Indian football fanatics have persistently aspired or rather demanded that our teams go out and play outside Asia. Of many ingredients which constitute a footballing nation, competitiveness is an important one. Hence, playing outside Asia, which inevitably means that you are playing against a better-ranked team or in a reputed league, one can definitely expect a decent amount of brilliance from the team or the individual.
Taking examples from the current breed, Sunil Chhetri and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu are two names which are making quite some round around, and both happen to have played or is still playing in leagues abroad. Again, the reason why the victory against Puerto Rico is a celebrated one is because it came against a non-Asian team, ranked higher than us.
Now, keeping international assignments away, the craze primarily today, at least in the popular perception, has been regarding the club/franchise base domestic leagues and the subsequent international club leagues. It wouldn’t be very wrong if an average follower of the game associate England more to the Premier League than the English national team.
The emergence of the Indian Super League (ISL) here hence is a crucial junction for Indian football. For the game to develop in a country, the competitiveness and to a bit glamour within the domestic circuit is very important. And ISL, by bringing in international stars and by pumping in money is sort of at least achieving it on paper.
It will, however, take some time if we want to actually analyze the impact of the league on the performance of the Indian players. But the fact that ISL has risen the playing standards in India (performatively and infrastructurally) is a little more evident and hence, more often than before, we can actually imagine Indian clubs playing abroad.
The problem however with ISL clubs is inconsistency. It’s a really short league and in both the editions that has happened as of yet, there has been drastic changes not just in the team line-up, but also in the managerial positions. So on one read, it might just sound a little too dumb to analyze the playing styles of these clubs and figure out which league in Europe they fit in. But based on hyperbolic analysis and statistical evaluations, if five ISL clubs were to play in any European League. This would be:
Chennaiyin FC- Italian League
The champions of the second edition of the ISL, Chennaiyin FC is the only team who goes into the third edition with the same coach. And with the Italian managing the side, it isn’t a surprise that the club has been pitched to play in the Italian professional league (Maybe in the Serie B).
Traditionally, Italian teams are defence-oriented and tactically shrewd though things are changing now. But with the manager of the team himself being a defender, you can predict a sound backline for the team. In the last season of the ISL, the team made 519 tackles and 204 interceptions. And in the process, the team scored 32 goals while conceded only 23 goals.
Thus, the team in total went full offensive (they were placed second in number of goals scored), but also kept their defence intact. Last season, they also had the highest goalscorer of the league (Mendoza), while Thoi Singh made the most number of tackles for the team.
Thus, the team, as per analysis fits in perfect to be in the Italian league.
Atletico De Kolkata - Spanish League
The name might give it all away. But that’s not all of it. Spanish football is all about being technically sound. So when a team comes out from the footballing capital of India, one would surely expect it to be technically the soundest team in the league. No wonder, they were the winners of the first edition of the league.
ATK, until last year had one of the most organized midfield. They had created 4087 good passes while only 1595 passes by them were intercepted. This fluidity in the play resembles the Spanish gameplay a lot and thus we might just want to see ATK playing in Spanish Second division.
Kolkata though have parted ways with their former coach Antonio Habas, but new recruit, José Francisco Molina, who is again a Spaniard, should continue the same gameplay option. This year too, the team has a sound line up, with a strong midfield and thus, we would like to probably see ATK play in Spain.
FC Pune City- England
As we all know that the Premier League is the most dynamic league of the world and the football ecosystem in England thus promotes a very thrust style of game. Also, it is EPL which today shamelessly showers money in the transfer window procure players, who are not just technically sound, but also players who can deliver.
FC Pune City last year was managed by an Englishmen David Platt. And very usually in the ISL auction, we saw the team spending unapologetically, and forming a good squad. The team, however, despite showing brilliant sparks in between, could only finish seventh in the league. Purely on the basis that, Pune could not reciprocate their potential on paper promise on the ground is vindictive of the fact that they should play in England.
This year, however, they have Antonio Habas and things might just change. Last year, they did manage to create quite a lot of good passes, but with a goal difference of -6, the team sat nowhere near satisfactory performance. It’s just like Manchester United’s performance under David Moyes or Louis Van Gaal.
FC Goa- German League
The Bundesliga is a hybrid of all European styles and thus there is no better in the ISL then FC Goa who can be considered fit to play in Germany. Also, we can very well compare the craziness of Borussia Dortmund fans to the fans of the Goan side and hence they should rightly be given a place in the second division Bundesliga. German Football is all about movement, team spirit and efficiency and Goa displayed all of it last season.
Last season, Goa was the perfect team. They sat on the top of a number of tables. They scored the most number of goals, conceded the second least number of goals and had an exceptionally brilliant midfield game. And with Zico still there, Goa is expected to continue their flamboyant style of play and hence fits the German system well.
Delhi Dynamos- French League
Delhi is another franchise that has never been ashamed to spend money. But just like PSG, they never really have a good sense of the transfer market. Also, the Ligue 1 has been one confused league. It was traditionally weak physically and strong on technique, but with the evolution of time the emphasis has shifted more on physical strength than technical quality.
This confused style of play is also displayed by the team from Delhi. In the first year, they had Del Piero coming in, but things did not click at all. The second season saw Roberto Carlos, John Arne Riise, and Florent Malouda as they marched into the semi-finals.
This year, they have Gianluca Zambrotta managing team, but can we expect a bombastic display? We can’t say. Delhi last year made the most number of tackles, which clearly emphasized on their physical style of play. They also had a healthy number of interceptions and possession, but could manage to score just 17 goals.
Keeping all these in mind, Delhi seems best fit to play in France.
