Kalyani Group - Second I-League team from Pune

Members of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Bid Evaluation Committee met at the AIFF Headquarters in Football House on Monday (August 25, 2014) to take a call on the proposed bids for the upcoming I-League 2014/15 season onwards.

The committee accepted the bid of the Kalyani Group to participate in 2014-15 I-League which commences from January 17, 2015.

The corporate giant will be fielding their team from their base in Pune. The premier league competition of the country will now comprise of 11 teams. 

More EPL touch to JSW squad

If you thought chief coach Ashley Westwood was the only EPL connection to JSW squad, then you were absolutely wrong. 

JSW Sports have added further arsenal to their squad, by announcing the signing of versatile defenders John Johnson and Curtis Osano today. While Englishman Johnson has turned out for Middlesbrough in the English Premier League for a season, Kenyan Osano is a product of the Reading academy and has last played for League Two side AFC Wimbledon. 

John Johnson

“It’s surely a big change but once the manager told me about the club, the vision and projects they have lined up, it wasn't hard to say yes. I've been doing my homework on the I-League and am looking forward to get there,” said twenty-four year-old Johnson who spent his last three season at Northampton Town. 

Johnson and Osano have played in the central defense and right back positions but are equally comfortable in the midfield. 

“I have played with and against John and Curtis and the two will bring a lot of experience to the team. The both have played over a 100 games and that says a lot. John is flexible with positions, is a great athlete and is really strong in the air. As for Curtis, he’s quick and dynamic and very comfortable with the ball. He has a nice mix of strength and discipline. The club has done well in signing the duo considering there were clubs in England interested in them,” said coach Ashley Westwood on the club’s latest acquisitions. 

Curtis Osano

Osano came through the ranks at Reading under the guidance of current Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers. 

“I love challenges and the idea of getting into a league with a completely different style of football intrigued me. The manager is trying to bring a different brand of football and I consider it as a once in a lifetime chance, a blessing that’s fallen in my lap,” said twenty-six-year-old Osano. 

On whether the duo would struggle to adjust to the weather in India, Westwood had little doubt about John and Curtis adapting. “Both the players have been in the English system for eight years and have coped well while travelling and playing in hot countries. That apart, they are really fit and won’t have any trouble adjusting to the climate,” added Westwood.

Robin Singh to play for JSW Sports

JSW Sports have signed national team striker Robin Singh, the Bangalore-based I-League club announced on Thursday. Twenty three-year-old Singh, who made his India debut at the Nehru Cup last year, signed a two-year contract with the club that makes its League debut this coming season. 

A product of the Tata Football Academy, Robin spent three seasons at Kolkata club East Bengal before signing the dotted line for the Bangalore team. The young striker has had a promising run since graduating from the TFA and is often touted as a player who will make it big. 

“There was more than one reason to sign for this club. It’s going to be a young squad and the way they are going about setting up the club is very professional. That apart, I have been to Bangalore to attend camps and I enjoy the vibe of the city. I’m really excited to be part of this team,” said Singh who was named among the 30 probable by national coach Wim Kovermans for the upcoming friendly against Tajikistan. 

Singh scored a goal against Chinese Taipei in an AFC Challenge Cup Qualifier, in Myanmar earlier this year. 

JSW Sports CEO, Mustafa Ghouse said the club is pleased to have Robin on board. “Robin possesses tremendous potential and we are happy to have signed him. We are certain he will do well at the club and strike a chord with the fans in Bangalore.”

Former Man U player to coach JSW Sports' Bangalore football team

AIFF.com release 

JSW Sports has appointed former Manchester United player Ashley Westwood as Coach of the club for the 2013-14 I-League Season. 

Highly experienced in England as a player, Westwood had a period as Manager of Kettering before partnering with Michael Appleton as his Assistant Manager at clubs including, Portsmouth, Blackpool and Blackburn.

“This was too exciting a prospect to turn down. I have been around for a fair bit of time on the English Football scene and the chance to change things in this part of the World is a challenge I will relish,” said Westwood.

A defender during his playing days, Westwood began his career as a Trainee at Manchester United and was part of the FA Youth Cup winning side in 1995 before turning out for a host of Clubs in a career that spanned a little less than two decades in England.

Westwood added: “I did my study and have no doubt about the Company its owners having vision. There is a genuine ambition to the whole project and I would love being able to leave my stamp on it.”

Parth Jindal, who looks into activities of the Team said: “We are pleased to appoint Ashley Westwood as the Head Coach of the Club. He is young, experienced and shares our vision and passion for the Game. We believe he is the right man to take our Club to where we want to see it.”

Image source: wiki

Remembering Soccor Velho

Air India player died of heart attack in Goa after playing a friendly game against India junior team. This unfortunate incident happened at him. 

It was just like the other day, when a very average Air India team ripped part host HAL’s defense.  Date April 11, 2011, venue Sree Kanterava Stadium, and the below average Aircraftmen was playing their I-League encounter against Airmen. Striking at the right time, the Airmen from Mumbai put up a convincing 3-1 win.  

Right winger Soccor Velho was a revelation that day, he scored the second goal for Air India, and came close to score many! His solo run from the half line terrorized HAL defense. 

April 17, 2011, I-League 10-11, Round XXII, HAL 1 Air India 3: Soccor the scorer, worthy name

‘tiki-taka’ coming to India?

Do not use pictures without permission of gcsstars.com
Photo credits: Oscar Bruzon

As Round 9 of I-league comes to an end, we’ve seen as many as five teams changing their coaches. Latest in the addition is Sporting Clube de Goa. After a lackluster show till date with only two wins, the Goan team has appointed Spainard Oscar Bruzon for a better show.

Now that this appointment news is doing rounds for few days - not unknown to anyone! Let's begin where it all started.

Care to read…

A wintry morning at the Bangalore Football Stadium last season saw a medium-height foreigner witnessing the practice session of a visiting I-League team.
 
He looked fit, a fellow scribe remarked, “Aww, must be a football agent” another added, “Nahi, looks like a talent spotter”. 

After stepping out from the stadium, met him once again, gentle eye contact and a nod of head - gesture of hello! 

So he comes and introduces, Oscar Bruzon Barreras. His business card mentions UEFA A Pro coaching license along with some coaching experience with few clubs in Spain. 

“Hmm, impressive, so what are you doing here?”

“Well, I’m on a vacation, was in Pondicherry for a while and will be visiting to Goa soon. But I would like to take up some coaching assignments here.” 

“Goa or Kolkata would be the destination for you. There’s barely any team here in Bangalore where you can ply your trade.” 

“I would still like to try my luck here.”

“Okay!” 

Scribbled down couple of websites/addresses of football training institutes.

Cut to the tolerable summer-of-Bangalore – noticed a huge poster on my way to office: 

Football coaching camp, get coached by UEFA certified football professional

Ahh, those scribbling worked, it took no time for me to understand! And days later, as teasingly acknowledged by Oscar, “You’re the main culprit behind this engagement!” 

Oscar is now employed with SPT Sports, a sports management company having interests in grassroots football. He is at the helm of the football wing, using Oscar’s expertise, his employer ventured in providing training to several of football academies across the country. 

His new assignment – coaching a team for country’s top-level league, is definitely a challenging one. Not that something he’s done here before. Oscar is up for this big challenge. 

To recapitulate in his own words, “It is a big challenge, hope to revive the current situation”.  

The last line, quite an interesting one, at least on a personal note, “My path in India has begun with you, thanks my friend” 

Best wishes Oscar! 

Pailan Arrows term to thrash HAL

Riding high on their last win, Pailan Arrows forked out an entertaining game of football and defeated bottom-placed HAL  2-1.

Playing a controlled game and creating several scoring chances, Pailan Arrows took the lead in the 39th minute. A high-ball from the mid-field fell to Ajay Singh in the left-wing. He ran thru the pelanty box and took a powerful crack to the goal, the ball hit the diving HAL keeper Amar Deb and went into the goal.

Post lemon-break saw a revived HAL looking for an equalizer, substitute RC Prakash was controlling the mid-field, and HAL had the maximum possession. A good move from the left flank brought in the equalizer – Malemnganba Meetei’ took a left-footed cross, staying away from the two markers, Nigerian Abdulla Hamza jump was perfect, and had no difficulty in heading the ball to the  goal.

TFA cadet Alwyn Geroge scored the winner in the 82nd minute when the ball was passed to him after playing a series of short passes in the mid-field. The talented striker took a powerful goal-bound shot from the edge of the penalty box.

Pailan Arrows coach Sujit Chakraborty reckoned this victory as a ‘hard fought win’, “We played well and controlled the game in the most of first half. However, we did miss many out of those created chances. HAL too played very well at the starting of first half.”

Chakraborty added, “I’m happy that we won two matches consecutively, we’ll try to play well in our last round match.”


With this win Arrows now have 16 points from 25 matches while bottom placed HAL Bangalore stays at 8 points from 25 outings. 

HAL vs MumbaiFC: let's play for pride

HAL, already relegated takes on Mumbai FC in the 25th round I-League clash at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Saturday.

 

Like several other I-League encounters in this season, HAL made early inroads against Pune FC in their previous encounter. And just like the other I-League encounters, they failed to hold the momentum, conceded easy goals. However, they came back strongly in the second half, and scored three quick goals.

The away leg against Mumbai FC resulted in a big 0-4 loss for HAL. Scoring four goals (highest scoring match as yet) in the last encounter against Pune FC should be the only positive that will help them against the Mumbai team. 

Rohit Chand will continue playing in new position of attacking mid-fielder. Apparently, this dependable Nepalese left-back fired hat-trick in a losing cause for the Aircraftmen. 

Mumbai FC so far is in 11^th position, 21 points from 24 games and HAL stays at bottom with 8 points from 23 matches.

Mumbai FC did not have a great season - definitely missing the giant killer tag that they earned for last few seasons. With just two rounds to play, they are looking for a win to bounce out of the relegation zone. 

Mumbai FC will be missing the services of influential midfielder Malsawmkima Chhangte, suspended due to double booking.

Match will kick-off at 3.30 pm.

HAL gets back to losing ways

Riding on a huge away support, Shillong Lajong FC put up a spirited performance against HAL and defeated them 1-0. A long awaited win for the team from North-East that came after 5 rounds.

Midfielder, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, scored the goal in the 39^th minute of the match. Interestingly, the goal scorer has a strong Bangalore connection as he did his schooling from Bishop Cottons Boys School. Eugeneson captained Ar Hima last season and then he decided to turn out for an I-League team.

HAL could not do much with the goal, central defender Ramesh took a long time to charge, allowing Eugeneson to penetrate into the box. 

The score line could have been far worse if not for Aircraftmen keeper P Pramod’s nimbleness under the bar, he must have saved at least four goals.

With this win Shillong Lajong now have 21 points from 18 matches while HAL is languishing at the bottom of the table with 6 points from 18 matches.

Eugeneson Lyngdoh was awarded man of the match.

 

Can HAL continue the good work?

Coming from the first win in the season, bottom-placed HAL is all set take on Shillong Lajong FC, who has managed only 2 points from their last 5 rounds.

Post the win, the Aircraftmen looked far more relaxed, which also reflected in their practice session today morning at the match venue. 

Manager M Muralidharan did not reveal much about the game. However, he’ll be missing R C Prakash, out due to double booking.  Also, quite apparent that he is going with the same plan that fetched him three-points. So, that would call for some change in the playing position - left full-back Rohit Chand will go down in the central defense position, defender Biju Kumar will play in the mid-field as a defensive screen, and Deepak Prakash will partner Abdulla Hamza in the forward position.

The North-East representative, Shillong Lajong FC might not have placed in the top-half in I-League, what coach Pradhyum Reddy expects his team to be there. 

The January signings of Aussie Matthew Mayora and Sushil Singh is going to bolster the attack. Lajong, will be missing heavily on midfielder Rennedy Singh, out injured, another player signed on the January transfer window. 

Reddy felt the importance of a Bangalore team in I-league, “Wish HAL stays in I-league, they are a good team, but the result shows otherwise. They played a brilliant game against us in the home match in Manipur, we’re lucky to get 3-points in that game!” 

Shillong Lajong FC coach quips, “We’re here to get 3-points from this match, HAL can win in the rest of the matches!”

Match is slated for tomorrow, February 1, 2012, 3 pm.

A point from Kolkata

HAL held Prayag United to a goalless draw at the Yuba Bharati Krinangan today evening. In a match that lacked any bite only HAL missed a couple of scoring opportunities in Malemn and Vinoth Kumar. 

For Prayag, Josimar Da Silva Martins and Yusif Yakubu came close both once each in the first half, but failed to provide any breakthrough in the second half as both teams had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

Only a point in an away match, but HAL can take lot of positives from today’s match. HAL will go home the happier of the two sides. Prayag United Coach Sanjoy Sen, will be disappointed that his team could not capitalize on an easier opponent at home. 

The draw means HAL picked up only their 3rd draw of the current I-League campaign to take them to 3 points from 14 matches and they remain at the rock bottom on the table. Prayag United SC have 22 points from 14 matches.

Denson Devdas of Prayag United was adjudged man of the match.

A point after 10 rounds, finally!

11th placed Sporting Clube de Goa played a 2-2 draw against bottom placed HAL at the final round of the first leg of I-league.

Is it the different home color in classic diagonal white line or the return of Rohit Chand that helped HAL to collect a point in Round 13 and that came only after a draw they played against Pailan Arrows in Round 3.

In all fairness folks, I’ve have stopped counting all the footballing reasons for HAL’s losses! For sure they played the 2nd half first, and I see that to be a good reason for this result.

As a matter of continuity, striker Hamza carried on his form, my match note says:

• 19’ good cross from Vinoth from the right flank for Hamza, the later attempts a meek backhead.
• 31’ Unbelievable miss by Hamza! From left flank, Malemn backheals to Rohit, cuts through the penalty box, and sets up an excellent cross. Hamza's header goes out.
• 40’ Hamza is all alone inside the penalty box, fumbles bigtime, he had no clue whatsoever. 

I’ve few more on my note, but hey, football is not about an individual player.

Young medio Anthony D’Souza gave a lead to the Flaming Oranje in the 33rd minute of the match. RC Prakash quickly restored parity for the host from a defensive lapse in 38th minute.

HAL made several forays from the flanks, however, the strikers could not take the aerial advantage, they could not convert to goal from the deft crosses. 

After changing ends, HAL looked more determined, they took the lead in the 50th minute from a beautiful 25-yard long range from Gautam Debnath. 

Accurate long ranger from Gautam Debnath

53rd minute and It was again the talented Anthony D’Souza who leveled for the Goan team. Antony was given enough free space by HAL defense, he nicely dribbled past a couple of defenders, and  scored a brace for his club.

Sporting coach Ekendra Singh appeared unhappy due to the match result, he thought his team deserved to win this match. 

Anthony D’Souza was declared the man of the match.

Can HAL overturn the second-half script?

The script has been always perfect for the Aircraftmen till the first half - they put up a brilliant show, and dominate proceedings. Come second half, they concede an early goal, and everything goes haywire. From the close quarters, it is nothing but a known chronic illness! 

The start was ideal for the Flaming Oranje after getting promoted to the top tier of I-League – unbeaten till Round 6. Then came the sudden slump – one point from the next 6 outings. The 12th round, a 5-goal humiliation in the hands of Dempo SC! 

Sporting Clube de Goa (SCG) would definitely like to turn the table on, and why not as they have an ideal opponent in HAL, who could only manage a draw in 12 rounds played so far. 

Rohit Chand, the star performer of last season, makes a comeback for HAL. He will be filling the Asian player quota that was left vacant till now. Rohit’s return would definitely bolster HAL defense, which has been conceded a walloping 33-goals so far. Another defender, Nigerian Femi Joseph Adeola looks to be doubtful starter for tomorrow’s campaign. He has been injured and kept out for last few matches.

HAL manager Muralidharan seems to be aware of his opponents descend. In his cautious approach, he too is looking for a win, “We’ve to get it straight this time, we will be playing in 4-4-2 combination.”

SCG coach, Soibam Ekendra Singh feels his team has been weakened with the absence of key players Rojen Singh and Bisheshwor Singh. Also, several of his available players are not fully fit or on recovery mode. Bangalore connection and TFA product Niroshan Mani will be in contention against HAL.

Singh quips, “We’ll start with 4-4-2 combination and then might change the game plan according to the situation. It would be a difficult task for us alright!” 

Match is slated for tomorrow, January 4, 2012, 3 pm.

Football is not a 45 minutes game

If only the Aircraftmen would have realized that football is not a 45 minutes game and game does not get over in first half, then they could’ve easily avoided relegation.

If only the Aircraftmen would have realized that the importance of missing a scoring chance, then they could’ve easily avoided relegation.

Dempo defeated HAL 3-0 at the Bangalore Football Stadium today and  continued their dominance in I-League. Dempo maintain their lead in the points table with 27 points, followed closely by Churchill Brothers with 26 points. 

Playing on the Bangalore Football Stadium artificial turf for the first time, Dempo started tentatively. They had some early exchanges, however, HAL were seen to be making maximum purchase in their known front. They could have easily gone ahead in the 11th minute, only if striker Abdulla Hamza not missed an easy opportunity. 

None from HAL’s striking force could do justice from the deft crosses that came from the right wing. 

Dempo took the lead in the 55th minute by a penalty. Central defender, Biju Kumar committed a handball from a perfect kick from the top-right of the penalty box – that had goal written on it. Referee Pratap Singh out rightly awarded a penalty to Dempo and booked the offender.  Ranty made the score tally 1-0. 

Next goal came after 12 minutes. Antony Pereira’s free-kick was commendably saved by HAL keeper P Pramod. However, no one from the defense came for clearance, Ranty Martins latched on the ball that ricocheted to him, and took his goal tally to 13. 

The third goal came in the added time, when Climax Lawrence getting behind HAL defense and looped the ball accurate to the goal. 

A fight between David and Goliath - HAL vs Dempo

News from the camp today:

Dempo - Ranti, "Will score a three tomorrow!"

HAL - Muralidharan, coach, "We will missing two key players tomorrow. Have to play a defensive game. With the missing players, we would've surely played a 4-4-2 formation." 
The mood can set the fate of the match, one can surely guess! The only good news from HAL is the return of dependable Rohit Chand. However, we've wait till January to see the talented Nepalese player in action.   

It might be termed as a fight between David and Goliath – round 12 and top in the points table, Dempo taking on bottom-rung HAL.   

After keeping a clean slate till the first seven rounds, Armando Colaso’s men went down with defeat in the next three rounds, and then finally on a recovery mode by winning against their last match against Sporting Clube de Goa.

Dempo is not taking HAL lightly, “Though, they’ve been on the receiving end, but this is a home match after all – known territory. Hope they won’t choose this one as their comeback match”, grins coach Colaso. 

Coach reckons, “We started quite well, boys went tad complacent, and as a result lost those three matches. The artificial pitch here is relatively new and seems to be settling down, quite an unknown territory for Dempo. It might play a role in tomorrow’s match!” 

“All we need is to collect three points from here”, sums up Armando Colaso.

11 goals and leading the top scorers list, Nigerian Ranty Martins is eager to add to his goal tally, especially when the likes of Tolgay Ozbey, Odafe Okolie, James Moga are closely breathing down his neck. 

Ranti is leading the pack, "will score a three", said confidently!

With 8 eight internationals in their ranks, Dempo looks to be fielding a strong team against an out-of-sorts HAL. 

Adding misery, HAL will be missing the services of two key players owing to injury - defender Femi Joseph and mid-fielder Sudheesh Muttath.

International Debabrata Roy is playing for Dempo, however, there's no Rohit Chand to thwart the attacks from right flank

Match is slated for 3 pm on Wednesday, December 28, 2011.