Mohun Bagan will be desperate to earn its first win of this I-League season when it takes on debutants TRAU FC of Manipur at the Kalyani Municipality Stadium on Wednesday.
The Kolkata heavyweight has logged just one point from two games so far, while TRAU went down by a solitary goal to defending champion Chennai City FC in the I-League opener, which was also its debut match.
Mohun Bagan went down 2-4 to Churchill Brothers of Goa in its last encounter.
The pressure was clearly evident in Mohun Bagan’s Spanish coach Kibu Vicuna’s pre-match comments.
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“After the last match, the team wants to play to get three points. We had 71% ball possession, 27 shots, 10 on target against Churchill but we conceded so much defensively,” he said.
“We need to improve and be more efficient in both 18 yards box. We respect the opponent, a new team with good players and a new coach and we need to play a complete match to succeed.”
For debutant TRAU, it will be its second straight game on the road after the Chennai City FC loss. Its Brazilian Technical Director Douglas Silva was realistic in his comments ahead of the game.
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“All the matches of the I-League will be difficult for us because we are new and our teams are young but they are confident enough to face everyone. It is a great opportunity to play in the I-League and not because we are playing against any particular team. We look at all teams the same way,” he said.
The Kalyani pitch has been dishing out good games and much will depend on how Mohun Bagan’s Spanish midfielders and wingers can control the game from the outset and improve on execution, for the home team to come away victors.
The visitor will hope that Gurpreet continues to be rock-solid under the goal and its striking duo of Nigerian Princewell Emeka and Ghanian Abednego Tetteh deliver for the team.
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