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NorthEast United FC vs Kerala Blasters FC

NorthEast United FC defeated Kerala Blasters FC in the second match of Hero Indian Super League played today at Indira Gandhi Stadium, Guwahati.

45th minute goal from Spaniard Koke was enough for NorthEast United FC to mark the day in favor of them.

Kerala Blasters started the match brightly and they kept the superiority throughout the match. But Kerala Blasters could not transform dominance into goals over NorthEast United.

Captain Penn Orji had a great day and he was seen as a source of power for Kerala Blasters with his great touches and creativity in the midfield. Canadian International midfielder Ian Hume was a great player to watch for Blasters and he created a number of goal scoring opportunities for his team at the right wing.

Ian Hume even netted in the 16th minute of the match but was ruled offside. Kerala had major portion of possession and more shots but it was not enough for them to get a goal.

Durga Boro, the local boy, made a fantastic long range effort on the goal but Kerala Blasters FC goal keeper, the experienced David James, rescued it by an absolutely incredible save, which got him 'Swift Moment of the Match' award.

Just after Boro's effort, it was Sergio Pardo, commonly known as Koke, who took advantage of poor clearance by Kerala Blasters defence and left no chance for KBFC goalkeeper David James and that was the lone goal of the match.

Team Kerala introduced Micheal Chopra and Andrew Barisic in place of James Mackallister and Stephen Pearson respectively, while NorthEast united substituted injured Durga Boro by Milan Singh. But it could not prevent the continuous attack by Kerala Blasters towards Northeast United goal.

Team Kerala seemed better team on the ball and have had a number of goals scoring opportunities, especially in the second half after the introduction of Indian origin English player Micheal Chopra. His brilliant effort in the 70th minute, after getting past couple of defenders, was saved by Greece International goalkeeper Alexandrose Tzorvas who also represented his nation during the 2010 World Cup. He was elected as the Hero of the match for his brilliant display in front of the Northeast United net throughout the game.

Korean substitute Do Dong Hyun almost made a 2-0 lead for NorthEast United in the dying minutes of the match after taking advantage of KBFC's defensive error but could not get past David James, who has the record of most number of clean sheets in English Premier League. The Korean was seen as speedy man on the ball and could do wonders for the team in upcoming matches.

Northeast United will face Atletico de Kolkata on 16th at home while Kerala Blasters will face Chennaiyin FC on 21st this month at Chennai, with a hope to coming back to the competition with a win.


Twitter: @Footyshekkeer

Atletico De Kolkata made a stunning start to the first ever Indian Super League by a convincing 3-0 victory over Mumbai City FC at Salt Lake Stadium Kolkata.

Goals from Fikru,Borja and Arnal were enough to get three vital points for the Kolkata team in front of almost 70 thousands of cheering fans.

Earlier, there had been a glittering opening ceremony for the inaugural Hero Indian Super League.The presence of celebrities, big business corporates and cricketers such as Sachin Tendulkar,Sourav Ganguly and Harbajan Singh made the event more attracting and of course Priyanka Chopra's spectacular dance also made the event more spicy.

Atletico De Kolkata started the match brightly and they had got the better chance among the two in early minutes of the match. Both teams took some time to settle down and the referee had to show as many as 5 yellow cards in the match. most of it came in the early minutes of first half.

Ethiopian International Fikru Teferra became the first ever goal scorer in Indian Super League in the 28th minute, after receiving a through pass from Luis Garcia and made no mistake in getting past Subrata Paul, the Mumbai City FC goal keeper.

After conceding a goal ,Mumbai City FC seemed better of the two and created more chances, but the Atletico De Kolkata goal-keeper Subashish Roy denied every goal scoring opportunity for the Mumbai Side. He has been absolutely fantastic in front of the goal. His spectacular saves in either half of the match helped ATK to keep clean sheet.

Introduction of Brazilian Attacking midfielder Andre Moritz made a huge impact in Mumbai City's midfield and we got to see some nice brand of footballing from the Mumbai side. But the marvelous 30 yard goal from Borja Fernandes at 70th minutes cemented the day for Atletico De Kolkata.

Arnal Libert ,who replaced Luis Garcia in the dying minutes of match, proved to be a worthy substitute by completing the score sheet after a stunning run to the goal mouth of Mumbai City ,to transform Fikru's pass into the final goal of the match.

Atletico De Kolkata will face Northeast United on 16th in their next match while Mumbai City will try to get their first victory when they face FC Pune City on 18th on home turf.


Twitter: @Footyshekkeer

Twitter: @Footyshekkeer

John Abraham with Faisal Siddiqui from HTC

NorthEast United FC unveiled their home and away jersey and announced HTC mobiles as their principal sponsor for the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League which gets underway today.

John Abraham ,the co-owner of the team and the team CEO Rahul Patil along with HTC India head Faisal Siddiqui was present in the unveiling of Jersey at Guwahati.

NEUFC is the youngest squad in the league and have marquee players like Spain's Joan Capedevila and Greece's Alexandros Tzorvas. Both of them have a good amount of experience playing in FIFA World Cup for their respective nations.The team is coached by Ricki Herbert who coached New Zealand in 2010 FIFA World cup.

NorthEast United is to begin their ISL journey on 13th this month against Sachin Tendulkar's co-owned Kerala Blasters FC at Indira Gandhi stadium, Guwahati.

Article contributed by: Abdul Shekkeer KM

Twitter: @Footyshekkeer

The 2014 Hero ISL fixtures have been announced. You can see the entire schedule here :

Hero ISL Fixtures 2014. Click on the image to enlarge