ISL 2020-21: Khalid Jamil hails his NorthEast United FC boys, says they deserve to be in playoffs

By Team Newsable | First Published Feb 27, 2021, 10:44 AM IST

NorthEast United FC has risen to the third spot of the 2020-21 Indian Super League with this win over Kerala Blasters FC, as the latter has finished at tenth. Both NEU and Blasters have been playing the tournament since 2014 and are yet to win the title to date.

NorthEast United FC came up with a careful performance to beat Kerala Blasters Fc 2-0 in the Indian Super League 2020-21 at the Tilak Maidan in Goa on Friday. The win has sealed NEU's place in the playoffs, having risen to third, while Blasters has finished at tenth.

It all began with Suhair VP's opening strike in the 34th minute, while Lalengmawia scored the winner at the stroke of half-time in 45th. No further additions were made in the second half, as NEU comfortably rode to a win.

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Following the game, NEU boss Khalid Jamil was all praise for his boys and through that, they deserved to be in the playoffs. "I feel extremely happy for my players because they've worked very hard. They deserve this playoffs spot. We need to work even harder to make our first Indian Super League final. We respect all the other teams involved and will be ready to face any of them, even if it's FC Goa or Hyderabad FC," he asserted, reports Sportstar.

Meanwhile, club forward Deshorn Brown was delighted with the side's performance, as it sealed the playoffs berth. "This is a great feeling. We are very happy to be in the playoffs. I'm becoming more consistent with my performances. Once you play more, your sharpness and concentration improves. I would have had more ISL goals, if I had got more chances at Bengaluru FC. We are just trying to build chemistry among the attackers," he reckoned.

ALSO READ: NorthEast United FC seals playoffs spot with win over Kerala Blasters FC

"We work on stuff in training. The more we play together, the better we complement each. It doesn't matter if we play ATK Mohun Bagan or Mumbai City FC next because both of them are tough teams. We need to do extremely well to get past either side," he added.

In the meantime, Balsters' interim manager, Ishfaq Ahmed, too, hailed NEU for outplaying his side to seal the playoffs spot. "The players wanted to sign off with a good feeling. But, we have to give credit to NorthEast also; they defended really well. I thought their defensive midfielder Khassa Camara was amazing," he said, reports goal.com.

"This was a really good experience for me. We should thank the ISL. We see that the Indian coaches are doing well. Khalid bhai is doing well. Steven Dias, (Naushad) Moosa bhai was also there. It is good for Indian coaches. I will take a lot of positives from these two games," he concluded.

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