ISL - INDIAN SUPER LEAGUE - NEWS

  

Indian Super League: Anelka - I know how to get the best out of players

The former Chelsea forward hopes that the Ranbir Kapoor co-owned outfit at least make it through to the knockout stages of the competition…

Mumbai City FC shall see Nicolas Anelka don the dual role of marquee player-manager for the second edition of the Indian Super League (ISL). The Frenchman and Elano Blumer are the only two big name signings, who have been retained by their franchises.

“I'm happy to be back. Last season, we had a good team and were little bit unlucky with injuries and everything. This year we have a bigger squad and better players and our desire is to do better than last year. My personal desire is to at least make it to the semi-finals,” said Anelka when asked to explain what went wrong last term where his side finished seventh on the table.

It must be noted that Anelka was probably the only marquee signing last season who never turned up for media interaction. The Mumbai City officials mentioned that the former Arsenal striker had intimated the club in advance that he wouldn’t speak to the press during his stint with the Mumbai club.

However this season having donned the role of a manager as well, Anelka in what was his first interaction with the press in Mumbai, he stated that he would restrict to the bare minimum.

“I'm not looking forward to it, for sure. I'm very quiet. For me the most important is on the pitch, I don't like too much speaking in the press. I will do the minimum. I will do it because I have to do it. 

“I think I will stay the same. I'm quiet but I've worked with a lot of managers and I know how to speak to players. I know how to get the best out of the players. We have a big squad so we'll be able to rotate this year,” he explained.

Anelka revealed that he didn’t have much say on the signings of Indian players and the onus was on assistant coach Oscar Bruzon and technical director Nishant Mehra to take the call.

“Not too much because I don't know a lot about the Indian players. I was in France and England so I think the support staff were the ones scouting for the local players. They gave me a lot of reports about them and what we were looking for and I said, if this is a right choice, go for them,” he mentioned.

“I'm very happy with the signing because everyone told me Sunil Chhetri is a very good player. He can score goals and give assists as well. I don't know him personally but I will be see his quality when he joins the team,” he added when asked his opinion on Chhetri.

Anelka acknowledged that being manager is a difficult task for him to fulfill the dual role of player-manager but he is very much up for it.

“As a player you just concentrate on your game. I did it before (managing) and you have a lot of work as a manager. You need to look at the players and videos. So, it is going to be more work for me. It’s going to be tough, of course. But I’ll try to give my best as a player first and also as the manager,” he reasoned.

On asked what he would do if he failed to score for four consecutive matches, Anelka said, “I will be putting myself straight on the bench as simple as that. We have a better squad this season so we'll be able rotate players.”

Anelka hinted that his side might head to Dubai for their pre-season preparations.

“I know the weather. I've been in Dubai just before where it's 47 degrees or something. I've been training outside to prepare for the ISL. The new players will have to be ready as well. That's why we are looking for a country where it's hot for the pre-season,” he signed off.

26 ISL players make the cut for the India’s probables against Iran

As  India inch closer to their 2018 FIFA World Cup Preliminary Joint Qualification match against Iran, national team coach Stephen Constantine announced his list of 28 probables for the all-important encounter.

India are scheduled to play a friendly against Nepal at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune on the 23rd of August as they make their preparations for their fixture against Iran who are placed 35th according to July’s FIFA Rankings.

The game against Iran will be played at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on September 8th 2015.

The list includes 26 players who will participate in this season’s Hero Indian Super League (ISL). Mumbai City FC have the strongest representation with 5 players from the Ranbir Kapoor co-owned side making the list. Chennaiyin FC and FC Pune City both have 4 each players while Delhi Dynamos FC, Kerala Blasters FC, and FC Goa have 3 players each from their squad. Atlético de Kolkata and NorthEast United FC have 2 players each that have made the cut.

The full list of the 28 probables can be found below:

GOALKEEPERS:

Subrata Paul (Mumbai City FC), Karanjit Singh (Chennaiyin FC), Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Arindam Bhattacharya (FC Pune City), Sanjiban Ghosh.

DEFENDERS:

Arnab Mondal (Atlético de Kolkata), Sandesh Jhingan (Kerala Blasters FC), Aiborlang Khongjee (NorthEast United FC), Dhanachandra Singh (Chennaiyin FC), Lalchhuanmawia (Mumbai City FC), Narayan Das (FC Goa), Rino Anto (Atlético de Kolkata), Pritam Kotal (FC Pune City).

MIDFIELDERS: 

Dhanapal Ganesh (Chennaiyin FC), Eugenson Lyngdoh (FC Pune City), Cavin Lobo (Kerala Blasters FC), Sehnaj Singh (Delhi Dynamos FC), Jackichand Singh (FC Pune City), Pronoy Halder (FC Goa), Brandon Fernandes (Mumbai City FC), Francis Fernandes (Delhi Dynamos FC), CK Vineeth (Kerala Blasters FC), Rowlin Borges (Mumbai City FC), Romeo Fernandes (FC Goa).

FORWARDS:

Holicharan Narzary (NorthEast United FC), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Chennaiyin FC), Robin Singh (Delhi Dynamos FC), Sunil Chhetri (Mumbai City FC).

Chennaiyin FC to conduct open trials for Under-13 & Under-15 footballers

Chennaiyin FC will be holding open trials for Under-13 and Under-15 footballers from July 31-August 2 2015 at the Don Bosco Higher Secondary School ground, Perambur. On all three days the trials will take place from 3:30pm to 6pm.

Kids born in the years 2000 and 2001 will be considered for the Under-15 category and those who are born in 2002, 2003 and 2004 will be eligible for the Under-13s.

These open trials are a continuation of Chennaiyin FC’s grassroots program, which was started in February.

CFC has already conducted over 50 grassroots festivals, reaching out to more than 50 schools and more than 15,000 kids.

The grassroots program is overseen by Chennaiyin FC technical director of grassroots Vivek Nagul along with the club development officers, several other coaches and volunteers.

Two kids - G Balaji and H Gulab - from the Chennaiyin FC grassroots program were also awarded scholarship at the Reliance Foundation Young Champs.

“The club is very keen on producing top footballers in Tamil Nadu and thus we have a year-round grassroots program in place. These open trials will help us increase the pool of players with the selected ones being in contention to be part of our upcoming Centers of Excellence. Overall these three days will be a great experience for the kids to train and learn from our coaches also,” said Vivek Nagul.

Chennaiyin FC have been working closely with various schools and several coaching centres for participation in these trials but interested kids can still get in touch to take part in the trials by contacting the following personnel.