FOOTBALL IN DETAIL

The milestone breacher, our own Sunil Chhettri , did exactly that last night. He became the first person to score 50 goals in the top tier league, ISL! The mark is spectacular as he was without the goals for first 10 matches, his critics to his admirers, everyone was aware that he will strike back. He is now at 4 goals, in last 6 matches. But the point is, why only 50 and not 100 ? This raises the question on number of matches he only got to play in the league. Compare it with top players around the world, many have scored such number of goals in the single season. This shows the starking difference between us and them. Only 16 on average, half of the players from other leagues. This automatically reduces the chances of contribution.  This also shows how much we have lost of  him, and of the other players due to the  short league. Had the league was longer, matches he got to play were more, this could have been his 100th goal in the league itself. ...

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...

Nothing is more joyful for the supporters to watch their team play against the stronger opponents. Especially when it comes to the men's national football team, which rarely gets to play. Now, with the news coming that federation have arranged for the friendlies against Bahrain and Belarus, it brought cheers in the Indian football arena. Mainly supporters are happy as they were demanding it from the months. It will bring a great opportunity for the national team players and the coach to use the challenge for the good. With the! Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers going to be held in the month of june later this year. The importance of these two friendlies increases multifold. With the league short enough that players even can attend degree colleges, the friendlies will bring them to the continuous hardwork. As only a set of players will taste the asian competitiveness in the AFC Champions league, and the AFC Cup, so to make rest aware of the opportunity, up for the grab we need s...

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...