The lack of adequate publicity of the Indian Women’s League has not deterred the competitiveness of the teams and the quality of football that the women have put on show in Bhubaneswar.
Apart from Gokulam Kerala, who have been topping the league table with their bank of Indian national team and international recruits, the other team that has been stealing the show this season is Sethu FC.
Consistently occupying the second position with their winning run and only lagging behind Gokulam on the basis of goal difference, the Madurai-based club are gunning for their second IWL title and look determined to breach the goal gap with the Kerala leaders.
Their 6-0 win — helping them collect all 27 points in their 9 games so far — against SSB on Tuesday was a testimony to their eagerness to make up for the tough 20-goal difference with the defending champions.
“It was the game to decide whether we are going for the title or going for the second position,” Sethu’s main striker Ghanaian Kieko Elizabeth told TOI about the goal-fest at Kalinga Stadium in which she scored the opener and the final goals. “At training, we worked hard on teamwork and that’s what the players had in mind. And we knew starting to score early can help is in the race (against Gokulam).”
The back-to-back Tamil Nadu state team champions, who have been playing a major part in the development of women’s football, have the belief to breach the unbreachable.
“Although the goal difference is quite huge, I think in the coming matches we can still make up for it and win the title,” Sethu and Tamil Nadu skipper Sandhiya Ranganathan, who was also on Tuesday’s scoresheet, said.
“Since a lot of players are from Tamil Nadu, the communication on and off the field has been great. Even the players from other parts of India and those from outside have been committed to the team and worked hard on gelling with their teammates” Sandhiya added on the secret of Sethu’s run this season.
The spirit of optimism was echoed by Renu Rani, the top scorer for Sethu so far. “I feel that we will win the title this time. We are not thinking too much about the goal difference, but we go into every match wanting full three points from each of them,” India international Renu said.
“Being a part of the national camp has helped me perform in IWL. The hard work and training, in terms of strength building, techniques, etc is helping me give my best for Sethu. Also, the exposure trips earlier have helped.”
Sethu’s 32 goals in their 9-match winning streak may look a shade pale compared to rivals Gokulam’s 52 strikes so far, but the 2018-19 champions have the capacity to score plenty with their arsenal of attacking players. But with just two matches left to turn things around with the next versus Hans FC on Sunday, the last match against Gokulam on May 26 could well be the title decider.
