Indian Football League

Match 57: JFC vs. SCEB

Preview

Two teams will arrive at the Athletic Stadium with two different goals. The East Bengal team will try to play some impressive football that they have done in the last couple of matches while Jamshedpur will look for a win which will take them to the top of the table. Thus, it can be said with absolute certainty that both the teams will give their all, in order to win this game.

Indian Coach Renedy Singh has done some tremendous work with the red and gold brigade. Against the defending champions, East Bengal managed to pull off a 0-0 draw and that too with ten Indian players. Before their game against the Red Miners, the club has released Daniel Chima Chukwu and has roped in Brazilian forward Marcelo Ribeiro Dos Santos on loan from Portuguese club Gil Vicente FC. However, the 24-year-old will not be part of the squad as he is yet to come to India. The point here is that the club will be going to the match without any foreign attacker. Chukwu has left the club and Antonio Persosevic is still suspended. Franjo Prce, Tomislav Mrcela, and Joyner Lourenco will also not be a part of the squad because of their injuries. Thus, expect the red and gold brigade to field an all-India squad today and even after that, expect them to fight and give their all. Fighting is something that is present in the blood of the club and today, they will once again have to show it on the field.

When asked about the club’s plan for the Jamshedpur game, Interim coach Renedy Singh in the pre match press conference said, “What I have learnt from the last two matches is if we play as one, remain structured nothing is impossible. First, we have to defend properly and then attack as a group. We need to stick to our plan and remain concentrated”.

The club is yet to win their first game of the season. Renedy Singh wants to change that as the former India International said, “Yes. We have played two good matches. We defended really well. I didn’t want a cricket score. Football is all about attacking and defending together. So tomorrow we will adapt to the situation. Jamshedpur FC are a very good team who have good players. We have to concentrate on ourselves”.

The red miners will have a huge task on hand as they have the opportunity to go to the top of the league and they will depend a lot on Greg Start. Defensively, the club has done decent but when it comes to attack, the team has been phenomenal. Stuart has been a beast and delivers for the team time and time out. The young Ishan Pandita will also be someone that the Indian fans will closely keep an eye on. He has scored a goal in the last match and it will be interesting to see whether he can capitalize and keep up with the same intent.

Owen Coyle, the head coach of the Jamshedpur team in the pre match press conference summed up their season so far. He said, “I think we did well to a point. If I’m being honest, I feel our performances probably should’ve earned us more points, but then again, we have to be clinical at the right moments. I think we’ve had more attempts at goal than anybody else in the league through some incredibly good play.

We’re entertaining, good to watch, and we’re exciting too. So, we've been pleased by the progress, but we think there's still more to come from us and that's what we've got to keep striving for. What’s important now is that we have to make sure we look to accumulate more points than we did in the first half of the season. If we do that then of course, that will take us to the top four, to get the chance to win the coveted play-off shield”.

Mobashir Rahman and Jitendra Singh have been very impressive for the team so far. Speaking about this duo, the coach said, “Well first and foremost, the two lads did very well. Jitendra, I think has learned a lot from his development in the last season by working with us, he’s taking a lot of things on board and there’s more to come from him. Mobashir played a lot last season but obviously was injured. Now he’s coming back healthy which is like adding a new player to your ranks so that’s been great. I have no fear in putting the two kids together in the middle of the park because I love their attitude, I love their drive and desire to win and they're both great kids, so, yes, there's every chance that they can play again together because they've already shown that they've done that in a winning team. But what we want is competition for places. So of course, we have different formations, distinctive styles, different personnel if we want to chop and change when we want to do it”.

JFC vs. SCEB Predicted Line Ups

JFC – Pawan Kumar; Laldinliana Renthlei, Eli Sabia, Peter Hartley, Ricky Lallawmawma, Seimenlen Doungel, Jitendra Singh, Mobashir Rahman, Boris Singh, Greg Stewart, Jordan Murray

SCEB – Arindam Bhattacharya, Amarjit Singh, Adil Khan, Hira Mondal, Sourav Das, Lalrinliana Hnamte, Wahengbam Luwang, Semboi Haokip, Mohammed Rafique, Balwant Singh

Match Prediction

It is going to be a great encounter as East Bengal challenges Jamshedpur tonight. Based on the team sheet, the men of steel are ahead but the red and gold brigade has played some brilliant football in the last couple of matches. Thus, we are going with East Bengal for this match.

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