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The teams from two neighbouring states – Odisha and Jharkhand – in the eastern part of India will be up against each other in what promises to be a cracker of an encounter in the Indian Super League this Tuesday. Jamshedpur FC has eight points from five games so far in the competition with two wins and two draws. On the other hand, Odisha FC has only lost to Kerala Blasters in the eighth season so far and has nine points from four games to their name.
There is not much difference between the two mineral-rich states and there is a lot similar between the two teams when it comes to the performance this season. The Kalinga Warriors have got the better of Bengaluru FC, SC East Bengal and NorthEast United FC while the Red Miners have defeated FC Goa and ATK Mohun Bagan. Their two draws have come against SC East Bengal and Hyderabad FC while they were beaten by Mumbai City FC in their previous game.
Jamshedpur FC will be looking forward to getting back to the winning ways when they will meet the Bhubaneswar-based side at the Tilak Maidan. Owen Coyle’s men will be eager to do well and they will heavily depend on players like Nerijus Valskis, Jordan Murray among others to deliver the goods. However, there were a few injury concerns for them before their last encounter against Mumbai City FC.
After the game, Coach Coyle had said, “(Nerijus) Valiskis was injured, Jordan Murray the same, Seiminlen Doungel also the same. With three days recovery ahead of the ATK Mohun Bagan game and two days ahead of the Mumbai City FC match, two of the top sides from the last year. But with that being said, we have shown that we are ready. We have the spirit, the desire. And we’ll pick ourselves up.”
On the other hand, Jonathas De Jesus came out from injury and was substituted in the second half against NorthEast United FC. The Brazilian’s perfect header had resulted in Odisha’s win last Friday and a lot will depend on his presence on the pitch in the coming game as well. Players like Aridai Cabrera, Javi Hernandez have also played well along with a few of the Indian players like captain Vinit Rai, goalkeeper Kamaljit Singh, defenders Gaurav Bora and Lalruatthara among others.
After the game against the Guwahati-based side, Head Coach Kiko Ramirez had stated, “We are happy that he (Jonathas) finally scored and released all the pressure on him and also that he forgot about his muscle injury, a minor one, and performed in the match. We are happy to have him on board.”
“We are happy that we kept our first clean sheet. Last week we had good chances and we couldn’t score, but in this match we didn’t have too many but we could score one goal with Jonathas. That’s football. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t. We defended well against NorthEast United’s attacks so we were happy about the result,” he had further added after the previous game.
Odisha FC had some concerns going into the last game and the most important one was that of Spanish defender Hector Rodas. The Juggernauts will be hoping him to be back on the field when they meet Jamshedpur in Tuesday’s encounter to provide the much-needed stability at the back.
Speaking about Hector, the Odisha FC gaffer had mentioned, “This week we had some muscle issues with some players. It is not a big problem but we preferred to rest him. Also, we are really happy with Bora. He performed really well, so that’s good for the team.”
