ISL 2022-23: Chennaiyin FC and Aakash Sangwan look to find their feet

After missing playoffs in three of the last four seasons, two time-champions Chennaiyin FC pressed the reset button ahead of the 2022-23 edition. Last two years in particular have been disappointing for the unit as they finished eighth in the 11-team Indian Super League (ISL) table. In a major overhaul, a new coach (Thomas Brdaric) and 18 new players have been drafted in by the Marina Machans to revive their fortunes. Tucked away in the galaxy of the new star cast at Chennaiyin is defender Aakash Sangwan. Sangwan was signed from I-League Club RoundGlass Punjab FC (earlier known as Minerva Punjab) and has played 66 matches in his professional career. He was also part of the I-League-winning Minerva Punjab side in the 2017-18 season. Now 26, the left-back who hails from Haryana is ready for his first ISL season. The defender realises his move to ISL is a “big step up” but is not short of confidence. In his own words, he is “ready” for the new challenge. “I played for a very good I-League club but this surely is a step up. Football is tough in I-league as well, but it gets more technical and tactical here,” Sangwan shares. “Last year playing in I-League, I realised I am ready for ISL. RoundGlass had a lot of players with ISL experience and I was doing well against them and while playing with them, so I knew I am ready for ISL,” he adds. Primarily a left-footed defender, Sanwagan is well capable of playing in advanced positions as a wing-back and he was regularly asked to play that role in the 2022 Durand Cup where Chennaiyin made the quarter-finals before bowing out after a high-scoring thriller against finalists Mumbai City FC. Sangwan clocked 185 minutes on the pitch in four games in Durand Cup and now looks forward to adding to it in the ISL. Just like Sangwan, another man looking to find his feet in ISL is coach Brdaric. The majority of coaching work for the former Bayer Leverkusen forward has been in Europe except for a spell as a sporting director of FC Bunyodkor (Uzbekistan). Sangwan reveals Brdaric is very balanced, and expects nothing but 100% focus in the middle. “He is a very balanced man on and off the field. Off the field, he jokes around and keeps thing light but on the field, he is very demanding and disciplined. He doesn’t like it if you are not 100 percent focussed,” the defender points out. Chennaiyin’s Achilles’ heel last season was their inability to score goals. They scored the least number of goals in the league stage last season — 17 — and conceded 35. Sangwan says the whole unit at the club including the experienced Chennaiyin players and the newcomers have had a detailed discussion on things that went wrong last season. He also feels the Durand Cup would help the new players to quickly settle into the new environment as Chennaiyin seek a turnaround. “They ( players from last season) have pointed out mistakes we made last season. The main focus is to not repeat the mistakes of the last season,” he says. “We have a lot of young and new players. Brdaric wants to show that we are a team that can play good football, compete and win games. Our main focus is to establish ourselves in the league. The time that we have spent together has made us stronger. We are way stronger than we were in the first week. We know what the coach wants, so the transition should be easy.” Chennaiyin open their ISL 2022-23 campaign on 10 October against ATK Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.