FC Goa on Thursday beat Kerala Blasters FC 1-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 season, achieving their 50th clean sheet in the competition. He remained in good shape. It was an intense and difficult match with both teams not giving up an inch. It was an interesting midfield battle, with Kerala Blasters FC favoring homegrown talents Bivin Mohanan and Freddie Laloumoma to face a midfield led by Karl McHugh from FC Goa.
The first chance of the match came from Iker Guaroxena, who hit the post from a well-planned free kick. It came off the practice field and caught opposing defenders by surprise. However, Sachin Suresh was completely beaten between the sticks and it hit the far post and was cleared.
The Gaurs continued to attack relentlessly after the half-hour mark and their persistence finally paid off as Sahil Tabora found Boris Singh in Acre’s space on the right. The winger tried his luck from a narrow angle but to everyone’s surprise Sachin Suresh was unable to parry the ball and eventually conceded in the 40th minute.
It was a difficult first season for Michael Staehle as the team dropped points due to some individual mistakes. One such incident took place today in which Sachin Suresh fluffed his lines but was otherwise very unconventional. This goal gave FC Goa the lead at the end of the first half, and the second period was dominated by the visiting team.
The Gaurs started the second half the same way they ended the first half. They almost doubled their lead when Dejan Drajic got behind the Blasters backline on the fast break. He ducked past Pritam Kotal but was eventually rejected by Sachin Suresh.
With Manolo Marquez’s team continuing to attack, Staehle decided to change things up in the 56th minute with a major substitution. Kwame Peprah, Kolo Singh and Sandeep Singh were introduced in place of Jesus Jimenez, Rahul KP and Pritam Kotal respectively.
Peprah quickly left the block and fired a diagonal ball of great weight to Noa Saadaoui. However, the Moroccan’s final ball to Luna was expertly blocked by Akash Sangwan. There were some problems for the hosts along the way, but the likes of Odey Onindia and Sandesh Jhingan calmly defended their fort.
In the 84th minute, coach Manolo made a substitution and brought on the trio of Armando Sadiq, Borja Herrera and Udanta Singh to energize the visiting team. FC Goa’s defense was called upon to attack again by the young Corot, who tried to score twice in quick succession but was thwarted on both occasions. The youngster was in a great position to equalize first, but was denied by a great block from Jhingan, who put his body on the line to protect the Gaurs’ lead.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
Leave a comment