Kolkata : Sony Norde would love to score in front of her girlfriend Kimmy in the derby . Norde , who has brought his new girlfriend to India , will be at the SaltLake Stadium on Saturday to cheer him . “ Yes , I would like to score a goal in the derby and dedicate her ,” said a shy looking Norde before leaving the club tent . The Mariners will be banking on their Haitian International to score against arch rivals East Bengal . Norde himself looks supremely fit at practice and raring to go in derby .
Norde was not a part of the Bagan squad that lost the Kolkata League derby 0-4 to East Bengal . He reckons it will be a tough match on Saturday ,“ East Bengal will be a tough opponent to beat . We have to play aggressively to win against East Bengal .”
Norde did watch the derby on youtube . He was quite impressed with the second goal that Dong scored from a freekick “It will be a challenge to play against Dong and Ranty . I have played against Ranty and have watched him play earlier . Although I have not watched Dong , but whatever little I watched him on videos , his freekicks seem to be lethal outside the box . The goal that he scored from the second freekick in the Kolkata derby was quite brilliant .”
Norde believe the team should not have conceded the first goal in the Kolkata League derby . But that’s past for him . He feels the team needs to leave the Kolkata League derby loss behind and start afresh with a vengeance on Saturday . So do you look at it as a revenge ,“ No , I am not looking it like that way . But I would like to remind everyone , this Mohun Bagan team is a lot different compared to the one that played in the Kolkata League . We need to play aggressively to win against East Bengal ”
Meanwhile , Bagan coach will feel concerned with the groin injury to Balwant Singh . The Chennaiyin FC striker did not practice at all and was seen taking massage from the physio . The Bagan coach made his intentions very clear that he would prefer playing Balwant ahead of Jeje ,“ Will wait for Balwant till I submit the team list . Some one who have scored goals and won matches for us , will always get the preference . If he says I am fit , I will always trust him . I have also spoken about this at the team meeting .”
The Bagan coach was seen carrying a special practice with set piece movements involving the trio of Glen , Katsumi and Norde . The gaffer was also seen giving attention to the formation of the walls during free kicks . He do not want the same mistake to be repeated as Dong sealed the Kolkata League derby by scoring both his goals from free kick .
Sanjoy Sen would also like to spring up a surprise with regard to his U-22 footballers . He his keeping all his U-22 footballers viz., Sarthak Golui , Azharuddin Mullick, Brandon Fernandes and Manish Bhargav ready for the derby . Azharuddin Mullick looks to be the favourite to fill the U-22 players slot .
Sanjay Sen once again maintained it will be a 5-50 battle in the derby ,“ Whatever the football pundits predict or say , this match is always a 50-50 battle . I shall always respect East Bengal . Whoever hold their nerves will take way the match .”
Mohun Bagan will go in with a 4-4-2 formation . The probable team will look like
Debjit , Pritam Kotal , Kingshuk , Luciano , Dhanachandra , Katsumi , Pronay Halder/Souvik Chakraborty , Brandon Fernandes /Azharuddin Mullick , Sony Norde , Glen , Balwant/Jeje