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In many ways one can say that the almost week long break for FC Pune City has been a boon of sorts after the 5-0 mauling that they were subjected to in the Maharashtra Derby on October 18 in their second game at the DY Patil Stadium. The action now shifts to Pune where the home team will host FC Goa. Goa too has had its own fair share of problems after (what can only be described as a tumultuous) the match against Atletico de Kolkata on October 23.
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While on the one hand the city, (and the state) is riding on the change in governments, FC Pune City has a lot of points to prove about the squad, not to mention critics to silence after their previous game. The first home game for Pune will be played at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi. While the stadium was the host to the CommonWealth Youth Games in 2008 and the National games prior to that in 1994, it is currently the home stadium for both FC Pune City and the I-league team Pune FC. The stadium has a seating capacity of 22,000. It is the first ISL game to be played in the city and the tickets for the opening game have already been sold out and under floodlights the atmosphere for the game will only be electric despite FC Pune's recent poor run of form.
Kick-Off: October 26 – 7:00 PM (IST) Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi Pune
Form
The forms for both the team are vastly different and yet similar in many ways. While in their previous game, FC Goa squandered their one goal lead as well as chances to finish off the game only to lose to Kolkata, Pune has yet to open their goal scoring account against oppositions. For Pune it will about proving a point after the defence was harshly criticised in the previous game against Mumbai. They will be hoping to pull themselves out from the bottom of the table and secure their first full three points.
Goa on the other hand will be looking to erase the memories of the previous game against Kolkata where not only did they lose the game but also saw their marquee player Robert Pires being slapped a hefty fine and a two match suspension after an altercation with the Atletico coach. Both Pune and Goa are on one point each with Goa in sixth position because of a favourable goal difference. A win for Pune will lift them out from the bottom three straight to the fourth place (one ahead of FC Mumbai City). Similar will be the case for FC Goa.
Previous results:
FC Goa– lost 1-2 against Atletico de Kolkata
FC Pune – lost 0-5 against FC Mumbai City
Possible Line-ups
FC Goa (4-1-4-1): Seda; Debrata Das, Youness Bengelloun, Gregory Arnolin,Narayan Das; Peter Carvalho; Gabriel Fernandes, Bruno Pinheiro, Andre Santos, Clifford Miranda; Ranti Martins
Despite the previous loss against Atletico de Kolkata Coach Zico will not poke around too much with his starting 11 given that they have gone on to play very well. He might however even choose to play a 4-4-2 formation but the current formation, given that it has bought decent results for the team will stay.
While the likes of Martins, Pinherio, Bengelloun have already gone on to prove their finesse in the field, Zico will be most worried about his team slipping up during the latter half of the game (something that we all saw in their previous match). More than that he will be looking to exploit the Pune defence and finish off the game early rather than let the game slip away from them.
Another thing that will hurt the team severely is the loss of their marquee player, Robert Pires, who was handed a fine and a two-match ban during the game against Atletico. The loss of the Frenchman, also means that the game will be devoid of the clash between David Trezeguet and his French compatriot.
FC Pune City (4-3-2-1) – Belardi, Park, Ravanan, Magliocchetti, Cirillo, Mehta, Gurung, Maithani, Rodrigues, Wadoo, Trezeguet
The FC Pune City line up too might feature a four man defence back from the first game. The reason behind that being, the three man defence from the previous game handed them a huge 5-0 loss and also Mumbai its first win. While the Italian playing style has not yet clicked for coach Franco Colomba, he might not take chances this time around with him maintaining a four man defence rather than a three man one.
While this is the first home game for the city, it will be of prime importance for the team's marquee striker, David Trezeguet, to give the fans a reason to smile. With 22,000 people ready to cheer the team on, he will be expected by both the team and the fans to lift the team out of the bottom and give them a reason to look forward to more positivity from the games ahead.
Coach Franco Colomba, has had a long break between games and he has worked extensively with the defence which for some reason has yet to find its firm footing and bring the fabled Italian Playing style to the turf of Pune. This time around it will be for the Italians in the squad to provide the much needed water tightening and sealing off, of the weak spots against FC Goa.
Key facts and stats
This will be the first ever football game to be played at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune.
Both teams are on one point each and will be looking to further their standings in the table. The advantage that Pune have over Goa is that the former has played three games already, while Pune has played just two.
Goa will be without their marquee player Robert Pires. Pune on the other hand will be hoping to see Trezeguet fire against the Goan back four.
All tickets for the match have been sold out.
Key Factors
Emanuele Belardi — The Italian keeper made a string of saves in the game against Delhi in the face of mounting pressure and even managed to snitch a couple of saves against Mumbai.
David Trezeguet — Pune's marquee player who has had some promising shots on goal, will be looking to poach goals for the home side this time around.
Zico — The master tactician will be at his best shuffling his team, on a stadium which has hosted international friendlies, to go ahead and win the game. The absence of Pires will have to be blocked out by the others who have shown ample promise over the last three games.
The pitch — With the natural turf at Balewadi compared to be one of the best internationally, it will be an interesting battle to see as to how and when do the two teams play out the game and who comes out on top. Also given that both the teams are coming from stinging defeats, the pitch will offer a level playing field for both.
Prediction
Goa's capacity to make early inroads with their fast paced attack is something that we have all seen in their previous three games. Their Achilles heel however lies in the inability to finish off games and let go of winning opportunities to end up on the losing side. They will be looking to rectify the same.
Pune has seen their defence get penetrated easily in their previous game. They will be looking to prevent the same from happening this time around, and more importantly converting half chances to goals on counter attacks.
While they are different on paper their on field performances put them on par as of now. Pune will be looking to rely on 22,000 screaming fans to get them past the winning line. We predict a very hard fought 1-0 victory for the home team.
