Another disappointment for USFC

GOES DOWN 2-1 TO SPORTING CLUB DE GOA
GANGTOK, 18 Nov: United Sikkim Football Club [USFC] went down again in the I-League, this time to a Goan club, Sporting Club de Goa [SCG], in a crucial match played this evening at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda in Goa. In its sixth match in the I-League today, the USFC lost to the Goa club 2-1.
In the bottom heap of the I-League table, both USFC and Sporting Club de Goa played hard to avoid listing in the relegation zone. USFC was in the 11th position with four points from 5 matches while SCG was at the 10th position with the same number of points from 5 matches and with this win SCG now has 7 points.
Despite USFC’s good start, the Goa club took the lead with the help of Ogba Kalu in the 10th minute and within five minutes Seiya Sugishita doubled the lead for SCG in the 15th minute. Sandesh Jhingan managed to pull back the margin with a goal for USFC in the last minute of the first half, but there was no more scoring on the cards for the game today.
Both teams failed to score any goals in the second half and the match concluded with the same score of 2-1 in favor of the Goa club. Bhaichung Bhutia also played in the last 15 minutes of the second half.
It may be added here that the USFC took a couple of strong decisions at Kolkata during the Diwali break which started with Chief Coach Phillipe De Ridder being shunted out from coaching responsibilities and CEO Bhaichung Bhutia taking over as interim coach.
The Belgium national was re-designated as the USFC’s football director following a meeting with club officials at Kolkata on 13 November. The loss of confidence on Ridder comes after a humiliating 10-1 drubbing at the hands of Prayag United in an I-League match at Kolkata.
Ridder will be now be handling administrative aspects of the club and is no longer in charge of the team or any player-related responsibilities, USFC announced in a statement. The club has also sacked assistant coach, Syed Altaf Fudden Ahmed.
Till the new coach is appointed, Bhaichung will be handling the coaching responsibilities. Also a player in the United Sikkim squad list, Bhaichung took charge of his new responsibility as coach from 13 November and trained the team at Kolkata for two days.
USFC played a friendly match against Kolkata league team Techno Aryans on 14 November winning the game by a solitary goal scored by Nurudeen Salau.