If you have watched Mohun Bagan in the Indian Super League, ever, you knew this was coming even before a ball was kicked. Before Jamshedpur FC even got on their flight, you knew it.
'Get to Salt Lake, attack/defend/pretend to play football for 90 minutes. Have one of those in maroon and green wake up suddenly and score a magical goal, the kind that inspires fables. Reach another final.'
Please. Do these people ever get bored?
Apparently not. They've been doing this winning business since 1911, but this ISL era has been something else. They don't often play anyone off the park, many a time they are dreadfully boring, but whatever happens, at the end of the night that scoreboard rarely reflects anything but a win for them. They've been in the new top tier of Indian football for five seasons now and have made it to four finals. They've won two league shields. Ask anyone who covers this sport in this nation and the most common adjective they'll use to describe this team is 'inevitable.'
They came into this ISL semifinal a goal down, knowing that Jamshedpur would park a bus or ten in their box, knowing that they'll just have to keep hammering at the away side till something gave. So that's exactly what they did.
At the end of the ninety they had taken an astonishing 35 shots on goal, the joint most ever in the history of the league. They had made 259 passes just in the final third (an ISL record), entered the JFC box 71 times (another record), and forced JFC into 53 clearances (also a record). "We have to shoot, it doesn't matter from outside, inside. We have to finish the action," was the instruction from Jose Molina, Bagan head coach, and his players followed it to the T.
The pressure first told in the 50th minute when the ball bounced off Pronay Halder's arm after yet another cross created confusion in the JFC box. Jason Cummings (who had 10 shots at goal on the night - another record) stroked it home calmly and Bagan got back to the business of hammering. Knowing that Jamshedpur would be comfortable deep in their own box, Molina had asked his players to take shots whenever they found some space, no matter how far out, and as the match meandered towards a boredom-heightening extra time period, Apuia remembered that message.
Picking the ball up twenty-five odd yards out, he calmly collected himself before unleashing a curler that was simply too well hit to be stopped. There it was - one those in maroon and green waking up and scoring a magical goal. 94th minute, Mohun Bagan leading 2-0 on the night, 3-2 on aggregate. Job done.
LISTEN TO THAT ROAR!!! ����������#MBSGJFC #ISL #LetsFootball #ISLPlayoffs #MBSG #ApuiaRalte #ISLGoal | @mohunbagansg @apuiaralte45 pic.twitter.com/ybFDmuPFnY
- Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) April 7, 2025
It had not been an easy watch, attack vs defence for most of it, some of the attacking not very good, but they had grinded it out. Cummings summed it up with one of those cliches that are simply too true to not say out loud: "That's what champions do."
After the match, Apuia would say "Everybody was asking me when are you going to score, when are you going to score. I told them scoring is important, but keeping cleansheet is equally important." He would then flash a big grin as he left the next sentence incomplete, "I did my job first and then..."
He didn't need to finish it because you knew exactly what he was saying. Just like you knew exactly how this match was going to end. Exactly how the ISL 2024-25 season would end. Mohun Bagan vs Bengaluru FC, Salt Lake stadium, April 12. Of course.
Pack your bags, Indian football fans, there are some potatoes-in-biriyanis waiting for you this weekend.