The Hero Indian Super League (ISL) continued with its third match as Delhi Dynamos FC played host to FC Pune City at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
Delhi Dynamos FC started without their marquee player Alessandro Del Piero and they enjoyed more possession throughout the first half. But the home side failed to take some advantage of their possession and even wasted scoring opportunities through Indian international Francis Fernandes and former Denmark striker Mads Junker.
Delhi Dynamos coach Harm van Veldhoven felt the need for a change and brought on Del Piero in the 38th minute and the Italian World Cup winner immediately felt his presence felt with a few good touches.
FC Pune City fully fully relied on counter attacks and they were hoping for some magic from their star player David Trezeguet.
Delhi continued to dominate the match in the second half, but the hosts couldn’t find the back of the net despite attempts by Junker and Del Piero. But Pune City goalkeeper Emanuele Belardi kept his side in the game with a few saves.
Substitute Gustavo Dos Santos had the best chance of the second half, when the Brazilian hit the woodwork with a powerful long range shot.
The match played in front of various dignitaries including Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Sarbananda Sonowal, FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke and All India Football Federation President Praful Patel settled for a 0-0 draw.
2014 Hero Indian Super League
at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi
DELHI DYNAMOS FC 0-0 FC PUNE CITY
GOALS
none
LINE-UPS
Delhi Dynamos FC
1 Kristof Van Hout – 22 Naoba Singh, 4 Wim Raymaekers, 5 Anwar Ali, 26 Shouvik Ghosh – 11 Francis Fernandes, 6 Hans Mulder, 15 Bruno Herrero – 7 Morten Skoubo (38′ 10 Alessandro Del Piero), 9 Mads Junker [C] (83′ 16 Gustavo Dos Santos), 28 Shylo Malswamtulunga (73′ 19 Robert Lalthlamuana)
Unused Subs
24 Marek Cech – 3 Stijn Houben, 8 Adil Ahmed Khan, 13 Pavel Elias, 14 Dinis, 17 Manandeep Singh, 20 Souvik Chakraborty, 23 Steven Benedic Dias
FC Pune City
25 Emanuele Belardi – 3 Kwang-Il Park (68′ 18 Saidou Panandetiguiri), 5 Bruno Cirillo, 4 Daniele Magliocchetti, 13 Dharmaraj Ravanan – 24 Lenny Rodrigues, 6 Manish Maithani, 21 Kostas Katsouranis (59′ 26 Merajuddin Wadoo) – 11 Ashutosh Mehta, 14 Israil Gurung (60′ 23 Dudu Omagbemi) – 17 David Trezeguet [C]
Unused Subs
27 Arindam Bhattcharya – 2 Andres Felipe Gonzalez, 12 Anupam Sarkar, 15 Omar Andrés Rodríguez Martínez, 19 Pritam Kotal, 20 Iván Bolado
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee
Pranjal Banerjee (India)
Assistant Referees
…, …
Fourth Official
…
BOOKINGS
Yellow Cards
none
Yellow-Red Cards
none
Red Cards
none
MAN OF THE MATCH
Alessandro Del Piero (Delhi Dynamos FC)