Hyderabad FC Earns First Point of ISL Season with Strong Defense Against Chennaiyin FC
Hyderabad, Telangana [India], October 2: Hyderabad FC’s head coach Thangboi Singto expressed his happiness after his team secured their first point of the 2024-25 Indian Super League (ISL) season. The team earned a well-deserved point with a clean sheet in a goalless draw against Chennaiyin FC at the GMC Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad.
The Yellow and Black showed great determination, especially in the final 20 minutes when they were reduced to ten men. Despite this, their defense held strong, ensuring they got their first point of the season.
Singto praised his entire team, saying, “I do not have any specific player to pinpoint today because each one of them, starting from the goalkeeper to the defense to the midfield to the strikers, they did their job. And I think it is a well-deserved point and a clean sheet. I am happy for the team.”
Hyderabad FC is steadily finding their rhythm and is expected to become more synchronized in future matches. However, Singto noted the need for greater discipline, as the team has finished with ten men in both their previous game and today’s match. He emphasized, “I think one thing is about tiredness because I think at the moment 99.9 per cent of our players are maybe good enough for 60 minutes. And after that, I think that is where your mind says something and your body says something. That sync, that coordination is not there. That is why you tend to make mistakes.”
New recruit Serbian defender Stefan Sapic teamed up with Captain Alex Saji in defense, and both exhibited a strong performance. Reflecting on his team’s performance, especially the two center-backs, Singto said, “Having Alex and Sapic today, I think really sort of somewhat neutralized Chima because they were really onto him, and both our No. 6, Lenny (Rodrigues) and Isaac (Vanmalsawma) supporting them, and the No. 7 and No. 11 coming and getting more compact in the midfield really helped us to win the second balls.”
Doubts Revealed
Hyderabad FC -: Hyderabad FC is a football (soccer) team based in Hyderabad, India. They play in the Indian Super League (ISL), which is a professional football league in India.
ISL -: ISL stands for Indian Super League. It is a professional football league in India where different teams from various cities compete against each other.
Chennaiyin FC -: Chennaiyin FC is another football team in the Indian Super League. They are based in Chennai, a city in the southern part of India.
Thangboi Singto -: Thangboi Singto is the head coach of Hyderabad FC. A head coach is the person who trains and manages the football team.
Goalless draw -: A goalless draw means that neither team scored any goals during the match, so the game ended with a score of 0-0.
Reduced to ten men -: In football, each team usually has 11 players on the field. If a player gets a red card, they have to leave the game, and the team has to play with one less player, making it 10 players.
Stefan Sapic -: Stefan Sapic is a new player who recently joined Hyderabad FC. He plays in the defense position, helping to stop the other team from scoring goals.
Captain Alex Saji -: Alex Saji is the captain of Hyderabad FC. The captain is a player who leads the team on the field and often has more responsibilities.
Clean sheet -: A clean sheet in football means that the team did not allow the opposing team to score any goals during the match.
