NorthEast United registered their third win of the third season of the Hero Indian Super League, courtesy a lone goal by Uruguay forward Emiliano Alfaro. In a high voltage game at the Balewadi Stadium, Pune, coach Nelo Vingada scripted one more for the books by ensuring the Highlander's first ever victory against Pune in an away game.
As for the home side, they could not carry forward their winning momentum from Goa as Habas, who has lost all games he has ever played against NorthEast, lost yet another with his new team. Here are the five talking points of the team.
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#1 Tactical Games: Habas vs Vingada
Antonio Lopez Habas and Nelo Vingada had similar thoughts in mind as both teams started with a 3-5-2 formation. The marquee players of both the teams, Mohamed Sissoko and Didier Zokora, have strong midfield presence and both coaches used them to strengthen their grip on the game.
Without repeating the last match’s mistakes, the visitors replaced Reagan Singh – who was sloppy against Mumbai and gave away the penalty – with Nirmal Chettri and relied yet again on counters to build their game.
Pune, on the other hand, had a very different backline compared to their last game. They dropped Rahul Bheke and Yumnam Raju and brought in Dharmaraj Ravanan. With a changed formation, Pune started the game strongly while it took NorthEast some time to heat up their engine.
#2 The sending offs
Mexican referee Fernando Guerrero Ramirez was in the centre of the action as he sent off two players in tonight’s game. The third season of the Indian Super League has seen 4 sending offs, two of which came from this match.
The first to go was Nirmal Chhetri, who was given a start for the first time this season. It was a rushed tackle by the NorthEastern defender on Anibal Rodrigez and was immediately sent off by the referee in the 35th minute. NorthEast, playing with 10 men, quickly changed their formation to 4-1-4-1, with Yusa and Zokora handling the midfield, while Emiliano Alfaro led the attack.
Next to go was FC Pune City defender Eduardo Ferreira, who was shown a second yellow card in the 71st minute. It was a particularly hard game, with Ferreira being warned time and again for his challenges. The referee finally had had enough of it and sent off Ferreira.
#3 Octopus Bete to the rescue
Edel Bete, the only player to have won both the previous editions of the ISL, was the saviour of FC Pune City as he time and again produced incredible saves for his team. In the 40th minute, he saved a brilliant free kick taken by Romaric and headed by Emiliano.
In the latter half of the game, Nicholas Velez had a great opportunity to double the scoreline, but Bete was there again to the rescue with him stretching his left leg to defect the ball.
He was duly supported by Pune’s marquee signing Sissoko, who playing as a center back, and kept things tidy at Pune’s end. However, once Ferreira was sent off, Sissoko changed his position to midfield, but could not impact much as Pune could not get past NorthEast defense.
#4 NorthEast's pace on the counter attack
The duo of Emiliano Alfaro and Nicholas Velez has started doing wonders for the Highlanders. Coach Nelo Vingada replied on the pace of the duo to shape NorthEast’s attack.
Alfaro, who scored his third goal tonight, has been quite a pain for the opposition’s defence, getting on the end of Katsumi Yusa’s passes and Nico Velez’s dangerous crosses.
Velez started the game on the left wing, but in the 27th minute he switched to the right to bring in more sharpness into the NorthEast attack. He did make quite a few dangerous runs into the opposition box, but unfortunately has yet to open his account this ISL. He however had a crucial role to play in the only goal scored in the match.
#5 Impressive Indian players
Rowlin Borges is one name from NorthEast who has thoroughly impressed everyone. The 24-year-old Indian who played as a holding midfielder, was exceptionally brilliant against Pune with him keeping Sissoko at bay, while neutralizing quite a few Pune City attacks.
As for the other side, Lenny Rodrigues who has been quite a regular for FC Pune City has particularly impressed from the right flank.
Indian players shining alongside international starts is a good sign for Indian football.
