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After playing their unique little brand of tiki-long, taka-goal football, Albert Roca’s ‘project’ started off with a thumping success. The defending champions were too good on the day for their North-Eastern opponents, and have laid out the marker for the rest of the chasing pack. This should be some season
Here’s how the players fared:
Bengaluru FC
Amrinder Singh (GK): 8/10
He had literally nothing to do the whole match except for keeping out a Dan Ignat effort just before the final whistle. Did that well, and his loud marshalling of his defence is always one of the trademarks of a BFC game
Harmanjot Singh Khabra: 7/10
The right back – who claims he can play anywhere he is asked to, including in goal – was solid on his first outing with the defending champions and put in some good crosses as well as taking some decent set pieces
Juan Gonzalez – 7/10
The Spaniard was on top of his game and was in no mood to let Shillong get away with an inch – though they hardly tried
John Johnson – 7/10
The man from ‘Boro was a boss in the air – some of his thumping headers would have put the fear of God in the opposition strikers – and was typically uncompromising in tackle.
Sena Ralte – 9/10
Bengaluru’s new left back brought his A-game to impress Albert Roca and the West Block Blues. He was a constant menace on the left, and his howitzer of a shot that got BFC their third goal was just reward for a brilliant day’s work
Cameron Watson – 7/10
The Australian’s positional discipline allowed his teammates in midfield to play with freedom. Did the Makelele role to perfection, sweeping up in front of his defence with typical efficiency
Lenny Rodrigues – 7/10
A misplaced pass that let Bipin have a pot shot at goal apart, the new recruit had a good game on debut, linking up well with Watson and Lyndoh next to him. His endless box-to-box running will be an asset to the defending champs as the season gathers pace.
Eugeneson Lyngdoh – 7/10
That should have been a 4. He had a horrible first hour – miscuing shots, misplacing simple passes, shooting straight at the goalie from six yards... the works – but it’s hard to keep a good man down. His magnificent dinked through ball to set up Udanta for the game’s second was a thing of beauty and exactly the touch of magic that BFC required to put the game to bed.
Udanta Singh – 9/10 (off 85’)
The striker welcomed himself back to the starting XI with a display of his best skills. Fast, incisive running and superb positional play got him a much-deserved brace. He would have bagged a hattrick if not for the outstanding Vishal Kaith in Shillong’s goal.
Daniel Lalhlimpuia – 7.5/10 (off 79’)
Daniel didn’t score, but like his coach said in the presser, he did everything else to perfection – running the channels, linking up brilliantly with Lyngdoh, Chhetri and Udanta around him with some eye-catching one-touch passing
Sunil Chhetri – 6/10 (off 88’)
The captain was not at his best today – but kept on keeping on, diving into tackles and hassling/harrying the opposition non-stop and hit the post with a really nice curling effort. Why only the 6, you ask? it was not the greatest of games by his unimpeachably high standards.
Substitutes
CK Vineeth (on 79’) – 6/10
Was his usual endless running, always battling self – but had too little time to impact the proceedings: the game was done and dusted by the time he, and the other substitutes, came on.
Alywn George (on 85’) – NA
Mandarrao Dessai (on 88’) – NA
Shillong Lajong FC
Vishal Kaith (GK) – 8.5/10
The goalkeeper was in epic form yesterday – pulling off some seriously stunning saves from close range against the battery of shots taken at him by him Lyngdoh, Udanta and Daniel. If not for him, the score would well have been 6-7.
Nimdorjee Tamang – 5/10
The right back was tormented by the combination of Sunil Chhetri and Sena Ralte down the left, and had nothing much by the way of answers
Chinglensana Singh – 6/10
The highly-rated centre-back was not given any time to settle with Daniel, Udanta and Chhetri hassling and harrying the backline with incessant determination. Put in a couple of tackles to stop some dangeorus looking BFC attacks
Dan Ignat – 6/10
The Romanian’s first taste of Indian football was not a great one for him. Facing arguably the best forward line in India, he struggled to cope with their movement and intricate passing in the final third. Had a decent chance to salvage a consolation goal with the last kick of the game, but his shot was well saved by Amrinder
Pritam Kumar – 5/10
The left back was tormented by Udanta throughout the game, and he completely mistimed his challenge against the BFC forward when he got dummied as Udanta scored his second.
Hardy Cliff – 5/10
The midfielder was completely anonymous and could do nothing about the BFC midfield running the show
Issac Chhakchhuak – 5/10
Errm, read above.
Bipin Singh – 6/10 (off 71’)
The winger had one of the three shots on goal that Shillong had all day and was a source of some bright moments with his strong running and determination.
Yuta Kinowaki – 6/10 (off 60’)
The Japanese was feisty throughout and got involved in a couple of off-the-ball incidents with the BFC boys, but did almost nothing to affect the on-the-ball game in a positive manner. Will need to settle in quickly.
Fabio Henrique Pena – 6.5/10
The Brazilian showed a couple of deft touches and flicks, but his and his teammates’ wavelengths were aeons apart. This will improve as the season progresses and Thangboi Singto will be hoping that happens sooner rather than later.
Redeem Talang – 5/10 (off 86’)
The young forward tried gamely, but starved of service there was very little he could do.
Substitutions
Jacob Lalrawngbawla – 5/10 (on 60’)
Wasn’t much of an improvement on Yuta
Asier Pierrick Dipanda – 5/10 (on 71’)
The Cameroonian forward was belatedly introduced into the game, but suffered the same afflictiion as his co-forwards and starved of service, could not do much
Rupert Nongrum – NA (on 86’)
Came on too late to do anything about a match that was already over.
