29' Chennaiyin 2-0 FC Goa (Agg: 3-1)
GOAL! Dhanapal Ganesh doubles Chennai's lead. Another header, another poor piece of defending from FC Goa allowing Ganesh to head home from close range at the far post from a free kick on the right flank. Chennai on fire
Preview: Chennaiyin FC and FC Goa will battle it out in the second leg of their second semi-final of the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday as they look to join Bengaluru FC in the final.
In the first leg in Fatorda, Goa and Chennaiyin played out a 1-1 draw, with the former champions earning a crucial away goal. Anirudh scored for Chennaiyin after Manuel Lanzarote had put the hosts in the lead.
Chennaiyin will look to make most of home advantage when they face FC Goa in the second leg of semi-finals in Chennai. Image Courtesy: ISL
However, Chennaiyin chief coach John Gregory said that they will not be complacent over the "minimal advantage".
"It was a hard-earned draw for us. Goa play their passing, possession-based football and as opponents, we worked hard to get the ball back. The away goal we got is a minimal advantage. If tomorrow the game finishes 0-0, we are through," Gregory said at the pre-match press conference.
"But we know that this is football - anything can happen. Several permutations can come up during the match and we are prepared for it. We both know each other's game. We are fired up and ready to go."
Gregory said that right-back Inigo Calderon who picked up an injury to his right calf, will be fit for the clash. "He is a tough guy. He got a tough tackle which injured his right calf but he continued to play on and he will be ready tomorrow," the coach said.
Calderon will complete the back-four of Mailson Alves, Henrique Sereno and Jerry Lalrinzuala, who will have the responsibility of stopping the powerful Goa attack.
Gregory will also hope that his attacking line-up, that includes a struggling Jeje Lalpekhlua, will come up with the goals.
In the other camp, midfielder Hugo Boumous' return to fitness is a big boost to the visitors. It will be interesting to see the midfield combination that coach Sergio Lobera opts to go with. Pronay Halder has proved his value to the side with some astonishing performances from midfield alongside Ahmed Jahouh. It will be a toss-up between Edu Bedia and Hugo for the attacking midfield role.
Brandon Fernandes is also back from injury and Lobera will have a selection headache as he will have to choose either Mandar Rao Dessai or Brandon to occupy one wing while Manuel Lanzarote looks certain to start on the other flank.
Lanzarote (13 goals) and Ferran Corominas (18 goals) are the tournament's deadliest attacking pair and Goa will need them again to go through.
Even if Chennaiyin have the away-goal advantage, Lobera is not reading too much into it and believes his wards will pull it off.
"We are facing a tough team. (But) we need to play the way we have done so far in the tournament. We are the highest scoring team in the competition and we have the highest scoring players as well," he said.
"The style of football we employ definitely puts us at a risk of conceding but at the other end, we are capable of scoring against any team. I would definitely take another 3-2 victory over here in Chennai like we did on the first match day (during the league phase)."
Going back to the history of the season, in the league stage, both teams have defeated each other once. In the first leg, Goa edged past Chennaiyin 3-2 and in the return leg, Chennaiyin beat Goa 1-0.
Sergio Juste and Chinglensana Singh have been excellent in defence and should be in contention to start despite both, Bruno Pinheiro and Ali Mohammad passing fitness tests.
Seriton Fernandes has been an unsung hero in what has largely been a fantastic campaign for the side and he will walk back into the team. Narayan Das looks likely to start at left back.
With inputs from IANS
Published Date: Mar 13, 2018 20:48 PM | Updated Date: Mar 13, 2018 20:54 PM
Highlights
HT: Chennaiyin 2-0 Goa (Agg: 3-1)
Chennai in the driver's seat after a spirited first half. Goa after good start let them down with some poor defending. The visitors need two goals with conceding to advance to the final. Chennai just need to keep their heads
29' Chennaiyin 2-0 FC Goa (Agg: 3-1)
GOAL! Dhanapal Ganesh doubles Chennai's lead. Another header, another poor piece of defending from FC Goa allowing Ganesh to head home from close range at the far post from a free kick on the right flank. Chennai on fire
25' Chennaiyin 1-0 FC Goa (Agg: 2-1)
GOAL! Jeje Lalpekhlua ends his goal drought and what a time to do so. Jerry's cross finds an unmarked Jeje in the box who just guides the home past naveen Kumar.
20:54 (IST)
Chennai in control at the interval!
20:48 (IST)
HT: Chennaiyin 2-0 Goa (Agg: 3-1)
Chennai in the driver's seat after a spirited first half. Goa after good start let them down with some poor defending. The visitors need two goals with conceding to advance to the final. Chennai just need to keep their heads
20:46 (IST)
45' Chennaiyin 2-0 FC Goa (Agg: 3-1)
1 minute of stoppage time added at the end of the first half
20:43 (IST)
Dhanapal Ganesh's goal. Poor defending from Goa
20:42 (IST)
40' Chennaiyin 2-0 FC Goa (Agg: 3-1)
The two goals seem to have knocked the stuffing out of FC Goa. Their early start is a thing of the past. Chennaiyin are on the front foot. Goa have to pick themselves up quickly or this game could be out of their reach
20:36 (IST)
Jeje's goal!
20:35 (IST)
34' Chennaiyin 2-0 FC Goa (Agg: 3-1)
Chennaiyin's game plan has worked wonders for them. They allowed Goa to dominate and relied on counter-attacks and set-pieces to make an impact. For their second goal, Dhanpal Ganesh jumps the maximum to head the ball in from a set-piece. Goa's defence has been awful so far.
20:34 (IST)
Dhanapal Ganesh continues his dream season!
20:34 (IST)
JEJE ends his drought!
20:33 (IST)
And the Mizo sniper strikes with head to give Chennai the lead. Huge roar of applause with the Chennai fans chanting "Jeje...Jeje". He broke his six-game goal drought.
20:31 (IST)
29' Chennaiyin 2-0 FC Goa (Agg: 3-1)
GOAL! Dhanapal Ganesh doubles Chennai's lead. Another header, another poor piece of defending from FC Goa allowing Ganesh to head home from close range at the far post from a free kick on the right flank. Chennai on fire
20:27 (IST)
25' Chennaiyin 1-0 FC Goa (Agg: 2-1)
GOAL! Jeje Lalpekhlua ends his goal drought and what a time to do so. Jerry's cross finds an unmarked Jeje in the box who just guides the home past naveen Kumar.
20:21 (IST)
20' Chennaiyin 0-0 FC Goa (Agg: 1-1, Chennaiyin ahead of away goals)
Better from Chennai in the last few minutes. A bit more desire to close down the Goa players. They need to take the sting out of this quick Goan start. More of this needed to achieve that. Crowd too starting to get behind their team.
20:19 (IST)
18' Chennaiyin 0-0 FC Goa (Agg: 1-1, Chennaiyin ahead of away goals)
Two good back-to-back saves from Karanjit Singh and home crowd appreciates the efforts.
20:17 (IST)
15' Chennaiyin 0-0 FC Goa (Agg: 1-1, Chennaiyin ahead of away goals)
As expected, Goa are dominating the early proceedings. Chennai are happy to sit back and defend.
20:11 (IST)
10' Chennaiyin 0-0 FC Goa (Agg: 1-1, Chennaiyin ahead of away goals)
Goa stepping up the heat early on in Chennai. Unlike the first leg, there seems to be a bit more urgency about their play. Chennai have held firm apart from few nervous moments. Meanwhile Goa are racking up the corner count. It's 3 already
20:07 (IST)
5' Chennaiyin 0-0 FC Goa (Agg: 1-1, Chennaiyin ahead of away goals)
Good start to the game. Chennaiyin happy to play on the counter and have tried to find Jeje Lalpekhlua on a couple of occasions already. Goa with a big chance after some brilliant play from Mandar Rao Desai on the left flank, but no takers for FC Goa to tap home the cross that was fired across goal
20:01 (IST)
KICK OFF!
The game is underway in Chennai. Who will play Bengaluru FC in the final?
19:59 (IST)
The big prize!
19:55 (IST)
TEAMS!
Chennaiyin XI: Karanjit Singh (GK), Sereno Henrique (C), Inigo Calderon, Mailson Alves, Jerry Lallrinzuala, Dhanapal Ganesh, Bikramjit SIngh, Francisco Fernandes, Raphael Augusto, Gregory Nelson, Jeje Lalpekhlua
FC Goa XI: Naveen Kumar (GK), Seriton Fernandes, Sergio Juste, Chinglensana Singh, Narayan Das, Ahmed Jahou, Pranoy Halder, Manuel Lanzorate, Hugo Boumous, Mandar Rao Desai, Ferran Corominas
19:44 (IST)
Plenty of empty seats here at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Less than 15 minutes left for the kickoff. Hopefully, they will get filled soon.
19:43 (IST)
TEAM NEWS!
Team sheet of both the teams are out. No major surprises!
19:42 (IST)
Both the teams are out there doing their training. 15 minutes to kick-off
19:13 (IST)
Our correspondent Anish Anand previews the second-leg semi-final of the ISL- Indian Super League between Chennaiyin FC and FC Goa from Chennai.
18:47 (IST)
FC Goa fans have made the long trip to Chennai. Will their team put smiles of their faces?
18:46 (IST)
Gregory Nelson will be key for Chennaiyin tonight and he knows it!
18:45 (IST)
Now or never!
18:31 (IST)
Hello and welcome to Live coverage of the 2nd leg of the second ISL semi-final between Chennaiyin FC and FC Goa from the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in CHennai. Both teams are tied at 1-1 going into this second leg, but today's hosts Chennaiyin FC have the advantage of scoring that away goal. However, with Goa's scoring prowess Chennaiyin can take very little for granted and will have to be at their best to progress to the final on Saturday.
Goa will have to put in a much improved performance from the first leg if they are to play Bengaluru FC in the final of 17 March.
It promises to be an excellent encounter, our correspondent Anish Anand is there at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai and we will keep you updated with all the happening in the game.