Kokrajhar (Assam)[India], August 17 : Indian Super League (ISL) side Jamshedpur FC take on the Indian Navy Football Team in Kolkata’s Mohun Bagan ground whereas the Indian Army football team take on Bodoland FC in their den at Kokrajhar’s SAI stadium. While both teams seek their first points in the Kolkata game, in Kokrajhar, only the home team will be seeking to do that as the Army team look to make it two wins out of two.
You can watch the live coverage of all 43 matches of the 132nd IndianOil Durand Cup 2023 on the Sony Sports Ten 2 channels as well as livestream on SonyLiv.
After facing reverses in the first game, both Jamshedpur FC (JFC) and the Indian Navy football team (INFT) will look to get their 132nd IndianOil Durand Cup campaign back on track with a good performance and hopefully three points, on Thursday.
The Navy team gave a very good account of themselves against local giants Mohammedan Sporting in the first game, going down by the odd goal in three and that seemed certainly in the minds of the Red Miners gaffer Steven Dias when he said, “It's not going to be an easy match against the Indian Navy Team but we are positive and looking forward to it. The young lads are working hard and ready to bounce back. I am confident that we will make our fans proud and showcase some good football.”
Jamshedpur had gone down 0-5 in their first game, albeit to a far superior Mumbai City FC side in the first game and it remains to be seen if the young wards of Steven Dias, are able to brush aside that experience and turn up on Thursday.
The evening game in Kokrajhar on Thursday is a must-win for Bodoland FC. Anything less, would mean they would have no chances to progress further in the tournament, whatever the outcome of the final game against Odisha FC. The Indian Army team are much more comfortable after their opening game victory over Odisha and will therefore go into the game with a lot of confidence.
Ramesh Anthony, the coach of the Indian Army team sounded confident despite not having his main striker Liton Shil, the scorer in their first game, available, saying in a pre-game chat, “The boys are motivated and we have prepared well. Yes we will be missing our main striker but we have other players also. We will be playing to win, which will make our qualification easier.”
Bodoland coach Daimalu Basumatary also sounded well aware of the task at hand. In an extensive chat on the morning of a day ahead of the game he said, “Last match we lost three points. I won’t give excuses by saying the weather was bad. They also played in the same weather. We made some mistakes but our players played well and fought till the whistle was blown. These coming two matches are very important for us and we have to win in both the matches. Tomorrow we are playing against Indian Army and we are ready to take important three points for our team. We are trying really hard and hope to have a better combination in the final third. I am sure my boys will do better and secure three points.”
Those three points, if they come, will surely throw the cat amongst the pigeons in Group F with Odisha winning their second game against Rajasthan United FC.
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