Confident Mumbai FC aim for a win

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High on confidence, Mumbai FC are not prepared to settle for anything less than a win when they take on Sporting Clube de Goa in an 18th round I-League match to be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, Margao, Goa on Wednesday. Playwin is the official sponsor of Mumbai FC.

The Mumbai club, for the second time will start without coach Khalid Jamil on the bench as he is serving a four match suspension imposed by the AIFF following the incidents during the round 15 match against Bengaluru FC in Bengaluru early this month.

Despite the absence of the coach, Mumbai FC in the previous round did a fantastic job to force a draw with Kolkata giants East Bengal in their own den and Henry Picardo, who has taken charge of the team, will look for his players to reproduce the same kind of performance against the Goan club who are sitting at the bottom of the table.

“In our last game the boys showed a lot of spirit and played very well to come back with a point against East Bengal. If we maintain the momentum, create chances and convert them then we should get a successful result,” mentioned Picardo.

“The boys are in an upbeat mood and the confidence level is also high and I have instructed them that we have to go all out and play for a win as the three points will boost our points tally and take us higher in the table,” said Picardo.

Picardo mentioned that they are likely to retain the same 11 which played in Kolkata and hopes that Japanese midfielder Taisuke Matsugae regains full fitness for this match. “Taisuke, who came in as a substitute in the last match, is not fully fit but we will decide on including him in the starting line-up only tomorrow,” pointed out Picardo.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai defence and goalkeeper Nidhinlal AC were outstanding to keep East Bengal’s attacking duo of Nigerians Ranti Martins, the leading scorer with 14 goals, and Dudu Omagbeni, in the last match. Goalkeeper Nidhinlal also did well to save Ranti’s penalty kick. They now have to once again produce a determined approach to blunt the Sporting attack which will be spearheaded by Odafa Okolie.

The Mumbai FC strikers Josimar Da Silva and Abhishek Yadav along with the midflieders, in particular Jayesh Rane and Sampath Kuttymani will have to be more alert and captitalise on every chance that comes their way .

Mumbai are currently placed in seventh position with 14 points from 14 outings, three of which they have won in contrast to the Goans who from 14 games are on 10 points with a solitary win against Salgaocar SC, Goa in the last match.

The match in Margao, Goa will kick-off at 4.30pm.