Kerala Blasters took the first step towards making an ISL final at home as Delhi Dynamos were beaten 1-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi. Kervens Belfort was the hero for Kerala as he danced past the Delhi defence before his shot deflected off Anas Edathodika and into the net, as Toni Doblas was beaten.
The second leg will be at an identically named stadium in the capital on Wednesday and Gianluca Zambrotta will be looking for much much more from his side, particularly the attacking players. For Steve Coppell, the message to his troops will be simple: more of the same. Kerala should, in truth, have scored at least a goal more as CK Vineeth floundered with a couple of glorious opportunities.
Here are some of the interesting points for discussion from the game.
#1 Kerala’s team selection
Steve Coppell sprung a surprise before kick-off as the reliable Graham Stack was replaced in goal by the veteran Sandip Nandy. Coppell made the change to accommodate Josu at left-back, taking the sixth foreigner’s slot. It was a rather puzzling change as in big games like this one, you would not want to break the team’s rhythm and Stack was building a very good understanding with his defenders.
That move backfired for Coppell as Josu had to be taken off just past the half-hour mark. The Spaniard was walking a tightrope after picking up an early booking. He made two further poor challenges and was lucky not to get a red card. Didier Kadio came on in the little Spaniard’s place.
That could have gone pear-shaped for Kerala as Kadio was up against Marcelinho, who has been on fire for Delhi all season Fortunately for Coppell and Kerala, Marcelinho was off his game and did not do any damage.
On another day, Coppell might well have lived to regret his decision.
#2 Disallowed goal
The refereeing throughout this tournament has been a massive talking point and just before the break, the officials were in the spotlight again. A good spell of Kerala Blasters pressure resulted in Duckens Nazon getting two chances but he missed both of them.
But then, after a little scrap on the edge of the area, the other Haitian Kervens Belfort robbed Ruben Rocha off the ball and was through on goal. Belfort put the ball in the back of the net and wheeled away in celebration with CK Vineeth. But that was short-lived. The assistant referee had spotted Belfort’s use of his arm while dispossessing Rocha and the decision was spot on. In the end, that didn’t matter as Belfort got the winner for Kerala.
Many players and coaches through the tournament have complained of the woeful standard of refereeing throughout this year’s tournament. But on this occasion, credit must be given where it is due. It was not an easy spot and the linesman got the decision perfect.
Even right in the dying embers, Marcelinho went down in the box, claiming a foul by Jhingan but nothing was given and as was the norm on the day, that was the right decision too.
The referee Pranjal Banerjee and his assistants had a fabulous game even otherwise as he kept a vice-like grip on proceedings and did not make any major mistakes. He handled the tempers of the players pretty well too.
#3 Delhi’s toothless attack
In a performance very unlike what they have shown this season, Delhi seemed bereft of ideas in the final third of the pitch. Mehtab Hossain played a stunning role in shadowing Florent Malouda all game and denied the French star any time or room to manoeuvre the ball in. Marcelinho was also very quiet.
The Brazilian’s inefficiency today must have irked Zambrotta even more as Kerala were having problems at their left-back position. Josu was very close to getting red carded and Didier Kadio is not naturally a left-back. Given that, Delhi should definitely have put more pressure down their right flank.
Chinglensana Singh and Souvik Chakraborty did very little to go forward from their full-back positions and that might have been the key for them – to get more men running into space from deep and freeing up some room for their more creative attackers.
As it was, both Kean Lewis and Marcelinho were very isolated on the flanks and could not do much against a Kerala defence that stood tall and repelled everything that came their way.
It didn’t help Delhi’s cause that Aaron Hughes and Cedric Hengbart were overpowering Richard Gadze, meaning that the Ghanaian could not hold the ball up well, and bring the other Delhi attackers into play.
#4 The Kerala Wall
The Kerala captain Aaron Hughes and Cedric Hengbart were majestic for the home side. Gadze was not given any room to work under, as one of the two veterans was always very close to him. While Hughes manned the back very well, Hengbart even moved forward from time to time and was one of Kerala’s chief attacking threats in the first half.
Kerala had a lot of set-pieces and most of Mehtab Hossain’s deliveries were aimed towards the big Frenchman and he did win most of the aerial duels in the opposition box. It was a pity for the Blasters that they could not get to the second ball as quickly as they would have liked.
It was not just Hughes and Hengbart though; Sandhesh Jhingan was majestic on the right flank. Kean Lewis was anonymous all game. The young Indian winger who has made such a big impression this season was not found for a lack of trying, but Jhingan was too strong for him.
But probably the defensive performance of the match from Kerala’s perspective came from Didier Kadio. He came into the game in the 30th minute when Josu was having a nightmare and was very close to being sent off. It was an unnatural position for the Ivorian to come into on such a big occasion but he stuck to his guns.
It would have been easy for Kadio to get overawed and sink under the pressure of playing against Marcelinho in the kind of form that he has been. But the big Ivorian did not let anything faze him as the current Golden Boot holder did not have a sniff to threaten Nandy’s goal.
#5 Kerala’s Haitian hitmen
Kervens Belfort and Duckens Nazon were easily Kerala’s best attacking players. Nazon made more of an impact in the first half than Belfort did. He had huge claims for a penalty denied when Ruben Rocha’s tackle brought him to the ground, but the referee did not give him anything.
Moments after that, a lovely cross from Mehtab found Nazon, but his header just narrowly missed the post with Doblas well beaten. Straight after that, Belfort put the ball in the back of the net, but his goal was disallowed.
But when the moment did arrive, Belfort was the man for Kerala. He picked the ball up on the halfway line and drove towards the Delhi goal, when he was confronted by Rocha. A body feint and a stepover later, Rocha was skinned and the Haitian got a shot away on goal. Anas did his best to cover, but the ball struck his boot and trickled past Doblas to send Kochi into a mad frenzy.
Kerala will not change their approach for the second leg, and once again in three days time, the two big Haitians will be immensely important for Steve Coppell’s plans.
