Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 14 : The Reliance Foundation Developmental League (RFDL) finals will be held on Sunday, May 14, between Sudeva Delhi FC and Bengaluru FC at the Reliance Corporate Park (RCP). The match will commence at 7 pm with the Blues looking to defend their title whereas Sudeva stare straight at a shot at creating history.
Bengaluru come into this game on the back of triumphing over ATK Mohun Bagan in a highly-competitive semi-final clash on Thursday. Huidrom Thoi Singh was the star of the night for them as he opened the scoring and then converted his spot-kick in the shootout to steer his team to the championship-winning clash.
The Blues have received tremendous support from the club's head coach Simon Grayson, who hailed the RFDL as an excellent opportunity for tacticians to assess players who can potentially progress to the first team going ahead. The team looked well-balanced as they managed to pip past the Mariners and they look all set to put forth a fine challenge in front of Sudeva in the finals.
Sudeva, on the other hand, sprung a surprise by defeating favourites Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC) 1-0 courtesy a goal from Seilenthang Lotjem in the 67th minute. They were defensively solid as they thwarted the several offensive moves inflicted upon them by RFYC. The team from the national capital then capitalised on the occasional attacking breakthrough that they came across to find their way into the finals.
Much like the semi-finals, the final could arguably also be a low-scoring encounter with teams tightening up their backline and making their odd offensive endeavours. The winner of the contest, and the championship eventually, might as well be determined by the team with the more profound and better defensive unit.
Earlier in the day, RFYC will clash against ATK Mohun Bagan at the same ground at 8 am for the third-place playoff. Both teams will be edging to end their campaign on a positive note with a possible victory to round off the season. The head coaches of both teams were visibly disappointed at having missed out on making it to the finals but they sounded hopeful and optimistic of finishing third in this competition.
"Football always brings us new training sessions, new experiences and new games. In two days, we have the third-place playoff, which we want to win. Then there is the Next Gen Cup. So, there is always a next opportunity, a next exam," ATKMB coach Josep Maria Roma Gibert had said after the loss in the semi-finals.
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