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When Mumbai FC come calling at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai to take on bottom-placed Chennai City FC in the round eight I-League clash on Saturday, February 11, there will be a new man at the helm for the home side.
Having decided to part ways with Robin Charles Raja, the I-League debutants decided to bring another former Tamil Nadu coach in V. Soundararajan on board. The new coach has a tough task on his hand to turn the South Indian club’s fortunes while also making sure he sticks to the club’s philosophy of incorporating local talents in the first team squad.
The new coach felt that it was a big opportunity for him to manage in the country’s top-flight league and expressed hope that he will be able to turn Chennai City’s fortunes around.
“Now I have got a very good opportunity. This is a big chance for me. Though the team is in the bottom, I want to channel everything I learnt in Germany (during the coaching license course).”
“We have nine players with experience and four foreign players and I don’t know how such a good team is playing like this. I have watched the games and corrected the mistakes. It should not happen in the future,” he added further.
The coach also gave his assessment on the team’s forwards and felt that Marcos Tank, who has scored two goals for the club, was not up to his expectations.
“Only Charles has the attitude. Marcos is slow and he is only good in the air. He has only heading ability and his dribbling is poor. That was not what we expected from him,” he said.
Soundararajan also insisted that his players are approaching the game against Mumbai FC like it is a tournament final. “We have discussed Mumbai FC and tomorrow is a vital point and a win will help us leapfrog them. Tomorrow’s game is like a tournament final for us. We are only thinking about the upcoming game,” he stated.
Mumbai FC, on the other hand, are coming on the back of suffering five back-to-back defeats are not in the best frame of mind. After a roaring start to the season which saw them win their first two games, The Mumbaikars’ momentum came to a grinding halt while their opponents pummelled them.
Santosh Kashyap rued his team’s defending as he spoke at length about their poor start to the season.
“We had a great start with two wins and then we had tough away games. Also we had injuries and tight schedules. We are conceding silly goals and then are forced to chase goals. In the last game against Minerva, the conditions were windy and the ground was poor,” he professed.
Chennai City FC will be without the services of Karanjit Singh, Haroon Amiri and Abhra Mondal for Saturday’s game. For the visitors, Kimkima is doubtful while Thoi Singh is on leave for his marriage. But crucially, they have managed to sign Afghan defender Jalaluddin who might play a part in the game tomorrow. They are also boosted by the signing of the experienced Mehrajuddin Wadoo.
Both teams are in a runt of their own and as such Saturday’s game assumes much significance. A win will definitely propel Chennai City FC up the table while Mumbai FC cannot afford to suffer a sixth straight defeat.
The match is scheduled at 7pm and it’ll be telecast live on TEN 2.
by I-League Media
