Kerala Blasters confirm parting of ways with coach Meulensteen
NEW DELHI: Indian Super League (ISL) side Kerala Blasters have parted ways with head coach Rene Meulensteen, the club confirmed on Tuesday. The Kochibased side, who are part-owned by legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, have failed to make much of an impact in the league despite making a number of high profile signings like Dimitar Berbatov, Wes Brown, Sandesh Jhingan and CK Vineeth before the start of the season.
They are currently eighth in the ISL standings having registered only one win in the last seven games, despite five of those games taking place in Kochi. “I’d like to thank the management, staff, players and amazing fans for this experience and wish them well for the future,” said Meulensteen in a statement.
“The club likes to thank Rene for all the hard work in his time at the club. The replacement would be announced soon,” said Varun Tripuraneni, CEO of Kerala Blasters in a statement.
Assistant coach Thanboi Singto will remain temporarily in charge of proceedings until the club gets a suitable replacement for Meulensteen. Kerala Blasters will play host to FC Pune City on January 4 before travelling to New Delhi to take on fellow strugglers Delhi Dynamos. NEW DELHI: The Indian Arrows might have surprised Mohun Bagan in the previous game in Kolkata, but there was no encore against Bagan’s chief Kolkata rivals East Bengal. Early goals from Mahmoud Amnah and Katsumi Yusa were enough to give East Bengal a 2-0 win over the young side and a four-point lead on the top of the I-league table, ahead of Minerva Punjab FC.
Indian Arrows coach Luis Norton de Matos had said on the eve of the game that Dheeraj Singh not renewing his contract to chase a future in Europe was a chance for No 2 Prabhsukhan Singh Gill to step up.
However, the youngster made a poor first impression on the big stage as East Bengal’s first goal was a direct result of his error.
After East Bengal, the away side, won a free-kick on the leftwing, Amnah fired a shot straight at the near post but what should have been a routine save ended in the net. This led to many questions after the game to head coach De Matos about how Dheeraj’s departure weakened the team.
De Matos insisted Gill could easily be as good as Dheeraj, who was India’s first-choice goalkeeper in last year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup at home. Dheeraj refused to accept the AIFF rule that all Arrows players must sign a three-year contract to stay.
“I believe Gill could be as good
as Dheeraj in the future because he has the potential, but right now he lacks the experience,” was the coach’s response when quizzed about Gill’s error.
De Matos felt Dheeraj, who will not turn 18 until July, has not acted wisely when he should have looked to gain experience first.
“There are certain people like agents who don’t sometimes understand what is best for a player. I believed it would have been better for Dheeraj to play I-league for a bit and then take trials abroad. As of now, he won’t
be able to play for another 7-8 months because he is not yet 18. And that is time lost for him. I even advised him against leaving. But I hope I’m wrong in thinking that this decision won’t be best for him,” said the Portuguese.
The manager allayed fears about other players also flying the coop mid-season, revealing that his other players are all contracted to the AIFF. East Bengal manager Khalid Jamil complimented the young side. “They played well today. They just got a little unlucky sometimes.”
BLASTERS WILL PLAY HOST TO FC PUNE CITY ON JAN 4 BEFORE TRAVELLING TO DELHI TO PLAY DYNAMOS