Kerala Blasters huffed and puffed their way into the finals of the Indian Super League. The visitors lost 2-1 on the night but won 3-0 on penalties against a spirited Delhi Dynamos, who played the match with 10 men from the 30th minute.
This thus sets up a rematch of the first ISL final which saw Atletico win the inaugural season of the league at the expense of the Blasters. But, this time with the game scheduled at Kochi, this has all the makings of a ripper.
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#1 Kadio and Nandy gift Marcelinho early Christmas present
On the night, Kerala’s coach, Steve Coppell decided to field Didier Kadio as a left back. The Ivorian usually plays as a winger and has excelled when doing so. Entrusted with the responsibility of keeping Marcelinho in check, Kadio did well early on. However, as the game progressed, the Delhi winger’s influence kept growing by the second. His efforts bore fruit in the 21st minute as he was gifted a goal. Tebar sent in a floater into the Delhi box.
Keeper, Sandip Nandy, needlessly came out of his area and found himself in no man’s land. Kadio’s subsequent weak clearance fell straight onto Marcelinho’s path, who had an open goal to aim at. Santa Claus wasn’t in town but the league’s top scorer was delighted with his early Christmas gift and hammered the ball into an open net.
#2 A first half full of twists and turns
Kerala Blasters came into this match having scored just four away goals this season. So when Duckens Nazon pulled one back for the visitors, you knew something was brewing. The Haitian danced his way past two players before unleashing a venomous shot with his right foot. His goal was sandwiched between two glaring errors by Blasters keeper, Sandip Nandy. Both the goals that Delhi scored in the first half, came as a result of Nandy coming out of his line at the wrong time.
Standing at 5ft 11 inches, the Indian is by no means an imposing figure for a goalkeeper. Delhi made the most of it, their towering defenders surrounded him during set piece situations. You’d have thought he would have learnt after his first mistake, which led to the opening goal. But once again, he was caught flapping, trying to deal with an aerial ball. His error gave Delhi a crucial 2-1 lead heading into the second half.
#3 Malouda made to work extremely hard
Speaking ahead of the match, Florent Malouda admitted that he wasn’t given too much space to play by Kerala in the first leg. He found himself in a similar situation, being chased persistently by Mehtab Hussain and company. As a result, quite often, he found himself using his weaker, right foot to play his passes. The experienced Frenchman though showed he still very much has his skills intact.
On one such occasion, Malouda went on a hazy, Lionel Messi-like run. Running from the half way line, he breezed past five Kerala players, before eventually blasting his close-range shot over the crossbar. Delhi’s marquee man started off playing as a deep lying playmaker.
Towards the fag end of the match, the former France international deployed himself in a much more advanced position and nearly got the winner for Delhi. His headed effort late on, was cleared off the line by Sandesh Jhingan.
#4 Dominance is meaningless if you can’t take your chances
It’s hard not to feel for Delhi Dynamos. They were by far, the better side on the night. Precision, persistence and dominance, the home side were all over the Blasters from minute one. This despite them going down to 10 men after just twenty-eight minutes. Even in extra time, when it seemed their energy levels were at an all-time low, Dynamos created three glorious chances. However, they crumbled under pressure.
The fact that they dominated Kerala with 10 men, but couldn’t finish the job, would have played on the minds of the penalty takers. Blasters keeper, Sandip Nandy made amends for his errors, unnerving the opposition players with his words. The shot-stopper made a nuisance of himself, every time Delhi’s players were about to take the spot kick.
Florent Malouda, Bruno Pelissari sent their kicks into orbit. Emerson Gomes then produced a spectacular save from Nandy. It gave Mohammed Rafique the chance to blast his side into the finals and he did it ever so calmly.
#5 Steve Coppell rides his luck with tactics
“No place to hide”, read a humongous banner that fluttered across the stands. Kerala tried their very best to conceal their weaknesses throughout the 90 minutes and more. Not for one moment did they look like a side playing with one man more. The visitors were reluctant to take risks and sat back, absorbing the pressure like a sponge. It didn’t seem to perturb coach, Steve Coppell who was composed on the sidelines all night long.
You’d have thought he’d be livid with his team’s performance till the penalties, but he seemed content and made no effort to urge his men to attack. As the dreaded penalty shootout approached, he went about asking each of his players if they were up for the task. CK Vineeth responded with a no.
Not for a moment would he have imagined that his out of form keeper, Sandip Nandy would be the one to help his side into the finals. Coppell didn’t play his cards right, he didn’t need to. The coach of God’s own country had the higher powers hovering over his head.
