It’s final day! Bengaluru face Chennaiyin in the finale of the fourth edition of the ISL and it only seems right to have a special edition of the prediction league, as was promised on the Monday just gone. Before we start looking into what we’ve got to try and predict this time, let’s have a look over the results from earlier this week…
As you can see, it wasn’t the best of rounds. Mumbai did win 2-1 after extra time versus Indian Arrows, however, it was ruled that it should only count for the first ninety minutes. That’s fair, but you can’t blame me for having a go can ya? For you new readers out there, if a box is green it is worth one point and if a box is green with a bold scoreline in it, it is worth five points. No bold this week which means solitary points were handed out and Steve wins the POTW award with a tally of three.
Chris, Mark and I had to make do with just the two points which doesn’t really do anything to the league table. Steve has finally breached the thirty-point mark, Mark is now only three points behind me and Chris is still running away with it. To save me from describing it any longer, let’s just take a look at it…
Name |
Points |
Correct Scores |
Chris Darwen |
57 |
6 |
Jake Flock |
37 |
4 |
Mark Smith |
34 |
2 |
Stephen Beavon |
31 |
3 |
So, with only one game left, it should all be done and dusted, shouldn’t it? Not exactly, no. To finish off this prediction league, we are going for one final hurrah. Considering the gap between Chris and us mere mortals is astronomical, points are going to be available in this round for pretty much everything.
Collectively, we agreed on: Guess the starting XIs (0.5 points for each correct player), correct score (1 point for correct result OR 5 points for correct score), first goalscorer (5 points), minute of the first goal (15 points), Attendance (has to be within 50 either way) (10 points). Overall that means there are forty-one points on offer from this one game, so who knows how the league table will look when we recap early next week?
One thing that makes it all the more interesting is the fact that Chris missed the deadline for submissions and in turn, forfeits his turn for this week. Now, you’re probably thinking I’ve pulled some underhanded shit to prevent him from submitting his predictions on time, but for once I haven’t. I’m not going to pretend I’m not elated that he hasn’t because I am as it gives the rest of us a chance.
There is only the one game we are predicting this week as discussed and without any further messing around, it’s time to get involved…
Bengaluru FC vs Chennaiyin FC | ISL Playoff Final | 17/03
We’ll do it slightly differently this week because the predictions are so in-depth and as per we’ll go in alphabetical order, so yours truly goes first.
JF Predictions:
Bengaluru starting XI: Gurpreet, Bheke, Juanan, Johnson, Harmanjot, Paartalu, Dimas, Haokip, Udanta, Chhetri, Miku.
Chennaiyin starting XI: Karanjit, Calderon, Mailson, Sereno, Jerry, Bikramjit, Ganesh, Francis, Augusto, Nelson, Jeje.
Bengaluru 1-1 Chennaiyin; Nelson (51) | Attendance: 23,675.
MS Predictions:
Bengaluru starting XI: Gurpreet, Bheke, Juanan, Johnson, Bose, Paartalu, Dimas, Lenny, Udanta, Chhetri, Miku.
Chennaiyin starting XI: Karanjit, Calderon, Mailson, Sereno, Jerry, Mihelic, Ganesh, Francis, Augusto, Nelson, Jeje.
Bengaluru 2-1 Chennaiyin; Chhetri (23) | Attendance: 25,247.
SB Predictions:
Bengaluru starting XI: Gurpreet, Bheke, Juanan, Johnson, Bose, Paartalu, Dimas, Dovale, Udanta, Chhetri, Miku.
Chennaiyin starting XI: Karanjit, Calderon, Mailson, Sereno, Jerry, Bikramjit, Ganesh, Francis, Augusto, Nelson, Jeje.
Bengaluru 3-1 Chennaiyin; Miku (17) | Attendance: 27,875.
A couple of things jump out here. You’ll notice that I haven’t got Bose in my Bengaluru line-up and that’s because he’s suspended for the final, however, it seems the other pair haven’t done their due diligence as they’ve both selected him.
Steve has gone above and beyond ridiculous as he suggested ‘same as 2nd leg but Lucca in for Carlos and Lalchhuanmawia in for Panwar’ for Chennaiyin’s side, however, the players he’s suggested all play for Pune, so it’s safe to say he’s had a mare. So I’ve left it as the same as the second leg, which to be fair, is the same as what I’ve got. Mark has opted for Mihelic over Bikramjit which is a proper head-scratcher because Mihelic plays further forward than Bikramjit and while I’d love to see Rene on the pitch, he seems to have fallen out of favour in recent weeks.
Scoreline wise, the other two think Bengaluru are going to win which is fair, although, I’m banking on Chennaiyin to go above and beyond once more as we underestimated them against Goa and I’m not willing to make the same mistake again.
With regards to the attendance, Steve is hoping for a miracle considering the ground only holds 25,810. I’ve gone for slightly less considering anyone who wants to buy a ticket needs to have ID and there were still 6,000 tickets left as of a couple of days ago. You see, there is a method to my madness at times.
That’s your lot. I hope the game lives up to its hype and we have a blockbuster end to a blockbuster season.
Until the next time.
