Jamshedpur will host Odisha in the Indian Super League on Tuesday, 22nd October. The match is scheduled for 7.30 pm local time.
India Bet Highlights
- The team that finished 8th in the ISL last season have been rebranded as Odisha for this campaign. This is following the decision of the club’s owners decided to relocate the site from Delhi to Bhubaneshwar in the coastal state of Odisha.
- Jamshedpur are owned by Tata Steel, part of the Tata Group. It is the first club in the ISL to have its own stadium and facilities.
- Odisha are owned by the US-based ship recycling company GMS Inc.
Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur finished 5th in the ISL last season, missing out on a play-off spot by two points. To try and improve that record they have made a managerial change, with Antonio Inondo replacing fellow Spaniard César Ferrando.
Their squad has a heavy Spanish feel to it, with five of their contracted foreigners hailing from that country – defender Tiri, midfielders Noé Acosta and Altor Monray, and the more offensively minded Piti and Sergio Castei.
The team is a mixture of youth and experience, with three young players from the Indian Arrows bolstering the side for this season – Jitendra Singh, Narender, and Aniket Jadhav. CK Vineeth, who has joined the club from Kerala Blasters, will add strength and experience in midfield.
One of Jamshedpur’s main problems in recent years has been their struggle to adopt an identifiable style of play. When Englishman Steve Coppell was in charge, the team adopted a pragmatic, counter-attacking style, whilst his successor Ferrando preferred a more possession-based game. It remains to be seen what style Inondo will get his team playing.
Odisha
In their previous incarnation as Delhi Dynamos, Odisha finished 8th last season, winning 4 games and drawing a further six. Now they are hoping that a new name and new location brings about a change in fortunes. Like their opponents on Tuesday, they are managed by a Spaniard, Josep Gombau, and their foreign roster is similarly Spanish based – Senegalese defender Diawandou Diagne, and Argentine midfielder Martin Guedes.
Central midfielder Shubham Sarangi and goalkeeper Ankit Bhyuan are local men and considered major assets, but one major departure during the summer has been striker and Indian international Lallianzuala Chhangte, who left the club to join Chennaiyin. Having scored 8 goals in 36 appearances for the club over the past two years, it will be asking a lot for Guedes, and Spanish striker Aridane Santana, to replace his goals. Unless they find a solution to this problem, they could struggle once more.
Final thoughts
The way that the fixtures for the 2019 – 2020 season mean that Jamshedpur start the campaign with three matches at home, whereas Odisha must wait until week five before they get to play in their newly adopted home stadium. That means that the home team will look to try and make a winning start to the season, whilst they have home advantage, whilst Odisha will be looking to see what points they can pick up on the road. The visitors may have a problem scoring goals this season, having lost their main striker in the summer, so Jamshedpur must be regarded as favourites.
