Indian Super League 2014 Results: Updated Table, Scores and Fixtures for Week 9
Kerala Blasters became the third team to qualify for the play-offs of the inaugural Indian Super League season on Tuesday, beating FC Pune City 1-0 after Delhi Dynamos had played out a 2-2 draw with Chennaiyin FC.
With just one matchday left to play, Delhi and NorthEast United FC have been eliminated from play-off contention, while Mumbai City will need a miracle to overtake Atletico de Kolkata.
FC Goa will have a chance to overtake Chennaiyin for the top seed on the final match day, but they'll have to beat Atletico at their ground to do so.
Updated ISL Standings
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| 1 | Chennaiyin | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 24 | 20 | +4 | 23 |
| 2 | Goa | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 21 | 12 | +9 | 22 |
| 3 | Atlético de Kolkata | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 13 | +3 | 19 |
| 4 | Kerala Blasters | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 19 |
| 5 | Delhi Dynamos | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 14 | +2 | 18 |
| 6 | Pune City | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 17 | −5 | 16 |
| 7 | Mumbai City | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 21 | −9 | 16 |
| 8 | NorthEast United | 14 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 13 | −2 | 15 |
Courtesy of Indiansuperleague.com.
Dec. 10: Atletico Reach Semis with Goa Draw, Mumbai Held at NorthEast United
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Atletico de Kolkata 1-1 FC Goa
NorthEast United 1-1 Mumbai City
Fikru Teferra netted a late equaliser for Atletico de Kolkata on Wednesday to secure a 1-1 draw for his team against FC Goa and book the team a place in this year's Indian Super League semi-finals.
The result means that these two sides will clash in a two-legged affair after Atletico and Goa finished third and second in the standings, respectively.
Goa chose to rest a host of their first-team stars for the clash, where Robert Pires did a fine job in his central midfield role and helped in getting the visitors into the fixture following a slow start.
That pressure was capitalised upon in the 27th minute when Edgar Marcelino collected a deflected shot to fire in the opener, although Kolkata were in threatening mood themselves and dismayed to concede the first.
Knowing that a draw was needed to prolong their inaugural campaign, the Salt Lake Stadium hosts found their equaliser through Ethiopian Fikru, who went down inside the box under a challenge from Bruno Pinheiro and received his penalty.
Pinheiro was shown red for his last-ditch attempt and Fikru made the opportunity count with 32 minutes left to play, although neither side would deal any more damage to the scoreline.
At Indira Gandhi Stadium, bottom contenders NorthEast United and Mumbai City played to an identical scoreline as Sushil Karma Singh bagged in the 84th minute to secure a tie for Peter Reid's men.
Defeat would have seen Mumbai City finish the campaign in eighth, but Sushil's last-gasp equaliser at least saved the club some face against in Assam.
Koke found the opener after 34 minutes from the penalty spot, temporarily lifting his team off the bottom of the pile and into sixth.
However, NorthEast United looked the more subdued side for large periods, managing a little more than half the attempts on goal that their opponents did, per the official Indian Super League website.
Their failure to move on from the opener told as Mumbai enforced a stronger grip on the matchup, although neither side had a great deal of positivity to take from an ultimately drab end to their season.
Dec. 9: Delhi Eliminated After Draw with Chennaiyin, Kerala Beat Pune to Advance
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Chennaiyin FC 2-2 Delhi Dynamos
Kerala Blasters FC 1-0 FC Pune City
The 2014 Indian Super League season is nearing its end, and going into the final two matchdays, just two teams had already qualified for the play-offs. Kerala joined that group on Tuesday, thanks to a 1-0 win over Pune City and Delhi's draw against Chennaiyin.
Ian Hume scored the only goal in Kerala's win, a fantastic free-kick from long range after 23 minutes. The hosts had been under tremendous pressure up until that point, but Pune City have struggled with finishing all season, and on Tuesday, it came back to haunt them.
The visitors held 72 percent of possession after 30 minutes but couldn't convert possession into chances, and instead, Kerala had the best chances to double their advantage on the counter-attack in the first half.
Pune City needed to win to reach the play-offs and a draw would have eliminated both teams, leading to a very nervous second half. Hume had several chances to add a second and secure qualification, but Pune's defence stood firm.
Kerala were by far the better team in the second half, however, and the final score of 1-0 was justified.
Alessandro Del Piero finally scored his first goal of the IPL season for Delhi, a stunning free-kick early in the second half, but it wasn't enough to hand his team the win against new league-leaders Chennaiyin.
The hosts ran out to a 2-0 lead in the first half, courtesy of Bruno Pelissari and Jeje Lalpekhlua, before Del Piero struck back with a fantastic curling effort from long range. Bleacher Report UK shared the Vine, which you can watch by clicking here.
Needing a win to qualify, the visitors pressed on and found themselves on equal terms when Hans Mulder struck from well outside the box, but despite their best attacking efforts, Chennaiyin refused to give up the third goal, knocking Delhi out in the process.
Going into the final matchday, Mumbai City FC have to beat NorthEast United FC to draw level on points with Atletico de Kolkata. If the latter team grabs any points from their home encounter against FC Goa, they'll become the last team to book their ticket to the play-offs.
If they don't, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi will all end on level points, with Atletico sporting by far the better goal differential. Barring an epic collapse from Atletico and Mumbai winning by seven or eight goals, it will be Kolkata joining Chennayin, Goa and Kerala in the knockout stages.
