Review: Shillong Lajong FC – Undeterred youth that braved through challenges

THE NORTHEAST REGION HAS BEEN producing some of the best talents for the national and international level of competitions. This year the I-League had two teams from the region in Aizawl FC and Shillong Lajong FC. One won the I-League and the other won hearts. Even in trophy-less season, Shillong Lajong have performed very well.

The team from Meghalaya finished fifth on the league table. This was the club's best ever finish after entering the top flight in the year 2012-13. Lajong entered the highest league competition in the country after emerging victorious in the I-League 2nd division.

Team set-up

An apt description of the Shillong Lajong FC team is that it's a youthful team well held by the optimal balance of a handful experienced players. The ideology of the club was set out straight in the opening game of the season: Field as many youngsters as possible in every game. At a given point, Lajong had a steady average of having at least seven Under-22 players on field.

The first game of the recently concluded tournament, Shillong Lajong FC named a total of eight under 22 players. For the first game of the season starting a young squad against the defending champions could have been an over statement of sorts or could be part of the well-planned strategy of the entire season.

Very soon in the season, it became evident that Lajong will play the season with maximum young players as possible.

Performance

The best phase of the I-League for Thangboi Singto's boys came in the first run of home games. They won four of the back-to-back five home games to set their authority on the league. They were better than five other teams in the competition for the number of wins at home. The Federation Cup result was not a happy campaign but the takeaways from the experience for the young guns of the team was enormous. The team bowed out of the competition with just a victory against DSK Shivajians.

Test of the mettle

Being the young motivated side, Lajong showed a fighting character in every game they played. Apart from the Bengaluru FC on two occasions, the team failed to show any sign of giving up on points till the final whistle. The side became more and more mature with every game.

Lajong got 6 draws in the I-League and managed to shut out heavyweights like Aizawl FC, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan on one occasion each. The team never looked under pressure and kept up to their rhythm of their natural game to stage comebacks. The last match day of the I-League had to play a potential champion Aizawl FC. Singto was clear when he said that they won't make it easy for Aizawl and it was true. Aizawl, needing a draw, had drawn level to cancel Dipanda's early goal, with about 20 minutes remaining in the game. Lajong pushed their game to the fullest throttle and came agonizingly close on two occasions. Against Mumbai FC, they staged a late comeback in the dying minutes of the game to snatch a draw.

Not just the I-League, the Federation Cup saw Shillong Lajong not backing down despite being in a tough group with Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC. The first two had both former Fed Cup winners being given a tough time by the team from Meghalaya. Although, Lajong were on the losing side but a narrow losses in both games was enough to justify the team to be not taken lightly.

Style of play

Lajong prefer a compact game that involves many short passes and plenty of flanks being used in the build up to an attack. Shillong worked a lot on set pieces. That was seen whenever a free kick was earned in the opposition half and attacking corners. The on-and-off the ball movement of players during the set plays was creative and often caught teams by surprise. Isaac, as the tournament progressed, had started to become a precision free-kick taker and seemed to send in long balls with a lot of accuracy. No doubt he earned the national camp call-up twice.

Kinowaki was the worker-bee of the team. He was single-handedly responsible for all the work of stitching the defence with the midfield and combined with Isaac in the attack. Every penetration was sniffed, targeted and eliminated by Kinowaki which led to fewer break-ins. The Japanese was expertly placed to draw fouls and also to commit tactical fouls to avert danger.

Final Word

A team that had the motto of utilising and exposing maximum youth to the highest level of football fared pretty well and can be proud of their best-ever finish in the I-League. The mix of players was perfect setting the balance to even out the strengths. The combination was just right to go past teams that were much more experienced than them. But what lacked was a little more experience to add on to their tally of goals and being able to hold off threats when in lead.

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