ATK , short form of Atletico De Kolkata, was playing
against the less fancied side Pune FC today at Salt Lake stadium ; their home
ground . The result was widely expected to be in favour of ATK, who had not only been sufficiently rested
but was with their coach, Habas and key
striker , Fikru back from suspension. Pune was riding high with their first win in
their last match in the ongoing first edition of ISL, the Indian Super League.
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| The wings aren't exactly fluttering for the ATK captain , LuisGarcia |
Although ATK had started with a bang in the
tournament-opener against Mumbai FC winning it by three goals to none and
followed it up with a win against North-East FC and Goa FC, they slowed down on
the way drawing three matches and relied
on taking succor from a pretentious record of not having been beaten, yet. Against Pune FC today ATK’s mid-tournament-game ended with a whimper
when they lost by one goal to three. Although all the goals were spectacular (starting with Dudu's powerful opening goal from a header & followed in the second half by a mind-blowing long-range inside-step shot from Kosta),
the game was largely sedate and often a display of listless football . ATK scored the only goal through a penalty
after Pune FC’s goalkeeper, Arindam , lacking anticipation & sense of
proportion, made a needless charge inside the box against the eventual penalty-scorer
Fikru . With the score line at 1-2, ATK was expected to rise , shine and draw
level but they flattered to deceive with
their brand of football and eventually let in the third goal through a David Colomba freekick
from outside the box that managed to sneak through the legs of the wall past
the valiant Shubashish under the ATK goal.
Such has also been the run of ISL midway through the league. Almost as if ISL has followed the fortunes of ATK right from the first game. Initially it was expected that out-of-work foreign players who had played football at the highest international level would still be faster and more skillful than the current batch of Indian players . As a result they would increase the pace of the game ,as played in India, even though incrementally. It started that way too but at exactly mid-stage of the tournament , it appears that the Indian players have managed to bring down the pace of their foreign colleagues and the game is as languid as an average match of the Kolkata league . Some momentary displays of skills with the dead ball get demonstrated in the form of successful & spectacular free-kicks or penalties but on the whole the future of ISL looks pretty dull from the spectator’s point of view.
Such has also been the run of ISL midway through the league. Almost as if ISL has followed the fortunes of ATK right from the first game. Initially it was expected that out-of-work foreign players who had played football at the highest international level would still be faster and more skillful than the current batch of Indian players . As a result they would increase the pace of the game ,as played in India, even though incrementally. It started that way too but at exactly mid-stage of the tournament , it appears that the Indian players have managed to bring down the pace of their foreign colleagues and the game is as languid as an average match of the Kolkata league . Some momentary displays of skills with the dead ball get demonstrated in the form of successful & spectacular free-kicks or penalties but on the whole the future of ISL looks pretty dull from the spectator’s point of view.
If things finally don’t hot up in the form of speed, effective
movements ,skills & field-goals; the stands will be difficult to fill and the
first ISL could actually become the only
one notwithstanding camera-friendly celebratory-somersaults from Fikru or for that matter camera-hugging graciously-curving free-kicks from Elano.
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