Thomas Brdaric's men all but out of knock-out race
CHENNAI: Match officials had a game to forget as Chennaiyin FC were denied a victory against Odisha FC in the ISL match at the Marina Arena on Thursday.
The match ended 2-2 and with CFC now on 18 points from 16 games, are all but out of the race for a top-6 berth which ensures a place in the knock-outs. Odisha, on the other hand, with 23 from 16, stay on sixth spot.
Odisha took the lead in the 24th minute when Isak Vanlalruatfela's pass found Brazilian forward Mauricio just outside the box. The forward was clearly in an off-side position but the referee and the linesman chose to ignore it and Mauricio put Odisha ahead.
CFC struck immediately with winger Aakash Sangwan bending in a beautiful cross and Anirudh Thapa freed himself inside the box to head it in past Amrinder Singh.
Odisha, though, could have taken the lead in the 28th minute when Isak put the ball into the net from a rebound off the crosspiece but he was wrongly adjudged offside.
The referring mistakes were not yet over and with the score reading 2-2 late in the second half, Abdenasser El Khayati was brought down by Lalruatthara inside the box but the referee denied the penalty, leaving the Chennaiyin players livid. But before that, at the beginning of the second half Odisha went into the lead with Isak striking from close range. CFC neutralized the lead when El Khayati's delightful right-footer hit the post and went into the net. It was from a similar shot that the Dutchman could have won the day for CFC, but this time his right-footer hit the inside of the post and came back into play.
While CFC were distinctly unlucky not to win the three points, Odisha goalie Amrinder also had a good game. Amrinder came up with a couple of great saves in the first half, especially a header by Vincy Barretto from close range diving to his right, which helped Odisha escape with a point.
