Jewel Raja signs for South United

South United FC Media 

South United Football Club yesterday announced the signing of midfielder Jewel Raja from Mohammedan Sporting Club. The 28-year-old arrives at the club with tremendous promise and experience from his years of experience at I-League and ISL clubs. 

Jewel was picked to represent India at the U-19 level at a tender age of 16. He spent most of his time with the national team during that phase. Since then he had spells at Dempo, Pailan Arrows, Mohun Bagan, FC Goa, and ATK where he was a part of the side that won ATK’s second ISL title in 2016. His journey then continued with FC Pune City, Minerva Punjab, and Mohammedan Sporting Club before he joined South United. 

His international career progressed through the different age brackets before making his debut for the senior Indian side in 2011 and scoring on his debut in a 3-0 win against Chinese Taipei. He made 27 appearances in all for the senior Indian side. 

On joining South United FC, he expressed an ambition to see the club to new heights, saying, “In every conversation I have had with the management at the club, the ambition to succeed while playing attractive football has been very clear. It’s something that I can relate to, and I see it as a unique challenge to go through this experience with South United FC.” 

His new coach Miquel Llado also was pleased to have Jewel on board, he said, “We’re very happy to have Jewel in the team. He brings a set of skills and experience that we need and his composure on the pitch should also be a great balance for some of the younger players in the team.”  

Welcoming the seasoned midfielder, SUFC Director, Mr Sharan Parikh said, “We want to play football with the right technique and aesthetics. A number of pieces need to come together to form the entire jigsaw and Jewel's signing is anything but ornamental. This is a step in the right direction to create a team in sync with our ambitions.”

South United edge past a resilient ASC

South United FC Media 

The game witnessed all three goals scored in the second half where either team could have nicked a winner. Finally it was left up to striker Riswanali’s left footed strike to register South United FC’s third win out of four games. 

The first half was relatively well controlled by SUFC, as they kept a good defensive shape and created chances at the other end as well. The threat from ASC came from their talismanic captain and striker Jotin Singh. With four goals already in the league, he threatened the goal on more than one occasion from open play as well as set pieces. 

Players for South United FC including Riswanali, Magesh and Aaron were guilty of squandering chances against a resilient ASC team. As they kept plodding away at the ASC defense, they found gaps on at least 2 occasions where the striker was through on goal with only the keeper to beat and they couldn’t make the most of those chances. 

Given ASC’s performance in previous games where they came back to win at least a point or all three, these weren’t good omens for South United FC. 

The second half began with SUFC showing more impetus in attack and it paid off early as Aaron was played through on the right wing on his own with only the keeper to beat but a great distance to cover, he chose to ignore his team-mates running through the middle and deliver a stunning lobbed goal over a stranded ASC keeper. 

That early second half goal should have settled nerves for South United FC, but ASC were sparked to life with that goal and the game flowed from end to end. In one of the many ASC attacks, a ball over the top found Jotin Singh in space drifting out to the left flank. His stuttering low cross met Samananda who put the ball past Jayanth form close range to tie the score. 

Both teams continued to create, but South United had the better chances of the two, Aaron and Riswanali both missing from close range late on. 

They almost left it too late, but the breakthrough came in the 86th minute as Magesh’s chipped pass found Aaron with his back towards the goal at the edge of the box. He deftly laid it off to Riswanali who knocked it past the last defender and smashed home the goal with his left foot. 

Either side could have nicked the game in the last 20 minutes but in the end the chances that South United FC created and the slightly more efficient shooting won out.