Nothing but football.
Watch the goals from 3 I-League matches that took place on Sunday.
Bengaluru FC vs Mohun Bagan
Mohammedan Sporting Vs Pune FC :
United SC vs Rangdajied United
Due credits to the goDpuncheDmeh team.
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.
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.
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 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
New season of Airtel I-league got off to an exciting start today with Pune FC and Salgaocar FC registering wins. The match between Sporting Clube de Goa and Mumbai FC ended in a stalemate.
Results from the opening day are as follows :
|
Pune FC Vs Mohammedan Sporting (3-1) |
|
Salgaocar Vs Churchill Brothers (1-0) |
|
Mumbai FC Vs Sporting Clube de Goa (1-1) |
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
A brand new season of I-league is here. 13 teams across India will fight it out the premier league of the country. Check the squads of all the participating teams here.
The matches from the opening weekend are as follows :
| 21-Sep-13 | Mohammedan Sporting Club | Pune FC | 3:00 PM |
| 21-Sep-13 | Mumbai FC | Sporting Clube de Goa | 4:00 PM |
| 21-Sep-13 | Churchill Brothers SC | Salgaocar FC | 4:00 PM |
| 22-Sep-13 | United Sports Club | Rangdajied United FC | 2:45 PM |
| 22-Sep-13 | Bengaluru FC | McDowell Mohun Bagan A.C | 4:00 PM |
| 22-Sep-13 | Dempo Sports Club | Shillong Lajong FC | 4:00 PM |
I-league has been garnering all the attention of Indian football fans so far and rightly so. However, young footballers from across India is fighting out in Jharkhand in the 49th Junior National Football Championship for BC Roy Trophy.
The tournament has been on for the last two days and there has been no coverage at all the media. It is rather very unfortunate that any coverage eludes this tournament where the upcoming football stars of this country fight it out. The following are the results so far from the championship.
The competition has entered the semifinal phase for the two tiers – I & II. In the first semifinal of Tier I that happened today (25th – Sep), Sports Authority of India (SAI) defeated Maharashtra by a solitary goal.
In the second semi-final taking place tomorrow, Kerala will take on Chandigarh.
Keep a watch here, we will bring you the semi final and final results.
Finals Tier I :
|
29-Sep |
Mizoram Vs Assam |
6-1 |
Finals Tier I I :
|
28-Sep |
SAI Vs Kerala |
5-2 |
Semifinals Results Tier I I :
|
27-Sep |
Punjab Vs Mizoram |
1-3 |
|
27-Sep |
Madhya Pradesh vs Assam |
6-7(Pen) |
Semifinals Results Tier I :
|
26-Sep |
Chandigarh Vs Kerala |
0-3 |
|
25-Sep |
Maharshtra vs SAI |
0-1 |
Group Stages results :
Date |
Matches |
Results |
| 25-Sep | Mizoram Vs Orissa |
1-0 |
| 25-Sep | Uttar Pradesh Vs Haryana |
2-0 |
| 25-Sep | Goa Vs Meghalaya |
1-0 |
| 25-Sep | Karnataka Vs Punjab |
0-5 |
| 25-Sep | Madhya Pradesh Vs UttaraKhand |
1-0 |
| 25-Sep | West Bengal Vs Manipur |
1-1 |
| 24-Sep | Tamilnadu Vs Delhi |
1-1 |
| 24-Sep | Jharkhand Vs Assam |
1-5 |
| 24-Sep | Arunachal Pradesh Vs Kerala |
0-1 |
| 24-Sep | Jammu & Kashmir Vs Rajsthan |
0-3 |
| 24-Sep | Sikkim Vs Tripura |
6-4 |
| 24-Sep | Chandigarh Vs Gujarat |
3-1 |
| 23-Sep | Madhya Pradesh Vs West Bengal |
1-1 |
| 23-Sep | Haryana Vs Mizoram |
0-9 |
| 23-Sep | Uttar Pradesh Vs Orissa |
0-0 |
| 23-Sep | Bihar Vs Nagaland |
1-2 |
| 23-Sep | Himachal Pradesh Vs SAI |
1-4 |
| 22-Sep | Kerala Vs Rajasthan |
10-0 |
| 22-Sep | Tamil Nadu Vs Assam |
0-0 |
| 22-Sep | Orissa Vs Haryana |
2-1 |
| 22-Sep | Delhi Vs Jharkhand |
1-4 |
| 22-Sep | Tripura Vs Gujarat |
0-3 |
| 22-Sep | Sikkim Vs Chandigarh |
`1-3 |
| 22-Sep | Arunachal Pradesh Vs Jammu & Kashmir |
6-1 |
| 21-Sep | West bengal Vs Uttarakhand |
0-4 |
| 21-Sep | Punjab Vs Meghalaya |
2-1 |
| 21-Sep | Madhya Pradesh Vs Manipur |
2-0 |
| 21-Sep | Karnataka Vs Goa |
2-2 |
| 21-Sep | Mizoram Vs Uttar Pradesh |
5-2 |
| 21-Sep | Nagaland Vs Maharashtra |
0-2 |
| 21-Sep | Chhattisgarh Vs Himachal Pradesh |
0-0 |
| 20-Sep | Assam Vs Delhi |
4-0 |
| 20-Sep | Jharkhand Vs Tamil Nadu | 7-1 |
| 20-Sep | Chandigarh Vs Tripura | 6-0 |
| 20-Sep | Gujarat Vs Sikkim |
3-1 |
| 20-Sep | Jammu & Kashmir Vs Kerala | 0-12 |
| 20-Sep | Rajasthan Vs Arunachal Pradesh | 0-8 |
| 19-Sep | Maharashtra Vs Bihar | 3-2 |
| 19-Sep | Sports Authority of India (SAI) Vs Chattisgarh | 6-0 |
India is in Group A comprising Kuwait, Tajikistan, Lebanon and Bhutan. India will start of the qualifiers campaign by taking on formidable Tajikistan on 21-sep. There are a total of ten groups and the winners from all the groups and the best five runners-up will qualify for the finals happening next year in Thailand.
India’s fixtures for the qualifiers are as follows.
| 21-Sep | Tajikistan Vs INDIA | 19.20 IST |
| 25-Sep | INDIA Vs Lebanon | 23.20 IST |
| 27-Sep | INDIA Vs Bhutan | 23.20 IST |
| 29-Sep | Kuwait Vs India | 23.20 IST |