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Overview
It was another dramatic weekend in the Airtel I-League and the big winners were East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. The red-and-gold brigade recorded a 3-1 home victory over Rangdajied United and that result saw them close the gap at the top to ten points with three games in hand. That was because none of the top four could win while three of them suffered defeats. Mohun Bagan also won 3-1 but their success came away from home against title-chasing Sporting Clube. The Mariners are still not safe mathematically but with four of the bottom five failing to win, one more win from their remaining three fixtures should be enough.
Salgaocar were the first title contenders to drop points in this round as they were held to a goalless draw at home by relegation-threatened United Sports Club on Saturday. With Bengaluru suffering defeat, Salgaocar managed to close the gap by one point but they will be disappointed not to beat a side that extended their winless streak to 11 games. The point turned out to be a decent result for United SC as later on Saturday Mohammedan Sporting suffered a 1-0 defeat away at Dempo. Ex-Mohammedan striker Tolgay Ozbey scored the winner in the second half against his former club after squandering a first-half penalty.
That loss eventually sent Mohammedan to the bottom of the table as on Sunday Churchill Brothers produced a remarkable comeback in stoppage time to beat Pune FC 3-2. Churchill are still placed second-from-bottom but have games in hand over each of the four teams above them. While Churchill’s win opened up the relegation battle, Bengaluru’s heavy 3-0 defeat against Shillong Lajong has made the title race even more interesting. It was Bengaluru’s second straight loss in Shillong this season and they won’t be encouraged by the fact that three of their remaining four games are away from home. They will also miss goalkeeper Pawan Kumar and centre-back Curtis Osano in their final home match next week against Pune as both were sent off in Shillong.
Results
Salgaocar 0-0 United Sports Club; Dempo 1-0 Mohammedan Sporting; East Bengal 3-1 Rangdajied United; Sporting Clube 1-3 Mohun Bagan; Churchill Brothers 3-2 Pune FC; Shillong Lajong 3-0 Bengaluru FC
Game of the round
Churchill Brothers 3-2 Pune FC
Photo Credit: Churchill Brothers
This was the clash between India’s two AFC Cup representatives and in the end it turned out to be one of the games of the season. The match had everything starting from two sending offs to five goals but Churchill Brothers had the last laugh as they scored twice in stoppage time to record a vital victory. Both teams were missing key foreigners with Pune’s English defender Calum Angus unavailable due to personal reasons while Churchill were without the suspended Abdelhamid Shabana. The Red Machines were also missing Costa Rican striker Cristian Lagos and they got off to the worst possible start as right back Satish Singh was sent off for a high foot on Arata Izumi in the 13th minute.
Despite going down to ten men, Churchill showed great character and quality as Anthony Wolfe put them in front midway through the first period. The Goan outfit were given a further boost as Pune were also reduced to ten when goalkeeper Amrinder Singh denied Wolfe a goal-scoring opportunity by fouling him outside the box and was shown a straight red. But this time Pune’s resilience was evident as they equalised just before the break through Riga Mustapha. The 10v10 encounter had end-to-end action in the second half as substitute Pune keeper Arup Debnath made two vital saves while at the other end Douhou Pierre hit the woodwork.
Pune took the lead for the first time in the game through Mirjan Pavlovic in the 68th minute and were on their way to a crucial away win. But India international Balwant Singh produced a moment of magic at the start of the injury time to equalise and net his ninth I-League goal. And then, Bineesh Balan won it for Churchill with almost the last kick of the game much to delight of the Churchill family who were desperate for maximum points. The result keeps Churchill’s I-League status very much in their hands while Pune’s title challenge suffered another blow and they have now won only three of their last 11 I-League fixtures.
Result of the round
Sporting Clube 1-3 Mohun Bagan
Mohun Bagan’s difficult season had been threatening to get worse as just three points from four matches after the I-League break saw them get in serious danger again of getting relegated. Having suffered a heavy 3-1 away defeat against Rangdajied United last week, an-injury hit Mohun Bagan side faced another away test against title-chasing Sporting Clube, who had won the reverse fixture in Kolkata earlier in the season. A special performance was needed to get something out of this and coach Karim Bencherifa possibly got more from his players than he had asked or wished for as the Kolkata giants ran out 3-1 winners.
The Mariners started the game well but skipper Odafa Okolie was wasteful in front of goal and that added to the tension of the Mohun Bagan fans back in Kolkata. But Bencherifa’s side kept attacking and then on the stroke of halftime Odafa finally broke the deadlock after some brilliant work by Japanese Katsumi Yusa. Mohun Bagan were solid defensively in the second period and then doubled their advantage through Christopher Chizoba with Yusa once again providing the assist. A brilliant strike from Rowlin Borges brought Sporting Clube back in the contest but a goalkeeping howler from Ravi Kumar saw Odafa score the third and ensure his club’s fifth I-League win of the campaign.
The three-time Indian champions now have a seven-point advantage over rock-bottom Churchill Brothers and possibly need one more win to guarantee their survival. But even that may not be necessary as only one team will eventually go down. However Bencherifa would surely be looking to build on this impressive win and finish as high as possible. All three of their remaining fixtures are in Kolkata including a clash with league leaders Bengaluru FC. So Mohun Bagan will still have a say in the title race and Sporting Clube would be hoping for a favour from them. But the Flaming Oranje must sort out their form first as they are yet to record an I-League victory in 2014 with just two points from five games.
Best Players
Foreigner – Katsumi Yusa (Mohun Bagan)
The Japanese was back to his best against Sporting Clube and was unplayable at times. Yusa set up two of three goals and inspired the Mariners to a much-needed victory.
Indian – Reisangmi Vashum (East Bengal)
Vashum (No.12) was outstanding against RangdajiedPhoto Credit: Kingfisher East Bengal
The midfielder has been rarely used in the I-League due to injury and fitness issues but Vashum showed his quality against Rangdajied, which was only his second start, by scoring his first I-League goal this season and also created another.
Controversy
The refereeing was under the spotlight in this round with two matches having two sending offs each. But the big talking point was in the game between East Bengal and Rangdajied as the Shillong club had a goal disallowed when the score was 1-1. Rangdajied strongly feel the decision was wrong and that it directly affected the result. The other major controversy is surrounding Tolgay’s appearance against his former club Mohammedan. As per an agreement between the two parties that was made after the player’s release at the end of 2013, the Australian wasn’t eligible to face the Kolkata giants and that was the case during the Federation Cup.
But Tolgay lodged a complaint to the AIFF that his dues have not been cleared by Mohammedan. Following that the AIFF players’ status committee cleared Tolgay to play against Mohammedan and the striker’s presence was decisive as he scored the winner to send the black and whites to the bottom of the table. Mohammedan are claiming now that they had cleared all the dues and thus want the AIFF to punish Tolgay and award the Kolkata club three points from their match against Dempo. Mohammedan are also willing to take legal action if needed but surely this is only the beginning of this latest Indian football saga surrounding Tolgay.
The Table
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | GD |
| Bengaluru FC | 20 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 37 | +11 |
| Salgaocar | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 34 | +7 |
| Pune FC | 19 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 30 | +6 |
| Sporting Clube | 19 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 29 | +1 |
| Shillong Lajong | 20 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 29 | -1 |
| Dempo | 20 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 28 | +2 |
| East Bengal | 17 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 27 | +8 |
| Mohun Bagan | 21 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 24 | 0 |
| Rangdajied United | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 21 | -8 |
| United SC | 20 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 21 | -8 |
| Mumbai FC | 19 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 20 | -3 |
| Churchill Brothers | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 18 | -8 |
| Mohammedan Sporting | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 17 | -7 |
