Chennaiyin FC got off to a best possible start with a convincing
2-1 win over Jamshedpur FC and will go into Sunday’s Indian Super League (ISL) match against Kerala Blasters FC at the GMC Stadium, with momentum and confidence on its side.
CFC, who finished runner-up last year, produced a clinical performance in its opening match taking an early 2-0 lead. It could have even had a better margin of victory had it managed to convert more of its chances especially, in the first half.
Speaking ahead of the Southern Derby, CFC coach Csaba Laszlo said, “We know our opponent well. We will have to try to control the game. Kerala is a good team and its coach is spending his second year in India. He knows Indian football well, but he is new to the team. We will have to see how our team reacts.”
ISL 2020-21 COVERAGE
“This is not just a game, it is a derby. We have to control the game and sometimes, we have to also control ourselves. I think we will continue what we began with. We have our style and, we will try to work on our style," he added.
On the other hand, Blasters are on the backfoot searching for its first win after
a loss and
draw in its two games so far against ATK Mohun Bagan and NorthEast United FC respectively. In both games, the team conceded goals in the second half, and in the second one squandered a 2-0 lead to come away with just a point.
Blasters coach Kibu Vicuna conceded the team needed to be more proactive in the coming matches. “It is true, we had more possession of the ball than (both our) opponents but what we want to do is create more chances," Vicuna said.
“We have just a point but we did a lot of good things. We have had to improve in both areas – offensive and defensive and we are in the process,” he added.
Match facts
Time: 7.30 pm IST
Venue: GMC Athletic Stadium, Bambolim
Squads
Kerala Blasters: Albino Gomes, Bilal Khan, Prabhsukhan Singh Gill, Muheet Khan; Costa Nhamoinesu, Nishu Kumar, Bakary Kone, Jessel Carneiro, Sandeep Singh, Abdul Hakku, Lalruatthara; Sergio Cidoncha, Sahal Abdul Samad, Vicente Gomez, Seityasen Singh, Rahul KP, Givson Singh, Lalthathanga Khawlhring, Yendrembam Denechandra, Nongdamba Naorem, Arjun Jayaraj, Ayush Adhikari, Jeakson Singh, Prasanth Karuthadathkuni, Ritwik Das, Rohit Kumar; Gary Hooper, Jordan Murray, Facundo Pereyra, Naorem Mahesh Singh, Shaiborlang Kharpan
Chennaiyin FC: Karanjit Singh, Vishal Kaith, Revanth BY, Samik Mitra, Eli Sabia, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Enes Sipovic, Lalchhuanmawia Fanai, Reagan Singh, Deepak Tangri, Aqib Nawab, Remi Aimol, Ganesan Balaji, Anirudh Thapa, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Rafael Crivellaro, Memo Moura, Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev, Edwin Vanspaul, Thoi Singh, Dhanpal Ganesh, Germanpreet Singh, Abhijit Sarkar, Sinivasan Pandiyan, Aman Chetri, Esmael Goncalves, Jakub Sylvestr, Rahim Ali
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