As the title race comes to the business end , some injuries & non-renewals of contracts that might decide the outcome :
East Bengal : UGA OKPARA : looks like a season ending injury with EB even trying to ask AIFF for special permission to bring in a replacement, they managed a clean sheet without him , and with Arnab, Raju and Gurwinder have sufficient cover, and actually play better without the beach football player !
Bengaluru FC : ROBIN SINGH : out for 6 weeks with a suspected fractured shoulder , had started to hit some form after yet another average season , could be missed unless Sean Rooney and Sunil Chhetri continue their form that has netted them 22 of BFC's 33 goals
Shillong Lajong : CORNELL GLEN : the NE reds will need him to recover quickly from that hamstring strain , as they lacked much goal threat with only Uilliams Silva trying to trouble the opposition. His pace and strength would've caused East Bengal a lot more problems yesterday had he played. Lajong have only picked up 3 points in last 4 matches & need the return of their leading scorer.
Pune FC : no major injury concerns , but the strain of the AFC games and I-League matches with the relatively young & inexperienced squad could test them.
SCdeGoa : Boimah Karpeh : with the loss of Arturo & replacement Martins Ekwume not looking up to scratch , the knee problem that Karpeh has could seriously derail what has been a impressive season by the Goan underdogs .
Salgaocar : they seem to have recovered from their slump and if they stay injury free to Dudu & Duffy they could make things interesting in the next few weeks.
East Bengal and Shillong Lajong suffered the worst fate. Shillong are due to play Bengaluru and Mohun among their last games. EB are due to play Sporting Goa, Pune, Prayag, and Churchill among others which could given them a harder time.
BFC in poll position must win next 2 games vs Shillong Lajong (A) and Pune FC(H) to take them to 43 points and thus eliminate Pune FC as they will improve their head to head and have a superior Goal Difference
Salgaocar have made an impressive late surge with 15 points from last 15 , no team has won more than 5 in a row this season , and they will need to win 4 of their remaining 5 to be challenging for the title as they have an inferior head to head vs BFC . The screw-up by RAJ Gomes cost them 1 point vs.PFC and -6 goals instead of -1, this could come to haunt them.
Pune FC : need to win their game in hand & try to get a win or draw vs. BFC , this will enable them to win the title if they finish level on points with BFC . They also play Salgaocar and similarly win or draw will ensure superior head to head. These two "6"pointers will determine their final position.
SCdeGoa : given their current form they seem to be slipping out of the race they lead for a significant time. They end the season with games in Goa vs Salgaocar & BFC, so they could cause a late swing , as long as they stay in contention till then.
Played | Wins| Losses| Draws| Points | next 5 games..........
Salgaocar have the "easiest" fixtures, and only have to travel to Pune for 1 genuine away game, which could be the title decider, as it seems to be their only tough fixture. If Churchill are safe from relegation by the last game, expect that to be an easy 3 points for Salgaocar
Pune FC have the toughest run in , not only do they have 3 more AFC games , they also have to play the top 2 as well as face East Bengal twice , relegation threatened Churchill won't be easy either
BFC will probably falter in next 3 games to hand the title to Salgaocar, can't see them picking up 11 from 15 given they only have 1 game at home and have 4 tough away fixtures . If East Bengal makes a late surge for it, then one can see Mohun Bagan gifting them 3 points , assuming they are safe by then.
Sporting won't be able to beat East Bengal and Rangdajied away in the 2 games that are squeezed in 4 days with the tough travel, that will probably see them give-up and go into free fall
Comments
Kindly note the change of dates for the below mentioned matches.
144 MONDAY 21/04/14 RUFC V/S SLFC JLN
24
145 MONDAY 21/04/14 DEM V/S BFC FATORDA
25
- BFC in poll position must win next 2 games vs Shillong Lajong (A) and Pune FC(H) to take them to 43 points and thus eliminate Pune FC as they will improve their head to head and have a superior Goal Difference
- Salgaocar have made an impressive late surge with 15 points from last 15 , no team has won more than 5 in a row this season , and they will need to win 4 of their remaining 5 to be challenging for the title as they have an inferior head to head vs BFC . The screw-up by RAJ Gomes cost them 1 point vs.PFC and -6 goals instead of -1, this could come to haunt them.
- Pune FC : need to win their game in hand & try to get a win or draw vs. BFC , this will enable them to win the title if they finish level on points with BFC . They also play Salgaocar and similarly win or draw will ensure superior head to head. These two "6"pointers will determine their final position.
- SCdeGoa : given their current form they seem to be slipping out of the race they lead for a significant time. They end the season with games in Goa vs Salgaocar & BFC, so they could cause a late swing , as long as they stay in contention till then.
Played | Wins| Losses| Draws| Points | next 5 games..........