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The I-League has completed its seventh week and it has been quite action-packed seven days that we have witnessed. With Chennai City FC consolidating their top position with a fighting draw against Mohun Bagan, Churchill Brothers also kept their unbeaten run with after being held against Gokulam Kerala. Minerva FC have finally found their second win against Indian Arrows while Shillong Lajong lost again at their home, this time against north-eastern rivals NEROCA FC.
The most interesting match that has been played in this time happened to be Chennai City and Mohun Bagan. Chennai faced a tough challenge in the form of Mohun Bagan and their perseverance for an equaliser was paid when Nestor Gordillo scored in the 81st minute. Mohun Bagan went ahead with a fine display from their talisman Sony Norde but it was not enough for them to earn their first home win.
Let us look at the how the teams fared in gameweek 7 of I-League 2018-19 season:
#5 Plaza keeps scoring and missing goals
During his time with East Bengal, Willis Plaza was often criticised for his profligacy in front of the goalmouth. He scored 12 goals in his first campaign under the then coach Trevor Morgan but missed so many. This continued in the second season too and he was released midway in the campaign last season.
After joining Churchill Brothers, Plaza seems to have found new energy. The Trinidad and Tobago player silenced his criticisers with a hattrick against Shillong Lajong and followed by another brace against Mohun Bagan. He scored in the third successive match and with six goals, now leads the goal-scoring chart.
But the problem of missing goals continues to trouble him. He is a man who gives his best every time he gets on to the pitch. For some unknown reasons, not all his efforts are successful. He is someone who can score goals from difficult positions but misses a sitter as he did in the Gokulam match when Dawda Cessay’s fine cross went into side-netting.
The Malabarians are a promising bunch this time around with some exciting local talents. New signing Christian Sabah also impressed in his first match against Churchill. But their real test will be on Saturday when they face East Bengal.
#4 Mineva need more work to do
Defending champions Minerva Punjab dealt with a serious blow when they lost their first match against I-League debutant Real Kashmir. They quickly got back to winning ways against Aizawl FC but lost again in the hands of Gokulam before drawing with Shillong Lajong, which was a tiring affair for them after the 40-hour journey due to flight cancellation.
They got a chance to make a turnaround when they faced the inexperienced Indian Arrows at home. But their win was largely underachieved as Arrows dominated the game. The Floyd Pinto-coached side made life hell for Minerva players as the Chandigarh-based club had to wait till the 74th minute to break the deadlock.
Under their new coach Paul Munster, Minerva are playing in a bit defensive strategy. The team is seriously missing an attacking midfielder who could feed the ball to the strikers. It’s unknown by when Yu Kuboki will be available and his replacement Donatus Edafe too hasn’t impressed at all.
#3 Shankarlal’s substitution questioned as Mohun Bagan concede another late goal
Last season, Mohun Bagan failed to use their home advantage in most of the matches, which led to the sacking of the then coach Sanjay Sen. In this season too, the curse of home ground continues to haunt the green and maroon side. Mohun Bagan have played three matches at home this season and are still winless.
The match against Chennai City was a tough battle for them, given the mauling they received against Churchill Brothers a few days ago. Surprisingly, Mohun Bagan upped their ante so much and gave league leaders Chennai a torrid time in the first half. Their domination continued in the second half too and it was their talisman Sony Norde who gave the home side the deserved lead.
Shankarlal Chakroborty made some decisions which raised eyebrows. In the first half, right winger Pintu Mahata got himself injured. Instead of introducing an attacking midfielder, Shankarlal replaced Mahata with defensive blocker Amey Ranawade, given that he had Azharudding Mullikc at his disposal. The Maharashtra-born player clearly flopped in his new position.
Also, Shankarlal withdrew Omar Elhusseiny in the 70th minute and introduced Shilton D’Silva, who too plays as a defensive midfielder. This lessened the grip of Mohun Bagan and Chennai City suddenly came back into the game.
Nestor Gordillo’s equaliser in the 81st minute portrayed the similar story which green and maroons witnesses against Gokulam and Aizawl – concede a late goal and draw the match.
#2 Shillong’s ploy with all-Indian line-up will take more time to deliver results
Shillong Lajong created a flutter before the start of the I-League season when they announced that the team have not signed a foreigner and will field a pan-Indian side to promote local talents. The smiles broadened on the faces of the officials when Lajong registered a victory over neighbours Aizawl in their first match.
But they lost next four matches before a draw to a depleted and tired Minerva Punjab. They’ve lost again this week against north-eastern neighbours NEROCA which piled more misery on the club’s fortune.
Being placed at the second bottom position of the league – only above Indian Arrows, the other all-Indian side of the tournament – it is high time for the officials to think about the future course of the club. For, the Arrows will not be relegated even if they finish last, like last year. But Lajong will be relegated even if the finish above Arrows.
The club from Shillong have so far showed enough promises to be at this level which are not reflected in their results. It is perhaps their lack of experience which prevents them from winning. If they want to keep their words of not signing a foreigner, they’ll have to find out some other way as soon as possible.
#1 Coimbatore draws large crowd
The dwindling fortunes of Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League made football loving people of Kerala to look at the other way. Gokulam presented them the perfect occasion to turn up at the stadium with the attacking brand of football.
Gokulam have so far played five matches at the EMS Corporation Stadium, their home ground in Coimbatore. The number of combined spectators in these matches stands at 1,21,091. Combining ISL and I-League matches, only ATK have more number of spectators – 1,31,296.
Compared to last season, when nine home matches of Gokulam witnessed a total of 73,177 spectators, this season has already seen the best.
This is mainly due to the good showings on the field. Apart from the fighting loss against Chennai City FC, Gokulam registered two wins and two draws from their other two matches.
Moreover, all their home matches this season started at 5 PM, contrary to the 2 PM start last season, which kept people away from the games. They have played Minerva match at 7.30 PM, which witnesses the most number of crowd (30,246).
Social media too helping their cause as people are coming from as far as Thiruvananthapuram to see matches in Kozhikode.
One can hope that this craze would increase in the future matches.
