Chennaiyin FC are the winners of this year’s edition of the Indian Super League. The victory against FC Goa in Sunday’s final was richly deserved, despite being overshadowed by some rather unsavoury incidents. Rooted to the bottom of the league at the halfway stage, Chennaiyin showed some mettle to get back into the reckoning. Their triumph also served as a tribute to Chennai, given the floods that ravaged the city earlier this month (the team actually played at home during that period, managing to eke out a win against Mumbai FC amid the downpour).
Now that the two-month tournament has come to a close, it’s time to recap the season. What have we learnt from this year’s edition? Here are five takeaways:
1 Frayed tempers
The final descended into chaos soon after the final whistle. Runners-up FC Goa boycotted the closing ceremony. Reports emerged later that Chennaiyin captain and marquee player Elano had been booked by the police for allegedly assaulting and abusing the Goa team owner Dattaraj Salgaocar.
But this was not an isolated incident – the game itself was an ugly affair with plenty of vicious tackles (18 committed by Chennai alone) and Goa awarded two penalties. Incredibly enough, despite the huge number of tackles, not a single red card was shown. In many ways, this has been the story of this year’s ISL – players have been increasingly aggressive and seldom hesitated before lunging into potentially career-ending tackles.
2 Overly lenient referees
A key factor behind the rise of such violent behaviour has been the lenient attitude of the referees this year. As mentioned in an earlier piece, the referees have been guilty of being too lenient on several occasions. Mehtab Hossain was merely cautioned for a deliberate two-footed stamp on John Stiven Mendoza in a Chennai-Kerala match, while Delhi’s Souvik Chakraborty got away with only a warning after an “ankle-breaker” of a tackle against Pune’s Jackichand Singh.
More worryingly, this is just the tip of the iceberg – the entire season saw various examples of poor refereeing and this is something that needs to be nipped in the bud quickly. Referees need to step up in the forthcoming season and not be afraid to flash the red card when required.
3 Impressive Indian performances
It’s called the Indian Super League and the Indian players kept the tricolour flying high this season with some admirable performances. Sunil Chhetri and Jeje Lalpekhlua starred for Mumbai and Chennai respectively, while players like Arata Izumi for Kolkata and Robin Singh for Delhi played key roles for their respective franchises. Another pleasing statistic is that four out of the top five goalkeepers on the “most saves” list are Indians.
4 Marquee flops
Apart from Elano’s sparkle for Chennai and Lucio’s lion-hearted marshalling of the Goa defence, this was another season where the much-hyped marquee players failed to inspire their teams. To be fair, Pune’s Romanian star Adrian Mutu did come into his own late in the season with some spectacular goals, but it was not enough to halt Pune’s slide.
In general, however, it has not been smooth sailing for the much-hyped players. As manager, Roberto Carlos guided Delhi to the semi-finals. But on the few occasions he took the field as a player, the 42-year-old Brazilian understandably looked very rusty. It was worse for Mumbai’s player-manager Nicolas Anelka, who failed in both roles, as Mumbai finished third from bottom. Injury concerns plagued NorthEast’s Simao Sabrosa, who missed his team's opening three games while Kolkata’s Helder Postiga never recovered from the injury picked up in his first game.
5 The scheduling needs a relook
A strong case could be made for making the format fairer – especially in the scheduling of each team’s home and away games. FC Pune City were probably the worst affected by this – they played five of their first six games at home and sat pretty atop the league. But they then faced a run of away games and were brought down to Earth, losing game after game to finish second from bottom. The opposite happened with Atletico de Kolkata – they began their campaign with a string of away games and languished in the middle. However, they took full advantage of the fact that five of their last six games were at home as they shot up the table and finished second.
Home advantage is a prized possession in football and it is hoped that in the forthcoming seasons, all the teams will have a slightly more equitable distribution of home and away games.
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Now that the two-month tournament has come to a close, it’s time to recap the season. What have we learnt from this year’s edition? Here are five takeaways:
1 Frayed tempers
The final descended into chaos soon after the final whistle. Runners-up FC Goa boycotted the closing ceremony. Reports emerged later that Chennaiyin captain and marquee player Elano had been booked by the police for allegedly assaulting and abusing the Goa team owner Dattaraj Salgaocar.
But this was not an isolated incident – the game itself was an ugly affair with plenty of vicious tackles (18 committed by Chennai alone) and Goa awarded two penalties. Incredibly enough, despite the huge number of tackles, not a single red card was shown. In many ways, this has been the story of this year’s ISL – players have been increasingly aggressive and seldom hesitated before lunging into potentially career-ending tackles.
2 Overly lenient referees
A key factor behind the rise of such violent behaviour has been the lenient attitude of the referees this year. As mentioned in an earlier piece, the referees have been guilty of being too lenient on several occasions. Mehtab Hossain was merely cautioned for a deliberate two-footed stamp on John Stiven Mendoza in a Chennai-Kerala match, while Delhi’s Souvik Chakraborty got away with only a warning after an “ankle-breaker” of a tackle against Pune’s Jackichand Singh.
More worryingly, this is just the tip of the iceberg – the entire season saw various examples of poor refereeing and this is something that needs to be nipped in the bud quickly. Referees need to step up in the forthcoming season and not be afraid to flash the red card when required.
3 Impressive Indian performances
It’s called the Indian Super League and the Indian players kept the tricolour flying high this season with some admirable performances. Sunil Chhetri and Jeje Lalpekhlua starred for Mumbai and Chennai respectively, while players like Arata Izumi for Kolkata and Robin Singh for Delhi played key roles for their respective franchises. Another pleasing statistic is that four out of the top five goalkeepers on the “most saves” list are Indians.
4 Marquee flops
Apart from Elano’s sparkle for Chennai and Lucio’s lion-hearted marshalling of the Goa defence, this was another season where the much-hyped marquee players failed to inspire their teams. To be fair, Pune’s Romanian star Adrian Mutu did come into his own late in the season with some spectacular goals, but it was not enough to halt Pune’s slide.
In general, however, it has not been smooth sailing for the much-hyped players. As manager, Roberto Carlos guided Delhi to the semi-finals. But on the few occasions he took the field as a player, the 42-year-old Brazilian understandably looked very rusty. It was worse for Mumbai’s player-manager Nicolas Anelka, who failed in both roles, as Mumbai finished third from bottom. Injury concerns plagued NorthEast’s Simao Sabrosa, who missed his team's opening three games while Kolkata’s Helder Postiga never recovered from the injury picked up in his first game.
5 The scheduling needs a relook
A strong case could be made for making the format fairer – especially in the scheduling of each team’s home and away games. FC Pune City were probably the worst affected by this – they played five of their first six games at home and sat pretty atop the league. But they then faced a run of away games and were brought down to Earth, losing game after game to finish second from bottom. The opposite happened with Atletico de Kolkata – they began their campaign with a string of away games and languished in the middle. However, they took full advantage of the fact that five of their last six games were at home as they shot up the table and finished second.
Home advantage is a prized possession in football and it is hoped that in the forthcoming seasons, all the teams will have a slightly more equitable distribution of home and away games.