ISL 2016: NorthEast United FC vs Kerala Blasters

ISL 2016 has started on Saturday and the opening ceremony had Jacqueline Fernandez, Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and many more celebrities performing at the ceremony.

ISL is into its third season after two successful seasons in the last couple of years. It is to football fans what IPL is to cricket fans, as many would say ‘football is not just a game, it’s a religion’.

After the opening ceremony, the first match: NorthEast United FC vs Kerala Blasters commenced and here is what happened.

NorthEast United FC started their campaign in ISL 3 with a win over Kerala Blasters in Guwahati on Saturday.

NorthEast United was in an attacking mode since the start of the opening match with all their stickers, Holicharan Narzary, Nicolas Velez and Emiliano Alfaro in attacking positions. On the other hand, Kerala blasters were focused on the defending and they succeeded in implementing their strategy till the first half of the match.

But it was the second half that decided the fate of both these teams. Both the goalkeepers were equally busy in the second half as goalposts were attacked furiously by both teams to gain the lead. NorthEast United came back with full force in the second half when Japanese forward Katsumi Yusa scored the first goal in the 55th minute, which was also the first one of the tournament.

Kerala Blasters tried hard for a comeback but their game was nowhere near to that of NorthEast United players and the match resulted in the favor of NorthEast FC.

Keeping aside the result, the weak defence of NorthEast United was exposed in the second half when their opponents were trying to score. Katsumi Yusa’s goal may have resulted in a win but a lot of loopholes were revealed in the team’s defence, giving them a reason to worry for their future games.

Rohan Jaitly
2 Oct 2016