Internet Desk: Mohun Bagan will be opening their campaign against Salgaocar in the Federation Cup 2016 at Tilak Maidan, Goa. The runners-up of this year’s I-League has defeated them twice in the I-League 4-2 and 3-1 respectively.
The Mariners will be highly depending on the duo of Cornell glen and Jeje to get the goals as they will miss the services of Haitian International Sony Norde due to injury. It will be interesting to see whom does the Mohun Bagan gaffer Sanjoy Sen selects to play in the left wing. Although the Mariners have a lot of options in the likes Subhash Singh, Kean Lewis and Manish Bhargav, but it seems that the gaffer will go for Kean Lewis as he had consistently performed well in the I-League campaign for Bagan.
Sanjoy Sen was quoted as saying,” Frankly speaking, I am not worried about my opponent. Rather I am worried about my team’s tiredness due to the journey we had to prevail for the last one week.”
How do you rate your opponent? The gaffer replied,”Salgaocar are a good side with some very good young players in the likes of Jackichand, Gurjinder Kumar and Semboi Haokip. I hope for a good fight between the two sides. Darryl Duffy is also a very clever striker they have in their side. We have to be aware of that. Although Salgaocar began poorly in the I-League, they came back strong to save relegation.”
Is Sony Norde’s absence a concern for you? Sanjoy signed off saying,” My team does not depend on individual brilliance. we play as an unit. Sony is a good player but not indispensable. i will fight with whatever resources I have.”
On the other hand, Salgaocar will be without their head coach as Santosh Kashyap reigned last week. They are heavily depending on Darryl Duffy upfront and Australian Calvin Mbarga in the midfield. Gurjinder Kumar will be back after nursing is injury.