ISL: Kerala Blasters sack head coach Kibu Vicuna

Indian Super League (ISL) club Kerala Blasters have decided to part ways with head coach Kibu Vicuna, Goal has learnt. 

The decision was taken after Blasters crashed out of the race for the playoffs this season following a heavy 0-4 defeat against Hyderabad on Tuesday. Individual and collective errors from the defence once against cost the team in the second-half and Hyderabad punished the Yellows' mistakes. 

Blasters had a season to forget and with two games remaining, they remain 10th on the league table. They have won just three matches and have 16 points from 18 games. The manner of Tuesday's defeat meant accelerated the decision to part ways with the coach. 

Poor defending has been the team's major issue throughout the season. They have conceded 33 goals in 18 games, the worst tally in ISL this season.

Heading into the last three fixtures of the league stage, Blasters had to win all their games and depend on other teams to drop points in order to stand a chance to land a playoff spot. The loss to Hyderabad meant Blasters could get to a maximum of 22 points and thus it became mathematically impossible for the team to compete for a spot in the playoffs. 

Kibu Vicuna as appointed after a title-winning season at Mohun Bagan but the recruitment and some of the signings did not succeed as planned. "Our scouting of the players was bad, the plans and expectations for the season were higher than the reality," the former Bagan coach had said in his post-match press conference after the game against Hyderabad. 

Goal tried to contact Kerala Blasters but the club remained unavailable to comment at the time of publication of this story.