It’s that absurd time of the year when the league is in its infancy and we all make equally bogus predictions five games into the season, only to see it go comically wrong at the end of it all.
This futile exercise deserves a go nonetheless, with all the confidence of a Gift Raikhan substituting the same player before half-time in three different matches. Yes, it actually happened in Neroca’s debut season last year and Akhlidin Israilov might, like us, be wondering where it all went wrong.
Nonetheless, the I-League looks to pick up steam with Chennai City the surprise leaders at this stage. So, without further ado, presenting the five quickfire predictions based on the I-League campaign so far.
Things get real for Real Kashmir
Yes, only two games that Real Kashmir have lost out of their four. But in the context of a 22-game league, two games can be make or break, especially for a new team.
They started out well, defeating holders Minerva Punjab 1-0 and then holding Churchill Brothers to a goal-less draw at the first-ever game at the TRC Stadium in Srinagar. Worryingly for them, they would go goal-less in their next two matches as well.
Mohun Bagan was always going to be a stiff challenge but an uncertain Neroca were there for the taking. Real Kashmir dominated large swathes of the game but failed to land a killer blow. Neroca took their chances fast and took them well.
Improvement at home is necessary before the debutants start their away trails. Fail to pick up points in Srinagar and it might not turn out to be a happy ending for the fairytale that is Real Kashmir.
Chennai City might just walk away with the prize
Five games in, four won, 13 points and top of the league. Akbar Nawas will be a happy man, having seen his team go away from home and pick up nine points on the spin. Happier than Charlie when he visited the Chocolate Factory.
What is more exciting for the Chennai City fanbase is that they have struck two potentially telling blows on title rivals at their home grounds. Gokulam Kerala was always going to be a tough challenge, but Chennai City won an exciting match 3-2.
Nine days later, they ended East Bengal’s perfect start to the season with a dominating 2-1 victory. Dominating, despite the scoreline suggesting a close match, due to the sheer number of chances that Chennai created at the Salt Lake Stadium.
After Nandakumar Sekar and Michael Soosairaj, Alexander Romario Jesuraj, clearly born to play football with THAT middle name, seems to be the newest talent off the Chennai City assembly line.
The Spanish contingent has worked like a treat in this early season, and the forward Pedro looks like he could be the main-Manzi for the Chennai-based club.
Mohun Bagan unspectacular so far
The curse of the I-League has been the projection of Mohun Bagan as the pre-season favourites for the last two seasons, only for the Green and Maroon to fall short at the very end. Or ‘Marooned’, as some compulsive sadists would describe the end-season situation.
Shankarlal Chakraborty, very much the Deep to Sanjoy Sen’s Veer, has employed a tempered approach, keeping expectations realistically low even before the season. Bagan have not lost a match yet, but they haven’t set the league on fire.
Wins have been ground out over Indian Arrows and Real Kashmir but the draw against Aizawl, coming off a late David Lalrinmuana free-kick would have hurt Bagan at home.
Churchill and Chennai City follow before the Kolkata derby on December 16th. These three matches will likely determine if Bagan can lift a record-equalling fifth title in what is likely to be their last season in the I-League.
So long, Shillong Lajong
After East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, who are the longest continuously serving members of the I-League? If you answered Shillong Lajong, you were right.
Lajong took a gutsy stand to go only with their Indian contingent in this season of the I-League, possibly a decision born out of the precarious health of the league and the uncertainty surrounding its future.
It started well with a 2-1 win over Aizawl but they have lost all four games since. Inexperience, leakiness at the back and a tendency to over-play the ball have resulted in four defeats for Alison Ksyntiew’s men.
Lajong will hope their fortunes turn around quickly or they splurge in the January window. Without either, the future of the Shillong club looks as smoggy as a Delhi sky in November.
Arrows are more fun to watch
Last season’s Arrows were a difficult viewing experience, much like Comedy Central’s numerous re-runs of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
Luis Norton de Matos’ team were a little afraid, a little intimidated by their first season of top-flight football, as Amarjit Kiyam and Prabsukhan Gill spoke of before the season began. This season, they’ve started in right earnest and look to take the game to the opposition more under Floyd Pinto.
Consider the circumstances. No threat of relegation, no threats of contracts being terminated by trigger-happy Kolkata clubs, a guaranteed home in Odisha completely funded by the local government for the next few years, the Arrows set-up has very little to worry about.
Their first season in the league was trying and that is understandable. But the time for exposure is over and the time for AIFF Tours and Travels Limited, as one social media user put it, is now. The Arrows will score more, concede more and the spectators will be much the happier for it.
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