At the hour mark, the crowd finally had something to cheer about. Alessandro Del Piero, who had been warming up behind the Delhi Dynamos’ goal, was summoned by Harm van Veldhoven. A huge applause went round the DY Patil stadium as the Italian legend made his way to the Delhi dugout.

In a match that had bordered on mediocrity and was littered with missed passes till then, the 20-odd thousand pinned their hopes on the former Juventus star to light up the occasion — so what if he was playing for the visiting side. But just as the striker made his way past the corner flag, the cheer gave way to a thunderous roar.

Behind him, Nicolas Anelka had finished off a brilliantly worked move from the right, giving Mumbai City a 1-0 lead. Hands on hips, Del Piero stood static for a few seconds before he proceeded to the substitute’s bench to replace Mads Junker, who had a rather average outing.

Del Piero has endured a tough time in the tournament so far. And for almost 20 minutes after coming on, it was the same old story for the 39-year-old. He was often left isolated up front, with very little support from the midfield. His runs behind the defence went unnoticed by his teammates. Twice in the dying moments of the game he came close to opening his tally and restoring parity for Delhi.

In the 82nd minute, Del Piero surprised Subrata Pal by going direct with a free-kick a few yards outside the box. The Mumbai goalkeeper had to dive full stretch to his left to make the save. However, the closest he came was in the final minute of normal time. Steven Dias whipped in a cross towards the Italian inside the six-yard box. Del Piero rose above the defenders but headed it agonisingly wide of the far post.

Barring these two attempts, the Mumbai defence had little to worry about. For all the possession they enjoyed, Delhi lacked quality inside the attacking third. In fact, it was the same story for both teams as even the Mumbai midfield and forward line showed little coordination for most part of the match.

Cool finish

The only time they did, they scored. Subhash Singh initiated a move from the right, went past one defender and squared it behind Delhi centre-back Anwar Ali. Anelka found just enough space to run in between the two centre-backs and coolly tapped it over an onrushing Kristof van Hout. It was Anelka’s second goal in as many matches for Mumbai, propelling them to third place on the table.

The hosts could have added at least a couple of more goals to their tally but the strikers lacked coordination and were guilty of poor finishing on several occasions. Had Pal not denied Del Piero and then Wim Raymaekers in the final minutes of the game, the missed opportunities could have cost Peter Reid’s side dear.

For nearly half hour after the final whistle, Del Piero ran box-to-box as a part of his cooling down routine. Perhaps, it was also his way of sending out a veiled message to the coach that he can last longer than just 30 minutes of a match.

Broke James sells jerseys

Six months after former England goalkeeper and current Kerala Blasters marquee player David James declared himself to be bankrupt, the 43-year old has begun selling memorabilia from his Premier League days.

A little more than 150 football shirts, shorts and footballs once owned by the former pro-footballer are about to go under the hammer in an online auction, according to reports in the British press.

James had filed for bankruptcy back in May, despite having earned about 20 million pounds from his playing days. According to The Mirror, “‘David James’s costly divorce from wife Tanya in 2005 was reportedly one of the main reasons for his plight.’ — ENS