A decisive week in the Indian Super League has now left just one playoff spot to play for, as Kerala Blasters, Bengaluru FC, and ATK Mohun Bagan joined league shield winners Mumbai City FC and Hyderabad FC in the playoffs.
With 7 matches, 20 goals, and 2 red cards, this was one of the more eventful weeks of the ISL this season. We muse on the events of the last week.
Where there is Bartholomew, there is hope
Another 10-goal ISL season, another reminder of why the league's most prolific striker still remains one of its most dangerous. Bart Ogbeche scored all three of Hyderabad's goals in their two games this week, and this was after he wasn't on the pitch for the first 80 minutes of their first game of the week against ATK Mohun Bagan.
It was a game that was crying out for some quality, as it often is, when there is a certain Juan Ferrando involved. Ogbeche came on, sized his opponents up, unleashed one from outside the box that left Vishal Kaith clutching thin air, and Hyderabad were on their way to a 1-0 win.
On Saturday, in a game where Manolo Marquez decided to ring in the changes after Hyderabad had already confirmed a semifinal spot, it was once again Ogbeche or bust for them. He scored twice, but the defence crumbled as Hyderabad lost 3-2 to Jamshedpur FC.
He's been benched sometimes, played as a no.10 some other times, but the main constant with Bart Ogbeche still remains. He scores goals. Where there is Saint Bartholomew, there is hope.
Beware ISL, the old fox has life left in him
38 years old. 33 ISL minutes in 2023. In those circumstances, you'd be forgiven for thinking Sunil Chhetri had to do the impossible to successfully replace the suspended Roy Krishna in Bengaluru FC's crunch clash against the then-invincible Mumbai City FC.
But as he has done so often in his career, Chhetri thrived in a situation where there were doubts about him. With his running in behind, winning headed flick-ons and excellent link-up play, Chhetri turned up on the night to do everything that Krishna usually does, as Bengaluru handed Mumbai their first ISL defeat of the season.
This game also had a reminder of Chhetri's best in another way. Too often, teams didn't bother marking him on corners then. Mumbai City didn't bother marking him on a corner now. You give him an inch, he'll take a yard, as he did while scoring Bengaluru's opener on the night. Chhetri is alive and kicking as Bengaluru head into the business end of the season searching for a second trophy of the season. Don't write him off. He's given that lesson enough in his career already.
What were you thinking, Edu?
FC Goa's most experienced player, their most reliable midfielder over the years. And he makes a mistake that could now be the difference between a playoff place or not? Sport is cruel, as Edu Bedia found out at the Fatorda. It could've been anyone, but the mistake came from the last person you'd expect to misplace a straightforward pass like that one. Bedia's reputation in the ISL is that of a midfielder who runs games, pulls strings, passes the ball where he wants, when he wants.
So in that moment, when Anirudh Thapa sensed an interception, you'd have been forgiven for thinking the Chennaiyin FC captain was going on a futile chase, Bedia wasn't going to underhit that. Well, he did, Dheeraj Moirangthem was in no man's land, brought Thapa down, and saw Kwame Karikari smash a penalty past him.
A Chennaiyin win put Kerala Blasters and Bengaluru through to the playoffs. Bedia's loss was their gain. Goa now need a miracle to qualify.
Mumbai City FC are human after all but Rowllin's rolled in
In their first 18 ISL games of the season, Mumbai City FC had won 14 and drawn four. Now they head into a 15-day break before their semifinal on the back of two consecutive losses.
Without Greg Stewart, their attack didn't quite look like clicking at the Kanteerava against Bengaluru, while a host of changes were made on coronation night, with Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Stewart not even in the squad.
Mumbai might have lost two games, but they've gained a big positive in midfield again. Welcome back, Rowllin Borges. Passes with the outside of the boot, threatening free-kicks, shots hitting the post, Rowllin did everything in the 110 minutes of football that he played last week.
He still probably hasn't done enough to replace the likes of Apuia and Ahmed Jahouh in the Mumbai midfield for the semifinal, but now Buckingham has yet another game-changing option available to him. A confident Borges is a machine. As if Mumbai didn't have enough of them already.
McHugh lights up dull Ferrando-Ball
Watching Juan Ferrando's ATK Mohun Bagan side play this season has been a chore at the best of times. Against the Blasters this weekend, they were once again not the best team to watch.
But what this side does have in spades is quality, and sometimes that does come through irrespective of the manager's ways of shackling them.
Dimi Petratos put a wide free-kick straight on Carl McHugh's head to equalise after Dimitrios Diamantakos's opener for the Blasters. Then in the second half, after Rahul KP's red card, ATKMB did grow into the game, but they need a moment of sheer quality to win it. McHugh's volley to score his second of the game was just that. ATKMB's Irishman had dragged them through to the playoffs, where they will have enough quality in their squad to win. Can the manager use that quality wisely?
Blasters' away woes
Kerala Blasters are now 5th in the ISL, and will remain there if Bengaluru and ATK Mohun Bagan win their respective final league matches. That would mean an away playoff clash, and if this season is anything to go by, that isn't a good thing. They've won 8 out of 9 home games, and just 2 out of 10 away games, having lost 2-1 to ATK Mohun Bagan on Saturday.
They play Hyderabad in their last league game in Kochi next week and going on form, they have a good enough chance to win that, especially given Hyderabad's recent struggles. But if they do end up outside the top 4, the prospect of a single-legged away playoff game will not fill any Blasters fan with hope.