Mohun B. will lock horns against Northeast in Indian Football League on Sunday night to take the top spot back. Both sides are coming off a draw and it would be a fascinating match between two in-form sides.
Match Timings: Jan 03, 7:30 PM IST
Team Preview
The top contender for the title, Mohun B. will resume the Indian Football League campaign after the New Year break. Mariners ended 2020 with topping the table but Mumbai got it back on Saturday. Habas’ men dropped points against Chennai and failed to score a goal for the first time this season. Chennai looked a better side in the first few minutes. Mariners build its game when Roy Krishna showed a great display but Fijian couldn’t get the goal. They also got a chance in the 28th minute when David Williams was taken down by Reagan Singh but the referee didn’t consider it a penalty.
Chennai started the second half with more attacks and Habas’ men looked pathetic but Chennai still couldn’t break the deadlock. Krishna came close to the winner following the misjudgment from Vishal Kaith against the cross from Subhasish Bose. It was the third consecutive clean sheet for the Mariners and Arindam Bhattacharya should get all the credits. The trio Carl McHugh, Sandesh Jhingan, and Tiri have been terrific to hold the opponent’s attack. The midfield line needs some boost as the Mariners have scored just 8 goals this season, despite taking the spot in the top two. Antonio Habas will hope to resolve the issues which occurred in the last match.
Meanwhile, Northeast also saw the downfall after getting just three points from the last four matches. They were held for a 2-2 draw from the bottom side in the previous match. Diego Mauricio opened the scoring for Odisha in the 22nd minute. Highlanders missed out on some early chances but they didn’t wait for the equaliser as Benjamin Lambot scored through a header before the half-time break. Northeast took the charge in the second half and Kwesi Appiah made it 2-1 through the penalty strike. The defense lacked for the Highlanders as they allowed Cole Alexander to equalise for Odisha. Northeast had better possession but they failed to convert the opportunities.
Gallego found Kwesi Appiah with a long ball but Arshdeep Singh made a brilliant save. Britto PM and Benjamin Lambot missed easy headers. Highlanders had 56% of possession and Odisha didn’t give easy chance to Northeast through the counter-attack from Jerry Mawihmingthanga and Diego Mauricio. Nus made few substitutes in the second half. Federico Gallego was substituted for Idrissa Sylla in the 53rd minute and Khassa Camara came for Kwesi Appiah. These changes didn’t put any drama in the game and Northeast dropped a point for a fourth successive match. They have taken 11 points from eight matches and Nus desperately looking for the win here to end this winless streak.
Possible Lineups and Current Form
Mohun B.
Arindam Bhattacharya; Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Tiri, Subhasish Bose*; Pronay Halder, Carl McHugh; Manvir Singh, Edu Garcia, David Williams; Roy Krishna
Current form: D
Previous match: Goalless draw with Chennai
Northeast
Gurmeet, Benjamin Lambot, Dylan Fox, Gurjinder Kumar, Ashutosh Mehta, Lalengmawia, Lalrempuia Fanai, Federico Gallego, Luis Machado, Kwesi Appiah, Britto PM
Current form: D L D D W
Previous match: 2-2 draw with Odisha
Key Players
Mohun B.
Roy Krishna
5 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Manvir Singh
2 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Northeast
Kwesi Appiah
3 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
Idrissa Sylla
2 goals in Indian Football League 2020-21
