KATHMANDU, June 27: A-Division League winner Manang Marshyangdi looked like it would finish the AFC Cup campaign with an inspiring draw, but eventually fell to a late 3-2 loss at the hands of 17-18 Indian Super League (ISL) champion Chennaiyin FC in Lalitpur on Wednesday.
Playing at home, it could not quite take advantage of the support, and was downed by a brace from Mohammed Rafi in the second half.
Manang was not particularly poor like in the other games, but could not make good value of its chances in front of the goal. It had the most of the possession, but its performance in the attacking third was pretty poor.
The first chance of the game went to Rafi, but his shot from a long distance to the left went wide in the first minute of the game. Manang quickly geared its pace a minute later as Afeez Olawale Oladipo’s shot from inside the danger area went wide as well.
Chennaiyin got another chance in the 18th minute as center back Mailson headed the ball from the six yard out of the box from a corner went just wide to the left.
Manang looking for first win in AFC Cup
Manang got its share of chance three minutes later again as Abhishek Rijal, who made his full debut for the national team few weeks ago by scoring a goal, hit a shot from outside the danger box. It was saved by Chennaiyin keeper Karanjit Singh.
Olawale got another chance for Manang as he hit a shot from the left side of the box, but it missed following a superb through ball from Heman Gurung in the 35th minute.
Chennaiyin got two brilliant chances inside a minute, but could not convert both of them. Chris Herd got the first chance as he headed the ball from an Eli Sabia headed pass, but the ball went wide. Herd gave a cross to Rafi moment later, but his header was off target in the 37th minute.
Chennaiyin paced its game up as Jerry Lalrinzuala could have scored the opener in the first half, but his shot from a difficult angle was heading toward to the bottom left corner which was saved by keeper Bishal Shrestha in the 41st minute.
Bishal Rai got a chance in the 51st minute when he hit a shot from outside the box, but the ball went closely wide.
But, it was Rafi who scored the first of the game as his header from a close range to the bottom left corner following a corner by Anirudh Thapa in the 53rd minute found the net.
Chennaiyin hit the second in the 66th minute as Sabia’s right footed shot from the left side of the six yard box to the bottom right corner found the target after a brilliant through ball by man-in-form Rafi.
Chennaiyin thought it had got the game in the bag, but Olawale produced his game of the season performance as he took the pass from Gurung in a counter attack. He went to the center of the danger area, adjusted his body and hit a right footed shot from the right area of the box to score a brilliant goal in the 71st minute.
Olawale scored the same type of goal from the left area for his second one, and brought the game back on track in the 79th minute.
The drama was not over then as Rafi had the last laugh in the game as his left footed shot from the a close range went to the center of the post following a corner in the 88th post.
The result saw Manang failing to register even a single win in the six Group E games as it lost four and drew two. Chennaiyin, despite winning the game, finished second and missed out on the qualification as Bangladesh’s Abahani Dhaka scored a 93rd minute goal to beat India’s Minerva Punjab 1-0 and finish top and qualify to the inter-zone playoff semifinals.
With the loss, Punjab’s unbeaten run of five group stage games of the tournament ended. It registered five points from six games and finished third.
