Indian football league is cast
The league is devoid of India’s current poster boy for football Sunil Chhetri
By : irfan haji
Update: 2014-07-23 04:39 GMT
Mumbai: After a lot of deliberations, the much talked about Hero India Super League which was supposed to kick off earlier this year is finally getting ready to take the Indian football by storm, later this year.
The league is devoid of India’s current poster boy for football Sunil Chhetri besides Karanjit Singh, Balwant Singh, Arata Izumi and Robin Singh.
ISL though has succeeded to bring opposing clubs like Pune FC and Bengaluru FC on board, as their representatives were present to help their city teams in selecting players. But the contracted players of these two clubs besides Salgaocar and Sporting Clube, Goa aren’t in the 84-player draft. This will mean that Chhetri & Co will have to wait probably for next season to play in the ISL.
The first day of players draft on Tuesday reflected the different strategies the eight franchises have for the inaugural edition. North East United FC and team Goa kept faith in their affiliated teams of Shillong Lajong and Dempo respectively.
Mumbai went aggressively for quality defenders by signing goalkeeper Subrata Paul, Syed Rahim Nabi, Raju Gaikwad and Deepak Mondal. This gives indication that their forward line will mostly comprise of foreign players.
Pune FC went for quality Indian midfielders Lenny Rodrigues, Manish Maithani and Joaquim Abranches. They have tie-ups with Italian club ACF Fiorentina signing Italian Franco Colomba as their coach, and have signed Italian centre defender Bruno Cirillo and goalkeeper Francesco Bardi. Delhi Dynamos owner Sameer Manchanda seemed satisfied, despite being last to pick from draft.