Indian Super League 2015: Israil Gurung all round show gives Pune bragging rights
Synopsis: On the day Indian players left their respective ISL clubs to prepare for the national team’s World Cup qualifiers, another Indian player Israil Gurung was instrumental in Pune City FC comprehensively beating visitors Mumbai City FC 3-1.
Gurung’s storming runs
In the first 10 minutes the hosts barely managed to put together a string of passes as the Mumbai-franchise dictated the early exchanges at Balewadi Stadium in Pune. The only exception was Gurung. The 26-year-old made his intentions clear with some pacy runs down the right. So effective was his wing play throughout the game that all three goals that Pune scored had the midfielder’s involvement — setting up two and scoring the third.
During a counterattack in the 12th minute, which initially looked like just a ploy to give the defenders some respite from the barrage of attacks they were receiving, Gurung found the ball on the edge of the box. Neatly overcoming a lunging tackle, he moved the ball to his left foot and delivered an inch-perfect cross to Turkish midfielder Tuncay Sanli, who headed home unchallenged.
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Just 10 minutes into the second half, Gurung provided an almost identical cross to Sanli, who put Pune back into the lead. Twelve minutes later, another attempted cross, only this time it got deflected off a Mumbai defender and went into the back of the net.
Gurung’s performance, Mumbai assistant coach Oscar Bruzon asserted, exposed Mumbai’s ‘problems on the left.’
The versatile Sanli
Pune City FC coach, the former England international and Man City assistant coach David Platt’s tactics ahead of the game saw him field a side without a specialised striker. Instead, the versatility of Sanli was called into play. The 33-year-old Turk, essentially an attacking midfielder, is equally proficient in the striker’s role.
Once Sanli headed home the first, the Pune franchise got into the groove. The Turk constantly shuffled between the midfield and the opposing box, drawing in defenders and opening up space for his teammates.
While he scored his first goal unopposed, he had to time his run and dodge a defender to head home his second.
Anelka involvement
The game was Mumbai City manager Nicolas Anelka’s first as player-coach. In the 75th minute, the 36-year-old decided to bring himself on. His impact was immediate. Mumbai began dominating possession and the pace increased significantly. The forward dropped back on several occasions to pluck the ball from midfield and lead the counterattack. Though he did not manage a shot on goal, there was a new purpose in the Mumbai ranks as they attempted to make a comeback.
carlos hits out at constantine
Brazilian legend Roberto Carlos, now managing Delhi Dynamos, has expressed his displeasure over the behaviour of Stephen Constantine, saying he “didn’t like the way” the Indian national football team coach spoke to him. The World Cup and Champions League winning coach was not happy with the fact that Constantine did not pay heed to the franchise’ request of playing the likes of Robin Singh, Sehnaj Singh and Francis Fernandes against FC Goa in their opening Indian Super League (ISL) match last night.
“Yes I spoke to him (Constantine) and asked if I could keep them (players). I did not like the way he spoke,” Carlos said. “I don’t want to speak about the Indian national team because of the way he spoke to me, good luck to him,” the Brazilian was quoted as saying by ‘goal.com’.
Players were to be released by every ISL franchise for the national team commitments who are to play twin 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Turkmenistan and Oman on October 8 and 13, respectively. Dynamos had expressed their desire to release the players on October 5, which would have been a violation of the stipulated FIFA rules which clearly mentions that the players be released by clubs for international duty at least four days prior.
