KOCHI: Saturday’s match against Inter Kashi FC carried plenty of hopes for Kerala Blasters, facing a ‘weak’ opponent in its home ground. But under the gloomy skies of impending summer rains in Kochi, the galleries of Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium remained sombre. No loud cheers welcomed the team, nor did the massive yellow flags waved in celebrations.
The third ISL match of Kerala Blasters FC began much earlier than usual in broad daylight in Kochi. A few hundred yellow-clad fans were scattered across the eastern and western galleries of JLN Stadium.
The team, after multiple failed attempts, struggled to find net in the pitch. Through their loud speakers, the leaders of the fan group ‘Manjappada’ made fervent calls to the almost empty seats “Do not lose hope. Win or loss, we keep cheering for our team”.
Silence loomed harder in the stadium as Inter Kashi’s Lithuanian forward Nauris Petkevicius darted the ball past Blasters’ goal keeper Arsh in the 34th minute. But the atmosphere started gaining cheerfulness in the second half as mid-field substitutes Ebindas Yesudasan and Marlon Roos Trujillo started steering attacks for the home side. Right after Inter Kashi’s Spanish forward Alfred Moya’s well-timed finish in the 78th minute, a very well executed set-piece by Kerala Blasters found the target in the 84th minute.
As the free-kick from Ebindas was swiftly headed to the net by Victor Bertomeu, the yellow army celebrated the first goal of the team in the season. Blasters exhibited a thrilling performance from then on, but conceded a 2-1 defeat as the final whistle blew on 97th minute.
“The first half was bad, the second half was okay. Only after the substitution in the second half did the game start improving. The players who were substituted out in the second half should be benched for some time. The team is improving well after each game,” said Sudharshan, a fan.
“The galleries are empty mainly because of the time of the game which has been postponed from usual. People will prefer finishing the day’s work and coming to watch the game around 7. Also, only if we start winning games, more fans will start thronging the stadium,” said Vijay, a fan who came all the way from Idukki to support the home team.