Kochi: the coach of the Blasters Ivan Vukomanovic dressed the team giving preference to experience. Both teams played in 4-4-2. Aside from Apostolos Giannu and Dimitrias Diamantakos, the remaining nine players played last season.
Prabhsukhan Gill was the goalkeeper. In defense were the Croatian Marko Leskovic and the Indian Hormipam. Captain Jezel Carneiro and Harmanjot Khabra stood on either side. Puitia and Jackson Singh join Adrian Luna and Sahl Abdul Samad in midfield. They also had the responsibility of playing defense.
Kamaljit Singh is the East Bengal goalkeeper, employed by former India coach Stephen Constantine. Spaniard Ivan Gonzalez became the main defending player. Also present were Lalchungnua, Ankit Mukherjee and Karis Kiriakou. In midfield are Alex Lima, Souvik Chakraborty and Tuhin Das. The hero is Brazilian Clayton Silva and Malayalam actor VP Zuhair and Sumeet Pasi are on the move.
The game started with East Bengal moves. In the third minute, Zuhair shot a ball from Alex Lima but his weak shot went wide. The Blasters counter-move soon followed. Puitia extends the ball from center to Carneiro on the left.
The cross is aimed at Jianu but the ball is not high enough to reach. In the sixth minute the Yellow Army nearly scored. Leskovic failed to net Luna’s corner header. Calcutta’s counterattack in the 8th minute shocked the Blasters. The shot fired by Lima, who was advancing alone, was bravely blocked by goalkeeper Gill.
On 18 minutes, Blasters threatened the opposition again. This time a move from the right towards Sahal. The Malayalee player gave the ball to the area but the East Bengal defense avoided the danger. Jezel took the ball and shot but the result was disappointing.
Meanwhile, at 20 ‘, the corner of Lima is limited to Gill’s goal. On 26 minutes, Blasters came close to scoring again. Sahl’s progress. The midfielder’s Puitia ball missed the goal.
In the second half Blasters came out strong. In the 49th minute, Kamaljith parried a sensational shot from Jianu. In the 53rd minute, Luna’s goal was also thwarted by the Calcutta goalkeeper. Kamaljeet made four saves in five minutes. At 58 ‘Jianu catches the ball prepared by Puitia and this time the result is disappointing. The ball flew over the net. Meanwhile, the East Bengal counterattacks were thwarted by the defense of the Yellow Army. KP replaced Sahal in the 70th minute. Rahul was abandoned. Then the first goal was scored. At 75 ‘a shot from close range from Puitia misses the goal. With Ivan Kaliushny in place of Giannu and Bidyasagar in place of Puitia, the situation has heated up again.
