ISL 2025-26: Clifford Miranda reacts after Chennaiyin FC’s southern derby win over Kerala Blasters

Chennaiyin FC beat Kerala Blasters 1-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi

Kerala Blasters and Chennaiyin FC played out an entertaining match in Kochi, with the Marina Machans securing their first win of the Indian Super League 2025-26 season. The Blasters, on the other hand, have now lost their opening four games and are in a spot of bother.

CFC kept possession and created chances, finally scoring through Imran Khan in the closing minutes of the first half to take the lead.

The Blasters had their fair share of chances in the second half as they took the game to their rivals. However, they failed to convert their opportunities and succumbed to a 1-0 loss at home.

Chennaiyin’s head coach Clifford Miranda was joyous after a hard-fought win, his first as the team’s head coach.

Here is what Clifford Miranda said in the post-match press conference.

Clifford Miranda talks about Chima Chukwu’s return in Chennaiyin FC colors

Daniel Chima Chukwu made a surprise return to the Chennaiyin FC team for their game against the Kerala Blasters. He came on as a substitute, replacing Inigo Martin in the 76th minute and helped his side close out the result.

Though Chima Chukwu was retained from last season and was part of the Chennaiyin squad for the 2025-26 ISL season, he was missing from the team till today.

The Nigerian striker had issues with his VISA and post that he was unable to travel due to the ongoing tension in the middle east.

Talking about Chima Chukwu’s surprise inclusion, Clifford Miranda said, “I should say thank you to Daniel Chima Chukwu, because he just arrived five minutes before we left the team hotel. It was around 5:25 pm, something like that, and he flew for almost 30-32 hours to come and help us here. It’s always nice to have an option like him, so that we can have a focal point when we go forward.”

The head coach spoke about CFC’s conservative gameplay in the second half

After dominating in the first half, Chennaiyin seemed to have taken their foot off the pedal in the second forty-five minutes as the Kerala Blasters piled up the pressure.

KBFC had multiple chances and goalkeeper Mohammed Nawaz had to bail out the Marina Machans on a couple of occasions.

Talking about the second half, Clifford Miranda said, “I would say instead of us going defensive, Kerala Blasters were very aggressive, especially in the second half when they started going and we were expecting that. But this is the nature of the game. Sometimes, especially I think when we took that lead, and when we went in the second half, we were more concerned about not conceding and to preserve the lead, rather than going for the kill.”

“Even though if I tell them to go up, sometimes the subconscious mind makes us to get something away from the game, so you try to defend, even though we had no such instructions from anyone to go deep, but that’s normal, even though I tell them to push up, sometimes they feel comfortable to stay in a mid-to-low block so that they can preserve the lead.”

“Also, Kerala was very aggressive, I could understand, because they were playing more, attacking as they wanted a victory or get at least something from the game, and they were committing more players. It was like they were playing as if there was nothing to lose, which I can understand, and we had everything to protect, and it’s not intentional that we were playing in a low block, but it happens as it is the nature of the game.”

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