Both teams entered the fixture looking to improve on their previous results, with Kerala Blasters aiming to bounce back from a 4-1 defeat to NorthEast United FC, while Mumbai City arrived after a 1-1 draw against Punjab FC. The match began at a lively pace, with both sides looking to take the initiative and create openings.

Kerala Blasters threatened first in the 11th minute through Mohammed Sanan, whose dangerous deliveries caused problems for the Mumbai City defence. One such cross found Hormipam Ruivah amid a scramble inside the six-yard box, but his effort struck the side netting. The hosts continued to press high, while Mumbai City gradually settled into the contest and began finding their rhythm in possession.

The Islanders came close to breaking the deadlock in the 23rd minute. Muhammed Ajsal controlled a lobbed pass from Carlos Delgado before driving into the box and delivering a cross towards PN Noufal. The forward struck firmly from close range, but Kerala goalkeeper Amrinder Singh reacted brilliantly to produce a sharp reflex save and keep the score level.

Kerala had an opportunity of their own just before half-time when Sanan produced an impressive individual run in the second minute of stoppage time. After beating his marker with a skilful stepover, he fired a left-footed effort across goal, narrowly missing the target. Both sides went into the break with the score goalless despite an entertaining first half.

Mumbai City came agonisingly close to taking the lead shortly after the restart. In the 52nd minute, Valpuia’s free-kick forced Amrinder off his line to clear the danger. The ball fell to Akash Mishra, whose header struck the woodwork, allowing Kerala Blasters to escape without conceding.

Both teams made changes as they searched for a decisive goal. Kerala introduced Ebindas Yesudasan and Andre Green in the 60th minute, while Mumbai City continued to look for opportunities through their attacking players. Noufal threatened again in the 71st minute with a long-range effort that Amrinder saved, before Ajsal sent the rebound over the crossbar.

The closing stages saw Kerala Blasters push forward with a series of crosses into the penalty area, hoping to find a late winner in front of their home supporters. Mumbai City, however, remained disciplined defensively and dealt with the pressure. Further substitutions from both sides failed to change the outcome, and the contest ended with the points shared.

While Kerala Blasters will take encouragement from their defensive improvement and attacking spells, Mumbai City can be pleased with their resilience away from home. In a match defined by goalkeeping heroics, near misses and a strike against the woodwork, both sides had opportunities to win but ultimately had to settle for a point each.

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Chennaiyin started the match with intensity and nearly found an early breakthrough when Imran Khan struck the post after a cross from Farukh Choudhary caused problems for the Blasters defence. The visitors continued to push forward, with Maheson Singh also testing the Kerala goalkeeper with a sharp effort from close range.

Kerala Blasters gradually grew into the game and created a few opportunities of their own. Muhammad Ajsal, Víctor Bertomeu and Vibin Mohanan all tried their luck at goal, but Chennaiyin goalkeeper Mohammad Nawaz dealt comfortably with the attempts.

The breakthrough arrived in the 42nd minute when Alberto Noguera slipped a pass through to Imran Khan on the wing. The winger attempted a curling effort towards the far corner, which took a deflection off defender RV Hormipam before finding its way into the net to give Chennaiyin a crucial lead just before half-time.

Kerala Blasters came out with greater attacking intent in the second half, pushing players forward in search of an equaliser. Kevin Yoke and Nihal Sudeesh created several dangerous moments from the flanks while Ajsal found spaces in the attacking third.

Despite the pressure, Chennaiyin goalkeeper Mohammad Nawaz produced an outstanding performance between the posts. He made a brilliant double save to deny Víctor Bertomeu from close range and continued to command the defence with confidence.

Kerala came close to equalising when Nihal Sudeesh struck the crossbar after being set up by Kevin Yoke, but the hosts were unable to convert their chances. Chennaiyin stayed organised defensively and absorbed the pressure as the match progressed.

The visitors ultimately protected their slender advantage until the final whistle, sealing a valuable 1-0 win and their first victory in Kochi in six years. The result gives Chennaiyin FC a much-needed boost in the standings, while Kerala Blasters continue to search for their first points of the campaign.

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At the Salt Lake Stadium, Mohun Bagan Super Giant looked sharp and organised from the first whistle against Kerala Blasters. The Mariners controlled possession for long spells and created the better chances in the first half. Their pressure paid off when Jamie Maclaren found the breakthrough with a composed finish, giving the home side the early advantage.

Kerala Blasters attempted to respond after the break and showed more attacking intent in the second half. However, Bagan’s defence stayed disciplined and limited clear openings. As the match entered stoppage time, Tom Aldred stepped up to add another goal, sealing a confident opening-day win and underlining why the Kolkata giants remain strong contenders this season.

In the other fixture, FC Goa were handed a tough challenge by newcomers Inter Kashi. Despite being the more experienced ISL side, Goa found it difficult to break down a determined Inter Kashi defence in the first half. The visitors surprised many by taking the lead just before half-time, putting pressure on the Gaurs in front of their home crowd.

The second half saw Goa increase the tempo and push numbers forward. Inter Kashi were later reduced to ten men, which shifted the momentum further in Goa’s favour. Persistent attacks eventually resulted in a late penalty, calmly converted by Dejan Dražić to rescue a point for the home side.

The opening day showcased different narratives — a dominant start from the defending champions and a spirited display from a debutant side eager to prove themselves. With strong performances, tactical battles, and late twists, ISL 2025–26 has already delivered excitement from day one

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The Islanders showed intent throughout the match, dominating possession and pressing aggressively from the start. Although Kerala Blasters had an early chance when Koldo Obieta broke through minutes into the game, Mumbai’s defence and goalkeeper Phurba Lachenpa managed to keep them at bay. 

A turning point came just before half-time when Kerala were reduced to ten men after a red card for Sandeep Singh. That handed Mumbai City a numerical edge. In the second half, they maintained pressure, probing for the breakthrough. It finally arrived when a Pereyra Díaz ball caused confusion in Kerala’s defence, leading to the own goal. 

With this result, Mumbai City leapfrog into the knockout phase, showing composure in a tight contest. Meanwhile, Kerala Blasters’ campaign ends in disappointment despite earlier strong results.

For Mumbai City, the path now leads to the semi-finals where they will look to build on this momentum. The narrow win underlines that even tightly contested matches can break in your favour with patience and discipline.

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Jorge Pereyra Diaz (9’) gave KBFC the lead by scoring his third goal of the campaign prior to Sahal Abdul Samad (38’) doubling the advantage before halftime. Adrian Luna (79’) then scored his first goal of the season to put the result beyond any doubt in the second half.

Jorge Diaz sent his team into an early lead after a lofted through ball found the striker in ample space behind CFC’s backline. His right-footed shot towards the bottom left corner gave no chance to Vishal Kaith to make a save. Prabhsukhan Gill was called into action just before the half-hour mark who made a brilliant right-handed save to keep away a header from his own defender. Germanpreet Singh had a fabulous opportunity to score the equaliser just before the drinks break but his shot from roughly 12-yards out went wide to the shock of his teammates.

Sahal Abdul Samad then extended the lead by scoring from inside the box after a poor clearance from Kaith handed the ball to KBFC forwards in his own half. Sahal’s initial shot was blocked by Reagan Singh but the midfielder made no mistake with the rebound and calmly placed the ball in the back of the net. Vazquez then had the chance to score a third before halftime but he could not beat the goalkeeper from a one-on-one situation.

Salam Singh and Lukasz Gikiewicz were sent as halftime changes from Bozidar Bandovic to influence the game. Lalthathanga Khawlhring became the first player to get booked for a foul in the second half which was less eventful than the first. Despite sustained periods of pressure, CFC did not have a clear scoring opportunity until the second drinks break.

Post the resumption of the match, Adrian Luna opened his account with a powerful right-footed strike following a lack of communication amongst the CFC defenders. The Yellow Army remained in control of the match post the third goal and secured another three points with back-to-back 3-0 wins.

Kerala Blasters FC await the challenge of Jamshedpur FC in their next game at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Sunday. Chennaiyin FC on the other hand will get a week’s rest before their clash against Bengaluru FC at the same venue on Thursday.

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Chennaiyin recorded a 2-1 victory over Odisha FC in their last outing and are currently sitting at fourth place in the points table with 11 points from six matches.

Kerala Blasters leapfrogged to fifth in the table with a marauding 3-0 win over league leaders Mumbai City FC, in one of their finest performances in recent times. The men in yellow have not lost a game since their opening day 4-2 defeat to ATK Mohun Bagan. Their five-match unbeaten streak is currently the joint highest unbeaten streak by a Hero ISL club, along with Hyderabad FC.

The foreign attackers signed by both Kerala and Chennaiyin were amongst the

goals in the teams’ respective wins in their previous games. Mirlan Murzaev scored Chennaiyin’s second goal against Odisha in what was an unstoppable strike from outside the box. This was his first goal for his new club. He had assisted Anirudh Thapa’s winner against NorthEast United in the club’s second game of the season.

Meanwhile, the club’s other foreign forward Lukasz Gikieiwicz had a penalty saved by Kamaljit Singh. He is yet to score for the club but has managed to provide an assist until now.

Kerala Blasters’ two foreign attackers Jorge Diaz and Alvaro Vazquez have been among the goals for their new club. Alvaro Vazquez has scored three goals, the highest among any Kerala Blasters player. Jorge Diaz has scored twice and provided one assist. Both the players have three goal contributions, the joint highest in the Blasters squad along with Adrian Luna (3 assists).

“They are a good team. We will be ready for this game. They won two days ago and played well. We are working with all the players physically, tactically and mentally of course.”

On Kerala’s potent attacking line, he said: “We need to have balance. We need to prepare as per opponents’ movements and style. They have good players like all other teams who have good players in different areas. We need to be tactically and physically better.”

Kerala head coach Ivan Vukomanovic lauded Chennaiyin’s safety-first approach, saying the best defence usually wins the league.

“We faced tomorrow’s opponents in pre-season. As coaches, we know each other for a long time. So looking from that side, there won’t be any surprises. We will try to explore certain things in order to win the game. They will be organized and play the way they want to. We will see a tight game tomorrow. There will be a lot of duels. The best team will win after a hard game,” said Vukomanovic.

On Chennaiyin’s robust defence, he added: “The defence will win you competitions, the attackers will win you games as they say in football. So it’s a good way to approach.”

Chennaiyin and Kerala have faced each other 16 times. Chennaiyin FC have 6 wins, Kerala Blasters have 3 wins and 7 games ended in draws.

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The Naushad Moosa coached side has travelled with a rather young team for the 130^th Durand Cup edition, which will feature 2020-21 I-League golden boot winner Bidyashagar Singh and the 20-year old Sivasakthi, who had impressed one and all in the Bangalore Super Division last year. He also made his Bengaluru FC senior team debut in the AFC Cup.

Speaking about their revamped squad Coach of Bengaluru FC, Naushad Moosa said, “We had a long pre-season due to the AFC Cup but what we have done is we have got a squad which wasn’t a part of the team for long. You can say these are the guys who didn’t get enough games. So, you will find mostly we have the U18 graduates who are in the reserve squad now and a few of the reserve team players who Marco has got them in the senior team who he feels are a good potential for the future.

He further added, “Players like Sivasakthi, Damaitphang, Namgyal Bhutia, Biswa Darjee are there whom we want to give opportunities. It’s such a big game and a big tournament for them. We want to understand how well they can perform under pressure in a big competition.”

On the other hand, Kerala Blasters FC have started their campaign with a 1-0 win over Indian Navy and are looking in good shape heading into the match against Bengaluru.

Speaking before the match, Kerala Blasters FC, Coach, Ivan Vukomanovic said, “We are pleased with the victory in our first game, it gave us a good start at the tournament. We are in the period of preseason preparation for the ISL, it is obvious that we are not at the level we want to be. There is still a long path and hard work in front of us. We are still waiting for our reinforcements to arrive and complete our squad before going to Goa for the final part. There were good and less good things during our first game. We are working hard to improve and be better in every aspect. We are happy with the current work and shape of our players. It gives us good basics for the upcoming period. On the other side, we are not happy with injuries. It was not planned and we will try to avoid injuries in this part of the preparation period.”        

He also commented on the team compositions and said, “We don’t look at our next opponent and compare them with the last season performances. It is obvious that neither Bengaluru FC nor we will look in next ISL like we are now at this tournament. We both use this tournament as a part of our preparation trying to give playing time to all our players. I hope we will have our next games without injuries.”

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarter-finals that are scheduled to kick off from September 23, 2021.

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Uruguayan midfielder Adrian Luna scored the match-winning spot-kick in the 71st minute.

Scores remained level at half-time and given how wasteful both teams were on either half, it seemed that the 130^th Durand Cup was heading for its first goalless draw.

The Navy team did an incredible job in their opening game when they came back from a goal down to win against Delhi FC and had they only tucked away the biggest chance they had today in the 73rd   minute, the Sailormen could have ensured passage to the quarter-finals already.

The opportunity was textbook and it sprung out of a Navy counterattack. Ultimately, it was squandered, not once but twice. First, Sreyas VG had to put his shot away with only Albino Gomes to beat, but the Blasters custodian palmed it away.

Only for the ricochet to fall straight at the feet of P M Britto, who had an open goal to aim for. The former East Bengal winger, however, he  astonishingly shot wide.

The breakthrough goal had arrived two minutes earlier,  following an erratic challenge inside the box by Navy’s Dalraj Singh, which was adjudged to be yellow-card worthy and a penalty was awarded in favour of Kerala.

 Adrian Luna stepped up for the responsibility and made no mistake in making it 1-0 for his side.

“We are happy with the three points. It was our idea of today’s game. It was really hard in these circumstances with the rain and the condition of the pitch. We wanted to finish the game without injuries but now we have to see how to recover some of our players”, said Kerala Blasters Head Coach Ivan Vukomanovićfollowing the game.

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 Indian Navy has had a good start to their Durand 2021 Campaign with a 2-1 win over Delhi FC in a hard fought encounter in their opening Group C game.

 The Sailormen made a comeback after giving away an early lead courtesy a 21st minute goal by Willis Plaza. Goals by forward Shreyas V.G. and a towering header from defender Dalraj Singh in the 86th minute made the difference for the Indian Navy team.

With a more potent opponent in front of them in next encounter in the form of Kerala Blasters Indian Navy looks at an uphill task. Speaking before the match, Team Coach of Indian Navy Football Team, Abhilash Vasantha said, “It is a very important game for us as Kerala Blasters is a very strong outfit and are fielding a full strength squad.”

 Vasantha also commented on the two day gap before their game against Kerala Blasters and said, “It’s very difficult to play after a 2 days gap in such humid conditions. But my boys are ready for the big match. Hope some of my boys will join after injury. The match will be thrilling 90 mins and we will fight to get the 3 points.”

 Kerala Blasters FC on the other hand will be playing their first match of the tournament and by the looks of it they are one of the strongest teams in the competition with a host of major Indian names like Albino Gomes, Prabhsukhan Gill, Sahal Abdul Samad, Jeakson Singh, Rahul KP, Harmanjot Khabra and Bhutan’s star forward Chencho Gyeltshen amongst others forming the core of the team.

 Speaking about the encounter, Kerala Blasters FC, Coach, Ivan Vukomanovic said, “We don’t have any special plans for them. We are in our pre-season preparation period for the ISL. We are focused on ourselves.”

 Top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarter finals scheduled to kick-off from September 23, 2021.

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Kahani FC play MSP Academy in the opener (9 am kickoff).

Ten teams have made it to the second or the playoff stage of the tournament (to be played from January 15 to 24) to be played after the preliminary zonal round. The ten teams are divided into two groups of five each. The top two teams from each group (and the best third-placed team) will make it to the final round where 11 more teams will join the fray. The final round is set to get underway from January 27.

The playoff round will be played at Navelim Ground and Utorda Ground.

Along with a host of football academies and local clubs across India a number of I-League and Indian Super League (ISL) teams will also play. The likes of Real Kashmir, Minerva Punjab, Shillong Lajong, Aizawl FC, Jamshedpur FC and Kerala Blasters have made it to the playoffs.

Group I
Real Kashmir FC
Kahani FC
MSP Football Academy
Minerva Punjab FC
FC Mangalore

Group II
Kerala Blasters FC
Aizawl FC
Raman Vijayan Soccer School
Jamshedpur FC
Shillong Lajong FC

Also Read: HERO I-LEAGUE: Superb Chennai do the double over East Bengal

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