ISL 2021-22: We deserved the victory: Kerala Blasters FC’s Ivan Vukomanovic

Kerala Blasters FC head coach Ivan Vukomanovic has stated that his team deserved to win against defending champions Mumbai City FC at the Tilak Maidan Stadium, Goa in the 62nd match of the Hero Indian Super League on Wednesday. The Southerners defeated the Islanders by 3-1 to clinch three crucial points in the competition.

This win takes Kerala Blasters to the fourth spot in the standings and they are now two points ahead of fifth-placed Mumbai City FC. Thus, if Kerala Blasters FC will win their next match against FC Goa, they will make it to the semifinal stages.

Meanwhile, Sahal Samad scored the opening goal for Kerala Blasters in the 19th minute. Subsequently, Alvaro Vazquez scored through the penalty in the 45th minute. Vazquez once again found the back of the net as he scored in the 60th minute of the game. Diego Mauricio scored through the penalty for Mumbai City in the 71st minute but it was not enough to stage a comeback.

Ivan Vukomanovic said in the post-match press conference, “Yeah, this is a good point for good teams to perform when you need to, you need to be on top to perform well and to show the strong points. We knew that we would be playing against a very good team with many great individual quality players. We knew from the very beginning that if we went out and tried to play with the high pressure and tried to press them all the time we could create something actually because in our previous games we wanted to perform and wanted to show the things that he would like to explore on the pitch. And actually today, it was the case that we wanted to play high”.

He added, “With high pressure, we wanted to press them high to try to score goals and it happened in the first half, I think that we were in that moment the better side. The second half, it was a little bit more difficult, because we knew that they would change the formation, and then we wanted to organize defensively so, close down the channels, not to allow them to get a lot between our lines and then try to hit them back with maybe faster breaks. Then the third goal we got was kind of present. But in the end, I think that we deserved it. Anyway, I think that Mumbai City FC has a great coach, they have a great vision, they have a great group of players. It’s always tough to play against them”.

On the other hand, Sahal Samad has shown the right skills as a youngster and once again delivered for the Yellow Army. Samad has been ticking the right boxes and he would look to continue the good show.

Vukomanovic added, “Yeah, but Sahal is one of the players who has a good big progression as a football player. These kinds of things you have to unlock in one part of your career. These boys when they are growing up, when they are becoming better they start showing themselves on the pitch and they start showing the quality and I am very happy for him scoring five goals already this season. He can improve even more. I think that if we continue working together, he can probably be even better. So not only him, we have a young squad, one of the youngest squads in the Hero ISL. Many of those boys have never played the Hero ISL. They’re experiencing that for the first time this year. I’m very happy for all of them. They are improving a lot. They’ve been doing a great job since we started and it’s a long time ago already. It makes you feel good as a coach. And hopefully now with the last game, we will try to end the season with beauty and to have a great ending, and then we’ll see if we are in the playoffs or not. But hopefully, the fans will enjoy it”.

In fact, Kerala Blasters will qualify for the last four if they will draw their next match against FC Goa.

Vukomanovic concluded, “We mentioned many times that we as a team are coming from far away with the last five years of disappointment and many things that have happened even this season. We are the team with a full building up process with a young team and we cannot calculate now and say we need only one point. Nobody gave us anything this season, we had to fight for every point and the last game will be the same. So, we will have to fight for 90-95 minutes for these points to achieve the things we want and hopefully, that will be there. So, we will see. We have to wait till Sunday and then we’ll hope for the best”.

Kerala Blasters will next face FC Goa at the Athletic Stadium, Bambolim on Sunday.