Bengaluru pressing for turnaround as Mumbai FC stand in way

Bengaluru FC Media

Albert Roca said he hoped for a drastic change in luck to compliment the kind of football Bengaluru FC have been playing as the Blues take on Mumbai FC at the Cooperage, in Mumbai, on Saturday. Winless in five games now, Bengaluru FC have often found themselves on the short end of fortune to share points in games they should have comfortably won.

“It’s frustrating for sure to control large parts of the game and then come away with a point. But that’s football and like I have been saying, it’s important to keep any negativity away. We back the kind of quality we have and we will need to show it against Mumbai,” he said.

Bengaluru come into this game on the back of three straight draws and the Sunil Chhetri-led side will have to be more clinical with the chances they have been creating in attack if the trend has to be bucked.

The game also marks the first of the reverse legs for the Blues this season. CK Vineeth scored the first hat-trick in the club’s history when Mumbai came to the Kanteerava in January and Bengaluru will hope the striker, who hasn’t scored since then, finds form in front of goal.

Mumbai, meanwhile, are struggling with a winless streak of their own, having gone on to lose five straight games after the 3-0 defeat in Bengaluru. The Santosh Kashyap-coached side picked their first points since then after playing out a goalless draw against Mohun Bagan on Wednesday and find themselves above only Churchill Brothers on the points table.

But much has changed for Mumbai in terms of their squad since they last played Bengaluru. Four foreign singings in Densill Theobald, Djelaludin Sharityar, Alex Willian and Anderson da Silva have joined Kashyap and showed in glimpses against Bagan what they bring to the side.

“Like us, Mumbai too have been chasing a win for some time now and that is what makes them dangerous. They have even added four foreigners who look experienced and that changes a lot from the last time we played them,” said Roca.

In what is surely some respite for Roca, who has missed key players owing to injury and suspensions, central defender Juan Gonzalez has made the trip to Mumbai having served his two-game ban and will add some much needed strength to a Blues defence that has had a few weak moments in the recent past. John Johnson, however, continues his rehabilitation after fracturing a rib and will miss out on Saturday.

The game kicks off at 7 pm and will be telecast on Ten 2. 

Nail-biter on card as blues take on nemesis Mumbai FC

AIFF Media 
Bengaluru FC Media 

With the sole intent of consolidating the good start, Hero I-League title contender Bengaluru FC (BFC) take on Mumbai FC (MFC) tomorrow at the Sree Kanterava Stadium, Bengaluru. 

Both teams have made a perfect start to their league campaign – BFC winning both their home ties convincingly and MFC winning a home and away. Bengaluru tops the points table with a better goal difference. 

MFC have always been a hard nut to crack for the champions. In the last three editions of I-League, they’ve manage to beat them only once, that is last year at home. 

Roca, whose two timely substitutions in the last match paid rich divided sounded cautious. He said, “After two wins, they’ll come stronger mentally and they have enough talents to put us in trouble, but we’re ready for a hard battle.”  

Thoi Singh and Karan Sawney, two former BFC men have truly prospered for Mumbai in the last match. 

Bengaluru have signed few Indian players lately - Lenny, Harmanjot Khabra, and Mandar Rao Dessai among them have featured in the starting eleven. 

According to Roca, “It is not easy for the new players to understand the philosophy of the new club from the first week. What I want from them is to be at par with the existing team at the earliest. But we have to give them time for that.” 

“We are trying to build a superior team, this team is under construction, we’re adjusting things, and not completed yet!” added coach. 

Roca is completely aware of opponents’ strength, which is speed. They have a good forward in Victorino Fernandes, he plans to cut the supply of long balls. 

BFC’s philosophy is to build the game from behind against MFC’s counter attack theory. So for Roca it is important not to lose the ball and give Mumbai the opportunity to counter attack.
Bengaluru would want to bag full points before they play a difficult away game against East Bengal this weekend. 

The Essel Group-owned MFC is trained by Santosh Kashyap, a shrewd coach capable of upstaging the big-wigs! 

Talking to the media, coach sounded positive, “Great start for us in I-League, our players have put in the best effort, and team is high on confidence.” 

Kashyap is targeting for a top three finish. “I have great respect for BFC, we are going to meet the strongest opponent. Believe tomorrow’s match is going to be a championship match for us.” he adds.   
Mumbai will take the field sans foreigners, owing to transfer formalities, which is yet to be completed.

Kashyap is content with his current batch, “I believe in Indian players and they have responded positively in such a short span of time. Boys have been fantastic on home as well as away matches.” 
“I have trust and confidence in them; they are doing good job!” adds the Mumbai-based coach who believes in playing attacking style of football. 

The match is scheduled at 7 pm and will be telecast live on TEN2.