“The Invincible” Girls of Mumbai Football

by Chittu Shetty February 16, 2022

Mumbai’s PIFA Sports Club, routed an entire league to go unbeaten, and braved the pandemic-induced break mid-way to eventually lift the trophy in the end, all by not conceding a single goal in the tournament.

When we talk about “The invincibles” in football, it’s often referred to as the club that goes an entire season unbeaten. “The Invincibles” is a nickname commonly referred to as the Preston North End team of the 1888–89 season, managed by William Sudell, and the Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal team of the 2003–04 season, both of which went long stretches of period unbeaten.

While there have been many similar instances around the world, where clubs have gone an entire league unbeaten, It’s not often that you see a team do that without conceding a single goal. Mumbai’s PIFA did do just that, they routed an entire league, braved the pandemic induced break mid-way to finally go and lift the trophy, all by not conceding a single goal.

The robust defense

The fact that PIFA went the entire campaign without conceding a single goal says everything about their defense. Led by captain Dipika, and an ever-present Anita Rawat, who was the only PIFA player to play every single minute in the campaign, PIFA had little trouble at the back. The skipper even had goal contributions for her side, scoring a total of 3 goals including the all-important winner against Arch Rivals Kenkre FC in the game no. 5.

The Quartet of Anita Rawat, Dipika, Zarastyn Mistry, and Nikita Jadhav at the back was so solid that for the majority of their campaign PIFA Goalkeepers hardly had to do anything. The only game where PIFA defense faced their strongest test was against the Steven Dias coached outfit – SP Football Academy. The thane-based outfit eventually finished 2^nd in the league but did give a good test for PIFA even forcing them to go with five defense, however, PIFA eventually took the game home courtesy of an injury-time winner from midfielder Akanksha Kandalkar.

After starting the campaign with their no. 1 keeper in Afshan Ashiq between the sticks, Coach Nirvan Shah, assured of his team’s defensive capabilities decided to give both his backup keepers Khushbu Sharma and Payal Basude important game time later on in the campaign. All three keepers managed to keep their clean sheets with Afshan Ashiq taking 4 clean sheets alongside 2 each from Khushbu and Payal.

The variety in midfield and attack

The strong defensive setup also allowed PIFA Coach to experiment with his midfield and attackers. Akanksha Kandalkar was the star in midfield for PIFA throughout the league campaign. She was the only player to start in all the games for PIFA and play the full quota 90 minutes, barring the final league fixture against Pacangan SC, where she was subbed off after the 66^th minute, with the game as well as the league title already in the bag. Apart from being the creative outlet in the midfield, she also ended up scoring 4 goals during the campaign.

Alongside Akanksha, Manisha Palariya and Pratima Mukhia offered excellent support to the PIFA strike force from the middle of the park. Besides their strong defensive setup, PIFA Sport’s excellent control in the games against their opponent would often allow their Coach to change up the lineup in the middle. Pooja Kapate and Wandashisha Marwin would often swap up for Manisha and Pratima at the halfway mark. Both Pooja and Wandashisha had excellent goal contributions too, chipping in with 4 and 5 goals respectively.

In attack, Sasmita Behera topped the charts with 10 goals including the double hat-trick against NSA in the season opener. However, one of the strongest points for PIFA was their non-reliance on their star forward. PIFA had goal contributions from 11 players during their title-winning campaign. Besides Sasmita, Karen Pais was also a constant threat to opponents’ defense, scoring 5 times in the final three games. Often used as a substitute, Trupti Deep and Bhagyashree Dalvi too contributed to attack, whenever called upon. Trupti scored 4 goals during the campaign while Bhagyashree notched two to her name including the crucial 2^nd half winner against city rivals Kenkre FC.

While there was no doubt of PIFA’s strong squad, the bench strength too showcased quality whenever called upon. The 20 member squad was well rotated by Coach Nirvan Shah with the majority of them getting to play a minimum of 300 minutes. Despite the strong playing squad and substitute bench, the rest of the squad comprising of Pranali Shetty, Minakshee Bhagat, Sapna Jaiswar, and Sruthi Kandikonda, were too called upon every once in a while, giving the, crucial game time and experience to get under their belt during the season.

Former Manchester United’s legendary manager Alex Ferguson was once famously quoted saying “Attack wins you game, defense wins you championship”. Well in the PIFA SC case, it held significantly true. While their strike force pumped in 40 goals throughout the campaign it was the fact that they didn’t concede a single goal, which allowed the club to edge past SP Football Academy to eventually lift the title. The Steven Dias Coached outfit were on PIFA’s heels right from the start and dropped their only points against PIFA after a 1-0 loss.

With both defense and attack complimenting each other excellently, PIFA SC’s entrance into IWL – Final rounds in such a dominating fashion should signal as a warning sign for their opponents that PIFA means business.

For Trial related updates: Latest trials updates in Mumbai Football

Also Read: WIFA Women’s Football League: PIFA’s Sasmita Behera wins Golden Boot

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