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The Indian Super League juggernaut finally makes its way to Jamshedpur as The Furnace gets ready to host its first match of the season. After two away encounters, Jamshedpur FC take on ATK in their first home game of the 2018/19 edition.
The mood in the Jamshedpur FC camp is upbeat after a solid start to the season. A 2-0 win over Mumbai City FC was followed by a nail-biting 2-2 draw against Bengaluru FC which involved a last-minute equalizer from Sergio Cidoncha. Cesar Ferrando will be keen on maintaining a good start to the season but tomorrow’s challengers, ATK, will pose some tough questions to Tim Cahill and co.
After losing their first two matches against Kerala Blasters and North East United without scoring a goal, the two-time champions, ATK bounced back with a 2-1 win over Delhi Dynamos. Balwant Singh starred for the Kolkata side along with Manuel Lanzarote who was involved in both the goals.
Handling the threat of Singh, Lanzarote and Kalu Uche won’t be an easy task for Jamshedpur FC. Cesar Ferrando spoke about this issue in his pre-match press conference as he said, “I am not happy with the way the team defended in Bengaluru, we need to improve. Now, as most of the squad is fit, I have more options. We need to make sure that we don’t concede goals easily and we are working on our co-ordination so that we don’t concede like those goals in the future.”
Revealing the team news ahead of the tomorrow’s encounter, Ferrando disclosed that youngster, Mobashir Rahman suffered an injury in training and will miss the clash against ATK. Meanwhile, Dhanachandra Singh is back in training and will be available for selection. Also, tomorrow’s match will mark the end of Subrata Paul’s suspension.
For the opponents, former Jamshedpur FC defender, Andre Bikey is a doubt and may start the match from the bench. Jayesh Rane, who was a substitute against Delhi Dynamos may well start the game at the Furnace.
It will be a homecoming for ATK boss, Steve Coppell who managed Jamshedpur FC last season. Speaking on his time with the club, Coppell said in his press conference, “It feels great. I am very proud with what we did last year. Although, we never made the playoffs, it was a good achievement for a new franchise to develop in the way that we did and I’m looking forward to the game tomorrow.”
The Englishman also reiterated the fact that ATK have arrived in Jamshedpur for a win and the team’s intention will be to nab all three points. Meanwhile, Cesar Ferrando is also eyeing a perfect start at home and believes that his team is up for the task that lie ahead in the form of a solid ATK outfit.
Tomorrow’s match-up promises to be a battle between two teams that have shown signs of improvement from the last season. Both the sides possess plenty of attacking threat going forward but the match may well be decided by the team that functions well without the ball and commits lesser mistakes than the other.
