Indian Super League

[PKBasu]

This year's ISL leading club, Mumbai City, have a player (Sy Goddard, or Sai Godado) on loan from Italian Serie A side Benevento (who has also played as a youth international for Japan: his dad is English, mom Japanese but he has always said he wants to play for Japan), another player from the top tier of Moroccan football (Mourtada Fall, who is Senegalese and won the Moroccan top league title in 2012), a former Moroccan international (Ahmed Jahouh), a player on loan from Sporting Gijon which plays in Spain's second division (Hernan Santana), a player who has played for 3rd and 2nd division French teams and a top Moroccan one (Hugo Boumous), an Englishman on loan from Sydney FC in the A-League (Adam Le Fondre, who mainly played for third tier clubs in England, a few seasons for a second tier club, before moving to Sydney FC, a top Aussie club), and a 36-year-old Nigerian who played in the 2002 World Cup as a 17-year-old and then for PSG in France for several seasons but was playing lower-division football in Europe before joining ISL sides (Bartholomew Ogbeche).

Pretty dispiriting to find that the ISL has basically slotted into an international professional-football system in which it is the equivalent of a low-second or third-tier league in Europe. A very long way to go before India is competitive enough to aspire to World Cup qualification. Maybe we should try to become an Olympic side first -- as we comfortably were in the 1950s.

[prasen9]

I am generally against national quotas in any league. Except in the ISL, the board must mandate that all clubs must play at least one Indian forward. If all the goals are scored by foreigners, then we are not developing our strikers.

[prasen9]

So, after 5-6 games, Mohun Bagan is at 13 points jointly tied with Mumbai City, who have a better goal difference. East Bengal and Odisha are at the opposite end with 1 point.

[PKBasu]

Big match tonight between 3rd placed Bengaluru FC and 2nd placed ATK Mohun Bagan. Having played one match less than Mumbai (on 16 points), they respectively are on 12 and 13 points.

[prasen9]

Mohun Bagan defeated Bengaluru and kept pace with Mumbai albeit at a lower goal difference. David Wiliams scored the only goal at the 33rd minute.

It is a shame that there are no teams from Northern India. We need a team from Punjab, Chandigarh, or Delhi areas.

[PKBasu]

First loss of the season for Bengaluru FC, the team that features Sunil Chhettri. The latter had one good shot at goal, but Arindam made a fine save. A terrific goal by David Williams (an Australian player who has been Roy Krishna's team-mate at ATK since last year, and at Wellington Phoenix earlier) gave ATK Mohun Bagan the win today, and a share of the lead. (Williams has played one World Cup qualifier, against China, for Australia, albeit way back in 2008; he is now 32).

[usaindia]

Rangers to stream Indian Super League games via Facebook
https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/ran ... ngaluru-fc

[usaindia]

ATK and mumbai city fc qualified for semifinals
https://indianexpress.com/article/sport ... t-7197514/