Not as lavish as the opener at Salt Lake Stadium, but yesterday's Indian Super League grand finale did hold its own. It served up an atmosphere worthy of a final with the DY Patil Stadium, Nerul, packed to the rafters to witness Sourav Ganguly's Atletico de Kolkata land a cruel blow on Sachin Tendulkar's Kerala Blasters to become the first-ever ISL champions.
Kerala dominated the park from the opening whistle, but were left wanting in front of goal on many occasions. Striker Ian Hume was not at his firing best and his partner up front, Michael Chopra, was too slow, and not clinical enough in the final third.Chopra missed a host of chances, and one in particular will haunt him for some time to come as he flopped from barely a few yards out. It was the 85th minute and the former Newcastle United striker had done well to dribble past a couple of defenders inside the penalty area. His point blank strike, however, failed to beat outstretched Atletico goalkeeper Edel Bete.
Hindsight is a strange thing and Chopra will be kicking himself for blasting it rather than trying to place it into the side netting.
That would have been the killer blow, and Kolkata, who were muscled out of the game throughout would have struggled beyond imagination to get back into the match that late. With Kolkata and Kerala both being wasteful, the match seemed destined for extra time.
But late in injury time, Kolkata won a corner and substitute Mohammad Rafique made the most of the set piece routine. He rose majestically and glanced the ball into the bottom corner of David James's goal to score the tournament's most valuable goal.The crowd erupted as ecstatic Kolkata players piled themselves in a heap in the centre of the pitch, Kerala being left to rue a wasteful night.
Kolkata have won the first ISL and more importantly the tournament has concluded on a successful note.
Few months back, who would have guessed that football would be received so well in the land of cricket? Even the bravest would have refused to indulge in an act of clairvoyance such as this back then.
After last night's game it finally sank in that Del Piero was here and so was Robert Pires, the Arsenal legend, and many other big household names, who ruled the world of football in the last two decades.
This elite group has forever etched their names in the history of Indian football. Pioneers of this sporting revolution. The match in itself, was unfortunately not as extravagant as the night. Like most finals often tend to pan out, this too began as a very cagey affair. The quality of football too left a lot to be desired. Too many misplaced places, a lot of untidy football.
Player-cum-coach David James, one to have featured in many high adrenaline, nerve-wracking finals during his long and illustrious career, named himself in goal ahead of Sandip Nandy, who was a regular in the team of late. And the 44-year-old Englishman, showed that he still has ice in his matured veins, as he denied ATK forward Arnal Llibert on more than one occasion, the only real chances Antonio Habas' men managed to create in 90 minutes.
Kolkata got the win without their star player and captain Luis Garcia, who warmed up on the sidelines in anticipation of extra time when James's defence was breached, and his heart broken, late in the 93rd minute.
Garcia, nursing an injury, did not come on as a substitute, but he did stride on to the pitch to gloriously hoist the ISL trophy.
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