New Delhi: Hosts Delhi Dynamos and FC Pune City played out the inaugural Indian Super League’s (ISL) first stalemate as the much-hyped clash between old club pals and ‘marquee’ players of their respective teams — Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet — ended with a drab goalless draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Tuesday.
Both teams, with big names in world football spearheading their attacks, promised a lot, but mustered little as the match never got any momentum.
Delhi’s substitute player, Brazilian midfielder Gustavo Santos, came closest to breaking the deadlock with a left-footed attempt end of an otherwise uneventful match, but he was denied by the post to keep the score 0-0 at full-time.
His more illustrious colleagues, Del Piero and Trezeguet, showed they needed time to showcase glimpses of their wide array of skills that have helped them become famous names in world football.
Dynamos began the match with the greater intensity. They stitched together passes inside opposition territory and looked more likely to score.
But, coming close three times inside the first 15 minutes, their lack of composure in front of goal was evident.
Danish forward Mads Junker was the liveliest in the initial stages, drawing a couple of saves from Pune goalkeeper Emanuele Belardi.
Pune had only a weak left-footed shot from their icon Trezeguet to show for their efforts and were mostly pegged back in their half by the hosts.
Del Piero’s introduction in the 35th minute boosted Delhi’s attacking ambitions. Though visibly unfit, his guile and intelligence was enough for Delhi to fathom a strong shout for a penalty soon after his introduction. The referee, however, didn’t fall for the popular demand.
The second session began in similar fashion. Both teams were expected to shake off their initial tentativeness and apprehension for more assured play, but proceedings remained dull and confined to aimless midfield squabbles.
The gulf between the level of competency between Indian players and their foreign teammates was proving to be detrimental for patient, constructive play as both teams took the easier root of punting long, hopeful balls towards their forward line.
Delhi maintained superior ball possession and, sensing they had to inject a bit more quality in their attacking play, Pune coach Franco Colamba injected I-League regular and East Bengal player Dudu Omagbemi into action after the hour mark.
The Nigerian, clearly more adept to the mediocre ways of Indian football, was lively from the beginning. His sharpness allowed Pune to construct decent moves in the Dynamos goalmouth.
Del Piero — Delhi’s biggest hope for an elusive goal — aware of his limitation of not having the legs to run at defenders, concentrated on trickery to draw fouls from defenders. But it wasn’t enough to break the deadlock.
