Photo Courtesy: I=League
This week it’s all about Komron Tursanov as TRAU FC top the I-League table. Churchill Brothers and Gokulam Kerala drop points, while NEROCA has been relegated.
TRAU, TRAU again and you will succeed
The really bad headline is to bring to your attention that Tiddim Road Athletic Union are at the top of the I-League table. Yes, ladies and gentlemen these are facts. They have now won five matches in a row to take their tally to 25 points.
In a closely contested match against Punjab FC, the all important goal was scored in the 81st minute. And what a goal it was!
Top scorer Bidyashagar Singh was kept quiet by the Punjab defence but in the 79th minute the match turned on its head.
Komron Tursunov was through on goal when Mohamed Irshad’s challenge on the striker was deemed to have been a bit agricultural. The referee flashed the red card and awarded a free-kick right outside the penalty box.
The Tajikistan international leathered the ball past Kiran Limbu to give TRAU the lead and the Imphal team went top of the league, courtesy a superior goal difference over Churchill Brothers.
Next opponent for TRAU in Round 15? The team they leapfrogged above: Churchill Brothers FC.
Churchill, Gokulam drop points
Churchill Brothers lost their second game in a row, a 1-4 thrashing at the hands of Mohammedan Sporting. The Goan outfit has surrendered their six point lead in two matches to drop to second spot.
Has the Red Machines stopped functioning as a unit? They managed a last minute win over Real Kashmir before losing 0-3 and 1-4 in consecutive matches.
Gokulam Kerala, who started the round three points behind Churchill, missed out on going level on points following a 1-1 draw against Real Kashmir. David Antwi scored from the spot to cancel out Basit Bhat’s strike.
The Malabarians are on 23 points – two behind TRAU and Churchill. They face Mohammedan next before the probable showdown against TRAU in the final round.
The league is still wide open.
As for Real Kashmir, their bid for the title is over as they finally picked up their first point in four matches. Fatigue? Bio-bubble woes? One would imagine the challenge for players to compete in a league which is not cash rich.
International players bids adieu
With two matches to go, TRAU FC will be without their talisman, Komron Tursonov. The Tajikistan international has been called up for the World Cup qualification match against Mongolia at Dushanbe Tajikkistan.
Mongols visiting Central Asia? Someone’s gonna get a little bit Genghis Khan.
It is a blow for the table toppers as Tursonov has been involved in 12 goals this season.
Other players that will reportedly miss the remainder of the season owing to national duties are Punjab FC’s goalkeeper, Kiran Limbu, who will be captaining Nepal and Mohammedan Sporting’s Jamal Bhuyan will join the Bangladesh national team.
Two influential players missing from TRAU and Punjab FC – the final two teams for Churchill Brothers. Just saying.
NEROCA relegated
After four seasons in the I-League, NEROCA FC has been relegated. The 1-0 loss to newcomers Sudeva FC sees the Imphal team manage only eight points in 13 matches.
The Imphal team made a strong impression in the debut season in 2017-18. Backed by a boisterous support at the Khuman Lampak Stadium, NEROCA finished the season in second place – missing out on the title by 3 points to Punjab FC.
Gift Raikhan left the club the following season and the club lost its way. Raikhan’s return after stints at Aizawl and Gokulam did little to stop the slow slide of the club. If he stays, he will have to recreate what he had done in 2016-17: Bring NEROCA back to the I-League.
The Goal-Scoring Ratio
No goals from Bidyashagar Singh to boost the Indian goal scoring tally. Pedro Manzi’s brace has taken his tally to five goals in six games, while Luka Majcen also scored his ninth of the season for Churchill Brothers, albeit in a losing cause.
Komron Tursanov scored his sixth of the season. Given how the other results panned out, this was surely the most important of them all.
The overall tally after round 14 looks like this:
Foreign players – 84
Indian players – 95
Own goals – 5
…and finally
We promise that this is the last word on Komron Tursanov. We have stats on the chap and stats say a lot about a player’s contribution on the field.
At the start of the tournament the TRAU forward scored the fastest goal in the I-League. He followed that up with two more goals within the first five minutes. Then he toyed with us by scoring late (87′ and 74′). Now he scored another one in the last 10 minutes.
By virtue of his late goals, his average goal time (AGT) went from 2.6 minutes to 41.6 minutes. This stat means that the striker is nearly good to play for the first 45 minutes.
His average first goal time (AFGT) is at an impressive 22.25 minutes, this means that if he doesn’t score in the first quarter of the match, the coach might as well haul him off at half time.
If we do dice a match into four quarters, Tursanov’s AFGT will allow him to get subbed in after the hour mark and fulfil his statistical obligation.
Why make you read all this? Because we made a graph to display an “in-depth analysis” so that certain social media outlets can steal and peddle it as their own.
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