ISL 2016: Top 5 Foreign Players of the league stages
56 games that decide the Indian Super League table have come and gone, with Mumbai City FC, Kerala Blasters FC, Delhi Dynamos and Atletico de Kolkata going through to the semifinal spots. While there has been a rise in the impact of Indian players in ISL 2016, the foreign players still rule the roost, although the marquee players haven’t exactly set the world alight.
It’s been a fascinating ISL 2016, with 134 goals scored so far. There are still 5 games left to go that will decide the trophies, but the contribution of these players in the league is still laudable.
Here are the 5 best foreign players on the Indian Super League.
#5 Emiliano Alfaro
Such has been the importance of Emiliano Alfaro to NorthEast United that his fortunes have directly correlated to those of the Highlanders. A storming start to the season, including a brace against FC Goa meant that NEUFC began ISL 2016 looking down on the rest of the table.
That start made the whole league wake up and take notice of the tireless running that Alfaro does upfront, with the result that he is the second-most fouled player in the ISL this season, having been upended 31 times. The Uruguayan is no shrinking violet though, he’s returned the favour 25 times and thus has racked up the most yellow cards in the league with seven of those.
Given the extra attention to him paid by defenders in the latter half of the season, it’s not surprising that after Alfaro went the last 7 games without scoring having racked up 5 goals in the first 6 games of ISL 2016, with a shot accuracy of 72%. As a result, NEUFC’s slide down the table has seen them narrowly miss out on a semifinal spot, although Highlander fans will forgive Alfaro that as he provided them with some incredible moments.