NEW DELHI: An impressive show against table toppers Atletico de Kolkata boosting their morale, Delhi Dynamos take on another high-flying team Channaiyin FC in what promises to be a high-voltage clash in the Hero Indian Super League, here on Saturday.
Dynamos began their ISL campaign with a goalless draw against Pune City FC and then held leaders Atletico de Kolkata 1-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium and they would be surely looking for their first win on Saturday.
The Delhi team showed in Kolkata the potential that they can go a long distance in the tournament by breaking the winning streak of ATK, the most talked about side so far in the league, but they will have to maintain that show against Chennaiyin if they want a positive result on Saturday.
Chennaiyin FC, coached by World Cup winning Italian Marco Materazzi, are at second spot in the points table and have also been an unbeaten side in the tournament.
They have beaten FC Goa and Kerala Blasters by identical 2-1 margin and they have one of the best rosters in terms of player quality.
For Delhi Dynamos, much will depend on Alessandrao Del Peiro’s performance and the 39-year-old Italian legend, who was enjoying every of the adulation showered on him, has not yet shown what he is capable of. Although Del Piero has shown flashes of his brilliance in the two matches he played so far.
Certainly, Del Piero was better in the match against Kolkata than that against Pune and the Dynamos home fans who turned up in large numbers at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium against Pune would be hoping for an inspiring show from the Juventus legend.
Dynamos defence led by Belgian Wim Raymaekers will have to be on their toes against the likes of former Brazil international Elano Blumer, who has started the tournament on a bright note with two goals from two matches.
Dynamos coach Harm van Veldhoven has said that he was all for attacking football but the conversion rate has been unimpressive save a Pavel Elias stunner against Atletico in their last game.
Veldhoven would surely want his forwards to convert the chances that come their way.
“We missed so many chances against Pune and we were very disappointed. We could have had three points against Pune. We played really well against Kolkata. You saw the way we played from the back to the inside and take the strikes. We are very happy that we drew the game,” he had said.
Chennaiyin FC are also high on confidence after winning back-to-back matches. They beat Zico’s FC Goa in their opening match at Margao and prevailed over Kerala Blasters in their first home match on October 21 on the back of a stunning backvolley from Frenchman Bernard Mendy.
Chennaiyin marquee players Elano Blumer has been in fine form in the two matches he has played so far and Dynamos defence will have to be really vigilant to stop him from creating the space to manoeuvre.
Gouramangi Singh, who was a regular in the Indian national side before Wim Koevermans dropped him, has been doing a decent job at the Chennaiyin defence along with the likes of former France international Mikael Silvestre.
The first match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was watched by 16,000-odd spectators for a goal-less and in that match, Pune played deep at defence in the first half though they opened up a bit in the next 45 minutes.
Today’s match is likely to be much more open and if Del Peiro can dish out even a bit of his trickery of the old, it could be a cracker of a match.
For Del Piero, it will be a re-union with his 2006 World Cup winning team-mate Materazzi but they are unlikely to come out wearing captain’s armbands of opposite sides as the Chennaiyin manager-cum-skipper is not expected to play tomorrow. (PTI)
