3rd of August: Delhi Defenders vs. Kolkata Vipers

Football is edging closer to it's return in India. On August 3rd, it returns to Delhi.

The East Division Champion Delhi Defenders will host the Kolkata Vipers for some exhibition football action.

The Defenders are the favorites to repeat in Season 2 for the East Division, whereas the Vipers enter this game still looking for their first franchise win. As said before, this is preseason, so no team should be treating this like a dire game that needs to be one. This is simply a practice match to test the skills of your veteran and rookie players.

The Defenders had the best scoring offense last season, whereas the Vipers gave up the most points and scored the fewest.

The Vipers mindset needs to be just treating this as a scrimmage (practice) and just get a feel of the speed of the Defenders. Same goes for the Defenders, the last thing they want is for one of their top offensive players getting injured because they played too rough in an exhibition.

Keys to this game:

• VIPER TRICK PLAYS. The Vipers should spend the next few weeks trying to innovate an option style offense to test in the exhibition.
• WEST COAST OFFENSE DEFENDERS. The West Coast offense is a "pass to open up the run" style of offense. The Defenders need to let Mayank "Brady" Sharma loose this season with smart, short slant patterns.
• TEAMWORK. Just have fun, get closer as a team. It is a long run to December, get to know your team, and make your on-field chemistry and communication flawless.