Received by Football Sports Development Ltd. chairperson Nita Ambani, who seemed elated at the opportunity to watch the game besides him, Pele seemed in high spirits. A minute before the goal, Pele almost got up from his chair in excitement when Jamie Gavilan Martinez’s shot came back off the horizontal.
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A depleted ATK rode on Izumi Arata and Javier Lara’s strikes to beat Kerala Blasters FC 2-1 in their first home match this season as they next take on FC Pune City on October 17.
Kerala, who are coached by former English global Peter Taylor, were unimpressive for majority of the game, but showed a few urgency in the later stages when Chris Dagnall pulled one back in the 80th minute.
Atletico de Kolkata won the league after defeating Kerala Blasters in the final and both teams started the new campaign with a victory in the respective fixtures. In the 49th minute, Izumi was brought down from behind on the right by Ramandeep Singh and the latter was booked for it. The resulting delivery from the set piece by Lara found Hume who flicked it over the bar. Defensive mistakes cost them the match against Atletico de Kolkata, while a narrow 1-0 loss to Delhi Dynamos has seen them start the second edition of the ISL on a disappointing note.
Atletico doubled its lead in the 53rd minute capping a fine move that saw Hume setting up Lara inside the Blasters’ box with a nice lay-off.
Atletico made their first change in the 57th minute with Izumi coming off for Clifford Miranda.
The all-English attack in Sanchez Watt and Chris Dagnall mainly remained immobile as it was mostly a one-way traffic for ATK who held the possession for most part of the match.
Despite losing Mehtab Hossain for a second yellow card, Kerala kept on mounting pressure to level the score. The Blasters had the last chance of the game, with Dagnall’s shot from inside the penalty box saved by Calatayud yet again.
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With the win ATK now have seven points from three outings, while the Blasters are on four points from three matches.
