CHENNAI: It lasted all of 58 minutes. That was all that Jeje Lalpekhlua got at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday. Chennaiyin FC coach John Gregory did not even wait till the hour mark to try and revitalise his toothless attack by hauling off the Mizo striker and bringing on Palestinian Carlos Salom. As he saw his number up in red, Jeje gave a final shrug of frustration and walked off.
It was another night of woe for the man who is supposed to lead India’s attack in what is the national team’s most important tournament in a while: Asian Cup in January.
It is inevitable that the task will fall on Jeje. National coach Stephen Constantine is not renowned for the habit of selecting players based on league form, and the Mizoram native has been an ever-present fixture in his squad.
On Sunday, as Chennaiyin succumbed to yet another home defeat — 2-3 to ATK — Jeje had a game that was a microcosm of his season. He huffed and puffed but failed to have any effect, barring an occasional groan from Chennaiyin fans.
Constantly guarded by towering centre-backs in John Johnson and Andre Bikey, Jeje often looked like a kid trying to wrestle with men. There was a moment early in the second half that summed up the game he had. He called for the ball after dropping deep and all he had to do to spark an attack was find the runner to his right. Instead, he found the leg of the sole defender near him.
Jeje’s only threatening moment came when he got on the end of a cross from Isaac Vanmalsawma with not much between him and the goal. But all Jeje managed to do with it was to head it down against the body of ATK goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharjya.
On a day when Indians dominated the narrative — Jayesh Rane’s scorcher gave ATK the lead while Thoi Singh and Isaac scored for Chennaiyin, on either side of two penalties by Manuel Lanzarote — Jeje was an afterthought.
Jeje’s season so far has been stunning in terms of how dire it has been. Prior to Sunday, he had zero goals and three shots on target in 474 minutes. Half of his shots were way off the mark. His 58 minutes against ATK on Sunday saw him add only one more shot on target to all of the above. The regression from the man who topped the charts for Chennaiyin last year with nine goals to the striker who hasn’t scored or assisted for over 500 minutes has been startling, to say the least.
For India, the tragedy is that this slump comes so close to Asian Cup; one that is magnified even more by Sunil Chhetri’s recent injury that saw him miss a friendly against Jordan. That the other India forward in the game, ATK’s Balwant Singh, too did not do much makes the picture even bleak. Balwant too has had an underwhelming season, scoring only once.
Chennaiyin have two more games — away to Mumbai City FC and at home against Delhi Dynamos — left before the league breaks for Asian Cup. Two more opportunities for Jeje to recover a semblance of his confidence.