Mumbai 25th Feb: Mumbai FC are determined to take optimum advantage of the home conditions and aim for the maximum when they clash with debutants Minerva Punjab FC in a 11th round I-league match to be played at the Cooperage ground on Sunday, February 26, 2017. The match is scheduled to commence at 7.05 pm and will be telecast live.
The home side was exceptionally brilliant in the previous two rounds as they shared honours with formidable outfits Mohun Bagan and champs Bengaluru FC, both games finishing in goalless draws.
But now, the Santosh Kashyap coached Mumbai club, who are winless from their last eight matches, are eager to play for a win which would be their third in this competition. A win would ensure that the Mumbai side settles scores with the visiting Punjabis as they had lost the away encounter 1-2 early this month. The three points earned would also see Mumbai FC, currently in eighth position with eight points switch positions with the Punjab outfit, who have two points more and are in seventh spot.
Besides playing in front of their legion of supporters at home, Kashyap will have to try and bring out the best from his players, so that they can reproduce the same kind of magic as they started with a flourish by winning the opening two games. Coach Kashyap managed to get those two wins with a squad comprising only of Indian players, but now with the foreign recruits, the Mumbai side should fancy their chances of ending the five-game unbeaten run of the Punjabis since their 5-0 drubbing by East Bengal last month.
Speaking at the pre-match media briefing, coach Kashyap was confident of building on the momentum his team has generated since the introduction of the foreign recruits. “We were going through a bad phase when we played Minerva away, but the team has settled down now. The last two performances, after six defeats have been encouraging and we are confident of winning tomorrow’s encounter,” said the coach. Kashyap also played down rumours about the axing of some players when he said all players were available for selection and the final squad would be picked after the session on Saturday.
Captain Densil Theobald from Trinidad & Tobago also echoed his coaches statements when he said it was not difficult to achieve the coach’s target of a top thee finish. “We are playing well now as a team and a couple of good results will put us right back into the thick of things,” he said.
The Mumbai FC foreigners, skipper Densil Theobald and Alex Willian in the midfield along with Anderson da Silva will have to be more creative in the attack while Afghan international Djelaludin Sharityar and Mehrajuddin Wadoo along with Chinta Rao and Reagan Singh will have to play good roles at the back to support Laxmikant Kattimani under the bar.
The visitors cannot be taken lightly as they have good experience of playing on this ground during 2nd Division I-League matches last season. They would also be high on confidence following their 5-4 win against Churchill Brothers in Goa last week.
“Mumbai FC are a good team and they will be high on confidence after their two draws at home against Bagan and Bengaluru. It should be an interesting match,” said Minerva coach Surinder Singh. He was also satisfied with the manner in which their foreign recruits have adjusted to the conditions and have settled down in the side.
So it’s going to be quite an interesting battle as the Punjabis would play for pride and the home team would look to set the record straight.