Kerala Blasters: Season preview, fixtures and squad

Here is Kerala Blasters' complete season preview, squad and full list of fixtures for the 2018 Indian Super League.

Kerala Blasters FC 's coach David James, during the Indian Super League media day, in Bengaluru.

The state of Kerala is going through its worst period in history. It hasn’t yet recovered from the devastating floods that claimed nearly 500 lives and displaced a million. Among the districts most badly hit is Ernakulam, the base of Kerala Blasters.

The team, therefore, had to move its pre-season training to Ahmedabad. The Blasters had been humbled by formidable rivals Melbourne City and Girona FC in the La Liga tournament at Kochi in July. Nobody expected the Blasters to stun those far superior sides, but conceding 11 goals in those two matches must have hurt the team and its fans. At the ISL, the Blasters are, of course, not going to face opponents having quality anywhere near as those two foreign clubs. Still, it will have to come up with a better show than it managed in the last edition of the tournament, in which it ended up sixth.

 

FULL PREVIEW|  Deluge wets Kerala Blasters’ gunpowder!

 

Kerala Blasters' fixtures (Till the mid-season break in December)

All matches start at 19:30 IST

 

Home fixtures: [Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi]

 

October 5:

Kerala Blasters FC vs Mumbai City FC

October 20:

Kerala Blasters FC vs Delhi Dynamos FC

November 5:

Kerala Blasters FC vs Bengaluru FC

November 11:

Kerala Blasters FC vs FC Goa

December 4:

Kerala Blasters FC vs Jamshedpur FC

December 7:

Kerala Blasters FC vs FC Pune City

 

Away fixtures:September 29:

ATK vs Kerala Blasters FC

Venue: Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata

October 29:

Jamshedpur FC vs Kerala Blasters FC

Venue: JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur

November 2: FC Pune City vs Kerala Blasters FC Venue: Balewadi Stadium, Pune

November 23:

NorthEast United FC vs Kerala Blasters FC Venue: Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati

November 29:

Chennaiyin FC vs Kerala Blasters FC Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai

December 16:

Mumbai City FC vs Kerala Blasters FC Venue: Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai

 

The squad: Goalkeepers:  Dheeraj Singh, Naveen Kumar and Sujith Sasikumar. Defenders  Anas Edathodika, Cyril Kali, Lalruatthara, Mohamad Rakip, Nemanja Lakic-Pesic, Sandesh Jhingan and Pritam Singh. Midfielders:  Courage Pekuson, Deependra Negi, Halicharan Narzary, Hrishi Dhath, Keziron Kizito, Loken Meitei, Nikola Krcmarevic, Prasanth K., Sahal Abdul Samad, Seiminlen Doungel, Suraj Rawat and Zakeer Mundampara. Forwards:  C. K. Vineeth, Matej Poplatnik and Slavisa Stojanovic.