Zico’s boys score five against Kerala to enter semifinals
KOCHI: They say well begun is half done. What they didn’t tell Kerala Blasters is that another half remains to be done. After raising hopes of a miracle with a second-minute goal, the hosts imploded to crash out of the playoff race with a 1-5 defeat against FC Goa.
A day before the match, head coach Terry Phelan had summed up the season well. “We have created some wonderful chances and conceded silly goals.” Well, at least the team stayed consistent on that front.
On Sunday, the hosts conceded silly goals, although not before creating, and more importantly, finishing a wonderful chance. Kerala hit the ground running and scored yet another early goal after a perfect link-up play between Pulga and Antonio German.
Kerala conceded twice in the next half hour after their defence was caught napping. In the 12th minute, the usually solid Peter Ramage stood still as Goa forward Reinaldo received a cross and played it for Joffre who coolly put away the chance. The 29th minute saw Leo Moura play the ball through the entire Kerala back four for an on-target Reinaldo.
For Kerala, all attacks came from German, who was trying to score for the fifth game running. Unfortunately, the Englishman’s speed bursts were coupled with indecision.
The match was effectively decided at half-time with Kerala midfielder Josu Currias seeing red in more ways than one. After an elbow from Joffre, Currias came back and shoved him off the pitch after a tussle. Notwithstanding a busted lip, the Spaniard was sent off immediately.
The second half saw home fans leave in droves as Goa picked off the 10-men Kerala, with Reinaldo completing his hat-trick and Mandar Desai getting on the scoresheet.
“After allowing two sloppy goals and playing with a man down, you need to show some resilience when you’re chasing the game,” said Phelan at the post-match conference.
Goa head coach Zico meanwhile said there was no time to relax. “Leo (Moura) is out of the next match because of fourth yellow card. We will look to get the formation right in the next game ahead of the play-offs,” he said.