Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], September 14 : Odisha FC (OFC) will kick-start their Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 campaign at home against former champions Chennaiyin FC (CFC) at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, September 14.
Odisha FC have a superb record against Chennaiyin FC at home in the ISL, winning all of their three home meetings against CFC.
Contrastingly, Chennaiyin FC had a middling start to the campaign last year, winning twice and losing thrice in their first five games, and would want to get on a strong footing right from the onset of the current campaign.
Sergio Lobera has been an ISL veteran, ever since coming to India in 2017. He joined Odisha FC last season and made an instant impact. Under the Spanish tactician's leadership, they reached the ISL semi-finals for the first time, whilst also reaching the Super Cup final.
"This is my sixth season in India and with every season the difficulty keeps on rising. Every year the teams are getting stronger, the league is improving, more foreign players are coming and the level of Indian players is also improving a lot. I feel this will be another amazing season with many strong teams and we hope to compete very well against them," Lobera told ISL.
Odisha FC goalkeeper Amrinder Singh opened up on the team's approach towards the season, saying, "Our focus will be on our style of play, on how we want to go about our offensive and defensive game-plans. It's football, eventually one team will play better than the other, but we are an attacking side and we will like to maintain that game-plan."
It was a rocky homecoming for Owen Coyle last season as Chennaiyin FC struggled initially before securing the sixth spot and entering the playoffs.
Although they got knocked out following a 2-1 defeat against FC Goa, Coyle will look to build on the positives from last season.
"Every team is chasing silverware this season but if they aren't then they shouldn't be in the league. We showed last season how good we are with a strong finish. When coming to Chennaiyin, I knew how difficult it would be but we stuck to our plans and we got better as the league progressed. We know that we can win games and build teams and if we get into the playoffs then any team can win the ISL Cup," Coyle opined to ISL.
Coyle is pinning hopes on certain promising players in his squad to make the difference in games in ISL 2024-25, as he said, "This season, we have players who can come in and change the game. It creates greater competition for places, which is crucial. When there's competition, players push themselves harder because ultimately, it's their performances that earn them a place in the teamif you play well, you stay in the team."
Ahmed Jahouh is the fulcrum of Lobera's Odisha FC system. Jahouh averaged 9.3 penalty box entries per game last season. It is the third-highest metric for any player in the competition last season behind Dimitri Petratos (9.8) and Brandon Fernandes (9.4).
Meanwhile, Ryan Edwards will be a key figure for Chennaiyin FC at the heart of the defence. The Englishman made a block once in every 58.8 minutes in the 2023-24 ISL season. It was also the best such figure for a player to have played at least 1000 minutes. Edwards with 31 blocks also topped the league last season.
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