No football fan likes to see a 0-0 draw but in doing so against Delhi Dynamos on Saturday, Mumbai City FC managed to end the league stage of the Indian Super League as table toppers (23 points) after 14 rounds of matches.
Coach, Alexandre Guimaraes heaped praise on his players after the match and believes that their pragmatic approach this season has aided them in their success.
“We accomplished one of our goals. As the tournament progressed, we believed that we had a good chance, we had the opportunity to secure first place. It shows that we have been very stable during the season.”
“Our style of game allows us to be here and I am very proud of my staff and players. They have done a fantastic job. From day one, our plan was to do everything very well to give the Mumbai fans this success,” he added.
Asked if his side should have put to bed at least one of the chances they had in the match, Guimaraes said,”I think that their goalkeeper should receive an award today. Most of our shots were on target. What is important is that our we gained confidence on our home ground.”
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“This is very important because we are going to close our semi-finals at home. I talked about this with the players. After coming back from Goa, we have played 3 very good home games. Now comes a phase that is crucial,” he explained.
Alexandre decided to field Udanta Singh in place of Sunil Chhetri on the night. The Costa Rican revealed that the striker wasn’t fully fit to play on Saturday.
“I don’t want to take any risks with players who are not 100%. I spoke to Sunil during the week and he understood that he has to continue with his rehabilitation process and get fit. That’s why I took out Senaj as well. We cannot take any chances and need all players ready for the semi-finals,” he explained.
Winger, Udanta Singh, made his debut for Mumbai and Guimaraes seemed pleased with his performance. The 20-year old showed glimpses of his potential, making some intelligent runs into the opposition half.
“He was one of the players that didn’t have the chance to play. He had a knee injury for a long time. He managed to play the whole game and showed some interesting things. He is a player that I can without doubt, count on in the semi-finals,” the coach concluded.
Mumbai will play Atletico de Kolkata in the semi-finals on the 10th of December.
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