The Cooperage Stadium was to Mumbai, what Wembley is to London. Not in comparison with the grandiose of Wembley, but the legacy. The stadium has handed over the football to a generation, with a glorious past. The best footballing clubs and legendary players have set the place on fire, with their extraordinary performance, sending the jam-packed stadium into a fan frenzy.
While the India Rush SC youth team has had great success at the renovated Cooperage Stadium, we were yet to play at the top level. Well, that day arrived, as the team got ready to set the pace in the second match of India Rush SC Elite Premier Division campaign against Bombay Muslims on 1st April’22.
Match Report
India Rush SC headed into the match with a hard-fought win against Millat FC 2-1, Bombay Muslim in contrast lost their opening match by a 4-1. Bombay Muslims were looking to take their first three points of the season while IRSC was looking to make it two wins out of two.
India Rush dominated the match and was the clear favorite to score. The match was edgy and the reason could be made out from the stats. IRSC had 65% of the ball and had 20 shots of which 10 were on target. Bombay Muslim had 7 shots but 4 were on target.
Frustrated by the constant raid on the goal by India Rush SC players, the Mumbai Muslim resorted to parking the bus strategy. While that’s fair game, the body game just wasn’t. The boys in Blue certainly left let down. With 15 free kicks in favor of India Rush SC and only two yellow cards awarded to Mumbai Muslims, 2 Red cards shown to India Rush SC players for objecting left a lot to be desired in the fair play department.
Even with 9 players, India Rush SC managed to maintain the attack, which speaks a lot about the team preparation by Head Coach Taposh. The match ended in a draw, both teams shared a point. With this point, IRSC-RSF has 4 points in two matches while Bombay Muslims are on the board now with 1 point in their two matches played.
FT: IRSC-RSF 0-0 Bombay Muslim