Indian teams Bengaluru FC and Kerala Blasters FC ended the Next Generation Cup 2022 in the United Kingdom tour in the fourth position respectively with many valuable lessons.
In the 3rd/4th place playoffs of their respective legs, Bengaluru FC suffered a 1-6 defeat against the English club Nottingham Forest, and Kerala Blasters lost the battle against another English club Crystal Palace by 1-4.
Bengaluru FC vs Nottingham Forest
In the Midlands leg, Nottingham Forest thrashed Bengaluru reserves by 6-1. Dale Taylor (9’) and Josh Powell (12’) provided the early 2-0 lead for the English team. In the 41st minute, Taylor scored his second goal of the match.
Kamalesh Palanisamy scored the only goal for the Blues of the match in the 51st minute. Later, Esapa Osong scored a hat-trick (69’, 88’ and 90’+1’), which he completed with a penalty in the stoppage time of the final half.
So, the Bengaluru colts finished the Midlands leg of the Next Gen Cup 2022 in fourth place. Earlier, during the semi-final of this leg, the Blues boys suffered a 6-3 defeat against Leicester City. After once struggling on 6-0, the Indian boys incredibly fought back with three goals to make the scoreline better looking.
Kerala Blasters vs Crystal Palace
In the 3rd/4th place playoffs of the London’s leg, Kerala Blasters boys suffered a 4-1 defeat against Crystal Palace. After Ademola Ola-Adebomi opened the scoreline for the English team at the half an hour mark, Fionn Mooney extended that lead in the five minutes of the second half.
Just two minutes later of the 2-0 scoreline, captain Ayush Adhikari successfully converted a penalty into a goal for the Blasters as the scoreline read to 2-1.
Later, Williams (66’) and Konda (82’) added one each to Palace’s scoreline as the English team managed a comfortable win.
Earlier, during the semi-final of this leg, the Blasters were hammered by Tottenham Hotspur with a 7-0 scoreline.
