Delhi’s penalty fail sends Kerala into final

In a dramatic night of football, Kerala Blasters beat Delhi Dynamos 3-0 on penalties to set the titan clash with Atletico de Kolkata in their home stadium Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Sunday.

The Indian Super League final will be replay of the ISL 2014 final when Atletico de Kolkata played Kerala Blasters in Mumbai, albiet with different coaches on their side.

After the game ended at 2-2 on aggregate, none of the Dynamos, Malouda, Pelissari and Memo, could find the net while Currais and Belfort scored though German’s spot kick was saved by Doblas. Malouda and Pelissari blasted the ball over and Memo’s penalty kick was saved by Nandy on the right.

Despite the loss, Delhi showed exceptional character playing with 10 men almost the entire game and still displaying attacking football.

The first half was full of drama accounting to three goals, three bookings and a red card. The first 20 minutes were more like the teams settling in. Kerala looked at the game from the word go beginning the game with an attacking instinct. There was an early scuffle between Malouda and the Blasters’ players as Malouda was caught back and that set the temper and tempo of the game. 

Kerala looked much more in control not allowing Delhi to make movements and create an opening while Delhi seemed to lack lustre just like they seemed to be in Kochi. Against the run of play, Marcelinho broke the deadlock in the 21st minute. Tebar put a long ball towards Gadze which was read well by Didier Kadio but his clearance went straight to Marcelinho who made no mistake and slotted the ball into an empty net.

As the game heated up, Aaron Hughes got into the bookings in the 26th minute. Soon in the 28th minute, Milan Singh was shown a straight red card sending the home team down to 10 men. Milan raised his foot high and jabbed Mehtab Hossain on the knee. Lalchhawnkima completely disagreed with the referee’s decision and protested to the extent of getting himself booked. 

While Mehtab was stretched to the sidelines for treatment, he soon got to his feet and into the field. The temper didn’t go any down despite the flying cards as Currais fouled Marcelinho and was shown a yellow card in the 35th minute. Just about two minutes later, Mohammed Rafi seemed to have pulled his groin muscle and was substituted by Mohammed Rafique.

As the game reached the added time, Tebar shot a regulation free kick and found Rocha who headed it towards the goal and the ball went into the net touching Kadio’s head.

Post the break, in the 53rd minute, Malouda played forth through the line of Kerala defenders with expertise but a good final block by Kerala defender sent his shot flying high. Delhi had another good chance in the 58th minute as another one of Tebar’s free kick saw Rocha head at the goal but Nandy was up to the task this time and caught the ball with rather ease.

Just when the game looked to more of a pass display with the steam lowering, Kerala saw a golden chance in the 71st minute. Souvik misplaced a pass right towards Rafique who played a good link-up play with Vineeth but the latter’s diving header at the end went just wide. Kerala was fired up yet again and the substitute Antonio German put himself in the game with a thunderous shot from yards out that went just over.

In the 89th minute, as Delhi looked for a winner, some good head-on play by Delhi saw Malouda’s header go just over.

As the normal time whistle blew, the game advanced to the extra time with the aggregate being 2-2, the first leg scoreline being 1-0 in Kerala’s favour and the second leg normal time ending at 2-1 with Delhi ahead.

The first session of the extra time didn’t offer much to any of the teams but the best chance of the session fell for Delhi in the 94th minute when Malouda displayed excellent fitness as he received the ball, let it through on the left in empty space and ran from between two Kerala defenders and shot the goal, which was blocked by Nandy. The block fell straight to Marcelinho who couldn’t keep his shot low.

Delhi kept much of the ball and in the 100th minute, a good link-up play between Marcelinho and Tebar set up Malouda who’s shot was put out by Nandy.With none of the teams being able to create any real opportunity, the game ended at the aggregate of 2-2 and it was the penalties that were to decide the second finalist.