Owens thoughts on Punjab and Emelec
Tag: Chencho Gyeltshen
Week 8: Thrillers and Thuds
Scores
Vojvodina 2 – 0 FK Vozdovac
The Red Dragons have settled into the middle of the Serbian league table. While some see that as a place where nothing dramatic happens, it’s really nice to have a consistent practice to improve, challenging yourself against the top teams and building confidence against the lower sides. This was one of those games against a top team…it didn’t go great. but that’s okay.
Real Kashmir 1 – 1 Punjab FC
The Northwestern derby was contentious even if it was played in the far east of the country. After some testy defending by Mohammed Irshad, Chencho Gyeltshen was knocked to the ground in the 63rd minute for and sent off for instigating a shoving match. After the fraca ended, Punjab went down the other end, drew a penalty and saw Joseba Beitia bury it. But former Punjab player Asier Dipanda struck an equalizer 5 minutes later. The draw broke a three match winning streak, and marked the first time Kiran Limbu gave back a lead in six matches.
Freiburg 0 – 1 Union Berlin [M]
Not much seemed to work for the Griffins. Despite having more of the ball and being more effective sharing it, the offense simply couldn’t set up dangerous chances. When Berlin capitalized on their opportunities, that turned out to be all they needed.
Nancy 1 – 2 Grenoble [M]
On one hand it’s a bit disappointing that trailing relegation battlers Nancy required Grenoble to send out second half reinforcements when Jessy Bennet could clearly use a break (Sorry Esteban Salles, it was unlucky). On the other hand it’s a testament to Bennet that he laced a gorgeous pass to draw a penalty, scored the equalizing penalty itself, and THEN delivered a great free kick Moussa Kailou Djitte’s outstretched foot for a 90th minute winner. Vive Jessy!!
Atletico Morelia 6 – 3 Alebrijes
Whatever else is said, we should own that this was a highly entertaining match. Featuring more goals than the first four matches of the week combined. But while Julio Cesar Cruz continued his hot streak, the defense couldn’t keep the game in hand, or really anything in hand. Truthfully at a certain point everyone had to feel like keeper Angel Rascon, disbelieving, hands to the sky, why god why responses to the inexperienced (and boy did it show) trio of Gerson Huerta, Emmanuel Quezeda, and Fernando Plasencia.
Bechum United 1 – 1 Legon Cities
It might have gone better if not for an unfortunate hand ball to gift the Eagles a penalty. Still, with the draw Bashir Hackford’s side ran their record to unbeaten in six. But with only two wins in that time, they remain mired in the bottom half of the league.
Ross County 1 – 0 Celtic
They did it again! They did it again! Great Day in Dingwall, they did it again!!
It wasn’t nearly as complete or impressive a win as the cup victory in Glasgow. The offense was more lucky than good. Jordan White’s late winner from a beautiful bit of movement on a free kick was the decider. Ross Laidlaw continued to show up in all the ways that counted most with a last second finger tip save. It all got County got a critical win as they prepare for the league split. (Though sadly, they won’t be able to beat up on Celtic the same way they have been…darn.)
Emelec 4 – 1 Deportiva Cuenca
Ecuador’s season restarted with a great jolt from Los Bombillos offense. Target man Facundo Barcelo got his first goal of the campaign early in the second half on a beautiful back heel. But the team spread the wealth around with four players finding the net including Anibal Leguizamon with a smart header.
FK Vozdovac 0 – 1 Rad Beograd
In the Belgrade pecking order, Vozdovac doesn’t have many sides they can look down on, but Rad is one of them. The Red Dragons hadn’t lost to the Builders in almost six years, going a combined 10-2-0 against them. Of course, the reason I bring this up is because they lost, clearly and decisively. Worse, the offense is now 261 minutes without a goal (they last got lucky the day before Valentine’s day).
News & Notes
Bowling > Soccer
In this household you seem to have both decided that the best use of a ball is bowling. No matter what substance the ball is made from or what it’s previous purpose was, now, all balls are bowling balls. Hopefully I can get you back on the bandwagon eventually, otherwise this may need to be concerned with the PBA. (The MacKenzie Boys Ball Bag?)
Player of the Week
It’s another hard choice, almost impossibly I’m going to pass by Jordan White’s masterful heroics against the Hoops and give credit to a midfield player for the first time this season: Jessy Benet only had half a match to make a difference and he made all the difference in the world. We said it before, we’ll say it again, “VIVE JESSY”
Standings Update
Emelec’s debut sees them top the table, but Punjab leads the table veterans, and while Vozdovac is mid-table in Serbia, within just 2021…it’s not going great on our table.
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| Emelec | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4.0 | 1.0 |
| Punjab FC | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1.67 | 1.2 | 0.6 |
| Freiburg | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1.56 | 1.7 | 1.2 |
| Grenoble Foot 38 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1.55 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| Legon Cities FC | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
| Ross County | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 |
| Alebrijes | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| FK Vozdovac | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Rosenborg BK | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Minnesota United | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| University of Montana | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
What’s Next
Wednesday, February 24th
Legon Cities v. Elmina Sharks
Alebrijes v. Correcaminos
Thursday, February 25th
Friday, February 26th
Saturday, February 27th
St. Mirren v. Ross County
Zlatibor v. Vozdovac
Grenoble v. Niort [M]
Aucas v. Emelec [M]
Sunday, February 28th
Leverkusen v. Freiburg
Monday, March 1st
Neroca FC v. Punjab FC
Tuesday, March 2nd
Le Havre v. Grenoble Foot 38 [M]
Week 7: Down the Vortex
Scores
Grenoble 0 – 1 AS Monaco [Cup]
Esteban Salles served up another strong showing, but it’s a little hard for a second string, second division goalie and his crew to keep up with a crew of International calibre players. Still it took a great strike from Stevan Jovetic and a lot of luck against the Grenoblois to stop the cup run.
Punjab FC 2 – 0 Chennai City
Baba Diawara opened the scoring, using his strong frame to create space for himself and easily knocking in a goal. It is becoming abundantly clear that Punjab is crafting one of the strongest attacks in the I-League with one of the leagues top goalies. They should stay in the title race all year.
FK Vozdovac 1 – 1 Indjija
Marko Gajic was the man behind the Red Dragons’ goal slamming home captain Jovan Nisic’s excellent free kick. The captain played a critical part in two other moments of the match, making a critical in box clearance to deny a scoring chance (despite Indjija’s demand for a penalty) and failing to make another clearance that led to the equalizer.
Werder Bremen 0 – 0 Freiburg [M]
There was nothing much going on in Bremen, but it keeps Freiburg in fine position before their next match with the team right behind them in the table Union Berlin
Ross County v. Hibernian
Grenoble 0 – 0 Amiens [M]
While the offense couldn’t get going against Amiens, Adrien Monfry and Jerome Mombris contained the opponent’s attack
Freiburg v. SC Sand [F]
Legon Cities 1 – 1 King Faisal
At a certain point the Royals’ defensive strategy of “let’s just have our goalie be superb” leaves something to be desired. When the woodwork finally failed to accommodate them, Legon fell behind near bottom of the table King Faisal. Fortunately the offensive strategy of “hey, everybody blast long shots and hope for a goalazo did pay off when Cephas Doku crushed a stellar shot from outside the area.
News & Notes
Polar Vortex
Freezing cold conditions have kept us cooped up in the house for two weeks now. Worse still it’s delayed games in Norway and Scotland. Plus the ladies from Freiburg must be getting extra eager to get their season restarted.
Streich 10!
Freiburg chose this week to reup the contract of head man and local philosopher king: Christan Streich. The fixture on the local sideline will hit a decade in the job come December 2021 and his new contract should see him safely employed until May of the next year. The consistent top half-finishes for a team of limited resources will make that well earned.
Unsavory Socializing in Punjab
Reports broke this week that Punjab FC had to step up their directions to their fan base after some racially tinged abuse directed at a Warriors’ player after this last weekend. (It sure would seem like Baba Diawara would be the target, but why you’d jeer one of your team’s top scorers I have no earthly idea). Regardless, let’s go back to our favorite phrase: Screw you systemic racism.
Player of the Week
There wasn’t a lot to choose from this week. I’m tempted to tip the hat to Jonah Attaquye whose midfield play has been a real boon to the Royals attack, but this week he was relatively invisible. Jovan Nisic’s assist and goal made him the center of Vozdovac’s draw (but also to blame for it not being a win). While they both deserve some consideration for good play as a tiebreaker going forward, it seems best to recognize the other half of of Punjab’s attacking duo: Babacar Diawara who both played well and dealt with jerks. This isn’t much but hopefully it’s something nice.
Standings Update
In an unfair consequence for going goalless this week, Grenoble dropped from second to fifth while Punjab moves into a tie for first (only trailing on average goals for)
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| SC Freiburg | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1.75 | 1.9 | 1.3 |
| Punjab FC | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1.75 | 1.3 | 0.6 |
| Legon Cities FC | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Alebrijes | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| Grenoble Foot 38 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| Ross County | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.9 |
| FK Vozdovac | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Rosenborg BK | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Minnesota United | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Emelec | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Vozdovac FK | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| University of Montana | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
What’s Next
Wednesday, February 17th
9:00 Vojvodina v FK Vozdovac
Thursday, February 18th
4:30 Real Kashmir v Punjab FC
Friday, February 19th
Saturday, February 20th
8:30 Freiburg v Union Berlin [M]
9:00 Bechum United v Legon Cities
12:00 Nancy v Grenoble [M]
Sunday, February 21st
1:30 Ross County v. Celtic
5:00 Atletico Morelia v Alebrijes
5:00 Emelec v Deportiva Cuenca
Monday, February 22nd
6:30 FK Vozdovac v. Rad Beograd
Tuesday, February 23rd
Week 6: God Bless the Goalies
Scores
Hamilton Academical 1 – 2 Ross County
An early own goal presaged gloom for the Staggies. But newcomer Jordan White’s goal and assist within the last 10 minutes saw the Stags to a big relegation zone 6 point win. (Worth noting that assist was a particularly blistering cross to the exact right spot in the box)
TRAU 0 – 2 Punjab FC
Apparently all it took to get Chencho Gyeltshen to score was a passive aggressive blog mention. His brace reflected how well he can capitalize on opportunities that appear. More impressively Punjab’s young defense has allowed one goal in the last four games and boosted the team to third on the table. (At times they seemed unsettled by TRAU but Kiran Limbu couldn’t be shaken, and sometimes that’s all it takes to keep a goalless streak in tact).
Legon Cities 0 – 0 Karela United
The offense might have vanished on the Royals again, but a draw against the league’s top team is never a bad result.
Valenciennes 0 – 1 Grenoble Foot [M]
Don’t look now, but Brice Mableu’s spot between the sticks for Grenoble may be in jeopardy. Esteban Salles turned in another man of the match performance. That plus a late own goal (on an unstoppable half volley) kept Grenoble close to promotion.
Vendados 2 – 2 Alebrijes
Oaxaca kept plugging away after they fell behind on a corner kick inside of 9 minutes. While that normally presages a long night for the team, this time they kept calm and notched two much needed goals in the second half: starting with a long chip to capitalize on an adventurous keeper, and a final goal on a blistering header.
FK Radnik Surdulica 1 – 1 FK Vozdovac
Serbia swung back into action and showed exactly they’re tied with Surdulica in the table, by tying them on the field. An uncharacteristic lapse from keeper Miloje Prekovic put the dragons behind . But the teams remained as contentious and aggressive as you’d expect from Serbia (a few particular forearms to the face stood out). The late equalizer came from Luka Cveticanin on a staggering top shelf volley, marking his first strike for the Red Dragons.
Freiburg 2 – 1 Dortumund [M]
Even in a down year, a match against the bright young stars of Dortmund is intimidating (all the more so because they hadn’t been Dortmund in 10 years). But Freiburg was capable of keeping pace throughout, and Vincenzo Grifo again showcased his skills to further his case for joining the Italian national team in World and European Cups in the coming months. Add to that Woo-Yeong Jeong continuing to come into his own and you have a very promising start to the end of the season.
Ross County 0 – 2 Dundee United
After Billy McKay and a Jordan White won the match on Wednesday, they got a chance to start against Dundee. Unfortunately, neither found the same rhythm and the day ended with disappointment.
Hearts of Oak 1 – 1 Legon Cities
An early goal for Jonah Attaquye, capitalizing on a flustered defense, gave the Capital City upstarts a promising start. One they held on to for most of the match despite Hearts of Oak’s near relentless pressure. Again and again Winfried Honu stood up to the onslaught, with several outstretched saves. A late equalizer (also against a flustered defense) stymied a solid effort.
Werder Bremen v. Freiburg [F]
A blustery day in Bremen ended with a postponed match.
Indian Arrows 1 – 2 Punjab FC
Punjab’s second straight win comes from the feet of Baba Diawara. The Senagalese striker provided the attacking muster to give Chencho Gyeltshen a day off. Though the defense finally ceded their second goal in 5 games. Kiran Limbu continued to look quite formidable throughout.
Alebrijes de Oaxaca 3 – 1 Pumas Tabasco
Alebrijes continues a strong turn around during the spring campaign. Most of the switch has revolved around a greater effectiveness in the box and nobody was more effective in this match than Julio Cesar Cruz who was opportunistic, effective on set pieces and just great one-on-one.
News & Notes
Griz get a go in the big house
The University of Montana has had to make do with some lousy circumstances this year. But training as a team in the U’s biggest stadium isn’t one of them. Here’s hoping for a Big Sky battle in Washington-Grizzly some time soon.
Vozdovac is Bac
The red Dragons kick off felt much less nerve racking than last year as the team nosedived towards relegation. A mid table finish is quite likely this year so hopes for further improvement rest on newcomers seeking to establish themselves.
Over the winter the team let go two strong first half performers in defensive midfielder Marko Putincanin (off to Navbahor) and winger Milos Pantovic (back to Red Star’s youth team). The two accounted for 25% of the teams fall season goals, so replacing them is key.
Their boots will be filled by two returning loanees midfielder Stefan Purtic (22) and forward Lazar Popovic (19 and my new favorite Serbian name). The team also brought in A pair of left backs (Red Star sub Stefan Hajdin, and Macva talent Nikola Ducic) and a returning hero Aleksandar Stanisavljevic (who trotted out for the Kazakh league Europa contenders).
Minnesota Black, and Blue, and Open for Business
There will be soccer in the US this summer. There are fancy shmancy business reasons, I don’t really understand them. My big take away is: hopefully we can go back to games this summer.
Player of the Week
There’s a lot of great performances to choose from and both Esteban Salles and Winifried Honsu have stepped up massively, but the decisive factor has to be that Kiran Limbu helped lead Punjab to two wins and a massive boost up the table. For that, he gets the nod as this week’s player of the week.
Standings Update
Freiburg takes their lead right back with the streak snapping victory while Punjab’s great week and Grenoble’s consistency shrink the top four. Ross County stays off the bottom thanks to Vozdovac’s debut.
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| SC Freiburg | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 1.4 |
| Grenoble Foot 38 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| Legon Cities FC | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1.57 | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Punjab FC | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1.57 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Alebrijes | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| Ross County | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.9 |
| FK Vozdovac | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Rosenborg BK | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Minnesota United | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Emelec | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Vozdovac FK | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| University of Montana | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
What’s Next
Wednesday, February 10th
7:45 Grenoble V. AS Monaco [Cup]
Thursday, February 11th
Friday, February 12th
Saturday, February 13th
4:35 Punjab FC v. Chennai City
6:30 FK Vozdovac v. Indjija
8:30 Werder Bremen v. Freiburg [M]
9:00 Legon Cities v. King Faisal
9:00 Ross County v. Hibernian
12:00 Grenoble v. Amiens [M]
Sunday, February 14th
7:00 Freiburg v. SC Sand [F]
Monday, February 15th
Tuesday, February 16th
Week 3: Staggies Surge
Scores
Golukam FC 4- 3 Punjab FC
There’s nothing quite like waking up to an alarm and seeing a swath of updates about a match half way around the world. It was a wild one in the second round of India’s Hero League. Chencho Gyeltshen roared out of the gate with a first half brace to give Punjab a confident 2-0 lead (and a front runner for coolest celebration with the see/speak/hear no evil style). Rupert Nogrum added a third off Gyeltshen’s golden run before the whistle to make it 3-1. In the span of 5 minutes it all came undone as Denny Antwi and an own goal knocked in 3 goals in quick succession to unravel Punjab’s hard work. (It was especially hard after Kiran Chjempong stymied so many so many Kerala attacks, and Ashray Bhardwaj got away with a couple late tackles)
Toulouse 2 – 0 Grenoble [M]
The season’s second half continues to be a struggle for the Alpine side. This week, without talisman Jessy Bennet or most of the stalwart defense they let two goals slipped and fell further behind 2nd place Toulouse for automatic promotion.
Ross County 4 – 1 Aberdeen
The Staggies came out in a new formation with Jermaine Hylton up top and a more aggressive midfield. Sure enough it paid off with two early goals courtesy of Ollie Shaw and Charlie Lakin and two more late goals from Shaw and Hylton. The defensive line did some stout work and the offense capitalized on every opportunity they saw. A pretty great result against the #3 team in the league.
Bayern Munich 2 – 1 Freiburg [M]
Any trip to the Teutonic titans is likely to end in tears, but Nils Petersen almost got an unlikely result. A second half goal equalized once, and a late crossbar rattler nearly did again. sure it was still a defeat, but against Bayern a near tie is something to build on.
Aduana Stars 2 – 1 Legon Cities
After 767 minutes this season, Legon got a goal from open play. Francis Addo got on the end of a long ball when the keeper was MILES out of position and finished it. It wasn’t exactly a mark of talent, more just capitalizing on a MAJOR OPPONENT ERROR. But at this stage, we’ll take it. Oh, the Royals still lost.
Punjab FC 0 – 1 Churchill Brothers
Punjab reverted to a much more defensive style for this match up (shoring up the defense after seeping four goals will do that for you). While the team did vastly improve their defense, and held the opponents goalless for 85 minutes. Once again, a late winner broke their hearts.
Alebrijes 0 – 1 CD Tepatitlan de Morelos
Alebrijes is back in action at home in Oaxaca, but the results remain depressingly consistent. Once again, Oaxaca saw the home side drop a match and slide down the table
News & Notes
New Impeachment High Score
Until this week the most times any President had been impeached was 1, and the most votes any President received for his removal from his own party was 5. Wednesday Donald Trump doubled those scores! He’s been impeached twice and got 10 people to vote against him!
INCOMING!
While most teams are fine tuning in the middle of the season, others are gearing up for bigger transformations before the next season begins. Most clearly, Rosenborg who has picked up more Swedish style than a newly married couple at Ikea. First they bolstered the defense with Adam Andersson and Jonathan Augustinsson to battle for the left back spot vacated by Pa Konate. They also brought on 12 goal man Stefano Holmquist Vecchia from Sweden and brought up Ole Christian Saeter who recently racked up a hat-trick to win promotion for Ranheim.
Player of the Week
Jermaine Hylton gave us a like for his last player of the week performance. For that alone, it’s tempting to award him this again. Most of the Staggies could get a nod given their strong showing, but when it’s that much of a team effort it doesn’t feel right to single out one person. So, despite doing it in a losing effort, the sterling individual performance of Chenchyo Gyeltshen gets the nod this week.
Standings Update
Only Alebrijes dour opener lifts Grenoble off the foot of the table (see what I did there?) while Ross County rockets up to second place.
| Team | W | D | L | PPG | GFA | GAA |
| SC Freiburg | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Ross County | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1.75 | 2.0 | 1.3 |
| Punjab FC | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| Legon Cities FC | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Grenoble Foot 38 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.3 |
| Alebrijes de Oaxaca | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Rosenborg BK | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Minnesota United | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Emelec | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| Vozdovac FK | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
| University of Montana | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – |
What’s Next
Wednesday, January 20th
Clermont Foot v. Grenoble Foot [M-Cup]
1:30 Freiburg v. Frankfurt
Thursday, January 21st
Friday, January 22nd
Saturday, January 23rd
8:30 Freiburg v. VfB Stuttgart [M]
9:00 Legon Cities FC v. Ashanti Gold
9:00 Rangers v. Ross County
12:00 Grenoble v. Chambly [M]
Sunday, January 24th
7:30 Punjab FC v. Mohammedan SC
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