“Unbelievable. Kerala Blasters might be getting knocked out of the Super Cup in the most Kerala Blasters way” – Pulasta Dhar, Commentator. This comment was felt by each and every Kerala Blasters fan who watched the game yesterday. A self-sabotage, by all means: an embarrassing and unprofessional double yellow-red card in the first half, followed by an own goal at the death of regulation time.
And now, we’re here to document just another one among the ‘affectively’ countless tragedies of Kerala Blasters Football Club, a saga so dramatic that it would bring even William Shakespeare to tears.
Chapter 1 – Prologue: The beginning of the end
The beginning showed promise; Kerala Blasters lined up in their most attack-minded lineup yet, utilizing all six foreigners, as Tiago Alves took the place of Nihal from the previous 11 against Delhi. Mumbai City lined up with half the foreigners compared to the Blasters, with only 3 changes from their previous game, putting in Bijay, Zothanpuia, and Phurba, replacing Alva, Toral, and Rehenesh.
Kerala Blasters enjoyed more or less a good start, with the first best attacking movement of the game coming within the 5th minute of the game, when Luna slid in a great through ball for Tiago Alves, but the Portuguese forward couldn’t convert. This move was followed by Koldo Obieta testing Phurba in the 10th minute, but the shot wasn’t threatening enough.
The Blasters looked threatening but almost always fell short of fully penetrating Mumbai’s defense, while Mumbai tried to spring a goal from counters but were denied by the Blasters’ defenders. Ortiz popped a long ranger in the 22nd minute but was denied by Nora. The game felt like it was destined to be a goalless draw, but no one watching knew destiny had other plans.
Chapter 2 – “The snake that bites its own tail”
Ouroboros, the snake that bites its own tail. The symbol of the cyclical nature of life or an endless loop. The Ouroboros behavior, the biological phenomenon where the snake cannibalizes itself under stress. I can’t fathom the possibility of the existence of a better terminology to aptly describe the predicament that the Blasters always seemingly seek.
A minute less than half an hour into the game, Sandeep Singh erred for the first time, a poor tackle, a failed attempt to stop Zothanpuia’s forward pass, the action which was a result of a first-touch mishap from Sandeep, and earned Sandeep his first yellow of the game.
Just 20 minutes later, Sandeep made his second, final, and fatal error: a slip on the poorly maintained Fatorda pitch near the halfway line, gave Vikram an opportunity to run past Sandeep, and the latter pulled him down to avoid the same, fatally forgetting he was already on a yellow card and the foul he was about to commit was another surefire yellow card.
The referee had no room for second thoughts as he took out the yellow card and subsequently the red card from his pocket, giving Sandeep his marching orders. The Blasters are now down to 10 men with a whole half left to play. Sandeep was later seen in the stands, deeply saddened by his actions, but sadly, there was nothing he could change as the damage was already done. Catala was seen fuming on the touchline, as the Blasters went into the break with a man axed.
Catala was inclined to go more defensive (esp. with every passing substitution) in the second half, a sensible decision considering the circumstances, but a decision which would end up backfiring in the worst possible way imaginable.
First defensive change came at the beginning of the second half, substituting Noah Sadaoui for Aibanbha Dohling. The game still looked in control of the Blasters in the opening few minutes despite being down to 10 men, and they almost scored in the 57th minute when a Bikash throw-in found Juan in the opposition box, but his header was parried away by Lachenpa in goal.
Both the coaches then approached their benches with opposing intentions as Kratky subbed off Zothanpuia, Vikram, for Brandon and Toral, while Catala traded attackers for defenders, swapping Korou and Tiago for Naocha and Freddy. These changes would end up being the turning point of the match, as we will soon see.
Cutting away the forward options and making the Blasters go deeper only gave Mumbai the freedom to attack more and more continuously, forcing the Blasters’ defense to be densely packed into a block, something akin to the reactor core at Chernobyl, with the pressure increasing every passing moment.
Obieta’s injury forced the Blasters to bring on Nihal, meaning the only physical presence in the attack was also now gone. The pressure increased per minute, and the lines were showing signs of weakness, with the first sign appearing on the 80th minute when Aiban’s attempt to chest down a ball almost let the ball be served on a platter for Ortiz in the box, but a timely intervention by Juan forced Ortiz’s shot to go just wide for a goal kick.
85th Minute, Catala followed on his ‘AZ-5’ from the 62nd minute, subbing the last offensive foreign player, and the only creator in the team, Adrian Luna, for Danish Farooq. Mumbai substituted Bijay for Nikum.
We’re finally here, 87:42 – Explosion: The pressure inflicted by continuous attacks has reached its peak and crept into the Blasters’ defenders, waiting for a small lapse to explode. A seemingly harmless ball is floated into the box by Jorge Pereyra Diaz (obviously), Nora Fernandez rushes for a moment to collect it but halts seeing Freddy standing to clear the ball with his feet, Saheef rushes in, they both collide, and the chain of disaster is now complete, as everyone watched the deflected ball cross the line just beyond the reach of Nora.
Mumbai City are now 1-0 up, with just barely 2 minutes to go till the end of regulation time. The Blasters try to go on the offensive, but with no attackers except Nihal remaining on the pitch, their fate is now sealed. The 7 minutes of injury time painfully run out as the Kerala Blasters are knocked out of the Super Cup, in the most Kerala Blasters way.
Chapter 3 – Epilogue: the end is the beginning
Despite all that happened, I don’t wish to end this article as just a mere dramatized account of the events of the heartbreaking end to the campaign that we suffered yesterday. For all the darkness we find ourselves in, there are some rays of hope as well. Despite losing the game, the performances by Nora Fernandez in goal have given an answer to the GK dilemma that the Blasters faced in the previous season.
The center-back pairing of Juan and Bikash has been solid in all three games of the Super Cup. The new foreign faces for the club have more or less impressed, and their attempts at combinational play have looked promising. These are a few positives we saw this Super Cup, and the truth is we’re only gonna be better by the time the season begins. Catala has more time to let the domestic top brass adapt to his system and fix the weaknesses he sees in the squad.
With the January window upcoming and the ISL season yet to begin, the coach and the management have the time to make this team even better, and hopefully, they do so.
Indian Super League is expected to start in late December or early to mid-January.
Kerala Blasters will be back….
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