SINGAPORE - When Akbar Nawas took over as head coach of Chennai City last year, the Indian football club had only three games to stave off relegation from the I-League.
They beat Churchill Brothers 3-1, lost 7-1 to East Bengal, before securing safety with a 2-1 win over Minerva Punjab in their final match.
A year later, former Tampines Rovers coach Akbar, assisted by ex-Hougang United coach and fellow Singaporean K. Balagumaran, helped Chennai complete a remarkable turnaround after Saturday's (March 9) come-from-behind 3-1 win over Minerva at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Tamil Nadu sealed a first league title for both club and coach.
With 13 wins, four draws and three defeats, they amassed 43 points, one ahead of second-placed East Bengal.
It is believed that the duo are the first Singaporean coaches to win a professional football league title outside of South-east Asia.
And they did it in swashbuckling style, scoring 48 goals in 20 matches, and never relinquishing their place at the top of the 11-team league from the third match week.
The Times of India summarised their triumph as "befitting their dominant campaign, the fulcrum of which was a sustained possession-based football".
Akbar, 43, told The Straits Times: "It is a great satisfaction after accepting the challenge of taking over a relegation-threatened team, and then winning the league within a year.
"Our team perform best when we are chasing the game. Thus, we didn't panic when we were behind (against Minerva on Saturday). I told the team we must end every attack with a chance at goal. I was pretty confident we could bounce back and win like we had done before."
Â
His sidekick Balagumaran, 54, added: "It is so overwhelming, I don't know if we are still in a dream.
"When we got here, the players we had were not from football academies, they were from the streets and so unpolished.
"Many of them are playing in their first professional season and now they have won their first professional league title.
"Personally, it is also the highlight of my career, but I hope there is more to come, and I also hope this opens the door for more Singaporean coaches to venture abroad."
With the league win, Chennai are eligible for the 2020 AFC Champions League qualifiers.
Araibi was a vocal critic of AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, a member of Bahrain's ruling family and cousin of the king, when he contested the FIFA presidential election in 2015. The post FIFA says in regular contact with AFC over detained refugee player appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
Jose Mourinho praises Jurgen Klopp: 'His mentality behind Liverpool's historic comeback' - Liverpool produced one of the greatest comebacks in the competition's history to beat Barcelona 4-0.
This is a life-long process and is vital as it relates to self-trust. One of the main reasons we don't trust ourselves is that we haven't forgiven ourselves for mistakes we've made, pain we've caused, or regrets we have. These "demons" from our past haunt us and we use them as evidence to not go for things and not trust ourselves.
What Happens When We Trust Ourselves? - YouTube
The Next 48hOURS, Cape Town, Western Cape. 9.7K likes. Your free guide to your free time.
Next Store Opening Times
The 17th Asian Cup finals will be the biggest in the 62-year history of the tournament but even with 24 teams battling it out, it is hard to look much beyond regional powers Iran, Japan and South
Usual suspects in the frame at expanded Asian Cup
Gordon Banks, the England football team's goalkeeper when they won the 1966 World Cup, died aged 81. His former club Stoke announced this on Tuesday (Feb 12) and Banks' family said he died
Football: Gordon Banks' illustrious career extended beyond
Football: Jurgen Klopp hails his 'talented giants' for stunning win against 'maybe the best team in the world'
Football: Jurgen Klopp mentality behind Liverpool's historic
Solskjaer warns Man Utd players over complacency and will look to keep that sequence going at Old Trafford on Saturday. "I want players to be confident but
Solskjaer warns Man Utd players over complacency - pulse.ng
Kane can't pay out for Poch the gambler: Spurs' rusty talisman struggles on return from injury embarking on a 22-match unbeaten run, How have Unai Emery and Maurizio Sarri fared in English
javascript - React.js - access to component methods - Stack
Norwich promoted to EPL after 3-year absence - usatoday.com
Atletico Madrid fell to their heaviest league defeat of the season as they were crushed 3-0 by Espanyol on Saturday, missing the chance to mathematically guarantee they finish second in La Liga
Atletico slump to biggest defeat of season against ruthless
Spain's Sergio Ramos celebrates scoring their first goal during the match Euro 2020 Qualifier Group F between Spain vs Sweden at Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain, June 10, 2019. Spain made it four wins out of four and took full control of their Euro 2020 qualifying group by seeing off closest challengers Sweden 3-0 at home.
Spain beat Sweden, take charge in qualifying quest
0 comments:
Post a Comment