IFL 2026/27: Rajasthan United posts comfortable win over Samaleswari SC

The result lifts Rajasthan United to eighth in the table with three points from three matches. | Photo Credit: AIFF MEDIA

Rajasthan United FC claimed its first win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Samaleswari SC in the Indian Football League 2026–27 at the Birsa Munda Athletics Stadium.

After a goalless first half, two second-half goals settled the match, and Thomyo Shimray was involved in both. He opened the scoring in the 51st minute with a shot from a tight angle. In the 87th minute he crossed for Brijesh Giri, who headed in the second goal.

The result lifts Rajasthan to eighth in the table with three points from three matches. Samaleswari remains bottom and is still looking for its first points after three games.

Both sides started brightly, and each went close inside four minutes. In the second minute Alan Thapa met a cross from the left with a powerful header that went just over the bar. Two minutes later Yoihenba Meitei shot from outside the box, and the ball hit the crossbar and came back into play.

The game soon became a stop-start contest for control, with plenty of tactical fouls and neither side able to take charge. The Desert Warriors were the first to find a way through. In the 20th minute, Judah Garcia got into the box and beat goalkeeper Padam Chettri, but his shot went just over. Garcia then sent a direct free-kick off target, and Pranjal Bhumij’s low shot made Padam dive at full stretch before it went wide as Rajasthan started to exert control.

Samaleswari’s best opening came in the 34th minute when Yoihenba’s free-kick was not cleared, and Gope palmed away Mohammed El Jaaouani’s first-time shot.

The first half had started directly, but the second began more cautiously, with both teams keeping men back. It took a moment of invention to break the deadlock. Rajasthan worked a short corner, and Shimray carried the ball into the box from the right. Instead of looking for a team-mate in the middle, he shot from a very tight angle. The ball beat Padam at his near post and went in off the woodwork.

Needing an equaliser, Samaleswari started to be more adventerous, leaving space for Rajasthan to exploit. Four minutes later, Shimray was back in the same position and sent a low cross across the six-yard box, but no one was there to meet it.

Samaleswari kept pushing and in the 61st minute, Jorge Pereyra Diaz worked his way into the box despite close marking and went down as he waited for a chance to shoot. The Argentinian and his team-mates appealed for a penalty, but the referee waved play on. In the 76th minute, Christopher Kamei had time in the final third and went a long-range shot that came back off the crossbar.

Samaleswari put together several promising moves in the closing stages, but Rajasthan dealt with them calmly.

Three minutes from time, Samaleswari lost the ball in its own half. Shimray ran down the left and swung a precise cross to the far post, where Brijesh held off his marker and headed in. Samaleswari pressed until the end, and deep into stoppage time, Veer Arjun Joshi’s lob from the edge of the box found El Jaaouani at the far post, but Amrit Gope made a brilliant save to preserve the clean sheet.