Bengaluru FC truly made I-League their own

There will be another star in the crown of Bengaluru FC, who bagged their second I-League title in three years of existence. Here is a look at some of the key factors that took Ashley Westwood’s men to the title at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Sunday.

Strong pre-season The early bird catches the worm goes the saying, and that’s exactly what the JSW-owned side did. They brought their players together and got to work way back in June.

Though interrupted by the Indian Super League and other tournaments, the start kept them in peak condition and also helped in integrating the new recruits.

Squad depth, team game The Men in Blue have the best squad among the I-League teams. Period.

In terms of star power they may not reach the level of the Kolkata clubs, but what Ashley Westwood has done is pack the team with young and hungry talent to offset the experience that he has with him. Add to that the training and no-nonsense approach of the gaffer, the team had players who could walk into the team at any given time and do the task asked of them with distinction. With 10 different goal scorers and 23 players making appearances during the season, Westwood showed that the club was bigger than individuals.

Faith in youngsters No other side kept such unwavering faith in their youngsters as BFC. With many teams making a mockery of the I-League rule of having at least one U-22 player on the field by taking the player off within the first half hour, BFC only added more to the line-up or from the bench.

Turning points BFC 1 lt to Sporting Goa 2

Sunil Chhetri: “The loss against Sporting was the turning point that we had because we lost 2-1 at home to 10-men. The gaffer is a stickler for details and someone who works hard on how we are going to play. A lot of players got hammered after the game, including me. He is in your face in telling you what exactly went wrong and thankfully every player understands that and works hard towards rectifying ourselves. We did that and we came back.”

Bengaluru 1 bt Mumbai 0 and Bengaluru FC 3 bt East Bengal 1

Michael Collins: “Probably two important matches decided it in our favour. The Mumbai result, where we won 1-0 with a great goal from Daniel Lalhliumpuia, made it clear that we were going to do it. Then the East Bengal game. In my career, I have never been part of a team when I knew that we were going to win as soon as we stepped out. The fire and energy that the team had assured me of it. Although we beat Salgaocar to win the league, for me, we won the league when we beat East Bengal.”