The Covid-19 outbreak in ATK Mohun Bagan’s bio-bubble is hurting the team’s ISL VIII campaign badly.
As cases continued to go north, Saturday’s match between ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC was postponed hours before the kick-off at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda.
This was ATK Mohun Bagan’s second successive fixture that got affected after the January 8 game against Odisha FC had to be postponed after an unnamed player returned positive for Covid-19.
Kerala Blasters’ game against Mumbai City on Sunday looks doubtful as the southern team has not had a practice session since Thursday. It was learnt the chef of the team hotel tested positive and the entire squad has gone into isolation.
An emergency meeting between the league and 11 teams is scheduled for Sunday and it remains to be seen if the ISL is suspended for a few days.
“Hero Indian Super League (ISL) announces the postponement of the match between ATK Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC scheduled to be played on Saturday at PJN Stadium, Fatorda,” the organisers said in a statement on Saturday morning.
“Each match is assessed on a number of factors, including the ability of the clubs to field a team; the severity of Covid-19 breakout at the club(s); and the ability of the club personnel to safely prepare for and play the match.
“The health and safety of all personnel in various bubbles remain our priority, and the League and clubs will continue to monitor the situation and act accordingly,” the statement added.
Edu questions
Strangely, the league did not postpone Friday’s FC Goa versus NorthEast United FC match even when the Virat Kohli co-owned team reported multiple Covid-19 cases.
“Yesterday, we played the game with 9 casualties due to Covid cases. Today (Saturday), for the second successive match, another team (ATK Mohun Bagan) suspends its game for the same reason. Can someone explain that to me? Adulterated competition,” FC Goa captain Edu Bedia wrote on Instagram.
“Players are losing interest… Whether you like it or not, all the people inside the bio-bubble just want March to come and the league to end, whatever the outcome,” he added.
Bedia and Ivan Gonzalez’s positive results came just before the team was leaving for the match venue on Friday.
Chhetri’s offer
In a series of tweets, Bengaluru FC star Sunil Chhetri spoke about the challenges of bubble life and reached out to fellow players for a chat in case they are feeling down and out.
“To any ISL player, across clubs, nationalities and experience — I’m up for a chat if you need one. We don’t have to talk football. Drop me a message if you feel like it, and we’ll make it happen. The season, table, wins and losses will take care of themselves when they have to,” he tweeted.
“Reach out when you need to share, lend an ear to someone who needs to speak. We’re all going through the same thing and I just thought it would be nice if we could pick each other up when we need to.”
SCEB fears
The SC East Bengal camp is bracing for a virus outbreak after the person who collects samples returned positive.
“We are locked up in our rooms from Wednesday after some hotel staff contracted the virus and now we are told the sample collector himself returned positive,” a player said.
Goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya stepped down as captain on Saturday after he had a WhatsApp face-off with CEO Shivaji Samaddar, who did not attend the disciplinary committee meeting on January 10. The team management has served a show-cause notice on Bhattacharya. That Sammadar went AWOL on Monday was reported by The Telegraph on January 12.
Jamshedpur FC roped in Daniel Chima Chukwu on Saturday. Chima was released by SC East Bengal during the ongoing transfer window.
Odisha FC have a new interim head coach in Kini Garcia after the team parted ways with Kiko Ramirez.
