Magnificent Mendosa nets a hat-trick as rampant Chennaiyin FC destroy FC Goa

by Kaushal Shukla October 11, 2015

Chennaiyin FC got back to winning ways after a truly wonderful away performance saw them thrash FC Goa 4-0 at FC Goa’s Fatorda Stadium to register their first win in this season’s Indian Super League (ISL). Chennaiyin’s stars from last season Elano and Mendosa came into their own as FC Goa had nothing in response to the duo’s brilliance.

Marco Materazzi made a host of changes to his team which lost to the Delhi Dynamos as the Italian pushed Steven Mendosa futher up the pitch and paired him with Jayesh Rane upfront. Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Mailson replaced Potenza and Abhishek Das in defence.

The changes seemed to be working right from the outset for Materazzi as his teams took just three minutes to conjure up their first opportunity of the game when a delightful pass from Elano took the FC Goa midfield out of the question to set Jayesh Rane through on goal, but the young midfielder fired his shot straight at the goalkeeper.

It was all Chennaiyin FC in the opening exchanges of the game and the away side made the breakthrough in the 10th minute when Khabra won the ball in midfield and fed Elano who released Mendosa through on goal as the Colombian’s strike was partially saved by the FC Goa goalkeeper. Defender Arnolin tried a last ditch attempt to clear the danger but could only clear it for Mendoza to tap home from two yards.

FC Goa almost committed suicide two minutes later, when they lost the ball to Mendosa who released Elano on goal. But the Brazilian fell expecting a challenge for Andrade which never came as the chance went begging for the visitors.

Jayesh Rane who impressed high up the pitch made his greatest contribution when he cleared Keenan Almeida’s effort off the line after Almeida had beaten the Edel Bete with his effort in the 18th minute.

FC Goa slowly came into the game post the half hour mark and started causing some problems for the Cehnnaiyin defence, but Mendy and co. were up to their task and defended resolutely.

Eventually Chennaiyin punished FC Goa for not making the most of their good spell when they doubled their lead through Elano who had slotted home from inside the box after Jayesh Rane found him with a neat pass. The goal was a real blow for FC Goa with the goal coming just two minutes from half time and made Zico’s task at half time a lot more difficult.

Zico brought on Bikramjeet Singh in place of Romeo Fernandes at half time, but that changed little as Chennaiyin almost got their third in the 48th minute when Mendosa and Elano combined once again to allow Elano to fire a shot at the FC Goa goal, but Andrade saved it at full stretch.

FC Goa had a massive shout for a penalty turned down ten minutes later when Jofre who was almsot in on goal was fouled inside the box by Ralte, but he got away with it as the referee decided against giving the hosts a penalty.

It was an insult to injury for FC Goa when Chennaiyin produced a perfect counter attack which resulted in Elano sliding a through ball for Mendosa who made no mistake in firing past Andrade and seal the points for the Cehnnai outfit.

Mendosa made history as he became only the second player to score a hat-trick in the ISL as he scored Chennaiyin FC’s fourth in the 75th minute to prompt the disappointed FC Goa fans to take to the exit doors.

The referee got FC Goa out of their misery with the full time whistle as Chennaiyin registered the biggest away win in ISL history thanks to a near perfect performance. For Zico and FC Goa, it was a nightmare worth forgetting as their unbeaten start to the season came to a halt.

The result would have sent shock waves around the ISL as Chennaiyin FC fired a warning to the rest of the league.