New Delhi: Having already booked their semi-final berth in style, an upbeat Delhi Dynamos will look to carry on their dominant show when they take on the bottom-placed Kerala Blasters FC in an effort to continue the winning momentum in their 13th Indian Super League (ISL) match on Thursday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.
Delhi missed the semi-final berth by a whisker in the inaugural season and finished fifth but Roberto Carlos' men have been one of the consistent team this season both home and away.
Last week they became the second team, after defending champions Atletico de Kolkata, to secure a spot in the last four. They have 21 points from 12 games and a chance to top the standings with a win against the Kerala Blasters who have had a terrible campaign with just three wins from 13 matches.
Delhi’s successful run has been supported by a strong defence, led by former Liverpool great John Arne Riise. They have conceded the lowest number of goals along with ATK. Risse and Frenchman Florent Malouda, employed in a central midfield role, have taken over the responsibility of realising the team's ambitions.
They have been disciplined at the back and relied on former French international Malouda, capped 80 times for his country, to provide inspiration while going forward along with ever consistent Hans Mulder and Brazilian Dos Santos.
Although they have made it to semis with a couple of games to play, Delhi have had their nervous moments on the way. But the Brazilian legend got the act together around a four-man defensive unit and tried to build up attacks from the back. But the biggest problem for Delhi this season has been scoring goals.
The Dynamos are yet to address their goal-scoring problems as they have managed the fewest goals (13) in the competition so far, together with seventh-placed Mumbai City FC.
“The morale of the players is on a high after the last win and we would want to continue with our momentum against Kerala as well. We are looking forward to playing our last two league games in front of our home fans,” Carlos told reporters on Monday.
Delhi defeated NorthEast United FC 2-1 in their last match away at Guwahati while Blasters were drubbed 1-5 at home by Goa.
On the other hand, Kerala will be playing for pride as there are no chances of them making it to the semis but a win on Thursday will see the Sachin Tendulkar-owned team go to seventh on the points table and that might help them avoid being the wooden-spooners of the season.
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