Delhi Dynamos FC head coach Harm van Veldhoven praised his team’s spirit and the contribution of his Indian players after his side came away with a nail biting 0-1 victory away to FC Pune City at the Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, on Saturday night. Brazilian Gustavo dos Santos produced a late match winner to propel the Dynamos to fourth place in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) table.“Dudu (Omagbemi) had chances for them, for us Mama (Shylo Malsawmatulanga) came close. We didn’t do everything we had to, but we got the three points now, and that is important, it shows my team is making progress,” van Veldhoven said at the post-match press conference.“We use everybody in the squad according to their quality, and the team showed a lot of respect for each other, they worked for each other. Especially the Indian players, I’ve been impressed with their progress,” he added.The Dutch gaffer admitted that the visitors were under pressure to win, but instead used it to their advantage. “We knew it was going to be a difficult game, but it’s good to know before a game that you have to absolutely win it. It’s better motivation than playing for fourth place,” he opined.Van Veldhoven is not surprised by the resurgence of his side who have won three of their past four games, putting it down to their newfound ability to take their chances. “A few weeks ago our game was the same, but we didn’t take our chances; today, we did,” he quipped.Van Veldhoven’s mentorship drew praise from defender Adil Khan, who was also present at the media interaction. “The coach showed a lot of belief in the players, which has brought about good team spirit. We’ve had fun practicing together, it’s fun in the dressing room. There’s a nice mix of youth and senior players and they help the team a lot,” he said.Asked about his ISL experience and the format of the competition, Alessandro Del Piero, who also attended the press conference, said, “It’s a unique league. I’m playing this format for the first time. You have to take it game by game. Next we play one of our hardest games, away to Chennai. We have to recover soon and move to the next game and come away with a qualification.“The priority of the game was promotion of football in India, and that way we can see that it has been successful. There has been a lot of interest from Europe too.”Del Piero also had a word of praise for dos Santos, who won the Hero of the Match award for his decisive contribution to the game. “He’s showed a lot of quality in the last four games. He’s a good mix of technicality and skills, and he’s 20 years old, so he’ll still learn a lot. It’s the best place for him to start off and learn more,” he suggested.
