FOOTBALL IN DETAIL

Yesterday, Bengaluru football club, won the first development league, which was hosted by the Reliance! There were only 7 number of games for the each team!  If we have to improve our players, we have to increase the number of matches!  How we can increase the number of matches? There are different ways !  - Playing them on the same day where ISL senior teams will play. As most of the players do travel with the teams to make up the proper squad, which is of 35 players. Even if take 18 players for the main team, we are left with 17 more players, which can participate in the reserve league. It will cut down the cost of organising, will give another match up for the grabs for the fans. The stadium engagement will grow at the minimal added cost. Clubs will get more players,who are match fit and can use them to better their results. One match around 5 PM and the next 7:30 PM, thus both the reserve teams and the senior teams fighting on the same day! Isn...

Every sport, whether it's football, cricket or basketball where the role of fan groups is important, involve conflicts. The basic human nature is to deny everything which is of different opinion, on emotional issues mind is sidelined by the heart. This can be seen, on match days especially in the game of football. This conflict can increase on certain levels, as we have seen that matches got abandoned due to the  fights and lose of lives. This is all due to the passion which is necessary but when it's over, things get scary. In the aspect of the Indian football, this rivalry is very much there. Especially when it came to the hubs of football, Kolkata and Goa. Mohun Bagan A.C. and East Bengal FC were the flag bearers of this. Thousands of people in the stadiums showing contrasting emotions on every goal scored, is joy to watch. The atmosphere is astonishing. With the advent of the technology, the engagement of fan groups have increased on the social media...

The newspaper industry in India is one of the important contributing industries in the Indian Economy. With around 250 million daily circulation, it's reach among the masses is splendid and undeniable. Imagine, how far it spread the information and how strong the impact on the society. From students, working individuals, retired, homemakers,poor, rich somehow everyone have connection with the newspaper. They read regularly and know about the daily happenings. But, why Indian football is not included in this information? I always thought, why so much discrimination is faced by the Indian football over the other sports. As you all know that yesterday, Indian football federation released the names of 23 women's national team players for the AFC Asian Cup. Many Indian newspapers with high readership and which are published in different languages, zones and cities failed to even mention that. Shocking, isn't it ? This condition is after the competition is...

The formation 4-3-3 is very much used by Bengaluru FC, which requires a lot of press, fast and aggressive game play to make it a success. But it is not effective as it looks like. Bengaluru Fc struggled to reap good results with this formation against the teams who have a low block or don't play aggressively. Only exception came last night with 3-0 win against Mumbai City Fc ! Reasons for the success. - Mumbai hold ball in their half alot with passing from the defense, it is easy to press and use the space. - Mumbai was missing key players like Ahmad to control the midfield from the defense, so counter the press. - Low confidence of the team and changes by the coach made unsettled 11, which haven't played much together. - Now using long balls as an option effectively by Mumbai to counter the press, whenever they did,it was effective. Reasons why it didn't worked on occasions for Bengaluru ! Non performence of the striking force, Sunil missed the penalty thus giv...

Nivia Astra, the magic ball ! The quality of football is the most important part if you want to make the sport better. Thus FIFA recommends certain quality check and  approve them. Now, the highest quality of  FIFA approved football ball is FIFA Pro. Highest quality ball is used in the most of the leagues and which is a good step. Nivia being the official ball partner of the Indian Super League, provide the ball for the league. Nivia Astra is the ball which is in use in the league. Now from where the magic comes ? As we have seen that there is something different in this ball. It curls well, dips alot and certainly causing problems for the goalkeepers. If you have any doubt, please  ask Dheeraj. Let's see the factors involved in this. In 2013 MIT conducted experiments regarding the quality of ball and it's movement in different environments. They found that the surface of the ball is one of the important factor in the ball movement with...

It's quite evident that refreeing is not an easy job, you have to be on toes to be at best. Sometimes they do make mistakes and rightly so, should be criticised. But, there is no room for abuse, dedicated targeting and insult. Mistakes did happened in the past will be there in the future too, as it's the human nature and mistakes do happen. There might also be a lot of anger when you suffer from the wrong decisions, but it never gives you a right to abuse someone without even respecting their privacy. Jamshedpur FC got a clear goal denied last season but their fans didn't went to abuse the refree and his family. Their criticism was meant for the AIFF so they do something regarding it. In India, refrees earn very much less and have to sustain their livelihood by doing other jobs. Till the league becomes stronger so that they can earn enough and participate in more matches, they won't improve. Also, many people advocate introduction of the VAR system in the In...

Indian Super League, as it's history is putting out surprises yet again. Where favourite teams are getting beaten comfortably, coaches are resigning mid season, change of teams by the coaching staff and especially the ever changing points table. Every league certainly amounts to the points table as, it shares the details of it's process and an idea how teams are performing. But, in a league with only 11 teams and only round robin matches, the margin between the top and the bottom is a two wins away. This shows the competitiveness of the league. Every team wants to get more out of it and win the league shield with the lottery jackpot, the champions league spot. Though, as usual this season started normally till the refree controversies, trolling of the fan favourites and successive defeats for the large spenders. With ATKMB , struggling enough to make the most successful coach in the league to resign from the spot. And it made many wonders how the season will progre...

Sometimes we find the basic rules of mathematics beyond reasonable. This happens only during  unique cases. One such case is related to the "3+1" rule associated with  Asian football. Every Indian football club has been part of this bogie but differed on other platforms.   One such platform is the league system, here the rule was different and created a paralysis for the growth of  Indian football but was pleasant to the eyes. Whenever our teams went for the international glory, they failed to shine even with the brightest stars. It was quite visible that the layers of the coat which was sufficient for the 10° atmosphere failed to shield on days with negative temperatures. Our players jammed in the cold of the other team's quality and the heat of the pressure along with expectations. Bengaluru football club did fight to break the ice but it was not enough to melt the hard structure of superiority. We can see that after 2016, our clubs have per...