Welcome to Sportstar's coverage of this evening's NorthEast United FC vs Kerala Blasters FC Indian Super League (ISL 2021-22) clash played at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Goa. This was Aneesh Dey bringing you updates from the match.
Post-match comments!!
Hero of the match Hernan Santana on the result: "We are happy. It was a good day for everyone. We play better than the last game. During the last two days, we try to improve and try to make a difference to this game and I am very happy for my squad and now thinking about the next game."
Kerala Blasters coach Ivan Vukomanovic: "The previous game against ATK Mohun Bagan we played a good game, created several chances and scored two nice goals. Today if we see the total amount of chances in today's game, I think that we deserve maybe to get more."
MATCH REPORT: ISL 2021-22 - NorthEast, Kerala Blasters settle for goalless draw
FULL TIME !! (NorthEast United FC 0-0 Kerala Blasters FC)
90+3' NEUFC SUB- Rochharzela replaces Ralte.
90+2' SHOT- Jeakson feeds the ball to Vazquez, who makes a bit of space for himself and dispatches a thunderous shot. The ball flies inches above goal. That would have been a brilliant finish.
THREE ADDITIONAL MINUTES!!
88' KBFC SUBS- Chencho Gyeltshen and Prasanth Karuthadathkuni replace Luna and Barretto.
87' A great run by Coureur down the right flank. A ball inside the box would have been ideal but he passes it back. Ralte puts the cross in but the KBFC defence deals with it.
85' BOOKING- Provat Lakra of NEUFC sees yellow for his tackle on Luna.
83' SAVE- Nishu with a brilliant dinked ball to Vazquez, who heads towards goal. He connects well but Subhasish puts in a brilliant save at full-stretch. Big save to keep his team in the match.
82' Less than 10 minutes to go and match still goalless. Will there be late drama?
80' NEUFC SUB- Manvir Singh replaces Lalkhawpuimawia.
Match resumes!!
Match halts for a drinks break!!
76' Suhair with a cross inside the box again from the left flank, but it is not accurate as Albino clutches it safely in his grasp.
73' A clash of heads between Irshad and Nishu after the ball was played inside the box from a NEUFC freekick. KBFC gets a freekick. Despite KBFC getting the better chances tonight, it is still anybody's match at the moment.
70' KBFC SUBS- Nishu Kumar and Alvaro Vazquez replace Sahal and Diaz. Both Sahal and Diaz had great chances to put their team ahead tonight but they could not find the net.
66' NEUFC SUBS- Brown seems to have tweaked his hamstring and is replaced by Mathias Coureur. Mohamed Irshad replaces Pragyan.
62' SHOT- Camara takes a shot on the volley from the edge of the box. He connects well but the shit is nowhere near the goal.
60' KBFC SUB- Lalthathanga Khawlhring replaces Ayush.
58' SHOT- Barretto takes a shot from distance, which does not miss the goal by much. But the replay suggests that Subhasish had his goal covered.
56' A disappointing freekick. Instead of a delivery inside the box, the ball is squared to Camara, who was around 30 yards away from goal. He does take the shot but it is nowhere near the goal. Poor decision-making that.
55' Jeakson brings down Brown right at the edge of the box and NorthEast with a great chance to take the lead from this freekick.
53' Kerala Blasters starting to press higher up the field gradually as the second half progresses. Ideally it should already been 2-0 up but enough time to change the course of the match.
51' CHANCE- Huge miss from Sahal. Vincy with a brilliant run as he used his pace to get past two defenders. Instead of taking the keeper on, he squared the ball to Sahal, who just had to guide the ball inside the net. But he snatches it and the ball goes of play.
49' Suhair pings in a good cross from the outside of his boot. It was a good attempt to find someone but Albino gets to the ball first.
47' NEUFC SUB- Tondonba Singh replaces the booked Gurjinder.
WE ARE BACK FOR THE SECOND HALF!!
Kerala Blasters's Jorge Diaz came closest to scoring in the first half but could not hit the target. Both teams created chances but nothing substantial as there is no goal to report after the first half for the first time in this year's Indian Super League.
The second half should be a great battle as we can see the likes of Gallego, Coureur and Chencho take the field.
Stay tuned!! Live-action from the second half after a short break.
WE ARE BACK FOR THE SECOND
Kerala Blasters's Jorge Diaz came closest to scoring in the first half but could not hit the target. Both teams created chances but nothing substantial as there is no goal to report after the first half for the first time in this year's Indian Super League.
The second half should be a great battle as we can see the likes of Gallego and Coureur and Chencho take the field.
Stay tuned!! Live-action from the second half after a short break.
HALF-TIME!! (NorthEast United FC 0-0 Kerala Blasters)
45+3' Play stops for a Khabra handball but the Kerala players does not look happy with the referee's decision.
THREE ADDITIONAL MINUTES!!
44' Gurjinder, who has already been booked, with a rash challenge. He did not get any part of the ball. Fortunately for him, he does not see a second yellow.
43' Some pinball-football inside NEUFC's box as multiple KBFC players takes shots but all of them blocked.
40' A tussle seems to have broken out between Khabra and Suhair. Khabra is complaining he was elbowed by Suhair but the referee did not see it as it was behind his back. The referee does not book either but has a talk with both of them.
36' CHANCE- How did Diaz not score there? Brilliant closing down by Luna as he dispossesses Lakra. The ball breaks for Diaz. The forward goes past a defender and the keeper and tries to place it down the bottom-right corner. He misses the target.
33' Luna goes for goal directly with a shot but it was weak and Subhasish gathers it easily.
32' Suhair brings down Barretto in a dangerous area. KBFC with a good chance to try and punish North East from this freekick.
Match resumes!!
Match halts for a drinks break!!
30' Luna curls a nice ball in towards Diaz, who managed to get between Lakra and Flottmann. The forward got his head to it but the connection was weak as the ball goes out of play.
29' Some good pressing by NEUFC as it is not allowing its opponents much time on the ball in the middle of the park.
26' CLOSE- Santana did well to lift the ball over the wall but it did not dip as much as he would have wanted to. The ball sails above goal. That was not too far away.
25' BOOKING- Enes Sipovic of KBFC gets booked for catching Brown from behind. NEUFC freekick in a dangerous position, just outside the box.
24' Khabra lofts a great ball in an attempt to find Barretto. However, Subhasish gets to the ball first. Hernan Santana also did well to shield the ball from Barretto.
21' BOOKING- NEUFC's Gurjinder Kumar becomes the first player to get booked in the match.
21' A great ball played through to Diaz, who tried to square it to Sahal. But the cross is intercepted.
19 ' A period of pressure by NEUFC around KBFC's penalty-area, with Ralte and Suhair active in the flanks. The balls are coming in but Kerala dealing with them comfortably at the moment.
17' Sahal with a bursting run down the left flank with Barretto with a supporting run. A whipped ball down the six-yard line would have been ideal but Sahal cuts back and it was too late by that time. Sahal's eventual cross clared.
15' Luna's delivery inside the box from a KBFC freekick quite disappointing given his standards- it was flat and NEUFC clears the ball without much fuss.
13' Suhair has been NEUFC's most active player down the left flank. He has put in some decent balls inside the box but ntothing to trouble the Kerala defence.
11' Camara at the end of a coming together with Barretto, which throws the former on the ground. Barretto seems to have caught Camara's face. But it's nothing serious and Camara is already back up.
8' Nice bit of link-up play by KBFC players as they try to make something in the final third but NEUFC's backline ultimately catches them out.
6' NEUFC trying to use the flanks to penetrate the Kerala defence but the Tuskers maitaining their defensive shape.
4' First foul of the match as Camara brings down Luna. We are all well-versed with the tackling ability of Camara but that one wasn't well-timed.
3' Both teams still finding their feet in the game. It hasn't really taken off till now.
1' KICK-OFF!! (Jessel Carneiro wins the toss and picks the side. KBFC will operate from left to right in the first half. NEUFC will be starting the game).
7:32 PM- AND WE ARE UNDERWAY!!
7:15 PM- Last-minute drills before kickoff!!
7:00 PM- STAT: Will the jinx break?
Kerala Blasters FC has played a total of 11 matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium but won only one match. Last season, it played here four times, losing thrice and sharing points in the remaining fixture.
6:47 PM- Listen in to our season preview on a new episode of The Full Time Show:
6:35 PM- OFFICIAL LINEUPS ARE OUT!!
NorthEast United FC Playing XI (4-3-3): Subhasish Roy (GK), Patrick Flottmann, Provat Lakra, Gurjinder Kumar, Khassa Camara, Hernan Santana (C), Suhair Vadakkepeedika, Laldanmawia Ralte, Deshorn Brown, Lalkhawpuimawia and Pragyan Gogoi.
Subs: Michu (GK); Singh, Irshad, Shereef; Gallego, Medhi; Roccharzela, Coureur, Manvir
Coach: Khalid Jamil
Kerala Blasters FC Playing XI (4-4-2): Albino Gomes (GK), Enes Sipovic, Ayush Adhikari, Harmanjot Khabra, Jessel Carneiro (C), Sahal Samad, Adrian Luna, Jeakson Singh, Jorge Diaz, Vincy Barretto and Marko Leskovic.
Subs: Gill (GK); Sandeep, Nishu, Meitei, Bijoy; Khawlhring, Prasanth; Chencho, Vazquez
Coach: Ivan Vukomanovic
6:15 PM- From VP Suhair's composed finish to Apuia's golazoo, here is what happened when both teams met the last time.
6:00 PM- Here is how we think the two teams will lineup today!!
Northeast United FC Predicted XI: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury (GK) (C), Tondonba Singh, Provat Lakra, Jestin George, Mashoor Shereef, Federico Gallego, Khassa Camara, V.P. Suhair, Laldanmawia Ralte, Mathias Coureur, Deshorn Brown
Kerala Blasters FC Predicted XI: Albino Gomes, Sandeep Singh, Marko Leskovic, Jessel Carneiro (C), Jeakson Singh, Harmanjot Khabra, Adrian Luna, Sahal Abdul Samad, Prasanth Karuthadathkuni, Jorge Pereyra Diaz, Alvaro Vazquez
5:45 PM- Missed the previous match? We've got you covered with our ISL match reviews. Here's a recap of the OFC vs BFC fixture.
MATCH PREVIEW ISL 2021-22: Game against NorthEast United will be tougher than the opener, says KBFC coach Vukomanovic
Despite the 2-4 loss against ATK Mohun Bagan in the opener, Kerala Blasters' head coach Ivan Vukomanovic is not an anxious man. Kerala Blasters takes on NorthEast United in the Indian Super League ( ISL 2021-22) at Fatorda on Thursday and the Serbian sees it as a new opportunity.
“In football, the nice thing is that we have the next opportunity to play a new game,” said Vukomanovic on Wednesday.
Khalid Jamil's NorthEast, a semifinalist last season, also opened with a 2-4 defeat against Bengaluru FC but Vukomanovic feels the match will be a lot tougher than the opener.
“I think tomorrow's game will be harder. Every game is different, every game is hard. It depends on how you start, how you approach, we like to be more focused on ourselves, to control the game and try to make the game easier for ourselves,” said the Serbian. “And we want to play attacking football.”
Kerala Blasters will be without K. P. Rahul, the winger who provided a nice assist to Samad Abdul Sahal for the team's opening goal, who suffered an injury in the opener.
Meanwhile Alison Kharsyntiew, the NorthEast assistant coach, said he looked at Kerala Blasters with a lot of respect.
“They are a very good side, with a good coach and good players. We have to prepare very well, go with a strong mentality and do our best in every department to get the three points. But it will be a tough match,” he said.
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