ISL : Chennaiyin FC to meet Atletico de Kolkata in semis

Chennaiyin-FC-Pune-matchPUNE : It will be Elano Blumer against Helder Postiga for the Hero ISL semi finals . The semi final line up of  Hero ISL  is now decided  with defending champions Atletico de Kolkata against Chennaiyin FC while in another semi final FC Goa will face Delhi Dynamos . Irrespectice of the result of the last league encounter between FC Goa and Delhi Dynamos , the semi final line up will remain same .All three possible results will lead towards semi-finals between Atletico v Chennaiyin and FC Goa v Deynamos . The result of tommorows match will have bearing on the order and venue of the semi finals . Chennaiyin in all probability will play their first semi final at home . The likely scenario will be like :

 

Possibility 1 – Delhi win ( Delhi tops the ISL league table followed by Atletico , Chennaiyin and Goa .

Possibility 2 – Goa win ( Goa tops the ISL league table followed by Atletico , Chennaiyin and Delhi .

Possibility 3 – Draw – Atletico remains on top of ISL league table followed by Goa ,Delhi and Chennai .

 

Chennaiyin FC sealed a place in the semis with a 1-0 win over FC Pune City . India’s Jeje Lalpekhlua scored the only goal to help Chennaiyin FC storm into semi-finals of the Indian Super League (ISL) second season  at the Balewadi Stadium here on Saturday. With the visitors needing only a draw to progress into the semis, 24-year-old Lalpekhlua scored in the 64th minute to help Chennaiyin reach play-off stages of the ISL . Chennaiyin climbed to second spot in the points table with 22 points from 14 games, having won seven, drawn one and lost six. Chennaiyin’s Elano Blumer and Mehrajuddin Wadoo will miss the first leg of the semis through suspension after picking up their fourth yellow cards.

Both teams started on a positive note in the match but it was the visitors who took the initiative to surge upfront. Chennaiyin got a couple of chances in the first half but failed to make the most of it.

The home side’s defence looked shaky right from the start letting the Chennaiyin forward to sneak into their box.With a see-saw battle both the sides went into half-time with scoreline showing nil.

But the second half showed a much improved play from both the sides, as the teams looked to get the lead. Finally in the 64th minute, the deadlock was broken by the Indian much to the surprise of the home fans gathered to cheer for their team in the last home match of the season.

Stiven Mendosa played the ball for Jeje whose left footed shot came off Pune defender Govin Singh Moirangthem and the rebound was slotted home by the India international at ease to make it 1-0.

From there on, Marco Materazzi’s men focused on their defence at large not to allow the opposition to level things up. With the Chennaiyin defence standing tall right through the match, it was an empty handed return for the Pune side in the second edition. Defending champions Atletico de Kolkata, FC Goa, Chennaiyin FC and Delhi Dynamos FC are the four teams to make it to the play-off stages of the season 2.The first leg of the first semi-final match kick-starts on December 11.