The Kerala Blasters were beaten 0-6 by Melbourne City FC in a pre-season friendly at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Kochi, on Tuesday.
The first match of the Toyota Yaris La Liga World Cup ended in a defeat for the home side as they were swept aside by a team which played eight of their starters from their last match in the A-League, a 2-1 defeat against the Newcastle Jets. Debuts were handed to Lachlan Wales, Riley McGree and Michael O’Halloran.
Two first-half goals to Dario Vidosic and Riley McGree set the visitors on course for a big victory before Wales, Ramy Najjarine, Bruno Fornaroli and a second McGree goal put the result beyond doubt.
Indian football fans, observers and some footballers themselves took to Twitter to express their feelings about the match. There was criticism at Blasters’ approach to the game and the level of Indian club football in general.
Somebody please tell me the reason that Kerala Blasters only started training a week ago when they knew they had an international tournament to prepare for after having 3 months off?
— ErikPaartalu (@ErikPaartalu) July 24, 2018
4 years of ISL and we are still miles behind AFC CL level. This isn’t really @KeralaBlasters fault . The ISL concept is based on ‘marketing’ without focusing on the product quality. @kbfc_manjappada was fantastic 👏🏻#KeralaBlasters #ToyotaYarisLaligaWorld #KBFC #MCFC #KBFCvMCY
— The Footy Traveller (@_footytraveller) July 24, 2018
I couldn't watch the match between @KeralaBlasters n @MelbourneCity . The former lost the game by a huge margin, 0-6. This shows the quality of Indian football. Shame!!! ☹️ #KeralaBlasters #KBFCvMCY
— DEEPAK (@DarsangDeepak) July 24, 2018
Gosh terrible defending from the Blasters. #KBFCvMCY
— Anish Anand (@testbowler) July 24, 2018
Kerala Blasters' heaviest #HeroISL defeat also came against a team which had initials of #MCFC (5-0 against Mumbai City FC in ISL 2016). #KER #MCFC #ToyotaYarisLaligaWorld #KBFCvMCY #KBFC
— Aditya Warty (@AnalystAdi) July 24, 2018
Shattered! To lose 6-0 against an INCOMPLETE #MCFC is annoying. #KBFC didn't have a plan A forget plan B. There was confusion among the teammates! The fans didn't deserve this!What is more annoying is we were THRASHED by an EASY team.#IndianFootball #KBFCvMCY
— Barnil Saikia (@aceBarnilS) July 24, 2018
Cc: @vivek_vayyat
Poor defending from @KeralaBlasters . The midfield failed to hold onto possession against strong @MelbourneCity XI. Still long way to go to match foreign clubs. If @bengalurufc played, they would have put up a strong performance. #KBFC #KBFCvMCY #ToyotaYarisLaLigaWorld #MCFC
— Shreyas7_10 (@shreyas7_10) July 24, 2018
Of course there were jokes...
There, fixed it for you 😊#KBFCvMCY pic.twitter.com/havhCZf63a
— Supermachans-Chennaiyin FC Fans (@Supermachans) July 24, 2018
The only positive that Kerala Blasters can take from this game is that they didn't concede more goals than their position on the league table in the last season. #KBFCvMCY
— Waseem Ahmed (@Waseem_Ahmed11) July 24, 2018
This Kerala Blasters vs Melbourne City game should've been telecasted on Comedy Central, not Star Sports.
— Moosa (@mooserbaer) July 24, 2018
A moral victory for @KeralaBlasters. The scoreline did not reach double digits. #KBFCvMCFC
— Akarsh (@Akarsh_Official) July 24, 2018
The Blasters fans, who were out in full-force to watch the game at the JN Stadium in Kochi, braved the rains and were not disheartened by the result. The Blasters play Girona in their next match of the pre-season friendly tournament on July 27.
As Sandesh Jhingan and David James took to Twitter to congratulate the visitors, some fans were left disappointed but urged them team on to do better.
— Sandesh Jhingan (@SandeshJhingan) July 24, 2018
Well played @MelbourneCity , I hope you enjoyed playing in front of @kbfc_manjappada. It was a great experience for @KeralaBlasters#YellowArmy #GoBlasters
— David James (@jamosfoundation) July 24, 2018
.@SandeshJhingan: We're disappointed, but we shouldn't forget we joined up just a week ago. We're going to work hard now and keep getting better.#KBFCvMCY #FootballAcrossContinents
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) July 24, 2018
It's not a shameless defeat for us @mathrubhuminews. It's a historic first for us to see our club play a friendly against a strong foreign opposition. #KBFCvMCY #ToyotaYarisLaligaWorld pic.twitter.com/tSfQuTAH5K
— Boring Blaster (@boringblaster) July 24, 2018
This Experience Will Help this Guy in this Season. Come Harder. Just 18 Years Old. #KBFCvMCY pic.twitter.com/Q1CNajxZME
— Johns (@CricCrazyJohns) July 24, 2018
.@KeralaBlasters boys, prepare yourself for trolls, abuses, demotivating comments and distructive criticsm.
— Ken Sunny (@KenSunny_) July 24, 2018
Just remember "this too shall pass"
It's just a start, long way to go.
Head up, Chin up and push more and more and more.....#KeralaBlasters #KBFC #KBFCvMCY
Wondering why so much criticism. it's just a pre-season game & they just started playing together. #KBFCvMCY @kbfc_manjappada @SandeshJhingan @jamosfoundation @KeralaBlasters#KBFCvMCY
— Anish PN (@anishpn) July 24, 2018
I saw many saying, other clubs would have done better. Yes! I agree @bengalurufc or @ChennaiyinFC would hold the GA to 2-4 but if you have observed the game you should have seen that the confidence level has increased at the end I bet you can see that in the next match. #KBFCvMCY
— Nijesh NJ (@nj_nijesh) July 24, 2018
Don’t get disappointed by result.This is a huge experience for #KeralaBlasters to set for ISL.
— Jebin Mathew (@Im_JEBIN) July 24, 2018
Hope we hv learned a lot from this match.Come back stronger. It was always a tough game To play against one of the top team in Asia!#LaLiga #KBFCvMCY #mcfc @KeralaBlasters #KBFC
The gulf in class is painfully evident. But great to see such quality teams Melbourne City playing in India. #KBFCvMCY
— Martin Joseph P (@martin_josephp) July 24, 2018
Tough game but it is a great learning experience for #KeralaBlasters. Most of our youngsters got a chance to play. Learn from d mistakes n move on. We believe in u 💛💛💛 #kbfc #KBFCvMCY
— Rakhi (@RakhiRakhavan) July 24, 2018
Dear @KeralaBlasters fans, if you're anticipating wonder goals and a feisty battle you shouldn't be at JNI Kochi tonight.
— Arun George (@saysarun) July 24, 2018
If your intention is to check on Afdal, Jithin, Jishnu, Negi, Pragyan, Dheeraj etc.. and see how the lads respond to game situations, you're a true fan👍
Final word to the fans...
Chin up @KeralaBlasters fans. Kudos to the 90 minutes of support. The right mentality! Win or lose.👏🏻👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/bwUHMLk6uY
— Blue Pilgrims (@BluePilgrims) July 24, 2018