Chennaiyin seek home comfort
The stark contrast in the moods of the rival teams is tough to ignore as a desperate Chennaiyin FC get ready to face the high- flying FC Pune City in the Indian Super League at the Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. While Chennaiyin have lost three of their first five matches, the visitors are fighting for first place with three wins out of four.
Anything less than three points on Saturday will hit the morale of the home team. Even though nothing has been settled in the tournament, Chennaiyin need an upturn in their fortunes to remain in the race to the semi- finals.
Having let Atletico de Kolkata breach their Nehru Stadium fortress in the season opener, Chennaiyin must rediscover their mojo at home to get their campaign back on track. Coach Marco Materazzi’s call to rest Elano and Stiven Mendoza against NorthEast United in the last match came back to haunt him and the Italian will not risk keeping his two most potent weapons on the bench again.
Chennaiyin must learn to pull together as a team and they cannot afford to ride on the shoulders of the duo forever. It’s time others, most notably Ethiopian Fikru Lamessa, stepped up to the plate. Jayesh Rane and Jeje Lalpekhlua have given a good account of themselves in the forward line but need consistency.
On the other hand, FC Pune City are brimming with confidence after a fine start. They have laid down the marker by beating defending champions Atletico de Kolkata. An auspicious beginning on the road will turbo- charge their campaign.
Pune coach David Platt, a former England international, has settled down quickly in a new league and credit must be given to him for melding the experience of Tuncay Sanli, Didier Zokora and Adrian Mutu with the exuberance of local players.