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Shillong Lajong FC will begin their 35th Federation Cup campaign against Salgaocar FC in Cochin in their first Group C match tomorrow afternoon at 4pm IST. The match will be telecast live on TenAction.
Shillong Lajong FC are placed in a tough Group B alongside 13 time winners Mohun Bagan AC, former four-time winners Salgaocar FC and Mumbai FC.
Shillong Lajong will go into the game tomorrow without the services of Uilliams Souza Silva who remained in Shillong after being declared unfit by Lajong’s medical team. Another startling factor for the Reds is the inclusion of seven players from the club’s youth academy with most of them having already made appearances in the I-League.
Coach Thangboi Singto commented on tomorrow’s big game, “It will be a tough match after the I-League break and Salgaocar is a very good team. We hope to do well and give our best performance.”
He also said, “Salgaocar has a very good coach who is also a good human being and they have experienced players with a combination of youth also. It will definitely be a highly competitive game.”
Thangboi Singto’s men will look to carry their performance from the I-League into the Fed Cup. The Reds are placed fourth in the league just seven points off leaders Bengaluru FC and will look to repeat their heroics from the 2009/10 season when they beat the likes of Dempo SC and Churchill Brothers SC to reach the finals. They ended the tournament as runners-up that year after losing out to eight-time winners East Bengal on penalties but will look to go one better in this edition of the Federation Cup with a much more confident squad and a resilient coach in Thangboi Singto.
Salgaocar FC on the other hand are low on confidence given their poor run of form in the I-League in recent weeks. After having topped the table early in the season, the Goan side plunged to fifth position after going without a win in seven consecutive games. Derrick Perreira’s men will only prove football pundits wrong with a good performance in the Federation Cup even with countless factors going against them. Their star striker, Scotsman Darryl Duffy has not been in the best scoring form in the I-League but the Greens would hope he does in this tournament.
Both sides will be looking for a perfect start to the tournament with a win and establish themselves as contenders to qualify for the semifinals and put much added pressure on Mohun Bagan and Mumbai FC who will be playing against later that day at 7pm IST.
