Chennai: The joy of dramatic win against Goa in the opeening game may as well turn into ‘despair’, as it were, for Chennaiying FC who take on Kerala Blasters in their first home game at the spruced up Jawaharlal Nehru stadium hereon Tuesday if the weather office’s prediction of rain for the next three days holds water.
The teams could not kick around at the stadium to acclimatise themselves to the conditions with the weather God preventing them. The heavy rains lashing the city as well as the southern parts of Tamil nadu, have left the ground conditions water logged.
‘It all depends on the match commissioner, there is water in the ground’, Tamil Nadu Football association Secretary Ravikumar David told UNI when contacted.
The dam weather may also douse the hopes of Chenai franchose which has Team India cricketer M S Dhoni as one of the three owners notching up their first home win as well as the second league win on trot.Sachin who owns the Kerala team, may also be looking forward to his team’s first win after the loss to another of his former captains Saurav Gangly’s kolkatta in the first outing in the league.
Chennai meanwhile has signed Cameroonian midfielder Eric Djemba Djemba and Haitian forward Jean Maurice Edu on sunday.
Maurice is a former Paris Saint Germain player and has also featured for Lens and Le Mans in the French top tier.
Besides, they have marquee player Elano in their ranks, and Balwant Singh, who became the first Indian player to score in the inaugural ISL, will look to impress further. The move came after the club allowed Swedish midfielder Pierre Tillman and Spanish striker Eduardo Silva Lerma to leave due to ‘technical issues with the contracts.’
Djemba Djemba is a former Manchester United player and last played in the Scottish Premiership for St. Mirren this year. The 33-year-old has represented Cameroon 24 times and played in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Kerala Blasters will be looking for a good show from their hero David James. The former English Premier League star was capped 53 times by England between 1997 and 2010, and was first choice goalkeeper during the team’s Euro 2004 and the 2010 World Cup campaigns.
National talents including mid=fielders Mehtab Hossain, Ishfaq Ahmed and Sandesh Jhingan and Nirmal Chettri will also be key players to inspire the team to bounce back from their previous defeat and upset the home team. AT the press conference late in the evening, in tandem, at the Nehru stadium, the leaders of both teams hoped that rain would not play spoil sport on Tuesday. (UNI)