A Goa side struggling with injuries managed to keep a Pune City side in red-hot form at bay and managed to eke out a point at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa. With this point, Goa continued their mediocre home form and climbed up to third in the table, a point above Mumbai City having played a game more.
Goa coach Zico will be happy with a point as injuries have taken a massive toll on his squad. There have been serious concerns in the Goa camp with regards to fielding a decent starting eleven. The striking department especially looked a bit thin with Joaquim Abranches and Thongkosiem Haokip the only two available and recognized strikers for this match. The 2-0 loss to Mumbai City FC would not have helped Zico’s side, going into this match.
Pune City coach David Platt had no such concerns coming into this match as the Englishman has rotated his squad really well. Part of this, of course, is down to the fact that the Pune City squad is superior to almost all the other squads in the league when it comes to squad depth and bench strength. With the exception of Lenny Rodrigues, the Englishman had a full squad of players to choose from.
The strain of the format
The main concern with the Indian Super League is the format. Most European leagues, for example, have 18-20 teams playing 34-38 games in the space of 8-9 months, meaning that every team has to play a league game every five or six days at an average.
Similarly, most leagues throughout the world have a system in which teams would not have to play more than one game per week with the occasional mid-week league game or a cup or a continental tie. Some of these leagues have functioned for more than a decade, and the system has suited them really well.
Fast forward 2015 to the ISL and the chinks in the ISL format become more apparent. In an attempt to attract star power, the organizers have kept the league short, a period of two and a half months. Also, the short nature of this league means that for the public’s exposure to the star power to be greater, they would have to cram more games into this period.
Add this to the fact that the league has managed to attract international superstars, but most of whom are well past their peak fitness levels. The league stage of the ISL lasts for a period of 2 months, so asking a bunch of 30 somethings to play 14 matches over 60 odd days seems almost naïve.
Most of these stars would have struggled to play a game in four days on a consistent basis for 2 months at their prime, 23 – 29. Asking them to do it now is really like akin to trying to make lemon juice out of a squeezed and dried lemon. Rotation, therefore, takes paramount importance as the league goes on for longer.
But one must sympathise with the organiser’s efforts as well as a longer league might not mean the same level of star power. One thing that almost every international star has said, when asked why they decided to come on-board the ISL, is that the format of the league was attractive. In other words, this length of two and a half months suits us. It is really a puzzling, catch-22 situation that the league finds itself in without having any quick fix.
Sturdy defending help Goa
Goa found themselves in a sticky situation with six players – Daryl Duffy, Joffre Gonzalez, Keenan Almeida, Victorino Fernandes, Reinaldo Oliveira and CS Sabeeth on the injured list. To add to Zico’s woes, Victor Simoes had left for Brazil while drafted replacement Rafael Coelho had landed in Goa only a few hours prior to the match.
Lucio’s return provided little enthusiasm as the World Cup winner has found the going tough due to a lack of pace. Fellow centre-back Gregory Arnolin is similar; towering, a dominating presence in defence and in the air but short of pace. Uche and Sanli, one of the league’s best strike-forces were always going to cause problems.
Backed by a partisan crowd, Goa created the first real chance of the game. Pune’s high line was breached by Goa’s incisive passing. Haokip latched on to the ball and skipped past Simonsen and Johnson, and shot it into a seemingly empty net only for Johnson to make a brilliant goal-line clearance.
Goa did dominate proceedings for the first half an hour but then fatigue started to have its say as Pune upped its tempo. They ended the half on a high as Uche’s cheeky backheel wasted a good opportunity.
The second half saw Goa come flying out of the blocks as a Jonathan Lucca’s curling cross towards the far post made its way to Romeo, whose shot took a huge deflection off Roger Johnson and ended up in the net to give the home side a deserved lead.
Pune almost got themselves back into the game immediately as a Nicky Shorey cross found Uche, who was put under considerable pressure from Arnolin. To the credit of the striker, he managed to hit the post and the ball bounced back into Goa goalkeeper Elinton Andrade’s arms.
Wesley Verhoek and Jackichand Singh were introduced on the hour’s mark to try and exploit the flanks and make runs down the defence. The move worked like a charm and Zokora released Verhoek down the right flank. The Dutchman’s cross was pin-point and Eugeneson Lyndoh made no mistake in making it 1-1.
Pune grew from strength to strength as Jackichand Singh’s shot after getting into space, shaved the far post on its way through. Lenny Rodrigues should have won the game when he was through on goal, only for Andrade to save with his outstretched leg.
Sensing danger, Zico brought on three fresh faces in Narayan Das, NicolauColaco and Raju Gaikwad as Goa looked to go home with what looked like a hard-earned point. As the whistle blew, the Brazilian would have been happy that his team went home with a point without suffering any more casualties.
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Goa coach Zico will be happy with a point as injuries have taken a massive toll on his squad. There have been serious concerns in the Goa camp with regards to fielding a decent starting eleven. The striking department especially looked a bit thin with Joaquim Abranches and Thongkosiem Haokip the only two available and recognized strikers for this match. The 2-0 loss to Mumbai City FC would not have helped Zico’s side, going into this match.
Pune City coach David Platt had no such concerns coming into this match as the Englishman has rotated his squad really well. Part of this, of course, is down to the fact that the Pune City squad is superior to almost all the other squads in the league when it comes to squad depth and bench strength. With the exception of Lenny Rodrigues, the Englishman had a full squad of players to choose from.
The strain of the format
The main concern with the Indian Super League is the format. Most European leagues, for example, have 18-20 teams playing 34-38 games in the space of 8-9 months, meaning that every team has to play a league game every five or six days at an average.
Similarly, most leagues throughout the world have a system in which teams would not have to play more than one game per week with the occasional mid-week league game or a cup or a continental tie. Some of these leagues have functioned for more than a decade, and the system has suited them really well.
Fast forward 2015 to the ISL and the chinks in the ISL format become more apparent. In an attempt to attract star power, the organizers have kept the league short, a period of two and a half months. Also, the short nature of this league means that for the public’s exposure to the star power to be greater, they would have to cram more games into this period.
Add this to the fact that the league has managed to attract international superstars, but most of whom are well past their peak fitness levels. The league stage of the ISL lasts for a period of 2 months, so asking a bunch of 30 somethings to play 14 matches over 60 odd days seems almost naïve.
Most of these stars would have struggled to play a game in four days on a consistent basis for 2 months at their prime, 23 – 29. Asking them to do it now is really like akin to trying to make lemon juice out of a squeezed and dried lemon. Rotation, therefore, takes paramount importance as the league goes on for longer.
But one must sympathise with the organiser’s efforts as well as a longer league might not mean the same level of star power. One thing that almost every international star has said, when asked why they decided to come on-board the ISL, is that the format of the league was attractive. In other words, this length of two and a half months suits us. It is really a puzzling, catch-22 situation that the league finds itself in without having any quick fix.
Sturdy defending help Goa
Goa found themselves in a sticky situation with six players – Daryl Duffy, Joffre Gonzalez, Keenan Almeida, Victorino Fernandes, Reinaldo Oliveira and CS Sabeeth on the injured list. To add to Zico’s woes, Victor Simoes had left for Brazil while drafted replacement Rafael Coelho had landed in Goa only a few hours prior to the match.
Lucio’s return provided little enthusiasm as the World Cup winner has found the going tough due to a lack of pace. Fellow centre-back Gregory Arnolin is similar; towering, a dominating presence in defence and in the air but short of pace. Uche and Sanli, one of the league’s best strike-forces were always going to cause problems.
Backed by a partisan crowd, Goa created the first real chance of the game. Pune’s high line was breached by Goa’s incisive passing. Haokip latched on to the ball and skipped past Simonsen and Johnson, and shot it into a seemingly empty net only for Johnson to make a brilliant goal-line clearance.
Goa did dominate proceedings for the first half an hour but then fatigue started to have its say as Pune upped its tempo. They ended the half on a high as Uche’s cheeky backheel wasted a good opportunity.
The second half saw Goa come flying out of the blocks as a Jonathan Lucca’s curling cross towards the far post made its way to Romeo, whose shot took a huge deflection off Roger Johnson and ended up in the net to give the home side a deserved lead.
Pune almost got themselves back into the game immediately as a Nicky Shorey cross found Uche, who was put under considerable pressure from Arnolin. To the credit of the striker, he managed to hit the post and the ball bounced back into Goa goalkeeper Elinton Andrade’s arms.
Wesley Verhoek and Jackichand Singh were introduced on the hour’s mark to try and exploit the flanks and make runs down the defence. The move worked like a charm and Zokora released Verhoek down the right flank. The Dutchman’s cross was pin-point and Eugeneson Lyndoh made no mistake in making it 1-1.
Pune grew from strength to strength as Jackichand Singh’s shot after getting into space, shaved the far post on its way through. Lenny Rodrigues should have won the game when he was through on goal, only for Andrade to save with his outstretched leg.
Sensing danger, Zico brought on three fresh faces in Narayan Das, NicolauColaco and Raju Gaikwad as Goa looked to go home with what looked like a hard-earned point. As the whistle blew, the Brazilian would have been happy that his team went home with a point without suffering any more casualties.
