ISL 2018-19 Review: Top 5 Indian goalkeepers of the season
The 5th edition of the Indian Super League ended last Sunday with a thrilling final where Bengaluru FC emerged victorious, winning their first ever ISL title. Sunil Chhetri and co laid to rest the ghosts of last season's final, where they had narrowly lost out to Chennaiyin FC. It was right back Rahul Bheka who scored the winner in the 117th minute after the game had gone into extra time.
This ISL season has seen several positives for Indian Football, with many youngsters making their mark with splendid performances. The ISL has had a massive impact on the Indian National team setup as well with mercurial ISL finds like Anirudh Thapa (Chennaiyin FC) and Aashique Kuruniyan (FC Pune City), both just 21, having already nailed down starting spots in the team during the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. 21-year-old Kerala Blasters' playmaker Sahal Abdul Samad was declared the emerging player of the year thanks to his electric displays in midfield. Other big finds of this season include Delhi Dynamos' talented attacking midfielder Lallianzuala Chhangte (21), FC Goa shot stopper Mohammed Nawaz (19), Kerala Blasters' and India U17 Goalkeeper Dheeraj Singh (18) and FC Pune City defender Sarthak Golui (21).
Perhaps no position is as crucial to a winning team than the goalkeeper. While the Golden Glove for Best goalkeeper was won by foreign keepers in ISL Season 1 and 2, the Indian Goalkeepers came roaring back to take home the title in ISL Season 3 and 4. This season was no different with most teams electing to play an Indian goalkeeper between the sticks. Season 5 saw National team mainstays like Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Amrinder Singh face late bloomers like Pawan Kumar and Naveen Kumar as well as young challengers in Mohammed Nawaz and Dheeraj Singh. Let us see what the season stats say. Who will be among the top 5 Indian Goalkeepers of ISL Season 5?
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#5 Amrinder Singh (Mumbai City FC)
Coming in at No.5 is Indian international Amrinder Singh. The 25-year-old custodian was in imperious form throughout the tournament as Mumbai City finished 3rd, conceding just 20 goals, the second best defensive record in the league.
Amrinder, who has earned 3 caps with the Indian National side, is a product of the Punjab Government-run Sports Wing Academy. The 6' 1" shot-stopper has great reach and flexibility and it wasn't long before he signed his first professional contract with Pune FC in 2011. His first ISL contract came in 2015 with Atletico Kolkata. After stints with the Kolkata giants and Bengaluru FC, the Punjabi lad has settled down in Mumbai City FC and seems destined to be the club talisman for more years to come. He won the Golden Glove Award in ISL 2016 with a career-best season performance.
His 2018-19 season statistics are sensational-he has a 74.15% save rate and has pulled off a whopping 66 saves from 19 matches played, the highest for any goalkeeper this season. He is also joint top along with Gurpreet for most clean sheets - keeping seven shutouts over the course of the season.
Amrinder was India Under-23's starting goalkeeper at the 2014 Asian Games and captained the Under-23 team for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualifiers.
He eventually graduated to the senior team and made his full international debut against Mauritius in 2017. He was part of the Indian team that went to the 2019 AFC Asia Cup but was restricted to a bench role as Bengaluru's Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was the preferred choice between the sticks.
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