KOCHI: In what has been a season to forget for both sides, Chennaiyin FC and Kerala Blasters will be competing in a dead rubber on Sunday with little but pride left to play for. While Chennaiyin have played some attractive football, their inability to hold onto victories and score goals have been their undoing this season.
In the last two matches, they conceded goals in injury time to settle for draws which ruled them out of the race for play-offs. Blasters on the other hand have had an indifferent campaign which also saw the departure of their head coach Kibu Vicuna. The team languish at tenth in the table and have lost three out of their last four matches. Both teams have seen better days with Chennaiyin having won the ISL trophy twice while Blasters have appeared in two finals. This encounter is more about finishing the season strongly ahead of the new season.
"We targeted to be in the top four until the last game against Goa. If we had won, mathematically we would have had the possibility to be in the top four. But against NorthEast United also, we lost crucial points," said Laszlo while expressing his disappointment at missing out on a play-off berth.
However, the Marina Machans are determined to get all three points in their final game of the season against Blasters to lift the spirits of their supporters.
"We want to show our fans, our club owners and everyone around us that we are still together and that we want to win this game. We won the first game against Jamshedpur and hopefully we are going to win our last game against Kerala. To close the season with a victory over Kerala, I think it will somehow be sweet," he added.
As for Blasters, their assistant coach Ishfaq Ahmed will be taking charge for the remaining two matches and he believes that the players will give a good account of themselves.
"We all know that it is a difficult situation and there is no time to change many things. But yes, there will be a few things that we want to improve, and we are working on that. The most important thing is that the boys are motivated even though we know that we have nothing to play for. For me, there is everything to play for, which is our pride, our self-respect and I think the players are up for these two matches," said Ishfaq.
It remains to be seen if Blasters will give opportunities to some of the younger players in the team. In the last match, 20-year-old Ayush Adhikari made an appearance as a second-half substitute. "It was an absolutely memorable day for me, and I felt really good. I've been working hard since the first day and I finally got a chance to play for the Blasters," said Ayush.