Sandesh Jhingan’s talks with clubs in UK and Australia are no more hidden and that highlights the need and requirement of a player to replace the giant and powerful defender at Kerala Blasters FC. Known for his physical strength, aerial ability and willingness to put the body on the line, he is considered to be one of the best defenders in India. Parting ways with a player like him is quite a misery for the club and finding a replacement to such an amazing player is a real big task to be completed. The winner of the Indian Super League Emerging Player of the Year and All India Football Federation Emerging Player of the Year in 2014 is now a veteran who did every possible thing on field for the club during his 6 years.
Getting a replacement for this gem is really difficult but let’s have a look at his possible replacements for the club :-
1) Sarthak Golui
Born in West Bengal, Golui was a part of the AIFF Elite Academy before trialing with I-League side, Mohun Bagan.On 9 January 2016, Golui made his professional debut with Mohun Bagan in the opening game of the I-League season against Aizawl. He came on in the last minute for Kean Lewis as Mohun Bagan won 3–1.
Sarthak Golui of FC Pune City celebrates a goal during match 74 of the Hero Indian Super League between Bengaluru FC and FC Pune City held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore, India on the 16th Feb 2018
Photo by: Vipin Pawar / ISL / SPORTZPICS
The number 16 has represented India in both the under-16 and under-19 level, he has also played AFC Cup qualifying round against Maldives club. Other than playing as a full back Golui also plays as the centre back and a right mid fielder which makes him a versatile player.
Sarthak has had 4 percent goal participation in all games and has started in almost 75% of all games he has played. He can be a possible replacement for Jhingan at KBFC.
Team IFTWC recently organised a live session on Instagram with the indian team and Odisha FC midfield maestro Vinit Rai. On 15th May the box to box player joined hand with IFTWC to talk about various aspects of the game and answer questions by the fans regarding development of football.
Starting with his first season as an ISL player , he started at a young age and joined Kerala Blasters FC for the 2016 season of the ISL although he got only 1 match to start but got to learn about the league at the club. He then joined Delhi Dynamos in 2017. Vinit highly appreciates the efforts put in by the coaches and managing staff and the trust they showed in him all that gave power to him which then resulted in his good performance on the pitch and helped him sustain and improve with the team.
Apart from the coaching staff a player Vinit thanks is Marcos Tebar , he says Marcos is a true leader and he knows how to handle and motivate the team in difficult situations , he inspires the team also with his playing style. His chemistry with Tebar can be seen in the matches and how both of them know what the other player is going to do next, Although the team is not sure if Marcos will stay or not at OFC. But Vinit surely wants to improve here as Odisha FC.
Marcos Tebar and Vinit with manager Josep Gombau
Talking about his contribution in the Indian team he has been the part of the Indian National team for a while now and has played matches against Qatar and China, and the team managed to earn a point from both the matches, he is still in a learning process but is ready to serve the nation. When questioned, what he does in his off season Vinit replied he works out 2 times a day for 6 days and rests on sundays , he sticks to his diet all the time because fitness for him is the most important.
Vinit for the Indian National Team
The Assamese loves to play as a deepline midfielder and plays the role of a box to box man , he believes communication between players and a better understanding can help create a lot more chances to score. He tries to be a part of the build up process in any game and respects the position of a defensive midfielder. He is inspired by his idol Eugeneson Lyngdoh , he says Lyngdoh is a cool headed guy and has a great passing range, he aspires to be a great player in the midfield and want to go abroad in the next 5 years to play in a different league and challenge himself.
Vinit is a player who keeps most of the things to himself and is focused on developing himself and his game so when asked about naming the under rated players in the under 23 squad , he replied:
“I don’t like to think that much , all this distracts me , and according to me anyone who does hard-work deserves and will achieve success and limelight “.
He then discussed about the scenerio of football and it’s structure in Assam and mentioned that the introduction of North East United FC in the ISL helped a lot to boost the quality of football in Assam, as it motivated people and players and resulted in development of more football academies in Assam. He said local players are getting highlighted and much more opportunities are available to them now.
He wrapped up by telling that fitness and mentality are the 2 key attributes to become a good player and at an important position like his he doesn’t want opponents passing by and if they do he has to cover up, where fitness comes into play. Also a DMF has to do all the dirty work and has to go for every ball be it grounded or aerial whatever it’s probability be let it be 60-40 or 70-30 so here your strong mentality is required.
Finally we ended the session with a small rapid fire round with some miscellaneous questions where we got to know that Vinit’s favourite player is Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid is his favourite club.
Vinit is a player with great determination and dedication he’s looking forward to grow more as a player at Odisha FC and do whatever he can for his country in National matches.
This article is a part of our Indian Player of the Season (IPS) series, where we talk about the best Indian player from each club.
The star Indian defender Adil Khan was quite in demand in the market and got a lot of lucrative offers from major ISL clubs like ATK FC, Kerala Blasters and FC Goa. However he has dedicated his future to Hyderabad FC. Hyderabad FC have announced that Adil Khan has signed a new deal that will keep him at the club till the Indian Super League 2023 season.
The veteran: Adil Khan
The 31-year-old, with his tireless performances as a box-to-box midfielder in the ISL and as a CB in the Indian National team has proved his worth and importance in the team, his experience is really important specially for the young players such as Narender Gahlot and Sahal Abdul Samad.
Speaking on his contract extension Adil said, “I’m happy to make Hyderabad my home for the next 3 years. I have faith in this club and its management and believe we will have better luck and achieve greater success in the next few seasons.”
The midfielder cum defender started his professional footballing career with Sporting Clube de Goa where he played for them in the Second Division and I-League for five years. Thereafter, he began his journey by representing Mohun Bagan, Delhi Dynamos, Bharat FC, Lonestar Kashmir, and Churchill Brothers.
Adil had made his debut for the Blue Tigers in 2012 before making a comeback seven years later under Igor Stimac in the King’s Cup 2019.
“Being recalled to the Indian team this year (2019) was somewhat a reincarnation for me as a footballer” – Adil Khan
His comeback was a high point in his life but things were pretty difficult for him when India had to face Bangladesh in the World Cup Qualifier because his dad was in operation theatre as he fought for India.
Adil’s father, Badrudin Khan, was in hospital with two heart blockages and needed surgery. The surgery, his family told him, would happen later that evening, when the defender would line-up for India against Bangladesh in a World Cup 2022 qualifier at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata. He kept everything to himself and took a deep breath and started warming up and still took the field as if nothing had happened.
Initially his game didn’t felt like his game or his playing style , but gradually he showed everyone who Adil Khan is and scored a banger on the 88th minute, equalizing
India with Bangladesh and dedicated his goal to his father, wife and injured defender Sandesh Jhingan, Adil said he was happy with the performance but not the result.
Adil rushed to Goa and discovered that his father was recovering well after a successful surgery.
Like every other player , Adil had to switch to Hyderabad FC as Pune City FC shifted their base to Hyderabad under Phil Brown. During the pre season
Hyderabad FC played a pre-season friendly against an I-League club Real Kashmir FC on 4 October 2019. They drew the match 1–1 with Laldanmawia Ralte scoring the solitary goal for the Hyderabad side.
It was only after gaffer Phil Brown’s departure that the “City of Nawabs” got back to playing well. The addition of former Bengaluru FC coach Albert Roca as their instructor mid season further boosted their progress. But it was a little too late for the team to do much and get back to the top half of the league table. But the team management is surely working to develop a strong team for the next season
With a dull season in the Hero ISL campaign this season Adil Khan was one of those bright spots that the team needed the most, his performance as the defence was extremely amazing throughout his 9 appearances for the team. He came up with 59 tackles all together in his appearances, 12 interceptions, 27 clearances, and 7 blocks despite playing as a midfielder.
Adil Khan surely deserves to the player of the season because his crucial 27 clearances helped the team to atleast sustain the season and prepare them for a better season ahead. Despite being at the bottom of the table this season he has extended his contract for the same team which surely is a positive step put forward by him to bring glory to Hyderabad FC.
IFBA ( Indian Football Businesses Awards) hosted Mr. Ranjit Bajaj as the guest speaker on the topic :
Football entrepreneurship and innovation
The owner of Minerva Academy, and extremely enigmatic Mr. Ranjit Bajaj strongly believes in two things which can lead anyone to heights of success i.e. Passion and Belief, perhaps that’s what led Minerva to win 7 I-League titles .
Ranjit Bajaj with the I-League trophy
He wants to promote Indian football and create an atmosphere where people from our country come out to support the local clubs and watch us win the World Cup. For this he quoted “For winning the World Cup We need hundred Minervas to increase the talent pool” which he said is surely possible. You only need to start working with passion.
When asked about finding the right balance between football and business and that which is more important he replied ” Business for me is also not a business , i started following my love i.e. The Indian Armed Forces and started training the future of Indian Armed Forces.” To which he added , Football for him is also love and his love for the two is incomparable.
The man who has revolutionized the Indian football Entrepreneurship scenario recently created history by selling the club to a corporate business house. It was surely a brave move , but his motive behind this was to promote local talent so that the club should not be a buying club but be a selling club which could provide World class players , he didn’t do it with the thought to become national champions because that’s not the way to succeed.
Explaining the correct way he added :
“the first thing in the mind of the person should be , do you have passion for it ,do you have love for it
will you go through this no matter what happens even if you don’t succeed you will have no problems. The whole world will work against you , the state will not support you the federation will not support you, you will not get any sponsors and are still willing to go through all this then come out with a smile on your face if you fail , if you are willing to do all that then you should get into this”
The underdogs Minerva FC started with no sponsorships or state support , no government support unlike clubs like Mohun Bagan , East Bengal and Real Kashmir but still managed to compete against them and managed to win, it was all because of passion.
The revolutionist never wanted to pay and play and always believed on merit to join the I- League .
The plan to make a successful team is by giving more game time to players be it the pre existing senior players with deserving juniors as this amalgamation can create a team with variety and versatility , both the youngsters and senior players will compliment each other’s game.
Changes a pre existing club needs to do in order to grow !
Coming onto running an existing club in India the changes Mr. Ranjit wants involve, preparing a financial fair play in leagues such as the I- League. He wants the federation to put a cap on expenditure. Providing examples he added clubs such as Bengaluru FC (when playing in the I-League), Mohun Bagan and East Bengal could spend as much money as they wanted. Mohun Bagan did pay Sony Norde a salary of 3.5- 4 crore rupees a year while the same year budget of Minerva was just 1.4 crore and still they won the I- League. So instead of investing so much money on one player if a club invests on a World class academy then they will have an amazing player every year who can assure them the title.
Ranjit sir is creating a team for the FIFA World Cup 2034 which involves players of the age of 5-10 years , talking about the feasibility and possibility of this plan he explained that young players when trained from the very start will have many pros such as family involvement which can help create the culture and atmosphere of football in a family and infuse football in the coming genes , second when trained and played against top teams from the very start players will play on the basis of face value and not by the value of the team or a player on global platform this will help in letting out the fear of not being able to perform equally as foreign players and clubs and would ultimately prove the statement completely wrong.
“The moment we start playing these international teams from a young age we are going to beat them”
He in fact also let out his scouting secrets so that clubs could learn from this and work for football and raising, training true talent rather than just doing business and giving opportunities on pay and play basis.
Further when asked about his past in england as a college student and how Indian football is different than English Football he praised Calcuta and said the culture he experienced in England he experienced the same footballing culture in Bengal , he also added ” you are born in a club , you don’t have a choice”
He did the part time job of a Stuart in league matches back in England which provided him the chance to experience the culture of football there and how football for countries like England , Germany, Spain is not just a sport but an essential service. Rivalries and rebels between kids and parents in England didn’t include disobeying them but following the rival club of their father’s favourite club, and that’s a good kind of rivalry one which indirectly unites !
His suggestion to develop football in the grassroot included a suggestion for the AIFF to reduce the fee of the exams to become a coach let it be of D,C,B or A license because the high fee prohibits potential coaches to get licensed hence blocking the growth of football .
Secondly there is no such thing as a solidarity fee for clubs who provide great players to financially strong and top league clubs providing absolutely no reason to someone to start a new academy or club.
If there would be a solidarity fee provided to the initial club from where a player started his career. This would increase the enthusiasm of the small club or academy and allow them to work even harder to find great talent more often.
Although Minerva had a tie up with Borussia Mönchengladbach but Ranjit sir said that the only reason a foreign club wants to be in our country is to generate revenue, no foreign club wants to actually uplift Indian football and the game in India. But on the positive side we can use these clubs to provide exposure to our local lads and make them play against them more often.
Replying to the final question i.e. what does it take to sustain an academy for a longer period of time?
Paaji firmly said “it’s all Passion, Love and hardwork. Passion will take you there , hard-work will keep you going, but whenever you fail , passion makes sure you keep working hard”
These golden words by him are enough for a person to keep going in whichever field they love and have passion for.
Ranjit sir rested his case by finally saying that Minerva is going nowhere it is there and it will remain the factory to produce the best Football talent India has and his aim in his lifetime is to not only see India win the World Cup but thrash other countries in it, and it’s his promise to make India reach the World Cup by 2034 or by 2038.
That were the suggestions, requests and words of a Legend , a man full of passion and a true visionary.
The venture started with the 2015-16 season of Hero ISL
THE GREAT ROAR BEGINS . . 2015-16 season of the ISL marked the emergence of one of the most vociferous football fan clubs in India the DYNAMOS ULTRAS. The venture was initiated by 4-5 like minded football enthusiasts which transformed into a movement that was ultimately carried forward by true football fans which has continued till the present day . DYNAMOS ULTRAS has always showcased its unique identity in the stands and has always stood out in the crowd . Filling the maximum number of seats in the stadium, cheering for their team with utmost passion and dedication – the DYNAMOS ULTRAS FAMILY has played a key role in the overall development of football in the National Capital. #DynamosUltras #TheGreatRoar #DelhiFootball #IndianFootball #SupportYourLocalClub.
First printed banner of an official football fan club in the ISL Credits:(@Indiansuperleague)
2016-2017 season
EXPANSION OF PASSION . . The DYNAMOS ULTRAS FAMILY expanded abruptly and the new generation fans came up with the idea of the hand made ultras poster/banner which became the highlight of the 2016-2017 season This season was important in different terms for the fans because we included drums , chants and anthems to support our team which definitely worked out as we finished third in the season with 21 points . the team trying their best on the field and we supporting them in the best possible way . Our first handmade banner was also introduced in this season promoting our unconditional passion for the game and love for the team . The artist inside each one of us truly showed up . Our creativity was also shown in the chants we did for the team , one of the most famous chant we created was : oooo tony reee tere bina bhi kya jeena ! We introduced one more chant in the next season which became really famous i.e. Ek din achanak se, mujhe pyaar ho gaya, mera dil dhadak raha, na mujhse poocho kyu, yeh dilli meri jaan, main hamesha ki tarah, hifaazat kar raha, alez alez alez
our emotions screamed out through these chants , we had a great season for the second consecutive year and finished on top of the table alongside mumbai city fc still finished third in the playoffs !
This season also marked the first move in expanding the Ultras by introducing fan jersey with the trademark red and white t shirts which were not the primary colors of Delhi Dynamos but surely the ones of Delhi United FC , membership also included wrist bands ,face mask and a lot of enthusiasm ⚡the . The army was growing to make Delhi their own . Our aim was clear to perform better the next season and with these hopes we walked into season 2017-18
The first handmade poster credit: (@indiansuperleague)
THE SLUMP BEGINS (2017-18 season) . . . Delhi Dynamos started the 2017-18 season with a bang by defeating FC Pune City 3-2 in a thrilling game , but things took a turn and Dynamos went for a 9 game winless streak. We suffered 6 defeats in a row followed by 3 draws. Rohan Sharma took charge of the club from mid-season. The game for Glory and authority came i.e. Bengaluru FC vs Delhi Dynamos . We were tensed and had zero expectation of winning the game. Bengaluru FC were the table leaders while we were last. Interestingly we had people from Denmark and Hong Kong with us in the stands. We were hoping to win the game in front of them … Things were not in our favour as our main goalkeeper was out due to injury still we picked up ourselves with the same old enthusiasm and went to the stadium. We started supporting our club like always and things started to fall in place with the first goal.
We responded to the shameful act shown by West Block Blues ( posting picture with caption : delhi conquered before the match) by forcing them to stay quiet throughout the game , the final score was 2- 0 and the joy with which we celebrated the win even forced the foreigners to dance. We exchanged jerseys and club stickers which were then posted on our hand made banner. That match was surely a one to remember and worth all the efforts on and off the pitch. The people from Hong Kong were from Ultras bluewave (kitchkee’s fan group). They invited our key member Deepesh to visit the training area of the Kitchee’s in Hong Kong
Ultras Bluewave member Dice Him and Deepesh from Dynamos Ultras exchanging Jersey’s Kitchee and dynamos ultras stickers on the Ultras banner
The kitchee fans and Ultras bluewave then invited our key member Deepesh to visit the training area of the Kitchee’s in Hong Kong
Deepesh promoting Delhi Dynamos and Dynamos Ultras at Hong Kong Kitchee training ground
This season wasn’t a great one for us as we didn’t even qualified for the play offs and we ended at the 7th place on the points table .
THE END ? (2018 – 19 season) . . 2018-19 season was not a season we would like to remember because the team wasn’t performing well and the fan club had issues to face related to the club . Rumors had started to float around by the second half of the 18/19 season. According to them, Delhi Dynamos would shift its base to Odisha next season. A sense of fear was beginning to rise in our minds. We were all worried that the club which had become like a family to us would get dissolved by the end of the season. Time passed by and the rumours kept on growing. Rohan Sharma had completely commercialized the club! He didn’t retain a single player from the squad that qualified to the semi-finals for two seasons in a row, not even the coaching staff. To add to our agony, he did a fraud by lying to us about opening a residential academy which apparently didnt happen. This ultimately resulted in breaking the core of the team and coaching staff. The only greatest contribution he did was breaking the team into pieces and completely shattering the dream of many individuals of seeing their own club becoming great.
As a desperate effort to save our club, we launched the campaign ‘#SAVEDDFC’. After a while, it was more or less evident that the club would change to Odisha FC and move to Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. Our fears turned into reality. Devastated by the news, we never let the feeling of disappointment get to us. When everybody thought Dynamos Ultras had become a lost cause.
Main motive SAVE DDFC Our pain and feeling of sorrow could be seen in these posters !
Posters created by Aman Rawat played a great role as he expressed his feelings by making these posters and explaining our situation and the sense of loss, damage and pain . It’s very well said not all hero’s wear capes !
A True Legacy
STARTING AGAIN ON OLD ROADS (2019-2020) . It is always hard to lose something you love but despite the pain, one has to move on. We got past the sorrow and took it upon ourselves to change the face of football in Delhi. Football in Delhi has had a downfall lately. Low attendance and pollution in the winters were part of the reasons for which Delhi Dynamos left the capital city. Now, with the management of Delhi United FC in our hands and a constant support from Minerva Fc and Mr. Ranjit Bajaj the great football revolutionist. We aim to change things for the better and bring the lost Glory back to Delhi .Our idea would be to make the concept of fans managing a football club reach out to more and more people in the city. The road ahead is tough but so is our mentality. Jai ultras ❤️
Rumors had started to float around by the second half of the 18/19 season. According to them, Delhi Dynamos would shift its base to Odisha next season. A sense of fear was beginning to rise in our minds. We were all worried that the club which had become like a family to us would get dissolved by the end of the season. Time passed by and the rumors kept on growing. As a desperate effort to save our club, we launched the campaign ‘#SAVEDDFC’. After a while, it was more or less evident that the club would change to Odisha FC and move to Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar. Our fears turned into reality. Devastated by the news, we never let the feeling of disappointment get to us. When everybody thought Dynamos Ultras had become a lost cause, we never gave up on ourselves. We believed that hard work pays off. Due to our constant efforts, Football Delhi has handed us the management of Delhi United FC.
Growing up we fell in love with European football. Watching the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, Ronaldinho, Scholes, Xavi, and Kaka left us in awe. We always dreamt of watching them play live in front of us. Delhi Dynamos fulfilled our dreams by bringing in Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Carlos, Florent Malouda, and GianlucaZambrotta over the years. Meeting these legends and watching them play week in week out gave us joy like nothing ever will. In just five years Delhi Dynamos had become more than a family to us. From celebrating the festivals to crying after losing a match, the bond between the club and us had become a special one. We indeed shared some beautiful moments which we will cherish for life.
It is always hard to lose something you love but despite the pain, one has to move on. We got past the sorrow and took it upon ourselves to change the face of football in Delhi. Football in Delhi has had a downfall lately. Low attendance and pollution in the winters were part of the reasons for which Delhi Dynamos left the capital city. Now, with the management of Delhi United FC in our hands we aim to change things for the better. A big thanks to President of Football Delhi, Shaji Prabhakaran who has provided us with the opportunity to bring the glory days back to Delhi. Our idea would be to make the concept of fans managing a football club reach out to more and more people in the city. The road ahead is tough but so is our mentality.
Man City clashed with Fulham FC in the FA Cup on 26th January (sunday) . In the 4th round of the FA Cup . Interestingly Fulham FC went down to a 10 men as T. Ream received a red card in the initial 6 minutes of the game for pulling Gabriel Jesus in the 18 yards box.
Gunogan took a shot past the goalkeeper leading the CITIZENS through the penalty.
Gundogan celebrating the goal
Soon the lead was extended further by amazing skill by Bernardo Silva in the 19th minute .
Bernardo Silva against Fulham FC
The 1st half ended with more or less both teams performing well except for the score line where Manchester City leaded by 2-0
In the second half Man City mostly had the possession and in a passage of three minutes Gabriel scored twice to lead Man City by 4-0 .
The match also showed a significant performance by Phil Foden , the young gun had an assist to his name and also tried many times to score ! David Silva’s presence just added to Foden’s performance as an individual in the mid field Leroy was out because of his long going injury vut would soon return on field according to Man City sources .
Now Man City have secured there position for the next round and will complete the other side of Manchester in the Manchester derby on wednesday with the Red Devils. This would be the second leg with Manchester City already leading by 3-1 in the Friday leg .
Saturday (17 august 2019) turned out to be a really interesting gameday for all football fans around the globe . Two of the premier league giants competed against each other after their battle in the quarter finals of the Champions League(2018-19).
The game went really interesting as it started up by Sterling’s strong header into lloris’s goalpost at the 20th minute but tottenham’s Lamella levelled things right after 3 minutes .
City got their lead back on the 35th minute as Aguero tapped the ball in by the help of De Bruyene’s assist and that was just for the 1st half.
Second half kicked of interestingly as Loucas Moura headed the ball in right after coming from the bench levelling things for spurs .
Last Minute Drama : VAR ruling things out
Last minute trauma almost made everyone bite their nails as Jesus scored in the 90+1 minute but VAR ruled it out, just as it went in the Champions Leauge quarter finals .
Man city Boss Pep Guardiola left broken after the match but was happy with the team performance.
Boss remained optimistic to keep the team motivated
As he mentions “We played incredible aginst the second best team in Europe ,so the finalists of the Champions League, so I am proud. The amount of shot swe created was incredible . but the result is all that counts , we wwould like to win because the guys deserve it , but football is like this ” as for the dramatic dissalowed goal!
the football hooligan 