The match between Pune City and Chennaiyin promises to be a clash of contrasting styles. While both teams have Italian managers – Chennaiyin are coached by Marco Materazzi, the controversial former Italian star defender, Pune City are managed by Franco Colomba – Chennaiyin play a highly attacking game led by their Brazilian star player Elano, and Pune City prefer a solid defense to an all out attack.
Interestingly, both the approaches seem to have worked. Chennaiyin are just behind the league leader, Atletico de Kolkata and are second in the table with 11 points and Pune City are third with 10 points with a match in hand. The team winning this match gets to top the league, and so, neither team would lack the incentive to go for the kill.
ISL Preview: FC Pune City v Chennaiyin FC
Pune City have done well in their last two matches against Kolkata and NorthEast , having won both. There seems to be a great deal of confidence in the Pune side, as can be seem from their body language on the field. The players seem to be playing as a team and have found a well defined structure in which to play, with David Trezeguet, the veteran French striker heading the attack.
Chennaiyin have had two consecutive hard fought draws, one of them against the league leader, Atletico de Kolkata. Chennaiyin have been highly consistent, and player-manager Marco Materazzi is very clear about going for a win in this match to go to the top of the competition.
For Chennaiyin, Elano has clearly been the stand out player. In fact, it would be fair to say that Elano has been by far the best player in the whole of the Indian Super League. He possesses immense skill with the ball at his feet, ability to create goals from nothing and his amazing free kicks are already a subject of great admiration among football lovers in India. Elano is the leading goal scorer in the league and he could be the difference between the two teams as they face each other later tonight.
Elano will be assisted by Valencia and Jeje, who have proved to be quite capable in their own right and the Chennaiyin defense led by veteran Frenchman and former Manchester United player Mikael Silvestre has been quite solid. Pune City are heavily dependent on David Trezeguet, with players like Katsouranis, the former Greek international, Davide and Dudu providing able support.
Our Prediction:
It’s hard to give a prediction for this match as both teams are well matches in every department. Pune City FC have been in great current form lately, having won two very tough matches. So we expect Pune City to do well. But with Chennaiyin FC having Elano, they have the X-factor that often makes the difference between victory and defeat. We expect a tight match, but Chennaiyin to win because of another match winning display by the Brazilian sensation, Elano.
The Teams:
FC Pune City (4-4-2): Arindam; Sarkar, Ravanan, Magliocchetti, Cirillo; Lenny, Gurung, Katsouranis, Davide; Dudu, Trezeguet
Chennaiyin FC (4-3-1-2): Bracigliano, Dhana, Silvestre, Mendy, Gouramangi, Denson, Materazzi, Khabra, Elano, Valencia, Jeje
Watch FC Pune City v Chennaiyin FC live on Star Sports, at 7:00 PM, later this Tuesday.
