Kerala Blasters FC will face Jamshedpur FC in the second leg of the first semifinal at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Tuesday. The Southerners had taken a 1-0 advantage in the first leg but they would be aware that it may not be enough against a potent unit such as Jamshedpur FC. Thus, the Southerners will look to be aggressive in their approach as 1-0 lead in Football is mostly not enough.
On the other hand, Jamshedpur FC will aim to find the equalizer as soon as possible to achieve parity in the match. Owen Coyle’s team was at their best in the league stage and if they can bring the same kind of game in the second leg, they will be a dangerous unit for Kerala Blasters FC.
Jamshedpur FC had beaten Ivan Vukomanovic’s side by 3-0 back in February whereas the other match had ended in a 1-1 draw between these two teams earlier in the league stage.
Meanwhile, Jamshedpur FC has injury woes in their squad and it could be an issue for them in the big clash.
Here is what Ivan Vukomanovic said in the pre-match press conference, “Well, we won’t even look anymore at the last game, even that result 1-0. It doesn’t give us any guarantee, no security for tomorrow’s game. Tomorrow’s game is a new game. It’s a new day. We have to play with full concentration and focus on all the things that we want to achieve and show on the pitch. Tomorrow we are starting our game 0-0, like playing finals, actually, every game since we started this competition, it was like that because we don’t expect anybody to help us. We have to enter the fight, it will be a physical fight, it will be even harder and more difficult than the last one.”
Speaking on the team’s approach for the second leg, Owen Coyle said in the pre-match press conference, “We won’t be changing our approach. Anybody that watches Jamshedpur knows that we go every game with a winning mentality, and we have to win this match if we wish to progress to the finals and for that to happen, we need to score those two goals. In terms of our approach, similar to our final game of the season (league phase) against ATK Mohun Bagan, we knew that even a small margin or loss would have resulted in us being the Champions and the best team in the country, but we still approached the game to win the match, so our approach won’t change.”
Match: Kerala Blasters FC vs Jamshedpur FC, 1st Semifinal, 2nd leg.
Venue: Tilak Maidan Stadium, Goa.
Timings: 7:30 PM IST.
Live Telecast: Star Sports Network, Live Streaming: Disney Hotstar.
Prediction: Despite being down 0-1, Jamshedpur FC will enter the contest as favorites.
