Sushanth Mathew

Sushanth Mathew (born 1981) is a retired Indian football player who played as a Defender / Midfielder.

In this Indian name, the name Mathew is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Sushanth

Sushanth Mathew
Personal information
Date of birth (1982-05-18) 18 May 1982
Place of birth Wayanad, Kerala, India
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position(s) Defender / Midfielder
Youth career
1997–2001 FC Kochin
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2004 Vasco
2004–2010 Mahindra United
2010–2012 East Bengal ?? (1)
2012–2013 Mohun Bagan 4 (0)
2013–2014 Rangdajied United 4 (1)
2014–2015 Kerala Blasters FC 4 (1)
2015 FC Pune City 7 (1)
2016 NEROCA FC 6 (0)
2017−2018 Gokulam Kerala FC 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 November 2018

Career

Sushanth was born in the Ambalavayal, Wayanad, Kerala. He showed glimpses of his skills for his school team, from where he pursued his footballing career to a local club named the Dyna FC. He graduated from Farook College, Calicut, where he represented the university team.

He was called for the Kerala Santhosh Trophy camp at Kochi. This helped him to join the FC Cochin in the season 1997-98.

He played for three years for FC Kochin, playing alongside his boyhood hero I. M. Vijayan. He was acquired by Vasco S.C.. Another three years of consistent performances at the goan club earned him a move to the Mahindra United, for whom he played for six years. He then moved to East Bengal in 2010, remaining two years. He then joined Mohun Bagan for the 2012-13 season, playing four I-League matches.

Rangdajied United

On 13 January 2014 Mathew signed for Rangdajied United F.C. on loan from IMG RELIANCE.[1] He made his debut in the I-League on 11 February 2014 against Churchill Brothers at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in which he started and played until the 89th minute before being replaced by Sandesh Gadkari as Rangdajied lost the match 1-0.[2]

Kerala Blasters

He became the first Malayali player to be drafted into the Kochi based squad on day one of the draft picks for the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League. Trevor Morgan who mentored him in East Bengal was influential in selecting him.[3]

Sushanth played just 56 minutes over four matches for Blasters in the inaugural season.

However, on 13 December 2014, Sushanth scored a stunning long ranger goal for Kerala Blasters in Semi-final (1st leg) match against Chennaiyin FC at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, which made him an instant hero and propelled the team to the finals. It is considered to be one of the best goals in the opening season of Indian Super League.

After his retirement, ISL media team had an interview with him, below is an excerpt about the strike:

"I must say I have a lot of fantastic memories from my football career - sharing dressing rooms and playing with world football stars, etc. But ‘that’ goal, I will cherish always. That goal made me a hero to the Kerala fans, I so adore, almost overnight. I still get messages from fans and well-wishers saying that they still have goosebumps whenever they watch that goal. A lot of them keep insisting that it is the best goal in Hero ISL so far. I feel very fortunate to be remembered so fondly."[4]

FC Pune City

In July 2015, Mathew was drafted to play for FC Pune City in the 2015 Indian Super League.[5]

After playing just thrice for the Stallions, he suffered a horrific injury following a late tackle by former France international Florent Malouda. The injury kept Mathew out for the season and marked the end of his time in the Hero ISL.[4]

Gokulam FC

In January 2017, Sushanth joined the Kerala based I-League club Gokulam Kerala FC.

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gollark: Working on it. Don't know what happened.
gollark: Oh dear, bridge implosions?!
gollark: ++tel graph
gollark: Excellent, bridges did NOT utterly implode in all spacetime.

References
  1. MV, Vijesh. "Sushanth Mathew joins Rangdajied United". Times of India.
  2. Noronha, Anselm. "Churchill Brothers SC 1-0 Rangdajied United FC: Wolfe's debut goal hands Churchill a vital win". Goal.com. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  3. Jitendran, Nikhil. "Sushanth Mathew: Kerala Blasters are in sync already". GOAL.com.
  4. "Sushanth Mathew: Kerala fans still message me saying 'that goal' gives them goosebumps". ISL Media Team. 13 November 2019.
  5. Noronha, Anselm (10 July 2015). "Cavin Lobo to Kerala, Keegan Pereira to Mumbai and the comprehensive Indian Super League Draft". Goal.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
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