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I-League | From getting relegated to clinching championship: The reality called 'Aizawl FC'

On September 27, AIFF issued a statement, "Keeping in mind the heart-warming performance of Aizawl FC in the last edition, the committee unanimously decided to give them a ticket to play in the 2016-17 edition.” This helped Aizawl to continue in I-League.

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July 29, 1911 continues to be a red-letter in Indian history, as Mohun Bagan's 2-1 win against the East Yorkshire Regiment with a motley of bare-footed men achieved to fan the nationalist sentiment in a way which even the Congress and the Swadeshi Movement failed to do. The win instilled a belief among the natives simultaneously, bursting the myth of the British being invincibles. Aizawl’s victory might not be that seismic to ring a clarion call for the entire nation, but is definitely of epic proportions in its footballing context which is bound to make waves in foreign shores as well. 

In the previous edition of I-League, Aizawl finished with 16 points from 16 games and was just above the relegation zone. But still, they were relegated as DSK Shivajians who bottomed the table is a corporate team and have got an immunity of three years in the premier division. Back at their office at Dawrpui, Mizoram alarm bells started ringing and Robert Royte, owner of Aizawl FC, left no stone unturned to check his side from getting relegated. On September 27, AIFF issued a statement, "Keeping in mind the heart-warming performance of Aizawl FC in the last edition, the committee unanimously decided to give them a ticket to play in the 2016-17 edition.”

They had secured their place in the top flight but they were still a ship without a captain. Mumbai FC, had just sacked their all weather man who was at the helm for seven seasons, Khalid Jamil. Aizawl snapped him up with barely a month to go for I-League, with the sole motif to avoid relegation. Jamil was well aware, that to turn fortunes he was not getting a bounty, but had to make ends meet with a shoestring budget. 

Aizawl’s top-scorer Joel Yinka Sunday, left for newer pastures and joined Minerva Punjab, who was replaced by Ivorian Kamo Stephane Bayi, from Salgaocar as the Goan team stood firm on its decision to abstain from participating in I-League after a tiff with AIFF. But losing David Lalrinmuana to East Bengal was colossal as he was the mid-field commander for the reds. He was replaced by Syrian midfielder Mahmoud Al Amna. Under the sticks, their seasoned custodian Soram Poirei, played for Delhi Dynamos in the ISL and chose not to return to the North-Eastern outfit. Albino Gomes, who plied trade with Salgaocar was roped in to fill the vacancy. Jamil brought with him two of his trusted mid-field generals from Mumbai, Jayesh Rane and Ashutosh Mehta which at the end of the season has proved decisive. Apart from their four foreign quota players, and two brought in by Jamil the entire squad comprised of Mizo players. The budget of this team hovered around the 1.5 crore mark including travel, food and medical expenses. Mohun Bagan’s Haitian winger Sony Norde, pockets a fatter pay cheque of around Rs 2 crore. With a pool of rejects, unknowns and raw local talent Aizawl started their campaign to remain afloat with the big names, come what may.

They registered their first win against Minerva Punjab at the Rajiv Gandhi National Stadium, courtesy a solitary goal from Ashutosh Mehta at the dying embers of the game. As the tournament progressed, they made their home an impenetrable fortress. Out of the three giants in Indian football, only Bengaluru FC managed to steal a point from the valley of death as both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hills. Out of their 37 points, they have gathered 25 at home just two points short of the full kitty. Khalid Jamil did not only bring two of his prized assets from Mumbai but also his boatload of experience in Indian top flight football. He ensured a robust back line and the onus was on Nigerian central defender, Eze Kingsley Obumneme to lead the four at the back. Aizawl have let in only 14 goals this season, only bettered by Mohun Bagan who have conceded 12 times. 

With new faces, Jamil threw short passing and down the middle runs to the wind and introduced a 4-2-1-3 formation. With this new setup, he could now open up opposition defence with much more ease with a trident of attackers, yet remaining solid at the back if a counter-attack brewed from the opposition half. Alfred Jaryan was brought down from being a no.9 to an attacking mid-field position, who maintained the steady supply line to the front three, linking the mid-field of Jayesh Rane and Al Amna. 

If Jaryan was given the passport to swing freely across the field, Al Amna was making runs up and down the pitch taking an unprecedented workload. Both these players formed a (+) in the midfield as one moved vertically while the other ran horizontally. These two formed the engine of the North-East midfield dynamo allowing Kamo Bayi to concentrate on offensive destruction along with two Mizo wingers Brandon Vanlalremdika and Laldanmawia, who skipped past defenses with their trickery and lightning pace. 

If we are to handpick games which defined the season for Aizawl it must start with their smothering of the red and gold brigade right in February. The match was played in frenetic pace and Morgan’s boys lost steam during the hour mark. Laldanmawia Ralte scored the winner in the 58th minute following a ball from Jayesh Rane. That victory did not only oust East Bengal from the top but allowed Aizawl to mark their thumping entry to the I-League. Before this, they have stopped Bengaluru with a valiant display of courageous football. They continued to flap their wings and Albert Roca’s men were torn down the flanks. Their next big win came against Mohun Bagan back at home in their penultimate match of the tournament. Zotea Ralte headed home a corner at the second post in the 83rd minute and the maroon and green brigade could not find the equaliser within regulation time. The previous three corners were floated near the first post which was dealt deftly by the Bagan defense, but once the ball reached the second post the defense stood still and Debjit Majumdar conceded the title defining goal of the tournament. The match was handed on a platter in the second half as Sanjoy Sen went for an ultra-defensive tactic which allowed Khalid Jamil’s men wreak havoc in Bagan defense until they got their winner. 

Their last match against Shillong Lajong was termed as the “Judgement Day” by Aizawl FC owner while his counter-part Larsing Ming Sawyan, owner of Shillong Lajong, checked it as "North-east versus Aizawl". AIFF officials reached the venue a day earlier, to ensure fair play, but little did they know that Lajong would play their hearts out to stop Aizawl from becoming the first club from North East to write history. Lajong considers them to be the big brother of North East football as they have spent more time in the top-tier than Aizawl. Aizawl becoming champions have not only punctured their pride but have gobbled away their high handedness in North East football. Friendship and camaraderie was torn up and blown away like bits of paper and indeed Lajong drew first blood with top scorer of I-League A. Dipanda brilliantly heading the ball into the net only in the 9th minute. 

Jamils’s tactic of heavy possession football and scoring suddenly on the counter was shot down with that early goal caution was thrown to the wind inn search of an equaliser. They found the net but it was turned down as off-side. Aizawl fans were praying hard to avoid a portent doom and at the 67th minute William Lalnunfela slotted past the keeper from a rebound of the post. In the injury time, Lajong managed to open up Aizawl not once but twice but they failed to convert as the ball remained inches away from a touch of their Cameroonian hitman Dipanda. At the final whistle, some Aizawl players ran towards the gallery, some sat down to thank the heavens, while Khalid Jamil broke down at the sidelines. Aizawl did not play fairy-tale football. Instead they stuck to their basics, manipulated their formation to fortify their organization and worked on the weakness of their opponents to script a fairy-tale result. 

They have made the impossible, possible by believing in their strengths; the inconceivable as conceivable by turning their home as impregnable and the fairy-tale to a reality by displaying an unsurmountable will to succeed even when they faced the Goliaths of Indian football. After turning the implausible as plausible, they face the wrath of ill-fortune as their participation in next year’s top-flight football is in jeopardy after AIFF’s decision to merge I-League with ISL and recognize ISL as the premier competition in the country. Sponsor IMG-Reliance have set a Rs15 crore license fee, which must be paid to ensure participation. Moreover, they have ear-marked only Kolkata to have two teams from the same region as East Bengal and Mohun Bagan boast of historical glory with an ever-growing fan base. North East United already represents the North East states and Aizawl have no place from that region. AIFF remains non-committal to Aizawl's future and it will be ridiculous to find that a team representing India at the AFC have no place in the premier division of their own country just because of a non-sense structure formulated by the apex football body of the country. Aizawl FC have surely written history, it now boils down to the governing body to preserve that history making unit. 

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