Tuesday's I-League 2022-23 matchup at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata pits Mohammedan Sporting against Mumbai Kenkre FC (December 13, 2022).
The season has been off to a disappointing start for the Kolkata giants, who have two victories and four losses to their name thus far. It's interesting to note that all of their losses have occurred in away games, despite having a perfect home record up to this point. In their most recent games, they had the lead but lost against Sreenidi Deccan (3-4) and Churchill Brothers (late goals) (1-2). Nothing less than a victory will do for their attempt to get back on track now that they are at home.
The first game of the season marked Mumbai Kenkre's lone victory. They have been a model of grit in recent games, playing with an all-Indian side and grinding out 1-1 draws in three of their last four games--and they did so despite taking the lead in each of them. They will be worried, though, about turning the draws into three points because Mumbai Kenkre and Mohammedan both have six points, which puts them in the bottom part of the standings.
The Black and White Brigade won the only previous I-League match between the two teams by a score of 1-0 last year.
Mohammedan head coach Andrey Chernyshov stressed on the need to forget past results and look forward.
"We want to win each time we play, whether it's home or away. My players are giving their best and showing great desire but things did not fall in our favour in the last two matches. We must forget them and be ready for the coming matches. We need to win tomorrow. No other result will be good for us. We understand how Mumbai Kenkre will play and that they will be organized well. We need to be aggressive and put pressure right from the start," the coach said as quoted by I-League website.
Mumbai Kenkre head coach Akhil Kothari spoke about carrying forward the positive momentum. "As a team, we have been doing well and want to continue building on the positives. We played well away against Rajasthan United and now, we have another important away game ahead of us. We are fully focused and prepared to put on a competitive show," he said.
Defender Al Azhar Delhiwala said, "We have been training well as a team together and focusing on tomorrow's match. We want to get off to a good start against Mohammedan. The players are focused and the mood is positive overall."
( With inputs from ANI )
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