In a closely contested tie at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, Delhi Dynamos played a 1-1 goal against NorthEast United. Both the teams had a host of chances, but unfortunately for both could not convert many of their chance and hence had to settle for a tame draw.
With this, NorthEast retain their top spot while Delhi are in 3rd with 5 points from three games.
Here are the five talking points from the game.
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#1 Mistakes in the first half by NorthEast United
The first half could have well been in favour of NorthEast United, but their two horrible mistakes cost them one goal while they failed to score one.
In the 26th minute, Nicholas Velez caught Delhi right back Konsham Singh off guard, and it was just him and Emiliano Alfaro in the box versus Delhi goalkeeper Santana. Velez very neatly passed the ball to Alfaro who had an open goal to shoot at. But to the horror of the NorthEast supporters present in the stadium, he failed to make a connection.
Next was Subrata Pal’s random adventure; Marcelo Leite Pereira took a beautiful free kick which the NEUFC goalkeeper tried palming the ball away, but left the goal line empty. Subrata missed, the ball fell to Kean Lewis, who made no mistake and put the ball in the back of the net.
NorthEast were the better team in the first half, but two mistakes put them on the back foot.
#2 Delhi’s share of mistakes
Delhi too made a couple of bad misses, with Ghana forward Richard Gadze being at the centre of the action both times. Minutes into the second half, Gadze had a golden chance to give Delhi a comfortable two-goal cushion.
A lofted ball came in for the forward, which was challenged by NorthEast United marquee player Didier Zokora.
Gadze managed to beat the Ivory Coast midfielder and was able to set up a one-on-one with Subrata Pal. The NorthEast goalkeeper made no mistake, this time around and saved the ball.
The second chance came a few minutes after the equaliser by Emiliano Alfaro. Gadze made a solo run but ended up going a little too deep into the box and hit the side net.
#3 Delhi’s plan to stop the trio
Delhi’s plan of restricting the trio of Emiliano Alfaro, Nicholas Velez and Katsumi Yusa was their brilliant offside trap. All three players are quick and hence playing the offside trap was a risky move but it worked for the Dynamos.
Both full backs of Delhi caught Alfaro offside a number of times. In the 21st minute, Alfaro made another fine run and was in the perfect position to score, but to his horror, he was way too ahead and caught offside.
In the first half, there were three offside decisions which were arguably controversial – two against NorthEast and one against Delhi Dynamos.
#4 Second home ground for NorthEast United?
If the stadium wasn’t big, anyone could have mistaken the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to be the home ground of NorthEast United. Of the 27,463 spectators present in the stadium, almost two-thirds were that of The Highlanders.
One could hear the chants of ‘North East, North East’ every time NorthEast was at play. The decibels went to deafening levels when Emiliano Alfaro scored the equaliser for the away team.
Delhi fans, time to make it to the ground and support your team!.
#5 Didier Zokora’s golden rescue
It wasn’t a particularly good day for the NorthEast goalkeeper Subrata Pal. He had quite a few nervous moments in the game and also seemed to be carrying an injury. Coach Nelo Vingada duly shielded his keeper and refused to criticise his goalkeeper.
However, the lacklustre performance of Pal was overshadowed by the brilliant play of NorthEast’s marquee player Didier Zokora. The Ivory Coast midfielder once again played at the centre back position and stood like a wall in front of the Delhi forward line.
The Ivorian has time and again proved his worthiness by keeping the NorthEast defence in shape, making crucial tackles in front of the goalpost.
