The Indian Super League (ISL) of 2024-25 season will start from 13th of September with a match between Mohun Bagan and Mumbai City FC at our very own Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Salt Lake, Kolkata.
Mohun Bagan and Mumbai City FC are the two most successful clubs in recent times and majority of the domestic titles have been shared between these two teams. The rivalry and the intensity of the match is on a different level when these two team met each other. Last season they faced each other on 4 occasions where Mohun Bagan able to defeat them on Durand Quarter Final and last game of ISL but also tasted defeat at the group stage game in Mumbai and ISL Cup final.
After the National duty 7 Mohun Bagan players namely Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Subhasish Bose, Apuia and Ashis Rai joined the team and majority of those players expected to start against Mumbai on Friday. Mohun Bagan started their season in brisk fashion at their Durand Cup campaign but they ultimately had a set back at the final against North East United FC and lost the match in the tie breaker. They have conceded total 7 goals in the tournament which is a real concern for the team. Coach Molina working hard to set up the defense line as Alberto and Tom are already preparing to rectify all the errors they committed.
Mumbai on the other hand will play their first match of the season with their senior squad in that match. They had also participated in the Durand Cup but with their reserve squad which had a horrendous campaign. Mumbai able to retain their 3 foreigners Tiri, Krouma and Van Nieff but their star striker Perera Diyaz and Alberto Noguera moved to BFC. Jeremy Manzorro switched side from JFC to Mumbai alongwith the star signing of Toral Harper. Nikolas Karelis will be the lone foreign striker of their team and it is to believe that they depended heavily on their Indian players likes of Chhangte, Vikram and Bipin in the upfront. The problem is their link man in the midfield Apuia joined Mohun Bagan this season and lot depends on the Jayesh Rane whether he will be able to fulfil his gap. Their coach Petr Kratky rated very highly in India and his preferred formation will be 4-2-3-1 but in the absence of Apuia and Vinit Rai also went out to the Punjab. Let’s see whether he would adjust to 4-3-3 formation this year. In any case, they will have a massive challenge in their season opener.
Mohun Bagan coach Molina also need to sort out his combination as we have seen in Durand Cup the 3 back system often lead to a gap in the defense as our both wingers couldn’t able to track back properly in counters. We will not be surprised if we fielded a 4 back system with Ashish Rai and Subhasish Bose alonghwith Tom Aldred and Alberto Rodriguez. Molina also preferred 4-2-3-1 rather than any other system. In this case we have to sacrifice one of Manvir or Liston and most likely Manvir will have to sit in the bench. Dimi and Cummings should be featured in the up front and Stewert will came as a substitute. All eyes will be on Jamie Maclaren whether he starts or not but it is very unlikely that he starts against Mumbai. Although he started his practice but he is yet recover fully to play entire 90 minutes.
Both teams having issues in their defensive organization but there will absolute no doubt about the firepower they are producing at the upfront. It is very likely to be a high scoring game and another 50K+ fans will be attending the season opener at Kolkata.
Predicted Lineup:
Kick off Time: 7:30PM(IST)
Live telecast/streaming: JioCinema, Sports18 3, DD Bangla, OneFootball(International)
Venue: Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Kolkata.
