Welcome to another edition of the Indian football news roundup. Today, we will talk about 8 I-League clubs uniting to demand answers from the AIFF President regarding the future of the league, FC Goa sealing their semi-final spot with a win over Kerala Blasters, and Chennai City FC consolidating their position in the top of the I-League with a victory over Shillong Lajong.
In case you missed out yesterday’s edition of the Indian football news roundup, you can check it out here.
I-League: Clubs unite to demand answers regarding the future of the league
8 I-League clubs- Minerva Punjab, Mohun Bagan, East Bengal, Gokulam FC, Aizawl FC, NEROCA, Churchill Brothers, and Chennai City FC- have penned a letter to AIFF demanding answers regarding the future of the top division of the country.
At a press conference in New Delhi a few days earlier, Sunando Dhar, CEO of I-League, said this could be the last edition of I-League unless extreme measures are taken. The clubs requested a meeting with the AIFF President Praful Patel to intervene in the matter so that the league doesn’t get relegated to a second division as per current inside reports.
The letter further wanted clarification on sensitive matters like granting eight high-profile positions to AIFF’s marketing partner FSDL on committees like the selection of national team coaches.
Here is the full letter courtesy of the official Facebook page of Mohun Bagan.
ISL: FC Goa seal their semi-final spot with a win over Kerala Blasters
FC Goa became the second team to qualify for the ISL semi-finals after humbling Kerala Blasters 3-0 at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa. Moreover, they even climbed to the top of the table as they have a better goal difference than Bengaluru FC, both of whom have 31 points from 16 matches.
Kerala Blasters were actually the first one to get the ball cross the goal-line after a neat one-two between Slavisa Stojanovic and Matej Poplatnik resulted in the former finding the back of the net. However, the assistant referee deemed his run offside although the replays confirmed otherwise.
Three minutes later, FC Goa took advantage of a disheartened Kerala Blasters side and Ferran Corominas scored in the 22nd minute. Brandon Fernandes to break on the counter in the wrong offside call and crossed the ball towards the Spaniard from the left wing. And, Coro glided his header past the hapless goalkeeper.
Two minutes later, a horrendous pass by Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem resulted in the Gaurs doubling their lead. Coro kindly collected the pass and put it on a platter for Edu Bedia, who slotted the ball home in an empty net.
Substitute Hugo Boumous made it 3-0 in the 78th minute after shimmying his way through Sandesh Jhingan and Anas Edathodika to take a shot from just inside the box. The final scoreline remained the same as Kerala Blasters suffered their seventh loss in the season.
I-League: Chennai City FC consolidate their position in the top with a victory over Shillong Lajong
Chennai City FC consolidated their position in the top of the I-League with a victory over Shillong Lajong at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong. The league leaders now have 37 points from 17 matches, five points more than East Bengal and Real Kashmir who have 32 points from 16 matches each.
The away side took the lead as early as the seventh minute after Sandro Rodriguez’ corner-kick beat the rival goalkeeper in the near post. Shillong Lajong equalized in the 23rd minute through Kitboklang Pale but Chennai City FC regained their lead in the 78th minute through Pedro Manzi, who headed in Sandro Rodriguez’ curling free-kick.
In the last ten minutes of the game, three goals were scored, two by the away side Nestor Gordillo and Pedro Manzi and one by Shillong Lajong through Samuel Kynshi. The full-time scoreline read 4-2.
