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Jamshedpur faced Chennaiyin FC at Chennaiyan’s last home game in hopes of salvaging the much needed three points to keep them afloat in the race to the top 4. As it stood before the match, Jamshedpur at 23 points needed two wins from their last two matches and hope that NorthEast loses their next one against Kerala Blasters.
Having already gone through an injury-prone season Jamshedpur went into the match in the absence of Robin Gurung who was stretched off in the last game against Pune City FC.
Sitting at the rock-bottom, Chennaiyin FC had nothing but pride to play for in a season which had unfolded a pretty dismal performance for the defending champions. With just two wins in 17 games, Gregory Nelson hoped to give the home crowd something to cheer for in their last home game of the season.
The game saw yet another mediocre standard of play in the Indian Super League with both sides creating very few chances during the games. With a knife to their neck, one would have expected Jamshedpur to go full throttle in a do-or-die match but it seemed that the team is okay to finish the season with a 5-place finish. The team showed no urgency in getting a result out of the game and in fact were dominated by Chennaiyin FC in major quarters, leading them to a 0-0 finish at the final whistle.
The draw further confirmed the top 4 for the ISL season 5 as NorthEast joined Bengaluru FC, FC Goa and Mumbai City FC for the knockout phase of the tournament.
Here are the 5 talking points from the game.
#1 Jamshedpur’s Attacking Woes continues
Jamshedpur FC has been plagued with their attacking worries this season as even after continuous changes in the forward line they’ve not been able to find a solution in front of goal.
Tim Cahill had been the alone option for the Men of Steel this season and now with even he being injured, Jamshedpur was left with no other option than to rely on the midfielders and the wingers to do some magic for them.
With Sumeet Passi left out of the squad, Jamshedpur went into this match with Farukh Chaudhary infront of goal who, otherwise serve as a winger. The onus of scoring was also left to Spaniard Sergio Cidoncha and Jerry Mawhmingthanga in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Jamshedpur also relied heavily on midfielder Mario Arques to chip in on the attack.
Unfortunately, the lack of a proper striker and an overreliance on the midfield resulted in Jamshedpur left wandering throughout the pitch for the entire duration of the match. The miscommunication and improper coordination between the players resulted in one of the poor displays of football from Jamshedpur this season. The defensive pair of Mailson Alves and Eli Sabia also proved to be too good for the Caser Ferrando’s men as they move towards the last game of the season with nothing but pride to play for.
One would hope that Jamshedpur takes note of this and keeps the search for a striker as a matter of high priority for the next season.
#2 Karanjit with a Save of the Season
Even though Karanjit wasn’t tested in true terms, he was crucial on keeping Jamshedpur at bay. Regarded highly as one of India’s important man in front of goal, Karanjit showed a glimpse of his brilliance in today’s match, which can easily be one of the contenders for the ‘saves of the season’.
In the 30th minute of the game, Sergio Cidoncha was able to put in a looping cross from the left-wing towards the goal which found the head of a sprinting Mario Arques, who got the better of Eli Sabia and was able to deflect the ball towards the left of Karanjit from a very close distance.
Karanjit only had a fraction of a second to react to the deflected header from Arques and pulled off a stunning save, to keep the scores tied at 0-0.
Along with the save, Karanjit and the Chennaiyin FC defence will be pretty happy to keep a clean sheet in the match, which was otherwise expected to be a firm test for the Chennaiyin backline.
#3 Soosairaj’s Goal disallowed
With increasing questions in front of the goal, Cesar Ferrando made a rather desperate change in the second half to bring the reliable Micheal Soosairaj on the left, replacing Farukh Chaudhary. Soosairaj has been clinical for the miners this season and was almost able to rescue Jamshedpur in the final moments of the game.
In the peak of the action, Spaniard Carlos Calvo made a solid run on the right and was able to loop-in a perfect cross in the Chennaiyin box to find countrymen Mario Arques. Arques, closely marked by a Chennaiyin defender, was able to get the better of him as he nodded the ball towards Micheal Soosairaj who made no mistake to tap it into the net, past Karanjit Singh.
Amidst the celebrations, the linesman made no hesitation to raise his flag as Soosairaj was caught offside when the ball was delivered to him, further confirmed by the television replay.
Soosairaj will be cursing himself, thinking if he could have done better in the situation and help to keep Jamshedpur's playoff hopes alive
#4 Jamshedpur FC’s gameplan?
Jamshedpur FC came into this match in a do-or-die scenario having to salvage nothing less than three points in order to keep themselves in the contention for the top 4. Having tasted their first home defeat this season against Pune one would have expected JFC to go all guns blazing against Chennaiyin, who are the least ranked team in the tournament.
However, when the game unfolded Caser Ferrando’s men showed no urgency in working towards a win. Paralysed in terms of choices, Ferrando fielded one of the weakest JFC line-ups and further received very little support from the players. Fatigued and tired, the players also posed little or no challenge to the Chennaiyin defence for almost the entire duration of the match. A below-par performance could be traced in the fact that JFC first ball in the Chennayin box made its way in the 30th minute of the game and a handful after that.
In the absence of a striker, Jamshedpur never looked like scoring, neither they looked to have a gameplan to create chances for scoring. Forward movement, loss of possession and a screaming manager on the sideline, pretty much sums JFC’s performance for today.
One would also argue on why Caser Ferrando would field an inexperienced Karan Amin and Augustin Fernandes in place of Bikash Jairu and Pratik Chowdhary especially when both of these players have been starters this season?
#5 ISL gets its top 4 and what lies ahead for both teams
With Jamshedpur bowing out of the knockout race, the season 5 of the Indian Super League has been confirmed of the top 4 teams for the playoffs.
Bengaluru FC and FC Goa have been inconsistent form this season and are deservingly sitting at the top of the league. The surprise of the season has been the stellar performance from Mumbai City FC and North EastUnited FC, with the latter breathing a big sigh of relief on the qualification. This will also mark the first time for NorthEast and only the second time for Mumbai City FC in the playoffs of the ISL.
With a match left, it will be a good time to experiment with the lineups for all the teams before they field against each other in the playoffs.
For Chennaiyin FC, they play away to Goa on 28th February and would like to end the season on a bright note and the same would be the goal for Jamshedpur FC who would play their last match against their home crowd against Bengaluru FC on 27th.
ALSO SEE: ISL Schedule | ISL Results | ISL Points table
