Odisha FC‘s slim chance of making the knockouts took a severe hit on Friday as they were held to a goalless draw by Mohammedan SC at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar in their penultimate Indian Super League (ISL) match.
The Kalinga Warriors needed to win their last two games to keep their playoff hopes alive but a stalemate against the Kolkata side, who have lost their last five games, meant Odisha’s ISL season is likely to get over with the last game at Jamshedpur FC.
Odisha are now at the seventh spot with 30 points from 23 games, behind the sixth-placed Mumbai City FC, who have 32 points from 21 matches so far. Rock-bottom MSC now have 12 points from 22 games.
Dropping points in a must-win situation, that too against the wooden spooners, would hit the Juggernauts hard as they had shared points with Mohammedan SC following an identical scoreline in the reverse fixture in Kolkata.
Missing key players like centre-back Mourtada Fall, pivotal midfielder Ahmed Jahouh and Hugo Boumous through suspensiom proved crucial for the home side as they failed to break the rival defence to earn any breakthrough throughout the game.
The hosts had the first chance of the game when Isak Vanlalruatfela found Rahim Ali on the right flank with a brilliant long ball a few minutes into the game. With nowhere to go into the box, Ali squared it to an onrushing Diego Mauricio, who was better positioned to slot it home. However, the Brazilian, quite uncharacteristically, skied it way over the target.
MSC almost scored the first goal of the game when Lalremsanga Fanai made a surging run from the left and delivered a low cross into the box in search of Manvir Singh Saini. However, Odisha fullback Thoiba Moirangthem Singh tracked back in time to avert any danger.
With both sides failing to create quality chances in the rest of the game, the scoreline stayed same to put a nail in the coffin of the Juggernauts’ playoff dreams.