Out of control: Majcen & Co. need other results to go their way to sneak into the playoffs.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
When a team’s hopes of qualification for the Indian Super League playoffs rest on mathematical miracles entailing undue favours from other teams, it is very much clutching at straws.
With four matches left in the league phase of the 2024-25 season for Punjab FC, the team from the north needs to win all its remaining games and hope that other results are to its liking.
East Bengal, which faces Punjab at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday, is in an even deeper mess. It is 11th in the table, two spots below Punjab (24 points), with 21 points from 20 matches.
Chances of it claiming a playoff berth are next to none, more so because of the depleted squad at its disposal as a result of injuries to several key players.
Although Punjab coach Panagiotis Dilmperis is aware that the odds are stacked against his players stringing together a run of victories, he isn’t throwing in the towel just yet.
“I cannot answer whether 36 points will be enough. It doesn’t depend only on us. It depends on other results. But, in my opinion, it is possible. Still, we cannot be sure. The only thing we can be sure about is that we will fight and give our best. Any present from the teams that are ahead of us is more than welcome,” the Greek manager said at the pre-match press conference on Friday.
Published – February 21, 2025 06:45 pm IST
