Top five moments of season 2 of the Indian Super League

The second season of the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) concluded in the most dramatic of ways as Chennaiyin FC scored two goals very late in the match to overturn a 2-1 deficit and be crowned the champions of ISL season two. FC Goa were crestfallen at the end of the ninety minutes as they fell agonizingly close to the finishing line, despite dominating for a majority of the season.The second season was clearly an upgrade from the first, not just in terms of the quality of football and high drama, but also in terms of throwing up really special moments.With ISL 2 now behind us, we take a look at the top five moments of the season:

#1 Sunil Chhetri became the first ever Indian to score a hat-trick in ISL history

The early tone of the Indian Super League season was that of Indian players coming to the party big time. The Indians were scoring more goals, involved in a lot many and had started to become indispensable to their teams. Sunil Chhetri, who is the greatest icon of Indian Football today, had missed the first ISL season, and was making his debut this year with Mumbai City FC.

After a slow start to life in Mumbai, Chhetri got his scoring boots on and in the game against NorthEast United at Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil Stadium, scored a sensational hat-trick in his team’s 5-1 win over NorthEast United.

The striker thus became the first Indian player to score a hat-trick in ISL history and reinforced the talk of the rise of the Indian players in the competition. Chhetri also became an Indian face of the league with that hat-trick and gave Indian football fans plenty to be hopeful about.

#2 Dudu, Haokip made records tumble in Goa

FC Goa made a huge statement of intent in the 100th game in the ISL as they crushed Mumbai City FC 7-0 at Goa’s Fatorda Stadium on a day when old records tumbled and a few milestones were achieved.

FC Goa opened the scoring through Thongkoisem Haokip who scored the 100th goal in the second season of the ISL, before going on to score a hat-trick which was only the second by an Indian player in ISL history.

In the same game, Dudu Omagbemi also scored a hat-trick as it was only the first time in the ISL that two hat-tricks were scored in the same game. FC Goa’s 7-0 win was the biggest in the history of the competition.

The win had great impact on the race for the semi-finals as it gave FC Goa the boost to top the ISL charts at the end of the campaign, while Mumbai City FC’s campaign was derailed after this demoralizing defeat.

#3 NorthEast United showed they meant business in ISL 2

NorthEast United finished the first season of the Hero Indian Super League at the bottom of the table despite the franchise enjoying huge crowd support in Guwahati.

Entering the second season under new management of Cesar Farias, NorthEast United failed to make a good start and lost their first two games on the road in Kochi and Pune. In their third game which was at home to an in-form Chennaiyin FC side, NorthEast United put in a determined performance to beat Chennaiyin 2-0 with late goals from Simao Sabrosa and Nicolas Velez.

The win helped the Highlanders perfectly silence their critics who had written them off so early in the campaign. The win gave NorthEast United the belief that they could compete in the ISL and eventually they almost qualified for the semi-finals.

The game also saw a heated exchange between the two managers Marco Materazzi and Cesar Farias who had a serious disagreement in the dying minutes of the game. That was the moment in ISL season two when things began to get serious and there was a belief that any team could beat any other team in the league.

#4 Chennaiyin FC win the tournament against all odds

Chennaiyin FC were down and out after ten games as they occupied the last position in the table with just ten points in their bag. But Marco Materazzi’s men staged a remarkable comeback winning the remaining four games of the league stage to finish the league in 3rd place on twenty two points.

However, their late fightback wasn’t a straight forward one by any means as the city of Chennai was brought to a standstill by torrential rainfall causing the city to flood. The ground staff at the Marina Arena worked wonders to get the game against Mumbai City FC underway, despite the rainfall.

Chennaiyin won that game 3-0 to be on the cusp of qualification, but the floods meant they faced a huge struggle to reach Pune for their final game, which they won 1-0 through a Jeje goal, despite all that they had gone through. It was a special moment for the team, but the players could hardly celebrate considering what people back home had gone through.

#5 Stiven Mendozas late goal won it for Chennaiyin

After a 4-2 aggregate success over Atletico de Kolkata in the semi-finals of the Hero Indian Super League, Chennaiyin faced FC Goa in their own backyard in the final of season two of the ISL.

After a goalless first half, they took the lead through Bruno Pelissari only to be pegged back four minutes later. Mendoza’s penalty was saved by Kattimani, before Joffre seemed to have won it for FC Goa with a 87th minute free-kick.

But an own goal from Kattimani brought the team from back into the game, before the stage was set for Stiven Mendoza to keep his cool in front of the goal to win the ISL title for Chennaiyin FC deep into stoppage time.

The reaction of the Chennaiyin FC players said it all as owner Abhisehk Bachchan celebrated joyously. The FC Goa faithful couldn’t believe what they had just seen. The Final was an apt summary of a rollercoaster season that ended with the most dramatic moment coming at the very end.