ISL: Kerala Blasters FC vs FC Pune City - 5 talking points
Iain Hume celebrating his goal which won Kerala the matchGoing into their last game of the Indian Super League (ISL) both FC Pune City and Kerala Blasters FC, needed a win to proceed to the final round of the tournament. The final before the semi-final for the two teams was played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi to a packed audience. While Pune tried hard to push for the elusive goal first, then chasing an equaliser, it was the home team which pulled off an unlikely win and thereby cemented its place in the semi-finals.We take a look at the five talking points of the game:
#1 Pune\'s inability to finish off games
If there is anyone who is to be blamed for Pune's debacle it is the team themselves. Picture this Pune's first chance in the game came in the fourth minute. In the first half Pune's attacking index was well over 70 percent for the three-quarters, and they had five shots on target. In comparison, in the first half Kerala had just one proper shot on goal which was through the free kick outside the box which they converted.
Even in the dying seconds of the game, Pune got a few chances, but they were just unable to capitalize. Be it Kostas Katsouranis, Dudu Omagbemi, Krisztian Vadocz or Jermaine Pennant; they just couldn't finish the game in their favour. Eventually, they were left to rue all their lost chances, given that they lost the game with a solitary goal scored by Kerala. Perhaps it is also a reminder of how brutal the nature of the tournament really is and how tiring it can be for the players to keep on playing one game after another, without being completely match-fit.