An Indian Super League season, heavily impacted covid cases at various moments, is nearing an end with four teams looking to win the group stage of the league and seal a spot in the AFC Champions League.
Hyderabad FC, Jamshedpur FC, ATK Mohun Bagan and Kerala Blasters are all in the reckoning for some continental honours. Apart from ATKMB, every other team on the l is a virtual surprise at this point of the season. Last year’s table toppers Mumbai City FC lie just out of reach of the playoff spots while FC Goa have had a year of upheaval after almost four consently good seasons.
📽️ Making your Sunday that much better!
A Bart Ogbeche brace and a Joao Victor stunner got us dancing with the whole squad 😍 #HFCFCG #ThisIsOurGame #మనహైదరాబాద్ #HyderabadFC pic.twitter.com/vsoTKDPTn3
— Hyderabad FC (@HydFCOfficial) February 20, 2022
The surprise leaders
Last season, a slew of injuries to foreign and Indian players alike meant that Hyderabad FC had to suddenly turn to their young Indian players to take the mantle. And they did, almost making it to the ISL playoffs and then as many as five of their players making the national camp after last year’s league campaign.
This season, the addition of Bartholomew Ogbeche to an already young core has seen an explosion of goals for Manolo Marquez. Last season Ogbeche was a bench warmer at Mumbai, coming in and scoring goals at will if Adam le Fondre failed to make the mark. This year though, Ogbeche has landed the leading role he so richly deserves and is the top scorer across teams.
Hyderabad has 32 points in 17 games, having won nine, drawn five and lost three while scoring 39 goals in the process. To average over two goals a game has turned a young team with potential into the best candidates to go through to next year’s Champions League.
25′ 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗔𝗔𝗔𝗔𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗟𝗟𝗟!!!!
Bart Ogbeche gets to a half-century of @IndSuperLeague goals with a slick header! Asish Rai setting it up on a plate for him 😍
We take the lead at Bambolim… 💪#HFCFCG #ThisIsOurGame #మనహైదరాబాద్ #HyderabadFC pic.twitter.com/RwGgjwrdv4
— Hyderabad FC (@HydFCOfficial) February 19, 2022
Ogbeche takes his tally to 5️⃣1️⃣ #HeroISL goals! 🤩⚽
Watch the #HFCFCG game live on @DisneyPlusHS – https://t.co/7kALFLXKr1 and @OfficialJioTV
Live Updates: https://t.co/qabBxcbHH8#HeroISL #LetsFootball pic.twitter.com/rk7Sz9C1Ei
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) February 19, 2022
In their own hands
No club in the Indian Super League comes quite as close as Jamshedpur does when it comes to making the playoffs and then inevitably failing to do so. Last season they missed out on the Top 4 spot four points. In the 2018-19 season, they came agonisingly close but fell short a mere two points. Playoff disappointments have been part and parcel of Jamshedpur’s season. What’s changed this time?
Not much. Jamshedpur’s statics can be a little deceptive. They are dead last in the league for the number of touches on the ball as well as total passes made the team. They have scored 30 goals from 16 games and conceded 18 and are only on the second spot because both Mumbai City FC and ATK Mohun Bagan have leaked goals aplenty.
But as luck would have it, their destiny is in their own hands. This week Jamshedpur will be taking on Hyderabad in what could be a winner-takes-it-all league match. A victory for JFC would still not make it certain, what with their matches against Odisha, and crucially ATK Mohun Bagan yet to come – but it would make the league theirs to lose. Currently they are on 31 points from 16 games and are in the best position to take the ACL spot.
Bagan in the mix
Having played the same number of games as Jamshedpur, Bagan are a point behind them and can also turn the tide of the league should they beat JFC.
Boasting of one of the best squads in the league, Bagan’s season has been topsy-turvy to say the least. A great start was followed a string of dismal results that led to the ISL’s most successful coach in Antonio Habas being shown the door. Juan Ferrando made a quick getaway from FC Goa and signed for Bagan. Under Habas, ATKMB were a team that passed little, took fewer touches than most but relied on some heavy lifting from Roy Krishna to push them over the line.
Ferrando has already changed that aspect of the Kolkata club and made them keep the ball for longer periods of the game. In their last four games, they’ve beaten Hyderabad FC, NorthEast United FC, FC Goa and then drew against a 10-man Kerala Blasters team. Form is on their side and any slip up from Jamshedpur could suddenly hand the keys to ATKMB yet again.
A well-deserved playoff spot
Usually at this end of the season, it’s rare to be talking about Kerala Blasters as a contending team but one of the big surprises of the league has been Ivan Vukomanovic’s team pulling themselves this deep towards the end of the season. Five points behind league leaders Hyderabad and three points behind ATKMB, Kerala will need quite a lot of luck to take the league crown at this point.
But the change in fortunes for the team is worth note. Ninth last season, seventh before that and ninth again in the 2018-19 season, the Blasters have pulled their socks up this season to come this close to the title. They have conceded the least number of goals in the league – an issue that has constantly plagued the team in previous ISL seasons.
Vukomanovic’s team has benefited from the Serbian’s emphasis on having a strong base to work from. Had the team signed an Ogbeche like figure as striker, this league could really have been theirs for the taking. They have Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Goa as their remaining four games – making it highly unlikely that they could somehow take the top spot, but not impossible.
