ISL 2016: Delhi Dynamos 2-1 Kerala Blasters (0-3 pen) - Player Ratings
The Kerala Blasters will play the final of ISL 2016 at home against Atletico de Kolkata after a penalty shootout that saw the Delhi Dynamos miss all their penalties. Despite Antonio Germans penalty being brilliantly saved by Antonio Doblas, the Blasters had Josu, Kervens Belfort and Mohammad Rafique scored from the spot to send the Blasters to a final in front of their adoring fans.
Delhi had won the second leg 2-1 despite being down to ten men since the 28th minute. Milan Singh’s red card didn’t deter Gianluca Zambrotta’s side. Marcelinho and Ruben Rocha scored for Delhi while Duckens Nazon scored for Kerala.
Here’s how each player fared:
Delhi Dynamos
Antonio Doblas – 6/10
Doblas was tested nowhere near enough by the Kerala attackers. He would not have expected such an easy outing after Milan was sent off. He made a horrible error as he rushed out of his area and CK Vineeth took the ball away from him, but Ruben Rocha stole the ball away from the Kerala man’s feet.
Lalchhawnkima – 6/10
Kim Kima had a middling game. He wasn’t spectacular and didn’t make any mistake, which is what Zambrotta would have wanted from him in the first place. He was helped by Kerala’s approach as they didn’t flood forward enough.
Anas Edathodika – 7/10
Anas stood tall for Delhi, as he has done for a large part of the last two seasons. He made one mistake on the night and was suitably punished. He stood off Nazon and kept backing away and the Haitian punished him with a rocket of a shot past the hapless Doblas.
Ruben Rocha – 8/10
Like Anas, Rocha had a terrific game. he did not give Nazon, Belfort or Vineeth a sniff. He even got the goal that got Delhi level on aggregate as he rose highest to head in Tebar’s set-piece.
Souvik Chakraborty – 6/10
Souvik ended another fabulous season on a personal level with another steady performance. He was unspectacular but very effective. He did get beaten on a few occasions by Rafique, but he recovered well to thwart him.
Marcos Tebar – 6/10
Tebar controlled the tempo of the game, as he bossed the centre of the park. His passing, his positioning, his reading of the game, everything was terrific. He even put in fabulous set-pieces all through the game that tested Sandip Nandy. He even played a stunning no-look pass to Marcelinho, only for the league’s top-scorer to fluff his lines.
Milan Singh – 4/10
In an unfortunate end to what was a brilliant tournament for the man from Manipur, he was sent off for a horrible challenge on Mehtab Hossain.
Florent Malouda – 7/10
During open play, Malouda was a class apart. His movement, ball control and dribbling caused problems for the Kerala defenders all game. But, his penalty was diabolical. Being the marquee player and taking the first penalty, he had to set the tone with a confident take, but he skied his penalty horribly.
Marcelinho – 6/10
The league’s top-scorer added to his tally to move on to double figures for the season. But apart from his goal, he had a couple of big chances to kill Kerala off in normal time. By his standards, he should have put those away.
Kean Lewis – 5/10
After a spectacular start to the season, he seemed to fade away as the league went on – none more than the two legs of the semifinals. He barely made an impact going forward, as he could not dribble past the defenders and his passing was off the mark too.
Richard Gadze – 5/10
Again, Gadze was well-marshaled by Aaron Hughes and Cedric Hengbart. He was very quiet before he was replaced by Memo in Delhi’s only substitution of regulation time.
Substitutes
Memo – 4/10
Memo had a couple of shots from outside the box in extra-time but neither of those troubled Sandip Nandy. His penalty was half-hearted and was comfortable for Nandy to save.
Chinglensana Singh – 5/10
He came on with 20 minutes of extra time remaining, but Kerala did not make him work, near as much as they should have.
Bruno Pelissari – 2/10
He came on in the second half of extra time, and the penalty in the shootout was among the prime reasons for Zambrotta to bring him on in place of Marcelinho. But when the big moment came, he skied his penalty in a horrible effort.