Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) January 15 : Indian Super League side Mumbai City FC kicked off their Kalinga Super Cup 2024 campaign with a 2-1 win against I-League side Gokulam Kerala and have Punjab FC in their sights in their second Group C game on January 16.
The Islanders began their journey with a performance to remember, coming from behind to win 2-1 against a formidable Gokulam Kerala team. For the new head coach Peter Kratky, these are still early days and he is well aware of the challenges opposition teams can put forth.
"Punjab will be a little bit of a different opponent in comparison to Gokulam Kerala. However, we have a squad who can perform against any team. I believe in the players we have. Punjab is a very good team with experienced players on the park, and are well organised. We have to be respectful and ready for their quality, but we must also stick to the way we want to play. I am looking forward to the game, it will be an exciting game. We are not afraid of anyone, and we want to win this game," Kratky said as quoted from a release from Mumbai City FC.
Due to the ongoing AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, Mumbai City FC, like most other clubs, do not have a full squad available to pick from. Nonetheless, Kratky and the team management aren't very worried about it.
"I was very pleased with what I saw specially with Franklin (Nazareth), Nathan (Rodrigues), and Sanjeev (Stalin) and the others, basically all of the young players who came in, and Ayush (Chhikara) also, who scored a goal. There is a lot of room to improve but we will try to help them and make sure the performances are still going up. But again, I was very pleased with what I saw, and hopefully, they keep working hard, and keep asking more questions for the future selections," the coach added.
A win for the Mumbai City FC side will take them one step closer to the semifinal of the 2024 Kalinga Super Cup and defender Nathan Rodrigues, who made his first start for Mumbai City against Gokulam Kerala, is keen to help his side take that huge step forward. Nathan said, "It was a tough game. We were a goal down but we fought to win 2-1. The team worked very hard on the pitch and we deserved to win."
"It is important for us to get a win on Tuesday against Punjab FC, and we hope we keep our momentum going as well. A win will take us closer to the qualification for the semi-final," Nathan added.
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