Category: Indianfootball

Indianfootball

Subroto Cup to have teams from Ukraine, Oman, Bangladesh and Afghanistan

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Image : Subroto Cup facebook page

Image : Subroto Cup facebook page

2013 edition of Subroto Cup will have teams from Ukraine, Oman, Bangladesh and Afghanistan apart from school teams from India. The 54th edition of Subroto Cup has grown bigger with 81 teams battling out for Under-14, Under-17 boys and U-17 girls accolades.

Age fraud which had marred the previous editions of the cup will be tackled harshly this time around says the organizers.

Apart from that organizers have written to all I-league clubs to help them for scouting talent during the country’s biggest inter-school tournament.

Read more : Subroto Cup organisers seek I-league club support

Kerala in fine form at the 49th Junior National Football Championship

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Image : Asianet

Image : Asianet

The 49th Junior National Football Championship is currently underway in Jharkhand. Except score update on the AIFF website, there is hardly any news coming through from the championship.

Kerala being led by Anantha Murali from Thrissur who was earlier selected to train in Germany through the Bajaj – Allianz  football camp is in fine form so far. I don’t expect to jinx Kerala’s journey  in the tournament but their form deserves to be mentioned.

In their first group match, they mauled Jammu & Kashmir 12-0, with Anantha Murali scoring five times. The second match against Rajasthan also saw a huge score line. Kerala walloped Rajasthan 10-0.

The last time i wrote about Kerala’s appearance in Junior National Football Championship was in 2010. Unlike today, Kerala was in tatters at that time.  They lost to Mizoram (4-0) and Chandigarh (6-0) in the group stages. I did not even bother to check the score line for other matches then on.

However, this time around the Kerala team looks to be in good nick. There is long way to go in the championship. Hope the winning streak continues and they win the championship.

Kerala will take on a formidable opposition in Arunachal Pradesh tomorrow and that result should give us a idea about our chances in the championship.

Results so far :

Kerala 12 -0 Jammu & Kashmir

Kerala 10 – 0 Rajasthan

Upcoming  Group D fixture : Kerala Vs Arunachal Pradesh, 24th September

Top Scorer : Anantha Murali with 7 goals so far.

Pictures from the Bengaluru FC Vs Mohun Bagan match

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We were at the Bengaluru Football stadium watching Bengaluru FC taking on Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan in their opening fixture of Airtel I-league. There was a good buzz about this match, fans turned up in good numbers and Bengaluru FC did not disappoint by putting a good performance. It was unlucky for them that the match ended up in a stalemate.

An average camera and my pathetic photography skills means the pictures aren’t that great. As the season progress, i should get better at clicking pictures. However this time around you will have to settle with this.

A personal experience of watching my first ever I-league match at a stadium + a match report will be up tomorrow. Till then enjoy the clicks.

 

Soccer Pill Hangout on Indian football

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Thanks to Vikram Venkateswaran and Kunal Mehta, I was offered a chance to appear on the 10th episode of Soccer Pill Google hangout on the opening day of I-league. I appeared on their great show and talked about Indian Football in general and the I-league season that just started off.

It was a great experience to be part of the show and voice my opinions on Indian football.  Watch all other episodes of Soccer Pill hangout here.  Watch the episode on Indian Football and let us know what you think of it.

India hold Tajikistan to a draw in AFC U-16 qualifiers

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afc_2012_sqIndia held Tajikistan to a draw (1-1) in their first match in AFC U-16 qualifiers at Kuwait. At half time, India were trailing 1-0 with Tajikistans’ Saidov Karomatullo scoring a goal from a corner in the 36th minute of the match.

India managed to equalize when we got a penalty after an Indian player was brought down in the Tajikistan box. Prosenjit Chakraborty managed to convert from the spot making it 1-1.

From what we managed to watch over a jittery stream, Tajikistan did look like a very formidable opposition and Indians did put a good show. While on paper the result looks good, in terms of qualification for the final rounds happening in Thailand next year, this is not a good result. To qualify we have to either win the group or be in the top five runner-up teams from a total of 10 groups in fray. You can check India’s upcoming fixtures and the rules and regulations that guide the qualification here.

Match summary and Stats here : India Vs Tajikistan

Quality foreigners dot I-league this season

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Image Courtesy : http://i-league.org

Image Courtesy : http://i-league.org

Many say I-league has lost its sheen, it is not a viable package and so on. While all the criticism lingers on and some of them being true,  it has to be said that this season’s I-league has attracted a formidable array of foreign imports.

Some years ago, foreign players mostly came from Africa and then on, some from Brazil. But were they good enough for the salary they were being paid here?  I am unsure about that aspect. However, clubs have moved on from their traditional hunting grounds in Africa and Brazil and is recruiting decent players from Australia, Europe, Middle East and Asia now.

This season’s I-league has a former world cup player,  some players who plied their trade in EPL and lower division English leagues and some from Spain and Portugal.  Quality attracts eye-balls too.  For instance, Bengaluru FC has recruited Ashley Westwood as their coach. He started his career as a Manchester United academy player and went on to don coaching roles at Portsmouth, Blackpool and Blackburn. His pedigree certainly helped in getting  sky-sports interested about his Indian assignment at Bengaluru FC.  Skysports reporting about an I-league coach would  have been unthinkable a few years ago.

While there has been passing remarks in the media about the foreigners in I-league this season, there has been no comprehensive report about them anywhere.  Withstanding the question on how they will help Indian Football develop, as a package I-league does need good foreign imports to raise the quality of football.

Today TOI has taken some time out and has written a decent article about the foreign imports in I-league this season – Influx of quality foreign players on the upswing

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