PUNE, Dec 29: Defending champion and table toppers Dempo Sports Club make their first trip to the Balewadi Sports Complex stadium this season where they face a much-improved Mumbai FC in the Round XIII match of the I-League football championship here on Sunday (December 30).
On any other day, Dempo could have been perceived as clear favourites to win this tie but Khalid Jamil’s team have transformed themselves into a winning combination—latest being a smart 2-1 win against Kolkata giants East Bengal.
Moreover, the ground has been Mumbai FC’s lucky charm in recent past with five wins here.
They have lost two matches on Balewadi, both away fixtures to Pune FC and Air India, but those can be discounted for, as Jamil has regrouped the team nicely after a horrendous start to the season that saw them losing four match on the trot.
Captain Haroon Fakruddin Amiri is a game changer and crowd puller. The defender works his way to be a playmaker providing strikers Yusif Yakubu and Gabriel Fernandes neat through passes to keep a stream of attacks.
Though Amiri remains the key figure in Mumbai’s scheme of things, it will be left to Yakubu to take the lead and create scoring chances. Gabriel had been around working the ball, but somehow his finishes have been too wayward.
No doubt he managed to get one past East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu to put Mumbai FC ahead from where they built on to win the game, but he is more of a spoiler.
Jamil will do good if he uses Gabriel to unsettle the rival defence line and Yakubu and ND Opara to snap in shoot the ball.
Subash Chakraborty, James Singh and Nicholas Rodrigues have manned the mid-field well, but it is Rodrigues who comes of the best with his defence splitting passes something that Mumbai FC will hope for to score yet another upset at home.
In the last five matches, Mumbai FC has an enviable record—winning four and losing one. That loss against Air India was only blip, something that Jamil and his boys forgot too soon and carried on with the performance by winning two matches in a row.
The only record that goes against Mumbai FC is that they haven’t been able to beat Dempo so far in the past, whether at home or away—a statistics that is worrisome but that can be history if Jamil springs out one or two surprises.
Dempo SC, on the other hand, too won four of the last five matches with one loss at home to Pune FC. Despite the loss the Goan team has maintained its position at the top and only a string of bad results to displace this highly-talented team from the perch.
Midfielder Ryuji Sueoka is an unlikely top scorer for Dempo, but strikers Joaquim Abranches, Koko Sakibo and Clifton Gonsalves have been key figures in Dempo’s wins.
Coach Armando Colaco is a taskmaster no less and after the surprising reverse against Pune FC and unconvincing 2-1 win against Pailan Arrows, he would expect a convincing win without doubt.
The kick-off is at 3.00pm.
On any other day, Dempo could have been perceived as clear favourites to win this tie but Khalid Jamil’s team have transformed themselves into a winning combination—latest being a smart 2-1 win against Kolkata giants East Bengal.
Moreover, the ground has been Mumbai FC’s lucky charm in recent past with five wins here.
They have lost two matches on Balewadi, both away fixtures to Pune FC and Air India, but those can be discounted for, as Jamil has regrouped the team nicely after a horrendous start to the season that saw them losing four match on the trot.
Captain Haroon Fakruddin Amiri is a game changer and crowd puller. The defender works his way to be a playmaker providing strikers Yusif Yakubu and Gabriel Fernandes neat through passes to keep a stream of attacks.
Though Amiri remains the key figure in Mumbai’s scheme of things, it will be left to Yakubu to take the lead and create scoring chances. Gabriel had been around working the ball, but somehow his finishes have been too wayward.
No doubt he managed to get one past East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu to put Mumbai FC ahead from where they built on to win the game, but he is more of a spoiler.
Jamil will do good if he uses Gabriel to unsettle the rival defence line and Yakubu and ND Opara to snap in shoot the ball.
Subash Chakraborty, James Singh and Nicholas Rodrigues have manned the mid-field well, but it is Rodrigues who comes of the best with his defence splitting passes something that Mumbai FC will hope for to score yet another upset at home.
In the last five matches, Mumbai FC has an enviable record—winning four and losing one. That loss against Air India was only blip, something that Jamil and his boys forgot too soon and carried on with the performance by winning two matches in a row.
The only record that goes against Mumbai FC is that they haven’t been able to beat Dempo so far in the past, whether at home or away—a statistics that is worrisome but that can be history if Jamil springs out one or two surprises.
Dempo SC, on the other hand, too won four of the last five matches with one loss at home to Pune FC. Despite the loss the Goan team has maintained its position at the top and only a string of bad results to displace this highly-talented team from the perch.
Midfielder Ryuji Sueoka is an unlikely top scorer for Dempo, but strikers Joaquim Abranches, Koko Sakibo and Clifton Gonsalves have been key figures in Dempo’s wins.
Coach Armando Colaco is a taskmaster no less and after the surprising reverse against Pune FC and unconvincing 2-1 win against Pailan Arrows, he would expect a convincing win without doubt.
The kick-off is at 3.00pm.
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