After eight weeks of action the Indian Super League’s first 50 matches and 100 goals mark have been crossed and the league — which has been a thriller all the way — finds itself in a maze as it races towards the knockout phase.
Apart from Chennayin FC no other team has made certain of its entry into the semifinal playoffs. With seven more home-away matches to be played starting with the Chennaiyin FC-FC Goa clash at Chennai on Friday, there is lots of curiosity as to who will finish in the top four and in what order in the league table.
With Mumbai FC and NorthEast United FC virtually out of the running, three teams from among FC Goa, FC Pune City, Atletico de Kolkata, Kerala Blasters and Delhi Dynamos FC will ultimately make the cut.
One of the make-or-mar matches will be played here on Saturday at the Balewadi Sports Complex when FC Pune City (16 points from 12 matches) takes the field against Delhi Dynamos FC (14 from 12).
Languishing in the lower half of the table, Pune trounced Mumbai FC with the Nigerian I-league veteran Dudu (MacPherlin Omagbemi) finding the back of the net twice in the second half.
On both occasions passes came from Greek midfielder Konstantinos Katsouranis.
The local team feels it has a real chance of making the playoffs.
The team has not lost a home match since going down 2-1 to Kerala Blasters on October 30, and on Saturday it will be managed by assistant coach Giovanni Mei after coach Franco Colomba was sent off during the game against Mumbai FC.
After thrashing Mumbai FC and getting the better of NEUFC, Dynamos — playing without marquee player Alessandro Del Piero — shared points in its last home match against ATK.
The Harm van Veldhoven-managed Dynamos’ task will be cut out against a team that had lost just one home game so far.
“There are lot of speculations. Pune is in good shape; we picked up seven points from our last three games. So we are ready to go for three points,’’ said van Veldhoven.
Del Piero is yet to recover from cramps and fever and is an unlikely starter for the Saturday’s key match.
