Interestingly, none of these four teams featured in the final round last season. Real Kashmir FC, who finished at the bottom of their group last season, showed miraculous turn-around to top the Group A with 22 points from 10 matches and remained unbeaten throughout the preliminary round.

On the other hand, Group B witnessed some drama on the final day as FC Kerala who led the group for most of the preliminary round lost 2-4 against Fateh Hyderabad which saw Ozone FC making it to the final round with 19 points despite finishing behind Kerala Blasters reserves.

Tournament debutantes TRAU FC dominated the competition in Group C from the onset and finished the preliminary round campaign with 23 points and qualified for the final round. Meanwhile, Delhi-based Hindustan FC sneaked into the final round as the best second-placed team from Group A with 20 points and they also remained unbeaten.

The final round will be a single round-robin affair and it will be commencing at FSV Arena in Bangalore from May 24, 2018. The opener will be played between Ozone FC and Real Kashmir.

– Courtesy AIFF media

Also Read: India U-16s defeat Tajikistan 4-2 to be crowned champions of 4-nation tournament

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18 teams will be plying their trade in the league this year, a rise of 50% from last season’s 12. Teams traversing the length and breadth of the country will take part in the league. There are also 3 teams who will be making their debut this season, in the form of TRAU FC from Imphal, Manipur, FC Kerala from Thrissur, Kerala and Madhya Bharat FC from Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

In the preliminary phase, the teams have been divided into three groups of six. The teams will take on each other on a home and away basis with the top two from each group qualifying for the 6 team Final Phase. The winner of the Final Phase will then be promoted to the top tier of Indian Football.

Although the top two sides from the preliminary phase are slated to qualify for the Final Phase, the ISL Reserve sides will not qualify for the Final even if they finish within the top two spots and their place will go to the next best non-ISL team.

I-League CEO, Sunando Dhar had some words of encouragement for the teams involved. “Neroca FC’s success in the Hero I-League 2017-18 should serve as an impetus for teams to shine. From 2nd division champs to 2nd in the top division. I wish all the teams the very best and hope the fight hard to reach the top level of Indian Football,” he said.

This season will also see the advent of the Reserve team concept in Indian Football. For the first time top teams from the Indian Super League will field their Reserve sides in the Hero I-League 2nd division. These teams will solely comprise of Indian players. An added criterion is that apart from 3 players the teams can have only U-23 players in their squad.

Also Read: Final round of Hero Super Cup to kick-off on March 31

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Football is a game of uncertainty, at whatever level its played, the concept remains the same. A game between Das Football Academy and Utkarsh Mandal was full of twists and turns.

Till the end of the first half Das Football Academy were enjoying a comfortable lead with 2 goals scored by Yash Agre. And then in the second half Utkarsh Mandal turned the tables on Das FA, withing 8 minutes they scored 3 goals via set pieces. Glakson Mascarenhas, Jaqwin Vasaikar, Sidhesh Batawale scored the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd goal respectively.

Edgar Rodrigues played a key role for Utkarsh Mandal, as he bought his team get back in the lead. Later an intresting game of football took a turn for the worse, as tempers frailed between the two teams. Defender Jeril Johnson’s rough tackle on Edgar Rodrigues sparked up a fight between the two players. Referee Kishor Poojari then controlled the incident and decided to show a red card to both. The drama still continued, as substitute Nazir Khan entered on the field and went wild as he started fighting and abusing. The referee made no hesitation in flashing another red card. The onwatching MDFA committee will surely decide action to be taken for such misconducted.

Taking advantage of the situation, Utkarsh mandal then added a 4th as Kaustubh Parkar converted another opportunity. Certainly this win will have boosted Utkarsh Mandal’s hopes and will help them up their performance in the coming matches of this group.

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Saki village FC Vs Nasseb Reloaded

Playing against the home side is always a difficult task, but it was not the case with Saki Village FC, as they played quite comfortably and bagged 3 valuable points.

Tayyeb Penwala their leading frontman, scored the 1st goal with a nice volley from the right corner of the small box. In the second half Trevor D’Souza added a 2nd goal when he got the ball from a deflection through Naseeb’s defender which created a one-on-one opportunity for Trevor who cleverly beat Naseeb’s goalkeeper Tariq Khan to slot the ball home.

The Naseeb Reloaded players were more engaged in complaining and auguring with the referees, rather than fighting back to reduce the deficit.

The 3rd goal come through some good passing between the Saki Village players, Trevor D’Souza played a square pass to Aaron D’Souza, who played a wonderful ball in towards Tayyeb on the right, who finished of the move brilliantly with a goal for Saki Village.

Both teams have played 2 matches and 5 more left to decide a play-off berth in this group

Other matches played at St. Xavier’s ground, Parel on Saturday

2nd division:
G.K. Rangers drew with Bad Boys [1-1]
G.K. Rangers => Melroy Pinto
Bad Boys => Cajetan Dais

1st division:
Bombay FC Vs Naval Dockyard [3-0]
Bombay FC => Inderjeet Khaira, Alroy D’souza, Dylan Ferrao

See them in action

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