Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
The I-League after the weekends Round 14 matches has entered a much needed two week break for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers with Mumbai FC going as the bottom team into the break.
After a great start with two away wins, an opening round Maha derby win at DSK Shivajians FC in Pune and a follow up 2-1 win over Churchill Brothers at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco, since then in January 2017, Mumbai FC have not been able to win a match in incredible 12 I-League matches.
A lot had changed over the summer with coach Khalid Jamil released by the club after close to seven years in-charge of the Mumbaikars and Santosh Kashyap coming in for an often criticised Jamil. It meant that the Mumbai FC club management and the fans hoped for a new era and changes in the style of play.
Only months into Santosh Kashyap’s reign at Mumbai FC, things have changed dramatically since the two opening round match wins. Kashyap had repeatedly said that his aim is to finish third in the I-League even continuing with the same narrative until people started to realise that this ambitious target cannot be reached.
Now at the break after Round 14, Mumbai FC are bottom of the table with only 10 points from 14 matches. Due to the I-League expansion rule, ninth placed Minerva Punjab FC (12 points), eighth placed Chennai City FC (13 points) and seventh placed DSK Shivajians FC (14 points) are all exempt from relegation this season.
This means that sixth placed Churchill Brothers after their run of three wins, are not one of the worst teams this season with 16 points from 14 matches in the I-League and more importantly with a six points gap ahead of Mumbai FC with four matches to play.
In the end my summary is that without the support from Europe and other parts of Asia, it will be difficult to develop clubs to play local football with a career like at Mumbai FC surely possible.
