ISL 2018-19 season begins on Saturday.
Jamshedpur FC
Star signing: Signing Australian legend Tim Cahill was a coup of sorts. Despite being 38, he is among the elite players in the world. He snubbed offers from MLS to join Jamshedpur. Fresh from the World Cup, he’ll be the star attraction this season.
Atletico influence: Atletico Madrid played a role in getting Cahill to India and their influence goes much beyond that. Coach Cesar Ferrando is an ex-Atletico manager, and his arrival has seen a slew of Spanish signings.
Last season: 5th
ATK
Last season: 9th
Seeking stability: In five seasons, ATK have had six managers – three of them just last season. Former Crystal Palace and Reading manager Steve Coppell, who coached Kerala Blasters last season, is now in charge. Coppell will hope his two big signings — Kalu Uche and Manuel Lanzarote — will fix a problem that dogged them last season — goals.
Bengaluru FC
Last season: 2nd
Continuity: New coach Carles Cuadrat’s main task will be to ensure Bengaluru continue their dominance like last season. They’ve retained a major chunk of their players but an iffy Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and vulnerable back-line will test their credentials.
Chennaiyin FC
Last season: Champions
Retaining the core: Their biggest win off season has been the ability to retain the core group from the title-winning squad last season. Chennaiyin have some of the best young Indian players like Jerry Lalrinzuala and Anirudh Thapa along with experienced foreigners. The balance makes them favourites to defend the title.
FC Goa
Last season: 3rd
Partnership broken: Last season, Manuel Lanzarote and Ferran Corominas took the league by a storm, scoring 31 goals between them. With Lanzarote joining ATK, that partnership is broken, which comes as a blow to Goa. Defence was another big worry for Goa last season. Lobera has tried to plug the gap by signing former Valladolid and Barcelona B left back Carlos Pena and Senegalese Mourtada Fall.
Delhi Dynamos
Last season: 8th
Gambling on Gombau: The most interesting signing has been their coach. Josep Gombau has coached Barca’s youth team but its his success in Asia and Australia that stands out. He’s won the league twice in Hong Kong with Kitchee, led Adelaide United to the Australian Cup, and Australia’s assistant for a year. The club made some important signings. Marcos Tebar returns to the club after spending a year in Pune. Narayan Das and Pritam Kotal are the Indian players to watch out for.
Kerala Blasters
Last season: 6th
New-look team: David James has made several changes to the team, adding four foreign players – strikers duo Matej Poplatnik and Slavisa Stojanovic, defender Cyril Kali and midfielder Nikola Krcmarevic. It’ll be interesting to see how Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem performs after staying away for action for the whole of this year.
Mumbai City FC
Last season: 7th
The Y-factor: Mumbai have made quite a few new signings, relying heavily on some of India’s best under-23 players. Subhashish Bose, Raynier Fernandes, Shouvik Ghosh, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy and Souvik Chakraborty will form the core of the team that will be coached by Jorge Costa.
NorthEast United FC
Last season: 10th
Fresh beginning: ISL’s biggest underachievers have shown intent in off season. Chief coach Eelco Schattorie has got a completely new set of foreigners, including former PSG striker Bartholomew Ogbeche. Among Indians, the performance of youngsters Nikhil Kadam and young Nagaland striker Kivi Zhimomi will be keenly observed.
Pune City FC
Last season: 4th
Attack heavy: On paper, Pune have ISL’s most potent strike-force. Iain Hume, Emiliano Alfaro and Marcelinho have all done well in past seasons and with Miguel Angel Portugal as manager, the team is one of the biggest contenders. Pune also have some exciting Indian players like Ashique Kuruniyan and Nikhil Poojari.
Playing today: ATK vs Kerala Blasters
Live on: Star Sports 3