IFL 2025-26: Dempo frustrates Shillong Lajong in goalless Championship Phase clash Shillong Lajong FC was held to a goalless draw by a resolute Dempo SC in its Indian Football League Championship Phase fixture at the SSA Stadium in Shillong on Sunday.
The result kept Shillong second in the table with 18 points, seven behind leader Diamond Harbour FC, while Dempo remained sixth with 10 points.
Shillong named an unchanged starting XI from its last match, while Dempo made two changes, with Sebastián Gutiérrez Atehortua and Vieri Colaco replacing Ariston Costa and Richmond Kwasi Owusu.
Shillong imposed itself from the outset, applying immediate pressure on Dempo straight from kick-off. Inside the opening minute, a long ball into the box created an early opening as Phrangki Buam rose to meet it, but the defence recovered in time to clear.
The host sustained a high tempo in the early exchanges, unsettling Dempo’s backline before the visitor slowed the pace and attempted to play out from the back.
Both sides showed a clear inclination to build through the flanks, with Buam and Ephraim Lalremtluanga stretching play for Shillong, while Saiesh Bagkar and Kapil Hoble looked to supply Gutiérrez and Marcus Leric Jr Joseph centrally.
Shillong’s sharpness in possession, aided by strong home support, translated into early control. In the eighth minute, Lamlallian found space in the final third and struck at goal, but Aubin Kouakou positioned himself well to block.
Dempo’s attempts to construct from deep led to repeated turnovers under Shillong’s high press, while Everbrightson Sana Mylliempdah tested Ashish Sibi with a skidding effort from distance that the goalkeeper handled securely.
ALSO READ: Atletico Madrid’s Barrios to miss Arsenal Champions League semifinal tie with thigh injury
The clearest opening of the first half came in the 34th minute when Kouakou lost possession, allowing Sana to break through on goal. Jose Luis Moreno Pena recovered with a well-timed sliding challenge to prevent the shot.
Shillong continued to threaten. In the 38th minute, Damaitphang Lyngdoh delivered a low cross across the six-yard area that evaded any finishing touch. Five minutes later, Buam’s shot from a tight angle was parried by Sibi before Lyngdoh struck the woodwork from distance.
Shillong resumed on the front foot after the interval, but Dempo produced a moment of quality in the 58th minute as Gutierrez connected cleanly with a first-time volley from a tight angle, forcing Ranit Sarkar into a sharp save.
The visitor came close again in the 67th minute from a set-piece, but Sarkar reacted well before Joseph fired over the bar from the rebound.
Shillong pushed hard for a breakthrough and came agonisingly close in stoppage time, when substitute Abelson Jachi forced a spill from Sibi and Kenstar Kharshong lifted the rebound over the goalkeeper, only to see his effort strike the crossbar.
Shillong’s inability to convert dominance into goals proved decisive. Despite registering 20 shots, including five on target, it could not breach a disciplined Dempo defence.
Published on Apr 26, 2026
#IFL #Dempo #frustrates #Shillong #Lajong #goalless #Championship #Phase #clash
Shillong Lajong FC was held to a goalless draw by a resolute Dempo SC in its Indian Football League Championship Phase fixture at the SSA Stadium in Shillong on Sunday.
The result kept Shillong second in the table with 18 points, seven behind leader Diamond Harbour FC, while Dempo remained sixth with 10 points.
Shillong named an unchanged starting XI from its last match, while Dempo made two changes, with Sebastián Gutiérrez Atehortua and Vieri Colaco replacing Ariston Costa and Richmond Kwasi Owusu.
Shillong imposed itself from the outset, applying immediate pressure on Dempo straight from kick-off. Inside the opening minute, a long ball into the box created an early opening as Phrangki Buam rose to meet it, but the defence recovered in time to clear.
The host sustained a high tempo in the early exchanges, unsettling Dempo’s backline before the visitor slowed the pace and attempted to play out from the back.
Both sides showed a clear inclination to build through the flanks, with Buam and Ephraim Lalremtluanga stretching play for Shillong, while Saiesh Bagkar and Kapil Hoble looked to supply Gutiérrez and Marcus Leric Jr Joseph centrally.
Shillong’s sharpness in possession, aided by strong home support, translated into early control. In the eighth minute, Lamlallian found space in the final third and struck at goal, but Aubin Kouakou positioned himself well to block.
Dempo’s attempts to construct from deep led to repeated turnovers under Shillong’s high press, while Everbrightson Sana Mylliempdah tested Ashish Sibi with a skidding effort from distance that the goalkeeper handled securely.
ALSO READ: Atletico Madrid’s Barrios to miss Arsenal Champions League semifinal tie with thigh injury
The clearest opening of the first half came in the 34th minute when Kouakou lost possession, allowing Sana to break through on goal. Jose Luis Moreno Pena recovered with a well-timed sliding challenge to prevent the shot.
Shillong continued to threaten. In the 38th minute, Damaitphang Lyngdoh delivered a low cross across the six-yard area that evaded any finishing touch. Five minutes later, Buam’s shot from a tight angle was parried by Sibi before Lyngdoh struck the woodwork from distance.
Shillong resumed on the front foot after the interval, but Dempo produced a moment of quality in the 58th minute as Gutierrez connected cleanly with a first-time volley from a tight angle, forcing Ranit Sarkar into a sharp save.
The visitor came close again in the 67th minute from a set-piece, but Sarkar reacted well before Joseph fired over the bar from the rebound.
Shillong pushed hard for a breakthrough and came agonisingly close in stoppage time, when substitute Abelson Jachi forced a spill from Sibi and Kenstar Kharshong lifted the rebound over the goalkeeper, only to see his effort strike the crossbar.
Shillong’s inability to convert dominance into goals proved decisive. Despite registering 20 shots, including five on target, it could not breach a disciplined Dempo defence.
Published on Apr 26, 2026
![MLB trade deadline preview: Tarik Skubal, buyers, sellers, and sleepers With the MLB trade deadline fast approaching and intrigue swirling everywhere around where-oh-where Tarik Skubal will go, I thought we could have a little more fun than the tried-and-true ranking of trade candidates (which I have already done) and revive one of the greatest forms our beloved sports media ever took: the mega preview.Anyone else remember those old Sports Illustrated MLB preview issues with their 40-odd pages of info on every team, what to watch that season, cool graphics, cutouts and photos with flashy presentation and peak magazine aesthetic? It might have just been because I was 10, but I lived for this stuff.So in my never-ending battle against those that would leave the mega preview to die alongside many other forms of written sports content, we’re bringing it back… digitally… with significantly fewer graphics… and a much smaller production staff (me)… and we can’t cover every team here because, ya know, priorities… but the energy of the mega preview will abound like Christmas cheer when Buddy the Elf starts to sing. There will be categories; there will be fun everywhere you look. After all, the mega preview is worth preserving, even in formaldehyde.Q: Will the Detroit Tigers, who have surged since the beginning of June, actually trade Tarik Skubal?A: I find it kind of hard to believe they won’t. The Tigers have apparently set an “outrageous” price for Skubal for interested teams, which may read like they will only trade him for an absolute heist. As they should, given the two weeks they have to induce some team to panic and trade the farm for a guy on an expiring contract. But leverage is fickle, and the Tigers may realize that come August 3, they may wind up keeping Skubal for an already-doomed run and lose him for nothing this winter. That will be a tough pill to swallow.A: That’s an almost impossible question to answer. On one hand, you have the teams you’d expect him to probably sign with next offseason: the Los Angeles Dodgers, sure, but reports suggest the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves are strong candidates to go all in with Skubal. I particularly like the Braves as a landing spot, as that rotation is not as good as it looks on paper.Q: But could he end up with [insert your favorite team]?A: Yes, provided they are any type of contender, though there are a few teams I don’t think could or would produce a Skubal package. The San Diego Padres are not really tracking to make the postseason and are clean out of elite prospects to trade, even though they would usually be a prime suspect to go in on a big name. Nor is my favorite team (the Boston Red Sox) being run in a way that suggests they’re going to go all-in on a rental, no matter how well they’ve played pre-deadline. But you can rationalize quite a lot of teams, particularly some fringe actors who wouldn’t really expect to re-sign Skubal. Dare to dream!The MLB trade deadline rules because every team can get involved. According to FanDuel, there are 15 entire teams with between 10-1 and 50-1 World Series odds, which may seem long but actually suggests a high level of parity… behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are teetering on the edge of having minus odds to win it all. But every team in that group can talk themselves into being a buyer, and every other team probably feels like a seller. So who are the splashiest participants?1. Detroit Tigers — what the Tigers do (or do not) do will define this deadline, as whatever contender adds Skubal to their rotation will immediately vault into supercontender status. He’s that game-changing.2. Washington Nationals — the Nationals possess two top-tier young position players: James Wood and CJ Abrams, and while I don’t think they are likely to trade Wood (I know, scintillating analysis), anything is possible with Abrams. This team has major building blocks for the future and could set themselves up well for the future with a good deadline.3. New York Yankees — I can’t see the Yankees standing pat at this deadline with how the American League is just sitting there for them to take. They have a lot of holes in the roster, especially with their injuries.4. Boston Red Sox — a team that was going to be one of the deadline’s biggest sellers has turned this whole thing around and now looks like a potential buyer, though it could still go either way. Relief pitching always sells like hotcakes at the deadline, and the single-best reliever on the market was Aroldis Chapman. Do the Red Sox believe enough in this utility-laden roster to hang onto a 38-year-old closer when they could get major value in return?5. Minnesota Twins — how often do you get to run back-to-back fire sales? The Twins could really make the deadline interesting if they chose to make Byron Buxton available, and Joe Ryan could finally be heading for greener pastures after he was nearly traded last year. Those would easily be two of the biggest non-Skubal names.6. San Francisco Giants — Rafael Devers has perhaps revived his stature as an elite hitter, but the Giants are still cooked as far as 2026 goes. They have a lot of tradable players, from Jung Hoo Lee to Luis Arraez and Matt Chapman. If the Giants have talked themselves into this Devers power spike and want to keep his gargantuan contract on the books, great. If they think instead that this is an aberration that has salvaged his trade value, they could maybe try to offload his contract much like Boston did a year ago.A paragraph of the best trade assets you’ve never heard of (or at least haven’t thought about in a while)Reid Detmers is not a name I had anywhere near any of my radars after he was moved the Los Angeles Angels bullpen last season for unclear reasons. I wrote a whole analysis of Detmers and why he’s considered so valuable despite his 4.39 ERA, and I think he could be a really impactful player in a better environment and could command a shockingly high price because of his age. Speaking of the bullpen, I also like Rico Garcia from the Baltimore Orioles, who has kinda just been mowing dudes down all year on a team that’s going nowhere fast. And while you may have heard of them, a pair of New York Mets pitchers in Clay Holmes (a starter) and AJ Minter (a reliever) feel like mortal locks to be dealt with how poorly this Mets season has gone.One final perplexing player for the roadI’m curious about everything going on with Mickey Moniak and the Colorado Rockies. Here is a former number-one overall draft pick with serious pull-side power who’s 28 and has bounced around the league so much you’d think he was running from something. He’s come into his own in the mile-high air, and was seriously hot to start the season before cooling off a bit. There are red flags everywhere with Moniak, given his stats on the road pale in comparison to his Colorado numbers, but he has the bat speed and hard-hitting profile that could work for a lot of teams. But he strikes out too much, doesn’t walk enough and really only hits to one side of the field. He may not cost that much because of the risk, but could pay off big time for someone willing to take it. #MLB #trade #deadline #preview #Tarik #Skubal #buyers #sellers #sleepers](https://i0.wp.com/platform.sbnation.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/gettyimages-2285210665.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C10.737302671694%2C100%2C78.525394656611&w=1200&ssl=1 "MLB trade deadline preview: Tarik Skubal, buyers, sellers, and sleepers With the MLB trade deadline fast approaching and intrigue swirling everywhere around where-oh-where Tarik Skubal will go, I thought we could have a little more fun than the tried-and-true ranking of trade candidates (which I have already done) and revive one of the greatest forms our beloved sports media ever took: the mega preview.Anyone else remember those old Sports Illustrated MLB preview issues with their 40-odd pages of info on every team, what to watch that season, cool graphics, cutouts and photos with flashy presentation and peak magazine aesthetic? It might have just been because I was 10, but I lived for this stuff.So in my never-ending battle against those that would leave the mega preview to die alongside many other forms of written sports content, we’re bringing it back… digitally… with significantly fewer graphics… and a much smaller production staff (me)… and we can’t cover every team here because, ya know, priorities… but the energy of the mega preview will abound like Christmas cheer when Buddy the Elf starts to sing. There will be categories; there will be fun everywhere you look. After all, the mega preview is worth preserving, even in formaldehyde.Q: Will the Detroit Tigers, who have surged since the beginning of June, actually trade Tarik Skubal?A: I find it kind of hard to believe they won’t. The Tigers have apparently set an “outrageous” price for Skubal for interested teams, which may read like they will only trade him for an absolute heist. As they should, given the two weeks they have to induce some team to panic and trade the farm for a guy on an expiring contract. But leverage is fickle, and the Tigers may realize that come August 3, they may wind up keeping Skubal for an already-doomed run and lose him for nothing this winter. That will be a tough pill to swallow.A: That’s an almost impossible question to answer. On one hand, you have the teams you’d expect him to probably sign with next offseason: the Los Angeles Dodgers, sure, but reports suggest the Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays and Atlanta Braves are strong candidates to go all in with Skubal. I particularly like the Braves as a landing spot, as that rotation is not as good as it looks on paper.Q: But could he end up with [insert your favorite team]?A: Yes, provided they are any type of contender, though there are a few teams I don’t think could or would produce a Skubal package. The San Diego Padres are not really tracking to make the postseason and are clean out of elite prospects to trade, even though they would usually be a prime suspect to go in on a big name. Nor is my favorite team (the Boston Red Sox) being run in a way that suggests they’re going to go all-in on a rental, no matter how well they’ve played pre-deadline. But you can rationalize quite a lot of teams, particularly some fringe actors who wouldn’t really expect to re-sign Skubal. Dare to dream!The MLB trade deadline rules because every team can get involved. According to FanDuel, there are 15 entire teams with between 10-1 and 50-1 World Series odds, which may seem long but actually suggests a high level of parity… behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are teetering on the edge of having minus odds to win it all. But every team in that group can talk themselves into being a buyer, and every other team probably feels like a seller. So who are the splashiest participants?1. Detroit Tigers — what the Tigers do (or do not) do will define this deadline, as whatever contender adds Skubal to their rotation will immediately vault into supercontender status. He’s that game-changing.2. Washington Nationals — the Nationals possess two top-tier young position players: James Wood and CJ Abrams, and while I don’t think they are likely to trade Wood (I know, scintillating analysis), anything is possible with Abrams. This team has major building blocks for the future and could set themselves up well for the future with a good deadline.3. New York Yankees — I can’t see the Yankees standing pat at this deadline with how the American League is just sitting there for them to take. They have a lot of holes in the roster, especially with their injuries.4. Boston Red Sox — a team that was going to be one of the deadline’s biggest sellers has turned this whole thing around and now looks like a potential buyer, though it could still go either way. Relief pitching always sells like hotcakes at the deadline, and the single-best reliever on the market was Aroldis Chapman. Do the Red Sox believe enough in this utility-laden roster to hang onto a 38-year-old closer when they could get major value in return?5. Minnesota Twins — how often do you get to run back-to-back fire sales? The Twins could really make the deadline interesting if they chose to make Byron Buxton available, and Joe Ryan could finally be heading for greener pastures after he was nearly traded last year. Those would easily be two of the biggest non-Skubal names.6. San Francisco Giants — Rafael Devers has perhaps revived his stature as an elite hitter, but the Giants are still cooked as far as 2026 goes. They have a lot of tradable players, from Jung Hoo Lee to Luis Arraez and Matt Chapman. If the Giants have talked themselves into this Devers power spike and want to keep his gargantuan contract on the books, great. If they think instead that this is an aberration that has salvaged his trade value, they could maybe try to offload his contract much like Boston did a year ago.A paragraph of the best trade assets you’ve never heard of (or at least haven’t thought about in a while)Reid Detmers is not a name I had anywhere near any of my radars after he was moved the Los Angeles Angels bullpen last season for unclear reasons. I wrote a whole analysis of Detmers and why he’s considered so valuable despite his 4.39 ERA, and I think he could be a really impactful player in a better environment and could command a shockingly high price because of his age. Speaking of the bullpen, I also like Rico Garcia from the Baltimore Orioles, who has kinda just been mowing dudes down all year on a team that’s going nowhere fast. And while you may have heard of them, a pair of New York Mets pitchers in Clay Holmes (a starter) and AJ Minter (a reliever) feel like mortal locks to be dealt with how poorly this Mets season has gone.One final perplexing player for the roadI’m curious about everything going on with Mickey Moniak and the Colorado Rockies. Here is a former number-one overall draft pick with serious pull-side power who’s 28 and has bounced around the league so much you’d think he was running from something. He’s come into his own in the mile-high air, and was seriously hot to start the season before cooling off a bit. There are red flags everywhere with Moniak, given his stats on the road pale in comparison to his Colorado numbers, but he has the bat speed and hard-hitting profile that could work for a lot of teams. But he strikes out too much, doesn’t walk enough and really only hits to one side of the field. He may not cost that much because of the risk, but could pay off big time for someone willing to take it. #MLB #trade #deadline #preview #Tarik #Skubal #buyers #sellers #sleepers")
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