In their first game of the season, Kerala Blasters won 0-2 against Inter Kashi at Balewadi Stadium, Pune. Local boy Vibin Mohanan scored the opener in the 18th minute. The second goal came from Andre Green in second-half stoppage time. The away team had most of the possession in the first half and Kashi showed signs of a resurgence in the second.
Kerala Blasters head coach Ashley Westwood chose the 4-2-3-1 formation. The KBFC squad was bolstered with some quality new aarivals in the form of Nebojša Kosović in the midfield and James Bolton in defense with Green playing on the left wing. Sreekuttan MS was the sole striker up front, Korou Singh in the right and Freddy controlling the attacking midfield area. Freddy and Vibin were two of the standout players of the game. Westwood also brought in Momo Yansane, Paul, Ebindas, Sanan, and longtime blasters player Sandeep Singh in the second half.
Despite the win and controlling the midfield throughout the course of the season opener, Blasters are far from convincing. Especially, the final-third of the pitch saw very little action from the front players. Andre Green despite the goal had a poor game today. He had multiple failed dribbles with the Kashi defense making it look easy marking him. Every time the ball went to him the Englishman was confident enough to push forward with little to no results. Momo who came in the second half had very little to do like most other substitutes. Fan favorite Adrian Luna was on the stands watching the game along with Fallou Ndiaye- both of them are expected to be on the pitch in upcoming weeks.
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It was not an easy win as the scoreboard says. Blasters had to fight for not conceding a goal in the closing stages of normal time- something they have been doing over the past few seasons. Kashi came close after making multiple changes. They almost did when two substitutes Sreekuttan VS sent a through ball towards Ayush Chhikara. The young striker was inches off the low driven cross and if that went in the away side would have faced pressure in the final minutes. Inter Kashi as a team had very little time to prepare for the tournament and has fielded zero foreign players. Their coach Carlos Pinto gets the credit for making sure this young team did not fear the opposition throughout the match.
The Blasters will travel to Guwahati to face Northeast United on 18 October. It will be a tough task to beat the men in white at their backyard. First home game at Kochi is against Mumbai City on the 25th of this month.