Kerala Blasters might have the worst rep for an ISL club in Super Cup History, the Men in Yellow have never managed to reach the semi-finals of the competition and have gotten knocked out in qualification matches, even when everything was seemingly in favor of the Blasters, and this has been repeated again in a shocking 2-1 loss against a young Mohun Bagan side who fielded a lineup with a lion’s share of reserve team players.
The Blasters lined up with 4 foreigners on the pitch as captain Adrian Luna had to watch the game from the stands due to an injury. Mohun Bagan on the other hand only had the services of Nuno Reis, making his debut for the club, almost half a year after his signing. The Blasters fielded their almost full-strength first 11 senior squad while Bagan only had the services of Sahal, Ashique, Tangri, Dheeraj, Abhishek, Suhail and Dippendu from the Senior Team’s Bench with the latter two being reserve team players who were recently promoted, i.e., in the course of the previous 2 seasons.
Bagan under Bastab Roy were looking to play with a more defensive approach from the first minute of the game as the Super Giants mostly tried to be safe and attack through counters against the more senior opponent. The Blasters were attacking continuously since the starting minutes of the game, but Bagan looked more defensively compact as they managed to hold off the Blasters from scoring.
If you are someone who is a consistent reader of this page, you might’ve known about a small ‘ex-KB’ gag I threw in the last one, if you’re new here you can check it here. The same ‘ex-KB’ came to hurt the Blasters again as the former KBFC starboy, Sahal Abdul Samad broke the deadlock in favor of Mohun Bagan from an assist by Salahudheen Adnan, who also happens to be a former KBFC player.
The Blasters tried to come back into the game and score, but they were plagued by too many missed passes, especially in the midfield and towards the final third, not allowing them to create a proper goalscoring opportunity. The game proved to be too frustrating for the Blasters faithful and viewers in general, as even a cousin of mine commented “My school team plays better football than this.”, the overall gameplay by the Blasters in the game couldn’t be expressed in any better than this as the Blasters looked like amateurs against actual reserve players.
The Blasters had a chance in the 30th minute via a great run by Noah Sadaoui but his subsequent cross was cleared away by the Bagan defense. The Bagan defense had a scare in the 37th minute when a shot/cross by Hormipam sailed towards the goal, but it was parried away by a flying Dheeraj in goal (again and again ex-KB). Mohammed Aimen in his first start under David would also pose a threat to the Bagan defense in the add-on time of the first half but his shot sailed over the crossbar. The first half thus ended with a 1-0 scoreline in favor of Bagan.
The Blasters made a quick change at the start of the second half, bringing in Peprah in place of Aimen. Bagan were quick to exploit Milos’s lack of pace in the backline with Salahudheen as he created the first chance of the second half by beating Milos in a foot race and coming in a one-on-one with the keeper, but his effort was saved by Sachin in goal. Bagan wouldn’t have to wait too long for their second of the night as Ashique’s cross into the box was beautifully placed by Suhail gliding in between the Blasters’ defense in the 51st minute. The Kashmir-born young striker later dedicated his goal to the victims of the Pahalgam attack.
The Blasters made 3 substitutions in the 55th minute bringing in Aiban, Saheef and Sreekuttan in place of Hormipam, Noacha and Danish, who were all having a bad day at the office. The Blasters’ Spanish star striker, Jesus Jimenez had the most disastrous display of the night as the Spaniard failed to score from all of the chances, he got that evening, including a free tap-in opportunity, just yards out from the goal. Dheeraj capped a solid performance between the sticks, saving the Bagan defense when they failed momentarily.
Mohun Bagan substituted Suhail for Glan Martins in the 71st minute. Blasters substituted Lagator for Ebindas in the 80th minute. Ashique and Sahal were the most influential players in the game for Bagan and were toying with the Blasters’ defense in the dying minutes, taking away crucial minutes from the opposition by winning back-to-back corners to aid in their time-wasting tactics.
The game was more open in the second half and the Blasters created more chances but failed to convert from the said chances. Ebindas came close to pulling one back for the Blasters as his placement shot beat Dheeraj but was cleared off the line by the Bagan defense. Blasters finally pulled one back in the 90+3rd minute via Sreekuttan (his first goal for the senior team) but it was too late by then. The game ended 2-1 in favor of Bagan, ending the Super Cup hopes of the Blasters. A more than disappointing performance to cap off what has been a disappointing season.
David Catala was not impressed with how his team performed and it was evident from his press conference, while Bastab Roy would be overjoyed with the performance capped by his team and would be looking forward to their semi-final game vs FC Goa. The Blasters management is reportedly going for a major overhaul in the upcoming summer window in light of the disappointing season, with reports emerging predicting high-profile incomings and outgoings.
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