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The Toyota Yaris La Liga World pre-season tournament kicked off in emphatic fashion at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in Kochi with Melbourne City cruising to a thumping 6-0 win against the hosts Kerala Blasters.
The A-League outfit dominated the proceedings right from the start and continued to enjoy the fair share of possession before breaking the deadlock in the 30th minute through Dario Vidosic.
Riley McGree extended their lead just three minutes later and helped City end the first half with a comfortable lead over the hosts. Both teams made a number of changes for the second half and it further opened up the game in favour of the visitors as they pushed on to capitalize on the inexperience of their counterparts to pile on the misery by adding four more goals.
Lachlan Wales added the third goal in the 50th minute while McGree, who was adjudged man of the match for his performance, scored his second of the night just seven minutes later before goals from Ramy Najjarine and Bruno Fornaroli completed the rout, 12 minutes from full-time.
Melbourne City will now face Girona on the 27th of July while Kerala Blasters are scheduled to face the same opposition on the 28th, to cap off the inter-continental tournament. Without further delay, let's take a closer look at the five major talking points from the game:
#1 Melbourne City maintain consistent away record
Melbourne City FC looked comfortable on the ball ever since the start and managed to recycle possession effectively to help the A-League outfit establish their authority on the game in the opening minutes.
Warren Joyce’s men were constantly knitting passes together, thanks to the mobility of Brattan in midfield, and were patient in their build-up to the circumstances that led to the opening goal in the 30th minute.
Dario Vidosic's header that broke the deadlock on the night meant that City have now extended their astonishing run of scoring in every single away game since the beginning of last season. This particular fixture is maybe as far as away games are concerned for the side but the team did well to justify their reputation as the annoying visitors.
#2 Michael O'Halloran proves to be a real handful on debut
Michael O’Halloran was quite easily one of Melbourne City’s best players on the night and the winger caused all kinds of problems to Sandhesh Jhingan after weaving in and out, often beating the Kerala Blasters skipper for sheer pace throughout the first half.
The 27-year-old, who joined the club’s ranks from Rangers ahead of the upcoming season, looks like an exciting option to have on the flanks and Warren Joyce will be hoping that he proves his worth in the A-League this year.
O’Halloran almost got on the scoresheet with a stunning shot from range and was denied only by a flying save from Dheeraj after he had forced Jhingan to swap positions with Anas Edathodika as Blasters hoped to nullify the threat by the winger. However, he did play a crucial role in Lachlan Wales’ third goal after a driving run from the left flank and was quite easily a star performer in the game.
#3 A huge learning experience for Dheeraj Singh
Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, the India U-17 World Cup sensation, started the game for Kerala Blasters and endured a nervy start to the game when he made a few communication errors that luckily did not harm the hosts.
The shot-stopper might have had to pick the ball out of his net on six various occasions but he made a few solid saves, particularly a flying dive to his right to deny Michael O’Halloran in the 40th minute.
The 17-year-old is still only developing and valuable match experience against top teams like Melbourne City will certainly help him improve and get better with age. Despite the onslaught from City, David James is expected to back the youngster in the coming games to help boost his confidence ahead of the upcoming season.
#4 Second half changes hurt Blasters massively
The performance from Kerala Blasters in the second half seriously dampened the scoreline as they conceded 4 goals in the space of about 25 minutes to complete a massive drubbing from Melbourne City.
David James made a number of changes that cost the team their defensive stability in the second half and notable substitutions included both Cyril Kali and Nemanja Lakic-Pesic, two players who had impressed in the first half with their performances.
The rotation implemented by James was understandable considering the fact that he is still figuring out his best line-up but the changes definitely did more harm than good as City pushed forward and made a mockery of the score-line in the end.
#5 Kerala Blasters should take inspiration from the positives
Despite being on the receiving end of a whipping from Melbourne City, Kerala Blasters can take heart from a few individual performances that stood out for the hosts on the night. Prasanth Karuthadathkuni was decent down the right flank and beat his man on a few occasions with some daring runs on the counter-attacks.
Both Seminlen Doungel and Halicharan Narzary were also constantly trying to make things happen for the yellow brigade as they worked relentlessly with or without the ball at their feet. In the end, the gulf in class between the two sides became pretty evident as City cruised to a thumping win but as far as the ISL and Blasters are concerned, this is a stiff learning curve and they can only improve from facing such quality opponents.
