Brother duo strikes for HAL

HAL inched closer towards gaining a spot in next season’s I-League division 1. Today, playing against newbie NISA, Manipur at the Bangalore Football Stadium, they defeated 2-1. Brothers Karthigeyan and Satish Kumar jr scored for HAL and Thomas Singh scored the only goal for NISA. They now only need a draw to qualify for the I-League division 1.

HAL could not field their 2 foreigners, striker Fredrick and defender Femi was kept out of the match due to double booking. Fredrick’s absent meant Xavier coming in the forward position and Srikanth playing in deep-defense.

1st half failed to bring good game. With the field relatively heavy due to rains in last couple of days, HAL struggled to control the game. Defense looked feeble today with NISA penetrating several times.

After changing ends, HAL looked more organized. They made a skillful attack in the 1st minute. 3 minutes later, Karthigeyan’s powerful long ranger from a Jotin Singh pass went past the NISA keeper. HAL looked a much better team in this period.

Wily Xavier tore NISA’s defense in the 64th minute, however, keeper Premkumar Singh displayed good reflex and saved a sure goal. It was Xavier again, who missed the easiest chance of the day in the 73rd minute – alert Murali taps the ball from a defensive miss pass and gives it to Jotin on the left, Jotin on entering inside the penalty box passes to Xavier, the later dribbles one defender and finds the keeper, rather than placing to the far post, he takes an easy shot to the keeper.

This miss proved costly for HAL as the Manipuri team scored the equalizer in the next minute. NISA continued attacking after the equalizer, but caught repeatedly. Poor finishing prevented them from causing anymore damage to HAL.

In the 87th minute, Satish Kumar jr, who had a reasonably good tournament had an off-day as he displayed poor finishing and missed several scoring chances today. However, he did for his team when it matter the most. Coming from the right side, Satish dribbles few defenders, and takes a diagonal shot that goes beyond the reach of the keeper.

It was a big relief for the HAL supporters, who again turned in good numbers today.

Vasco still in contention

The Goan team amassed full points by bludgeoning Oil India 4-0. Striker Koko Sakibo scored the 2nd hat trick of the final round. With this win the Goan team stays in contention for qualifying in I-League division 1. They still need to win their final round match and hope that the top two teams HAL and ONGC waste points in their coming matches.

Result:

• HAL 2 (Karthigeyan-49' and Satish Kumar jr-87') NISA 1 (Thomas Singh-74')
• Vasco 4 (Koko Sakibo-30', 74', and 83' and Joel Sequiera-58') vs Oil India 0

Next Match - May 21(Round 6):

• Mohammedan Sporting Club versus Malabar United, 2 pm
• ONGC versus Sesa Football Academy, 4 pm

Mohammedan waste points again, out of contention for division 1

The Kolkata powerhouse could not hold on to the 1st half one-goal lead and split points with Oil India. With this draw they are mostly out of race for qualifying next season’s I-league division 1. Vasco thrashed Malabar United 4-0 in the other match and kept their hunt alive for division 1.

Mohammedan took the field minus 2 regular players, Zoheb and Babin due to double booking. They meant business and started attacking from the beginning.

In 21st minute, Oil India GK somehow manages to avert defender Sanjay Parte’s long ranger for a corner. Satyajit Basu takes the corner, Amrit Pal Singh who was out of injury and playing his first match came from nowhere, and heads the ball to the goal.

10 minutes later from a nice thru from Theo, Edu speedily enters into the Oil India box from the right side and back-heels to Theo. The later over-ran him and fails to covert from a nice move.

Mohammedan medio, Satyajit Basu, who didn’t have a decent game today, committed a big mistake in the 33rd minute, he chest-traps to clear the ball from defense, an opponent player ball picks the ball from the open area just outside the box, and passes to foreign striker Waheed. Waheed shots the ball outside the crossbar.

Oil India kept attacking in the later part of 1st half, keeper Nassem Akhtar kept them at bay by with some splendid saves.

Mohammedan defense never looked settled and the oilmen took the advantage to score the equalizer in 70th minute from Zaidin Hmar.

Soon after the goal, veteran striker Dipendu (replacing Theo) and Nilendra Deewan was brought in to propel Mohammedan attack.

Edu, who looked focused, had a good game today. He engineered several attacks from the left wing, however, his shots were either saved by the keeper or missed by a whisker.

Everybody thought that Mohammedan Sporting should qualify to the next round, it has been a pathetic display by them so far!

Result:

• Mohammedan Sporting Club 1 (Amrit Pal Singh-21') Oil India 1 (Zaidin Hmar-70')
• Vasco 4 (Joy Ferrao-26' and 65', Koko Sakibo-25' and 90+1' [penalty]) Malabar United 0

Next Match - May 17 (Round 5):

• HAL versus ONGC, 2 pm
• NISA, Manipur versus Sesa Football Academy, 4 pm  

Mohammedan Sporting struggle to beat Sesa; Tarif’s trick floors oil men

Mohammedan made a heavy weather of defeating bottom-ranked Sesa by 2-1. Theo and defender Debkumar Sashmal scored a goal each in either half. Jaiganesh Koltekar scored one for Sesa in the 2nd half. In an earlier rather

entertaining match played today, ONGC brightened their position to qualify for the final round by bulldozing the other public sector team, Oil India 4-1.

National team striker, Tarif Ahmed scored the first hat-trick of the final edition.
 

Lagging 4th behind HAL, ONGC, and Vasco, Mohammedan needed to win this match in a convincing fashion to stay in contention for promotion. Mohammedan scored the first goal in the 38th minute in Liberian Theodore.

Both the teams opened up many chances and missed as many in the game. In the early second-half, Sesa came back into the game by a goal from rookie Jaiganesh Koltekar. 5 minutes after the equalizer, Theo took the ball from the left flank and penetrated inside the box, Jothikumar who was rightly-positioned, failed to connect the ball properly.

In the 59th minute, substitute Nilendra Deewan took a horrible wide shot away from the goal. It came to him from a deflection from Theo’s shot, which was perfectly floated from the right-flank.

Sesa striker Israil Gurung, who broke an off-side trap, was set alone with the keeper in the front in the 68th minute. However, he was tripped down by defender Samuel Shore at the top of the penalty box. Mid-fielder, Prathesh Shirodkar’s free kick was shot wide.

Mohammedan took the lead in 79th minute, Edu was cutting in dangerously

from the left flank until the defender cleared it for corner. Edu took the corner that was meant for Theo, which the later closely missed, finally opportunistic defender Debkumar Sashmal who closely followed and placed the ball into the goal.

Sesa later came back and started pressurizing Mohammedan defense, but failed to keep the ball into the goal-area.

Post match comments:

Shabbir Ali, coach, Mohammedan Sporting: Disappointing show again, never

seen my team playing so badly. I thought we would pull this out easily, but it turned otherwise. Other challenge is that two important players are out for the next match due to double booking. Don’t have options in all departments; have to shuffle the playing positions.

Clifford Chukwuma, coach, Sesa: Our boys created many opportunities but lacked in penetration and final touch. Even blew several set-pieces from crucial positions. Also, we’re missing our main striker, who is injured and played an important role in Goa’s Santosh Trophy victory last year.

Theodore Sunday Wrobeh, scorer, Mohammedan Sporting: We’ve won today, and there are 3 more rounds to play, so all is not lost, we need to come well in the remaining matches..

Result:

• ONGC 4 (Tarif Ahmed-28', 44', and 66' and Badmus Babatunde-38') beat Oil India ( H L Route-76')
• Mohammedan Sporting 2 (Theodore Sunday-38' and Debkumar Sashmal-79') beat Sesa Football Academy 1 (Jaiganesh Koltekar-49')

Next Match - May 13 (Round 4):

• Malabar United versus NISA, 2 pm
• HAL versus Vasco, 4 pm

HAL trounce Oil men

In a skillful display of the game of football, HAL crushed Oil India, Dhuliajan 3-1 in their second round match of the I-League 2nd division. HAL was leading by a Xavier VijayKumar goal in the first-half. In the other match of the day, Malabar United defeated Sesa Football Academy 3-0.

HAL started the game with a proper plan to hold the speedy Oil men. Xavier played from the flank and Satish Kumar (jr.) started with Fredrick as a striking duo.
 
Match progressed in a lively pace with Oil India bagging the first corner in the 4th minute of the match. A minute later, it was HAL’s turn from the other side. However, Jotin’s head from the corner went wide.

HAL kept the possession of the ball in the opponent's end, playing short passes, and then going for the kill. They got their first chance as early as 13th minute, Nigerian Fredrick received the final pass from a nice move, however, Fredrick’s feeble shot went outside the goal post. Fredrick’s striking partner, Sathish Kumar (jr) couldn’t capitalize from a defensive lapse in the 19th minute.

Oil India got a chance by Ricky Joy’s rare clumsy clearance in the 21st minute. Stopper Femi Adeola had no other option, but to come down heavily on the Oil India striker. The free-kick from the top-corner of the penalty box yielded no result for Oil India.

Unlucky to say the least, Oil India could have taken the lead in the 29th minute, Jayanta Basumatary’s powerful right-footed long ranger hit the left post; keeper Amar Deb was no where close to the ball.

HAL picked up their 1st goal after a minute from a corner. Skipper Rajendra Prasad took the flag-kick, wily Xavier VijayKumar headed the ball that was beyond the reach of the keeper.

HAL put up a spirited performance after the goal, with the striker duo combining well, ably supported by the mid-field.

After changing ends, HAL came out in a more organized manner and the 2nd goal was just the result of that discipline - Sathish Kumar (jr) scored after dribbling past 2 defenders.

Oil India had their share of chances, they did well to get the ball to the opponent’s end, but then it was the regular story of losing the plot and missing easy chances. The lacked the finishing abilities and were often clueless inside the penalty box area.

Meanwhile, Xavier scored his second goal in the 71st minute. Substitute for Oil India Prashanta Choudhary pulled one the 87th minute. But by then it was all over for Oil India.

Xavier, who scored a brace, talked to us after the match, he was happy in team’s performance, however, he was not satisfied by his own performance in the role of the winger. He hopes to better it and ready the don the new role for his team.

2 wins from 2 matches and today’s result must satisfy HAL coach Muralidharan. HAL played a far better game today, they excelled in all departments! They have scored 3, and should have scored another 3 today.

Malabar thrash Sesa

In another match played earlier today, Kerala outfit, Malabar United won convincingly against the academy team from Sesa, Goa. All the 3 goals were scored in the second-half. 

The teams were at par in the first half, however, 2 quick goals in the early 2nd half dented the morale of the young Sesa guys, and then they failed to come back to the game.

Clifford Chukwama, who earlier coached I-league division 1 team Sporting Club de Goa, blamed experience (rather lack of it) for this result. “Two goals in quick succession did us in. Also, the penalty was not justified as my player made no body contact with the opponent player.” said Chukwama. Also added, “2 defeats from as many matches, had really made the task difficult for us”.

Result:

• Malabar United 3 (Loveday-53', Asif K-55 [penalty], and Firos K-70') Sesa Football Academy 0
• HAL 3 (30' and 71'-Xavier Vijaykumar, and Satish Kumar jnr.-53') Oil India 1 (Prasanta-87')

Next Match - May 5 (Round 2):

• Vasco Sports Club versus ONGC, 2 pm
• NISA, Manipur versus Mohammedan Sporting Club, 4 pm

Mohammedan only manages a draw against ONGC

It was an apparent tame start for Mohammedan Sporting in the I-League 2nd division final round. They were down by a goal in the most of the time, until a smart free kick from Brazilian Edu Escobar in the 75th minute helped them to garner 1 point.

Mohammedan started well with some nice moves from the center. However, they conceded goal in the 32nd minute when ONGC skipper Jatin Singh Bist gave an accurate pass to Naresh, Naresh obliged his skippers pass with a nice curling kick to the far post, which was beyond the reach of the stretched keeper Nasim Akhtar.

Mohammedan defense lacked the much needed coordination with several miss passes. ONGC’s striker Babatudne came close to scoring in couple of occasions.

Striker duo Edu and Liberian Teodor Sunday Wobreh lacked mobility and failed to penetrate. Rather than moving with the ball, Edu depended heavily on his set-piece moves.

Mohammedan coach and former India international, Shabbir Ali replaced a mid-fielder Nelandra Deewan for a defender in Anupam Sarkar in the second-half. This was a smart move as Nelandra’s inclusion gave stability in the midfield for Mohammedan.

Mohammedan could have leveled in early second half - Jyothi Kumar put a fine cross for Theo in the 49th minute, however, the Liberian’s shot, who received the ball and was wonderfully positioned went wide.

The equalizer came when Nelandra Deewan was brought-down at the top of the box. Edu, whose earlier 3 free-kicks failed to yield any result, was successful this time - his kick on the right side of the post had precision, kissed the horizontal bar, and went inside the goal.

In the  87th minute, keeper Nasim Akthar came up with a brilliant save from Babatunde shot.

The ONGC stoppers, Krishna Shirodkar and Bolaji Majek kept the defense tight, they didn’t give much space to Theo and Edu to maneuver. They pressed hard in the later part of 2nd half with replacement Tarif Ahmed and Babatunde combining well, ably supported by Jatin Bist from the mid-field, however, they failed to score any goal.

NISA Oil India Split Points

In what could be termed as the most entertaining match so far in the 2nd division final phase, two teams from the North-East played a fast-paced game. Oil India took the lead in the 33rd minute thru an H Wary goal, few minutes later NISA scored the equalizer via Malemnganba Meetei. 

The teams from Manipur and Assam had the speed, however, the strikers lacked the finishing touch. Manipuri fans thronged the stadium in huge numbers.

 Result:

• Mohammedan Sporting Club 1(Edu Escobar-75’) versus ONGC 1(A Naresh-32’)
• NISA, Manipur 1(Malemnganba Meetei 41') versus Oil India 1(H. Wary 33')

Next Match - May 4 (Round 2):

• Malabar United versus Sesa Football Academy, 2 pm
• HAL versus Oil India, 4 pm