ISL: Odisha FC coach Josep Gombau seeks answers after refereeing blunder during loss to Mumbai City

Shortly after their defeat against Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League on Saturday, the official Twitter handle of Odisha FC put up a post taking a dig at the referee that officiated in the match.

“Thank you referee,” read the post which was later deleted.

It was a scrappy affair at the Mumbai Football Arena, with The Islanders getting their first win of the season to move to second position on the points table. An own goal, deflected in by Shubham Sarangi, early in the second half and a Bipin Singh strike in the 94th minute led to a 2-0 scoreline at full time.

It was a frustrating night for Odisha FC, who were definitely the better team in the first half. Mumbai started the game brightly with Bipin probing down the left flank, but the visitors gained control quickly and created the better chances, even if neither team really threatened the goal.

Mumbai, however, raised their intensity in the second half and scored a goal that seemed to deflate Odisha. Both teams continued to struggle with possession as the match went on but the difference at the end was that the hosts capitalised on their chances.

Controversy

Now, coming back to that aforementioned tweet. In the 68th minute of the match, both teams made double substitutions but things took an unexpected turn in the process. Play resumed with 12 MCFC players on the pitch, leaving the Odisha bench furious. They pointed out the blunder to the referees, rather animatedly, and a member of their coaching staff ended up getting booked.

The tweet after the game was, perhaps, alluding to this incident. For, Odisha FC head coach Josep Gombau made it clear in the post-match press conference that he had no complaint about the overall refereeing through the course of the match.

However, Gombau did have a lot to say about that period of play during which Mumbai City had 12 players on the pitch.

“For about 30 second, Mumbai City played with 12 players on the field. After their substitutions, one of the players who was supposed to go off the field didn’t, I don’t know why, he didn’t go out. Now, I don’t know the regulation and I am asking for the regulation. Because in football, the first rule is to play 11 against 11,” said the Spaniard.

“They beat us on the field 2-0, and congratulations to them for it, but they did an aberration of the rules of football. This is what I’m trying to find from the guys in the Indian Super League and the referees, and they’re all over the place and can’t answer my questions. This is very bad.

“The first thing they said is that I shouldn’t speak about this [in the press conference] but I’m not like this, I’m an honest person and am explaining exactly what happened tonight on the field. If this means that the regulation with Fifa says nothing wrong happened, I will understand it. But if the regulation says that the team that plays with 12 players loses the game, then I will complain for this because it’s my right to do it and it’s not my fault.”

‘We need to act seriously’

Gombau suggested that such refereeing mistakes reflect poorly on the league and must have consequences.

“I love the Indian Super League and Indian people and am so grateful and happy to be here, but if we want this league to grow properly and people around the world to take us seriously, we need to act seriously. And right now I can’t find any serious answer to my question,” he said.

“This incident, for me, was very big. In the 30 years that I have been a football coach, I have never seen a team play with 12 players. And when I ask what is going on, these guys cannot tell me. The first thing I did after the game was congratulate their coach, but I told him I will lodge a complaint because they played with 12 players.”

Gombau went on to share his views on the overall state of refereeing in the ISL. The 46-year-old suggested that the current system needs to change in order to achieve better standards of officiating.

“This is something I always say – if you want to have quality referees, these guys need to be professional. Because if they aren’t professional and have other [full-time] jobs during the week, how will they be able to focus on the game? What do they do during the week to get better? They can’t do anything because this is not their [main] job. Thanks to them that they come and do this [football refereeing]. It’s so difficult to do refereeing. If someone helps them, they can be very good,” he said.

“Tonight we didn’t lose because of the referees. This is another matter. They make mistakes, I make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. No problem. But tonight, there was an aberration of the rules of the game... and if I don’t say anything about it in the press conference. Like this, we won’t grow. If I don’t say anything about this, I am not helping anyone. I am someone who tries to help the referees and doesn’t say anything when they make mistakes. I take responsibility as a coach if we lose. But if one team plays with 12 players, understand me that I need to say something.”