ISL roundup: East Bengal can’t stop scoring; fatigue impacts teams

While East Bengal can’t seem to stop scoring, most of the other teams found it much tougher scoring in the latest round of matches in the 2026/27 Indian Super League (ISL).

There were two goalless matches this week, Odisha FC-NorthEast United before Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City drew a blank too.

It didn’t prevent the Blasters fans from coming out in large numbers as usual and creating an entertaining spectacle, even though the football on display didn’t always match their enthusiasm. Only four of the 13 shots their side took were on target.

That and much more to dissect at the end of the latest match week of the 2026/27 ISL. Let’s dive in:

Late goals galore and Punjab are loving it

Out of the 18 matches played thus far in the 2026/27 ISL, 13 have featured goals scored in the 80th minute or later. No one is loving it more than Punjab FC, who have taken advantage of players getting sapped of energy towards the end of games even in these opening weeks, securing either an equaliser or a winner in the final few minutes. The efforts of a fresh substitute running at the opposition defence have been crucial to Punjab getting each of these late goals.

It was 68th-minute substitute Bishu in their opening match against Odisha FC, who lurked into space unnoticed by opposition defenders and before they knew what had happened, he had squared the ball for Raphael Messi Bouli to score the winner in the fourth minute of added time.

In their second game against Mumbai City, 77th-minute substitute Konsam Sanathoi Singh kept charging at the tired defence, which was crucial to another substitute Gurkirat Singh scoring a 90th-minute equaliser.

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Konsam was brought on at the start of the second half in this week’s fixture against Churchill Brothers, and he scored the winner in the fifth minute of added time.

The fatigue question

Eight. That is the number of times the word “fitness” was mentioned in the post-match press conference after the goalless draw between Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City FC. It was the first game in hot and humid Kochi and head coach Ashley Westwood’s Blasters had altogether run about 98.8km.

The Englishman said that with hardly any pre-season, their fitness levels and stamina are still building up to full capacity. He also stated “It’s not an excuse” a number of times to cushion any negative impact of his reasoning.
Late goals tend to be attributed to defenders feeling fatigued towards the end of games. This season, it has become common to see at least one player going down with cramps after the 70th minute.

However, there seems to be no consensus yet on how much having a full pre-season and matches has helped teams physically. Mohun Bagan Super Giant coach Panagiotis Dilmperis, in fact, had said earlier that playing all the way to the final of the Durand Cup and then in the IFA Shield and the Calcutta Football League cost his players some of their “aerobic and anaerobic capacity”.

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East Bengal juggernaut

One side that hasn’t needed late goals, or broken a metaphorical sweat, has been defending champions East Bengal, who hammered Inter Kashi 5-1. They have only played two matches thus far this season, so it is still early days, but scoring nine goals and conceding one in their first two games qualifies as a flying start.

The first goal they scored at the Balewadi Stadium on Friday sums it up. Some very slick one-touch football between Mohammed Rashid, Ake Arnaud and Dani Ramirez brought East Bengal racing into the Inter Kashi box. Ramirez skipped the ball over a sliding defender and then chipped it almost nonchalantly over goalkeeper Albino Gomes.