The Hero Super Cup kicked off yesterday and two end-to-end matches were played. But if you ask any Indian football fan which was the most exciting one, everybody would point towards the second match i.e. between Kerala Blaster vs Round Glass Punjab. We have written another article on Super Cup an introductory one, do check out that one on our blog to get more insights about the tournament.
Kerala Blasters played their first match of the Super Cup against the newly promoted side Round Glass Punjab, to the Indian Super League. The tournament is being held at Kerala- the home of Blasters so an added pressure is upon them to do good in this tournament and end their trophy drought by lifting the trophy at home.
The match was end to end and not a minute would you find was boring. Blaster went ahead in the 1st half after a sloppy display by Round Glass Punjab handed them a penalty after Hmingthanmawia(Valpuia) which their star striker Diamantakos netted calmly. When the 2nd half resumed even though RG Punjab needed the goal to come back Blaster looked more on the attack and rightfully that paid off after Ayush Adhikari finds Danish Farooq with a through ball when he was making an inverted run at the edge of the opposition's box who crosses it back across the face of the goal to find Nishu Kumar the Left Back, which he slots it past the keeper to make it 2-0 at the 54'. The moment when we all thought Round Glass Punjab would give up they showed a renewed determination and RGP started to create chance after chance, finally they pulled one back when the brilliant Juan Mera showed creativity, and his cross got deflected towards No 7 Krishna who scored it on the far post with the brilliant but difficult finish. As RGP got busier on the attack to pull the equalizer back since the first goal, there were gaps left on the defense which Kerala Blaster took advantage 3-4 times. In added time in one such defensively weak moment a weak pass was intercepted by Rahul KP the young Indian pacy winger and carried the ball all the way to put past the RGP keeper and seal the victory for Kerala Blaster with a score line of 3-1.
Special Mentions:
Diamantakos: Scored from the spot kick with a composed finish and created trouble for the opposition defense throughout the match he was present.
Giannou: He was the creative spark for Blaster on the pitch.
Danish Farooq: Ran throughout the pitch, played the role of box-to-box role well and his brilliant movement gave Kerala Blaster the second goal.
Nishu Kumar: Identified the moment, positioned himself well and Scored the 2nd goal with composure, and was good on the build-up from the left-hand side.
Saurav: He was explosive on the right side of the field and gave the RGP defense several difficult moments. He earned the penalty for Blasters.
Sahal: He played well when he was shifted to the CAM position in the later stages of the match. From then he started showing his creative ability.
Vibin Mohanan: The young midfielder's work may go unnoticed but he was doing that CDM role perfectly. Committing himself to tackle, doing tactical fouls, and slotting back to fill the defensive gaps when full-back or any center-back was pushing upward.
Bidyananda: Came off as a substitute for Diamentakos, got some game time after 2 seasons, and proved his worth. 2 seasons before he did wonders in Ileague but got lost due to lack of game time in ISL. He made some explosive runs as a striker but unfortunately failed to score.
Bijoy: Haven't seen him much before but his performance against RGP as a CB was good. He looked like quite a good ball-playing CB with composure at his feet.
Kerala Blasters is missing their creative spot Adrian Luna in this tournament but yesterday it never felt like they were missing any spark. From creating offensive chances to defensive solidity they had a good display. Hope they will deliver same performances in this tournament from hereon.
Thank You.
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