Goa: Chennaiyin FC will take on fourth-placed Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League on Sunday evening at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco. A win for Chennaiyin will take them level on points with Hyderabad, with three points currently separating both sides.
Csaba Laszlo’s CFC last won against Odisha FC on January 13. A 2-1 win that night was followed by a goalless draw against SC East Bengal, a narrow 1-0 defeat to ATK Mohun Bagan and a 1-1 stalemate versus Mumbai City FC. Manolo Marquez’s Hyderabad are also in search of a victory, having drawn four games on the bounce coming into this crucial clash.
The Chennaiyin gaffer shared the all-important team news during his pre-match press conference, especially surrounding new signing Manuel Lanzarote. The Spaniard would have concluded his mandatory quarantine ahead of the HFC clash on Sunday, however Laszlo and his staff are yet to decide on his involvement for the game.
“Lanza (Lanzarote) will be out of quarantine, but we will see. It is not easy for someone who has been in quarantine for 14 days, without a training session. But I will talk to him and we will decide on whether he will be part of the (matchday) squad or not. But definitely he will not be part of the first eleven,” Laszlo provided a clear update.
Asked about Anirudh Thapa, who missed the games against ATKMB and MCFC after an injury picked up against SCEB, Laszlo replied, “He (Thapa) is definitely making good improvement. Like in Lanza’s case, for Thapa too we will decide before the match whether he will be involved or not. We have one training session today to arrive at that decision. Generally, we don’t have any injuries in the squad. I hope we go into the game with our players fresh and firing.”
In other team news, CFC will be without central defender Enes Sipovic who picked up his fourth yellow card of the season against Mumbai in the previous game.
There is added motivation for the Marina Machans’ to get all three points against HFC. The previous meeting between both sides earlier this month resulted in a 4-1 humbling for Laszlo’s men, as Hyderabad punished some sloppy defending and scored goals on the break. CFC will be charged up for the occasion, in order to avenge the result in the reverse fixture and bring some momentum to their hopes of finishing in the top-four.
On the other hand, Manolo Marquez’s side put four past Chennaiyin in a comfortable victory the last time these two sides met, earlier in the season. But with top-4 qualification on the line, we can expect a close-fought contest in this Round 15 encounter. Incidentally, this will also be the seventh game for Hyderabad in the hectic month of January, and the fifth in the last fortnight.
“Maybe Chennaiyin will go into this game looking for revenge after the 4-1 score line from the previous leg. In football, anything can happen and I am sure this game will not be the same,” said Manolo, speaking ahead of this crunch clash.
Csaba László’s men come into this game after a confidence boosting draw against league leaders Mumbai City. They have an in-form Esmaël ‘Isma’ Gonçalves and Jakub Sylvestr leading their attack while the likes of Lallianzuala Chhangte, Eli Sabia and Anirudh Thapa have also been impressive in the last few games.
Isma, who has scored each of the last three goals for the club, came on as a late substitute when the two sides faced off earlier this season and his form in front of goal could be a cause of concern for Hyderabad in this tie.
“From what I can see, Chennaiyin have changed a few things in attack and also have a couple of crucial players back available. They also had six days to rest while we had less than three. This is not an excuse, but that can surely make a difference,” added the HFC head coach.
Hyderabad FC, who have a chance to leapfrog FC Goa in the 3rd place, saw late goals from Aridane Santana and Fran Sandaza secure a point against Bengaluru in the last round. The likes of Halicharan Narzary, Joel Chianese, Liston Colaco and Mohammad Yasir have all been consistent for Marquez’s side this season and will hope to put in a similar performance on Sunday.
The center-back pairing of Odei Onaindia and Chinglensana Singh could have their work cut out against the Chennaiyin attack.
However, Hyderabad will still be without the services of Nikhil Poojary and Souvik Chakrabarti for this game as well, Manolo revealed, ahead of this tie.
“This game is a chance to add three points to the tally, not just for us, but for Chennaiyin as well. They can go level on points with us, but our aim is to try and put some distance between us and teams trying to break into the top-4,” added Manolo.
With a win in this game, Chennaiyin can match the points tally of HFC, who currently sit fourth in the league table. But a chance to break into the top-3 and extend their unbeaten run will be on the minds of Hyderabad, when they take on László’s side.
