The Hero Indian Super League’s return leg games resemble a boxing bout between familiar foes. There is a lot of shadow-play before the punch is unleashed. Mumbai City FC and Chennaiyin FC will prefer the wait-and-watch policy in Sunday’s showdown at the former’s home base, D.Y. Patil stadium.
Mumbai is a different side from the confused unit which went down 1-5 to Chennaiyin in the league’s initial stage. The players are more or less the same, though injured captain Syed Nabi made way for Peter Costa at the left-wing back position. Raju Gaikwad went out as central defender and Deepak Mondal came in to shore up the backline.
A major change has come about in Mumbai’s confidence level while playing at the D.Y. Patil stadium, turning it into a fortress for the side. Defeats can lead to blame games and a reshuffle in personnel. However, manager Peter Reid has kept faith in his players and re-organised the defence around Borussia Dortmund star Manuel Friedrich.
Rising to the occasionSubrata Paul, who was beaten five times by the Chennaiyain FC strikers in the away-game and conceded 10 goals in the first four ties, has repaid Reid with match-winning performances subsequently. India’s best goalkeeper has risen to the occasion when the team has needed him the most, showing steely nerves under pressure.
Brazilian playmaker Andre Moritz has been rewarded with a free-wheeling role after the hat-trick against FC Pune City at the same venue. He can roam around anywhere on the pitch, as Chennaiyin will find out when marking him. The workload he has shouldered so far has been amazing, while his positioning and passing make him a complete package.
Nicolas Anelka has paced himself well over 90 minutes in every game. He is electrifying with the ball, and also effective off it due to his willingness to create space for fellow strikers by distracting defenders with clever runs.
The visitors, sitting atop the table with four wins from nine games, have their own goal-scoring problems to overcome. Four draws in a row almost became a mental block before the gates burst open in a 3-1 home victory over Pune. Marco Materazzi rightly credited the depth in the squad as the reason for his optimism.
In the return-leg matches, when rival coaches devise special plans to keep the ball away from match-winners, new faces step up, create goals or pull the trigger. Chennaiyin found a special one in Brazilian Bruno Pellisari, whose snaky run and left-footed finish against Pune was simply sensational.
Materrazzi has others waiting in the wings, including a couple of young Indians.