ISL Pre-season friendlies: Sahal Abdul Samad, Gary Hooper on target for Kerala Blasters, all results & fixtures

Indian Super League (ISL) outfit Kerala Blasters FC notched up an important win against Jamshedpur FC in their final pre-season friendly on Saturday. Sahal Abdul Samad and new signing Gary Hooper were on target for the men in yellow while Joyner Lourenco scored an own goal as Jamshedpur suffered a 0-3 defeat.

Both teams fielded their first team players, using the maximum of five foreigners each. Kerala Blasters had Costa Nhamoinesu, Bakary Kone, Sergio Cidoncha, Vicente Gomez and Hooper in their starting XI, which meant Facundo Pereyra and Jordan Murray were on the bench.

https://twitter.com/KeralaBlasters/status/1327643155957596160

Among the Indian starlets, Sahal and Nongdamba Naorem started. Nishu Kumar, who has been battling hard to get fit before the season starts, also got his first minutes as he came off the bench in the second half.

Last season’s Golden Boot winner Nerijus Valskis led the attack for Jamshedpur FC, Aitor Monroy and Alex Lima played in midfield — Monroy through the centre and Lima down the flank. Joyner and club captain Peter Hartley marshalled the defence line.

Here’s how the two teams lined up:

Kerala Blasters: Albino, Costa, Kone, Jessel, Prashant, Sahal, Cidoncha, Vicente, Ritwik, Nong and Hooper

Jamshedpur FC: Rehenesh, Dinliana, Joyner, Hartley, Mandi, Aitor, Amarjit, Alex, Jackichand, Aniket and Valskis

It was an important win for Kerala Blasters, who begin their ISL 2020-21 campaign against ATK Mohun Bagan FC on Friday, November 20th, especially after losing the last friendly against SC East Bengal.

Elsewhere, NorthEast United FC beat Hyderabad FC 2-1 in another friendly game on Saturday. Kwesi Appiah and Luis Machado were on the scoresheet for the Highlanders.

https://twitter.com/HydFCOfficial/status/1327593614185095169

Here’s a list of all results and upcoming fixtures:

Results:

October 25: Kerala Blasters 2-0 Hyderabad FC

October 30: Kerala Blasters 0-0 Mumbai City

November 1: FC Goa 3-2 Jamshedpur FC

November 2: Mumbai City 1-0 Chennaiyin FC

November 7: Bengaluru FC 1-1 Hyderabad FC

November 8: FC Goa 3-0 Chennaiyin FC

November 10: Odisha FC 2-3 Mumbai City

November 10: NEUFC 0-0 Jamshedpur FC

November 10: SC East Bengal 3-1 Kerala Blasters

November 11: FC Goa 2-4 Hyderabad FC

November 13: Bengaluru FC 0-1 Mumbai City

November 14: Kerala Blasters 3-0 Jamshedpur FC

November 14: NorthEast United 2-1 Hyderabad FC

Upcoming fixtures:

November 15: Odisha FC vs Chennaiyin FC

November 20: SC East Bengal vs Jamshedpur FC