I-League 2018-19 | Chennai City FC v Indian Arrows

FULL TIME : Chennai City FC 4-1 Indian Arrows

A second half blitzkrieg from Chennai City led by Manzi allows the Tamil Nadu side to secure all three points in first game of the season over Indian Arrows.

I-League action continues with NEROCA FC hosting East Bengal tomorrow at Imphal at 2 PM. Stay Tuned to Sportskeeda for further coverage of the I-League.

90+2' Boris' introduction in the midfield seem to have injected a fresh agility into the Arrows side. They are now looking very pacey in their attacking moves now.

Additional Time : 5 Minutes.

90' Chennai City going strong till the final whistle, Sandro has been a constant threat at the left side with quick shots at goal keeping the Arrows defence under continuous pressure.

88' Third and Final Change for Chennai City tonight :

OUT : Regin Michael (25)
IN : Govind Swamy (37)

Pedro Manzi rightfully announced as the 'Hero of the Match' for his splendid hat-trick.

84' Sanjeev Stalin swings in a freekick into the box, finds Aniket Jadhav who fails to make a timely jump and heads it over the target.

83' Second Substitution from Chennai City :

OUT - Nestor Jesus (14)
IN - Mashoor Shereef (6)

82' Kamaraj booked for tripping Sanjeev Stalin outside the box.

79' Arrows with their final change as 16 year-old Rohit Danu is handed his I-League debut! :

OUT - Jitendra Singh (3)
IN - Rohit Danu (25)

77' Substitution for Indian Arrows :

OUT - Gurkirat Singh (26)
Boris Singh (2)

75' GOOOAAAAL! It just gets better and better for the home side!

Sandro shoots from outside the box, Gill saves, the ricochet falls to Romario who slots it home to make it 4-1.

68' Pedro Manzini with a low cross into the box from the right but there is no one at the far side to tap it home. The Uruguayan is in some form tonight!

63' GOAAAAL! Nestor was clear on goal but was obstructed courtesy an intentional hand ball from Anwar Ali leading to a Penalty for the Home side.

Pedro Manzi steps up and slots it home with confidence and makes it 3-1. Season's first hat-trick in the first game on a debut!

58' Edwin Vanspaul swings in a corner and finds Charles Anandraj who heads it over the target.

54' Indian Arrows with their first change of the game :

OUT - Rahim Ali (9)
IN - Aniket Jadhav (11)

52' Nestor tries to find Manzi but Anwar Ali makes a timely interception, but Manzi dispossesses Anwar and tries to create some space for himself to shoot but is eventually outnumbered by the Arrows defence.

48' GOOAAAL! Pedro Manzi out-runs his marker and slots it past a hapless Gill from a tough angle to make it 2-1. Brilliant individual show from the Uruguayan.

Substitution at Half Time for Chennai City :

OUT - Gaurav Bora (13)
IN - Charles Anandraj (12)

Second Half kicks-off.

HALF TIME : Chennai City 1-1 Indian Arrows

After an early Arrows goal from Amarjit, it has been all Chennai City with Regin, Vanspaul, Nestor and Manzi combining brilliantly among themselves. Arrows failed to sustain the Chennai City juggernaut and conceded courtesy a Manzi masterclass.

All to play for in the Second Half. Stay Tuned.

45+1' Manzi tries to lob the ball over Gill and clips the outside of the woodwork. Arrows survive.

Additional Time : 1 Minute

44' Anwar Ali gets a corner swung in by Kabir catches it with ease and launches Chennai City on to a counter.

40' Nestor and Manzi continue to combine well upfront troubling Anwar Ali and Jitendra Singh in regular intervals.

36' Chennai City have really taken up the game by the scruff of the neck. They are dictating every department of play now not allowing the Arrows to have the ball at all.

31' GOAAAAAL! and it was coming! Nestor with yet another brilliant ball towards Pedro Manzi who with a perfect first touch rounds up Gill and smashes it home into an empty net to restore parity! 1-1.

27' Nestor with a defence splitting ball towards Manzi who tries to round up an on-rushing Prabhusukhan Gill but the latter is brought down.

Shouts for Penalty but the referee is not interested. Play resumes.

23' Chennai City FC slowly catching up with the play and are having the lion's share of the ball now.

Romario does a little shimmy outside the 18-yard box, goes for goal with a curler but the shot is inches wide of the target.

18' Sandro finds Regin Michael on the righ who delivers in a pin-point cross to find Nestor Jesus heads it wide from an empty header as Gill was rooted to his position. Should have been the equalizer there.

17' Jitendra Singh goes into the referee's book for a rash challenge on Kamaraj.

12' Chennai City trying to get back into the game with quick wing play from Romario Jesuraj and Edwin Vanspaul at the two flanks but the final balls are unable to find the targeted Saffron shirt.

8' Arrows dominating early on in the game by winning back possession as soon as losing it in the middle of the pitch with a very direct play.

Rahul KP has a shot at goal but his attempt is wide.

3' GOOAAAAL ! What a start to the game! Rahul gets away from his marker, gets in a low cross, Kabir fails to read the ball and leaves the goal wide open only to allow Amarjit Singh tap it home with ease!

0' Kick-off! Chennai City get the season started! The Home side are in their new saffron attire while the Arrows have donned their usual Blue.

The teams are out on the field. Kick-off coming up next!

Indian Arrows XI : Prabhusukhan Gill (GK), Jitendra Singh, Anwar Ali, Narender, Amarjit Singh (C), Rahim Ali, Jeakson Singh, Rahul KP, Asish Rai, Sanjeev Stalin, Gurkirat Singh

Substitutes : Boris Singh, Suresh Wangjam, Aniket Jadhav, Aimol, Deepak Tangri, Samik Mitra (GK)

Starting Line-Ups are in for season's first I-League game!

Chennai City XI : Kabir (GK), Tarif Akhand, Roberto, Sandro, Vanspaul, Jesuraj, Bora, Jesus G, Kamaraj, Pedro, Regin (C)

Substitutes : Mashoor Shereef, Charles Anandraj, Vijay, Pravitto, Ameerudeen, Karthick, Tenzin (GK)

Good evening! This is Sayak and I will keep you company throughout the next three hours or so for the I-League Opener between Chennai City FC and Indian Arrows! What are your predictions? Join our Live Chat!

D-Day!

Hello and Welcome to Sportskeeda's coverage of the Hero I-League 2018/19's first game as Chennai City host Indian Arrows in the opener.

With revamped squads at both the ends, the odds are evenly divided among the Arrows and Chennai City. The hosts will be looking to get their first ever win of the All India Football Federation's Developmental side as they failed to overcome them in the previous season. Arrows surprised everyone in the first leg as they put three past the Tamil Nadu side to win 3-0. The second leg ended in a goalless draw after a 90-minute show of Prabhusukhan Gill heroics.

Regin Michael, Captain, Chennai City has expressed his confidence going into the game and is positive about the result. Chennai City finished a lowly eighth in the previous season and are aiming for a Top-4 finish this time around. The Rohit Ramesh owned side has brought in Singaporean based Coach Akbar Nawas who has had coaching stints across South East Asia in a hope for better results.

Nawas has named Kabir, Pravitto and Vijay as the players to look for in today's I-League opener.

Indian Arrows on the contrary will feature popular names like Amarjit Singh, Abhijit Sarkar, Anwar Ali, Boris Singh, Suresh Singh and Aniket Jadhav from the India U-17 World Cup Squad. Jeakson Singh, India's only scorer in the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 is also part of the squad. Arrows will feature few U20 players with Deepak Tangri and Ashish Rai being among the few. The All India Football Federation also decided to promote the best talents from the India U-16 squad to the Arrows side. Rohit Danu being the notable name.

After Luis Norton de Matos and the Federation parted ways, the Arrows side has been under Floyd Pinto who is delighted to see the quick growth of young talent in the country as mentioned in the official Pre-Match Press Conference.

The game will be the first of the many chances for the youngsters to catch the eye of the National Team scouts to break into the AFC Asian Cup 2019 squad.

When and where to watch:
You can catch the live streaming on Hotstar.
The game will also be telecast LIVE on Star Sports 3 but if you have no Televisions around you then we have got you covered right here!

Kick-off is at 5 PM at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore

I-League 2018-19 | Chennai City FC v Indian Arrows | As it happened

FT : Chennai City FC 4-1 Indian Arrows