Fiji duty for Krishna could deepen ATKMB worries

Without a win in their last three games and one clean sheet this season, ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB) could be hit in January by Roy Krishna, their prolific goalscorer and one of the captains, missing games because of international duty. After five rounds, last season’s runners-up ATKMB are sixth with two wins, two losses and one draw.

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Fiji national team coach Flemming Serritslev told HT on Tuesday that he would want Krishna “in the January Fifa window” for two friendlies in Suva, possibly against Malaysia. Serritslev said he is hopeful of a “friendly solution with ATK Mohun Bagan” after pointing out that “if it’s in the Fifa window, they (ATKMB) can’t hold back (the player).”

Asked about this, ATKMB CEO Raghu Iyer, in a response sent by e-mail, said: “The ATKMB management and the player Roy have not received any Formal Communication from Fiji Federation yet.” Ahead of Thursday’s match against Bengaluru FC, ATKMB coach Antonio Lopez Habas said he did not want to talk about it.

Next month’s Fifa window for international games is from January 24 to February 1. Quarantine rules and travel restrictions could extend Krishna’s unavailability to two weeks. That includes isolation for a minimum of three days --- a maximum of eight --- to re-enter the ISL bio-bubble, according to the rules of the league. Those rules are for fully vaccinated players who have finished the initial 11-day quarantine on entering the ISL bio-bubble. In the bubble, players are staff must undergo RT-PCR tests every 72 hours and Rapid Antigen Tests every time they step out for training or for games.

The Indian Super League (ISL) has released fixtures for the first 11 rounds, till January 9. The remaining fixtures are likely to be out before Christmas. The dates for Fiji’s friendlies haven’t yet been fixed, said the coach.

Serritslev said according to the current protocols for Covid-19 in Fiji, Krishna would need to quarantine for three days if he is “double vaccinated and a returns a negative test on arrival” before he can join training. But that would only apply if he is coming from a “travel-partner” country. As on December 9, India was not on the list of 50 “travel partner” countries. Should it stay that way in January, Krishna might “have to quarantine for 10 days” in Fiji, said the Danish coach.

Krishna, a former Fiji captain, has played 38 times for his country scoring 21 goals. As an over-23 player, Krishna played in the 2016 Olympics and scored Fiji’s first goal in the competition, against Mexico. The 34-year-old striker has two goals and two assists in five games this term. He also scored two goals in four games of the 2021 AFC Cup.

In 2020-21, Krishna won the Golden Ball with 14 goals and eight assists in 23 games. In the season before that, the player who is said to be ISL’s most expensive signing had 15 goals and six assists on way to winning the title. He played 1834 minutes in 2019-20, 2062 minutes last season and 448 minutes in this campaign. That means Krishna, winner of the Golden Boot in the A-League with Wellington Phoenix, has played almost every minute for his team in three ISL seasons.

Exactly what Krishna means to ATKMB coach Antonio Lopez Habas can be gauged by his comment on Wednesday. “For me he is a very important player, one of the best in the ISL. Sometimes, the striker doesn’t have the possibility to score goals but I have the same confidence in Roy now as I did on the first day.”

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