Nicolas Anelka : Cometh the hour, cometh the man

The Sunday football crowd here could not have asked for anything better. Mumbai FC striker Nicolas Anelka knew this was his moment to make a mark. And, he did announce himself to the home crowd in style.

Making his home debut, the former French international showed fans what they were missing as his free kick curled into the net to give the home side all three points in a 1-0 win over Kerala Blasters in the ISL tie at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, on Sunday. Form maybe temporary but class is permanent.

It was a chance that Kerala were left to rue. "One opportunity is all that it takes. We know the damage these dead ball situations can do and it proves costly when you know that there wasn't much to choose between Mumbai and us tonight," said Kerala Blasters coach David James post the game.

The first few minutes involved the home side applying early pressure with their continuous pressing led by Andre Moritz and Lalrinda Ralte. Despite Anelka leading the line alongside Subash Singh, he and Moritz took turns to drop back and look to inflict damage between the space left between Kerala's defence and midfield. A minute later and Anelka got his first chance of the game. Receiving a well-timed pass from Moritz, he failed to make the most of his shot that was well dealt with by Sandip Nandy, the Blasters keeper.

The next 20 minutes involved a complete drop in the intensity showed by the home side as the Blasters were on the ascendancy, having five corners in succession. However, Cederic Hengbert and CS Sabeeth could not find the target from any of those. The remainder of the first half saw Kerala seeing more of the ball but failed to deliver in the 18-yard-box.
Just when most thought both the sides would go into the interval at 0-0, Blasters' midfielder Ishfaq Ahmed brought down Jan Stohanzl in a reckless challenge just outside the box. Anelka stepped up to take the free kick and sent the home crowd into a frenzy by beating the wall and curling it past the fully outstretched Nandy. Kerala, with all that possession, were left undone by the Frenchman's moment of magic as they went into halftime a goal behind.

Mumbai were off the blocks on resumption. Nandy made a mess of a clearance and made things worse by rushing outside the box only for Cedric Hengart to provide the rescue act. The goal seemed to have rejuvenated Anelka, who made a fine run down the left linking up well with Moritz only to see the Kerala defenders regroup under pressure. Moritz provided another great through ball, this time to Jan Stohanzl only for the Czech midfielder to sky his shot well above goal.

Anelka, with his flicks and runs, was giving the Mumbai crowd a feast for their eyes. Despite being marked by three Kerala players, the Frenchman made a well-timed run in the 70th minute and followed that with a cross that left the Kerala defense in splits only to see Subash make a mess of it.

Anelka tried his best to get another on the score sheet and came twice in the final ten minutes to give his side a two-goal-cushion. The first was missed by the man himself while Moritz wasted a golden opportunity from a deflection off Anelka's shot. The Mumbai side had a chance to double their lead right till the last minute but substitute Nadong Bhutia's shot was denied by the post just before the whistle.

It wasn't a case of Mumbai grinding out a 1-0 win but rather Kerala failing to produce the attacking goods in the second half as the home side earned their second win of the tournament. They now leapfrog their opponents into fifth position with six points. With a peach of a goal and mesmerising the Mumbai crowd with his runs and flicks, there were no prizes for guessing who ended up as the hero of the match.

Anelka may have dazzled the audience, but it was the defence that stood out for Mumbai City FC coach Peter Reid. "Anelka is a class player. We've seen him do this week in week out in England but knowing that he can still come up with such a performance at 35 is great. That said, take nothing away from the defence. Our keeper didn't have much to do today. It's a sign of things being spot on tactically. All that I wished for was Subash putting the ball at the end of Nicolas' cross," said Reid, who was delighted on knowing that Manchester City, his former side as player and manager that got the better of rivals Manchester United as both matches were played at the same time.

aditganguly@dnaindia.net