Kerala Blasters’ head coach Steve Coppell is not paying to much heed to his side’s one-goal advantage heading into the second leg of their semifinal tie against Delhi Dynamos. The two sides clash at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi as they battle to face Atletico de Kolkata in the final on Sunday.
Kervens Belfort’s goal in the first leg in Kochi gave the Blasters the all important lead heading into the second leg in the capital. But Coppell was not concerned by that advantage that his side possessed.
The former Reading manager said, “To think that we don’t have any advantage is the way we are looking at the match and it is a game in isolation and we look at it very much that way and we prepare as well as we can as there hasn’t been a great deal of preparation time.
“As far as we are concerned it is nil-nil and we start again and we have got that mentality rather than we have our noses in front and you know you can do nothing better than treat the game by itself,” he added.
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The Englishman said that it would be detrimental to Kerala’s chances if they went into the game with a defensive mindset. He said, “I don’t think we can sort of defend anything and our mentality has got to be that it is a game which is 0-0. We have got to play a normal game and during the course of the game things might happen, goals might come, substitutions will be made and there will be referring decisions to be made.”
Coppell stressed on the need for the officials to be strong on the night. This edition of the ISL has been marred by poor refereeing, and most head coaches have been vocal in their disgust. FC Goa’s Zico went to the extent of saying that the referees were among the prime reasons that his side did not make the semifinals.
Coppell though was much more mellow: “I must stress it is very important for the league that the referring is strong and not just for our game but for tonight’s game as well. One of the things that let the team down a little bit is the referring and I hope the referees are strong in recognising simulation and punishing it.”
Worryingly for Coppell and his side, their opponents are unbeaten at home this season and have scored freely. But the 61-year old was quick to put the pressure on Delhi: “Yes, they have a very good record at home and the prize is such that we have to do our job properly.”
“It is a huge prize for both the sides and they have got a good record at home but they haven’t won every game at home and they have to win tomorrow to get to the final,” he concluded.
Earlier in the season, when Kerala visited Delhi, they were handed a 2-0 defeat courtesy goals from Kean Lewis and Marcelinho.
