Jump to content

User:ArsenalFan700/2014 Kerala Blasters FC season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
< User:ArsenalFan700

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by ArsenalFan700 (talk | contribs) at 00:15, 13 March 2015. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Kerala Blasters
2014 season
General ManagerViren D'Silva
Head CoachDavid James
StadiumJawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Indian Super League4th
FinalsRunners-up
Top goalscorerLeague: Iain Hume (4)
All: Iain Hume (5)
Average home league attendance49,111[1]
2015 →

The 2014 season was the first ever season of competitive football played by the Kerala Blasters. The team managed to secure qualification for the Indian Super League finals on 9 December 2014, after finishing the regular season in fourth position. They managed to make it to the final, but were defeated by Atlético de Kolkata through a stoppage time goal.

The Kerala Blasters signed on former England international, David James, as their first ever coach in August. The team also drafted in India internationals such as Mehtab Hossain, Sandip Nandy, Chinadorai Sabeeth, Renedy Singh, Ishfaq Ahmed, and Nirmal Chettri. The Kerala Blasters also selected an international foreign player, Canadian international Iain Hume before signing on former Scottish internationals Jamie McAllister and Stephen Pearson outside the draft.

After starting the season with five straight away games, the Blasters found themselves with only four points. Once the team started playing home games they gained 11 points from the next five games. Another 4 points from their final four games were enough for the team to qualify for the finals. The finals started off very well for the Kerala Blasters as they defeated Chennaiyin 3–0 away from home in the first leg of the semi-finals. Despite giving up that lead in the second-leg, an extra-time goal from Stephen Pearson ensured that the Kerala Blasters qualified for the final. In the final, the club were defeated 1–0 by Atlético de Kolkata through a last-minute strike by Mohammed Rafique.

Background

Main article: Indian Super League

In early 2014, it was announced that the All India Football Federation, the national federation for football in India, and IMG–Reliance would be accepting bids for ownership of eight of the nine selected cities for the inaugural Indian Super League (ISL), a franchise tournament modelled along the lines of the Indian Premier League for cricket.[2] On 13 April 2014 it was announced that the rights to the Kerala franchise were won by former India cricket captain, Sachin Tendulkar, and serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and educationalist, Prasad V Potluri.[3] Then, on 27 May 2014, the teams official name was unveiled as the 'Kerala Blasters FC' which is based on the nickname of co-owner Sachin Tendular, the master blaster.[4]

Construction of the team for the first season started on 22 July when the Kerala Blasters, along with the other seven franchises, took part in the domestic draft to select the first fourteen Indian players in each team.[5] India international Mehtab Hossain was the first draft pick made by Kerala Blasters and thus the first player in Kerala Blasters history.[6] At the end of the draft, the Blasters were composed of fourteen players, including Hossain: Avinabo Bag, Sandip Nandy, Chinadorai Sabeeth, Luis Barreto, Milagres Gonsalves, Ramandeep Singh, Renedy Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Ishfaq Ahmed, Gurwinder Singh, Nirmal Chettri, Sushanth Mathew, and Godwin Franco.[7]

On 13 August 2014, former England international goalkeeper, David James, was announced as the first head coach of the Kerala Blasters and the first marquee player in team history, thus coming in as a player-head coach.[8] Then, on 21 August 2014, the team participated in the international draft in which each team selected seven foreign players to join their team.[9] Former Newcastle United forward Michael Chopra was the first foreign player drafted by the Kerala Blasters.[10]

Signings

Other signings

No. Position Player Last club Date Ref
70 GK England David James Iceland ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar 13 August 2014 [11]
3 DF Scotland Jamie McAllister England Yeovil Town 23 August 2014 [12]
18 MF Nigeria Penn Orji India Mohammedan 1 September 2014 [13]
27 FW Australia Andrew Barisic Hong Kong South China 1 September 2014 [13]
25 MF Scotland Stephen Pearson England Bristol City 1 September 2014 [14]
32 DF Republic of Ireland Colin Falvey United States Charleston Battery 4 September 2014 [15]

Pre-season

Indian Super League

Main article: 2014 Indian Super League season

Table

Results summary

Indian Super League finals

Main article: 2014 Indian Super League finals

Semi-finals

Final

Main article: 2014 Indian Super League Final

Player statistics

See also

References

  1. ^ Gannavarapu, Akhilesh (29 January 2015). "Why India is the next big market for MMA". SportsKeeda. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Indian Super League sees interest from 30 franchise bidders". Business-Standard. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  3. ^ Basu, Saumyajit (13 April 2014). "Stars embrace soccer through Indian Super League". Times of India. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kerala Blasters Name was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Mergulhao, Marcus (19 July 2014). "ISL domestic draft to include 40 national players". Times of India. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  6. ^ Thaly, Dattaraj (13 October 2014). "ISL: Mehtab Hossain key to success of Kerala Blasters". Zee News. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  7. ^ "Indian players' draft process ends". The Hindu. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  8. ^ Mergulhao, Marcus (20 August 2014). "David James set to have a blast with Sachin Tendulkar in ISL". Times of India. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  9. ^ Mergulhao, Marcus (14 August 2014). "ISL: Draft for overseas players on August 21". Times of India. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  10. ^ "Michael Chopra, Bernard Mendy Star Picks in Indian Super League Draft". NDTV Sports. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  11. ^ Mergulhao, Marcus (20 August 2014). "David James set to have a blast with Sachin Tendulkar in ISL". Times of India. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  12. ^ Forsyth, Paul (14 December 2014). "Jamie McAllister on career switch to India". Scotsman. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  13. ^ a b Paul, Abhishek (2 September 2014). "Committed to Kerala Blasters, says David James". India Today. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  14. ^ "Motherwell: Stephen Pearson returns to Fir Park". BBC. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
  15. ^ Miller, Andrew (4 September 2014). "Charleston Battery's Colin Falvey is loaned to club for India". Post and Courier. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=User:ArsenalFan700/2014_Kerala_Blasters_FC_season&oldid=651124397"