I-League: Tough task ahead for Chennai City

CCFC’s head coach V. Soundararajan understands it is now or never for the team. He has decided to further strengthen it with some foreign flavour. Donghyen Kim (Korea) and Aleksandar Rakic (Serbia) have been flown in to do some midfield duties.

Mohun Bagan players train under the watchful eye of their manager, Shankarlal Chakroborty.

It’s going to be a tough ask for Chennai City FC this time around when it takes on Mohun Bagan for the second time in a Hero I-League clash at the Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.

The host pulled off a stunning 2-1 win earlier last month with only 10 men on the field. Since then, despite some exceptional play in both attack and defence, the team has failed to score and that has upset its calculations on the points table.

CCFC’s head coach V. Soundararajan understands it is now or never for the team. He has decided to further strengthen it with some foreign flavour. Donghyen Kim (Korea) and Aleksandar Rakic (Serbia) have been flown in to do some midfield duties and sharpen the attack as well along with the free-flowing Frenchman Jean Joachim. It will be the first time this season that five foreigners will form the line-up for the team.

“We know for sure they will be gunning for revenge. They will be very serious with the game and we can understand their feelings. But we will be too happy if we repeat the winning act again. And, that’s the whole idea of fielding more foreign players,” said Soundararajan.

Asif Kottayil (Kerala) has also been roped in. “He, along with Pandian, will lend some balance to the defence. It’s will be one big challenge as Mohun Bagan is a well-organised side but we will go flat out from the start,” he added.

Mohun Bagan’s head coach Sankarlal Chakraborty was happy with CCFC’s performance. “Their boys played very well last time and deserved to win. The team now has got a good mix of foreign players and so it’s not going to be easy. But, we will look out for a win tomorrow.”