this match after leaving the Thai league, earned both penalties. The Brazilian got to the end of a long clearance from the edge of his own box by the hour mark and left Chennaiyin’s central defender, Bernard Mendy, trailing with his pace. A desperate Mendy pushed Luiz and referee M.B. Santosh Kumar had to point the spot. Leo Moura stroked the ball home nonchalantly to silence the crowd.

Goa sounded the death knell for the hosts in the 78th minute. This time Santosh adjudged, somewhat harshly, that Chennaiyin FC’s right-back Mehrajuddin Wadoo had handled a close-range shot from Luiz. The result was the same, even though Jonatan Lucca assumed scoring duties instead of Moura.

When Chennaiyin coach Marco Materazzi was quizzed about his team’s dubious penalty record on Wednesday, the Italian said three out of five were questionable. Another two on Thursday compounded his team’s woes.

Delhi face Mumbai

Roberto Carlos is eyeing the top spot for his team as Delhi Dynamos host Mumbai City FC on Friday. Dynamos are tied second along with FC Pune City (13 points) but with a match in hand, and the coach knows his team can move to the top as the race for a place in the semi-finals gathers momentum.

“Mumbai City are a good team but our goal is to get above Pune. It’s important for us to win and stay at the top,” Carlos said.