Bengaluru FC face first real test as NorthEast United roll into Kanteerava

Bengaluru: Following an auspicious start to the season with a facile victory over SC Delhi, Bengaluru FC's push for the Indian Super League title goes up by several notches as they face an experienced NorthEast United FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Sunday. 

The Renedy Singh-helmed Blues impressed with their modern-day football outlook as they dominated the ball possession with a high defensive line for a 2-0 win while their stalwart Sunil Chhetri came in late to score from the bench.

They now have to face a rival, who has shed their perennial underachiever's tag with a third-place finish on the points table last season and will test their tactical efficiency.

Led by a street-smart Spanish coach Pedro Benali, NEUFC have transformed the side into a title-winning team (back-to-back Durand Cup titles in 2024 and 2025). Not to forget, they troubled the last year's ISL runners-up at their own den as the Blues had to recover to a 2-2 draw after going two goals down.

The Highlanders, however, are without their top ISL goalscorer from the last season, Alaaeddine Ajaraie, as the Moroccan was loaned off to an Indonesian club due to the months of uncertainty surrounding Indian football recently. 

That could be the plausible explanation for their 0-3 defeat to East Bengal in their season opener. While their two pacey forwards — MS Jithin and Parthib Gogoi — looked lacklustre, new Argentine signing Jairo Samperio, who has top-tier experience in Spain and Germany, appeared rusty following a prolonged off-season too. 

The quality of that attack trident, however, is too early to write off, especially when BFC's high-defensive line plays to their strength of catching them on the counter. Their two wingers like to drop down to help the three-man midfield, which has Karnataka's own Macarton Nickson at the heart of it.

Coach Renedy is well aware of the threat their opponents pose and has his plans to deal with them as he heads into the match with a fully-fit squad less than 24 hours before the game.

"All good teams in the world wan to keep the possession but then, how we attack together and how we defend together is the most important thing," said the former India midfielder. "As long as we can keep it compact and maintain a good structure while attacking and the same while defending, we can win. I demand that from the players."

BFC's attack-to-defence transition and vice-versa looked on point in the last game as Delhi SC lacked the serious pace and may not be the case against NEUFC. Creating enough chances with the possession and making them count becomes key in determining the result.

As far as creativity is concerned, the coach has kept multiple outlets through his midfield as well as defence. Box-to-box midfielders Suresh Singh and silky-feet Argentine Braian Sanchez are tasked with opening up flanks while overlapping full-backs Nikhil Poojari and Roshan Singh like to double-up those positions.

In case midfielders failed to do so, as was the case in the last match, centre-backs Chinglensana Singh and Rahul Bheke are encouraged to lob in those diagonal and long balls from the back. 

The onus of making all these count rests on lone number 9 Sivasakthi Narayanan, who may not be among the technically-gifted Indian forwards but showed in the last match that he has the goal-poaching instinct of being at the right place at the right time. The question is whether he has the tenacity to fill the big shoes of an ageing Sunil Chhetri?