Bengaluru faces Hyderabad in Thursday’s important encounter in Indian Football League 2020-21. Blues are in deep trouble after dropping points for seven successive matches, while Hyderabad would look for the three points to better its position in the top four.
Match Timings: Dec 28, 7:30 PM IST
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Hyderabad and Bengaluru will reach Tilak Maidan to face each other in a vital clash of the Indian Football League. Bengaluru have no idea to manage a win out of this problematic system. In the previous outing, Blues were held for a 1-1 draw against a bottom side. The downfall in their performance made the playoffs task pretty difficult. After sacking the head coach, the improvements are yet to be seen. They had some good chances in the early first half but they failed to avail these. Odisha took the lead in the 8th minute through a free-kick from Jerry Mawihmingthanga. Udanta Singh and Chhetri set up a chance but it was missed. One more chance was denied by Arshdeep Singh.
Odisha’s goalkeeper saved a header from his own defender Gaurav Bora to deny Bengaluru an equaliser. Gurpreet also made a save to deny Jerry a brace. Opseth and Cleiton Silva both had some good chances later in the second half. In the 82nd minute, Blues netted an equaliser when Cleiton Silva got a corner kick and Paartalu headed the ball into the net. Bengaluru looked promising well in the final third but they walked away with one point. Blues’ last victory came on December 17 against Odisha, and since then, they appeared in seven matches. Out of seven, Blues have lost five games and two were drawn. They are at the middle of the table and one more bad game can hurt its hopes for the playoffs. They have to play seven more games from now and Blues cannot afford a defeat here.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad takes the fourth spot in the points table but it might be taken by Northeast next week if Hyderabad drop points on Thursday. After a 4-2 victory over the Highlanders, Nizams played three consecutive draws and two out of those were goalless draws. They would be happy with one draw which came against Mumbai. Three points from the last three games and Northeast’s victory against Mariners have troubled its goal for the playoffs. Both sides hit the crossbar in the first half but a goal was missing from both sides.
The second half was slightly better but nobody got the name on the scoresheet. The first 30 minutes were dominated by Hyderabad but their forwards missed out the chances. Santana, Halicharan and Chianese all were guilty of missing good chances. Manuel Marquez would see some spark from the forward line and especially the Indian lineups who have been terrific this season. Akash Mishra, Chinglensana Singh, Halicharan Narzary, Hitesh Sharma, and Md Yasir have been the key figures for the Nizams.
Possible Lineups & Current Form
Bengaluru
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Rahul Bheke, Juanan, Erik Paartalu, Sunil Chhetri, Udanta Singh, Cleiton Silva, Suresh Wangjam, Parag Srivas, Amay Morajkar, Francisco Gonzalez
Current Form: D L D L L
Previous match: 1-1 draw with Odisha
Hyderabad
Laxmikant Kattimani (GK), Akash Mishra, Asish Rai, Odei Onaindia, Chinglensana Singh, Mohammed Yasir, Roland Alberg, Hitesh Sharma, Halicharan Narzary, Aridane Santana, Joel Chianese
Current Form: D D D W W
Previous match: goalless draw with Jamshedpur
Key Players
Bengaluru
Cleiton Silva
4 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Sunil Chhetri
4 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Hyderabad
Aridane Santana
6 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Halicharan Narzary
4 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
