Kolkata: Mohun Bagan’s Liberian striker Ansumana Kromah will not be travelling with the team for the practice games against FC Pune City and FC Goa. Kromah will be flying back home in order to get his visa issues sorted. He will join the Mariners ahead of I League. Coach Sanjay Sen will be taking 22 footballers to Pune to play the practice games against FC Pune City on November 06. The Green and Maroon brigade will next play another practice match against FC Goa on November 09. The squad has 5 foreigners – Sony Norde, Obumneme Kingsley, Dipanda Dicka, Yuta Kinowaki and Diogo Ferreira.
“Since he (Kromah) joined us straight from Churchill Brothers to play in the Kolkata League, he did not have enough time to get his visa extended. Hence he will be going back to Liberia and sort out the visa issues. He will join us before the commencement of I League,” said Sanjay Sen to the reporters at the club after the practice session today.
Apart from the visa problem with Kromah, there is a slight concern for the other foreigners in the side as well. Both Japanese midfielder Yuta Kinowaki and Sony Norde did not take part in the practice session today evening at the club ground. Kinowaki suffered an injury in the practice match against FCI yesterday and was seen sitting with a bandage strapped on his right knee. Sony Norde too has a slight groin injury. The team management had their injuries assessed by a doctor during the practice session. Both have been given the go ahead to travel with the team.
The gaffer is mulling the idea of playing only his 5 foreigners in the practice matches. According to Sanjay Sen, “I want to play 5 foreigners only in a match according to the I League rules. Basic idea is to give all my players a feel in the middle, rotating them.”
He also added, “I am not concerned about the outcome of the matches. All I want is to look at the different combinations and perhaps try out a few formations like 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1.”
Azharuddin Mullick and Shilton De Silva will also not travel with team since they have not recovered fully.
Meanwhile, the Kolkata giants have given two proposals to the Federation. One is to properly spend on the branding of the League in all the cities where the matches will be staged. The Federation earlier has increased the amount from 50lakhs to 3 crore per year on the branding of I League. The other proposal given by the club is to have both the captain and the coach for the official launching of the League in Delhi on November 11.