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Mumbai FC - Mohun Bagan Preview: Can Bencherifa begin with a win?
With both teams winning comprehensively in their last matches, both teams will look to keep their winning run going...
By Kaustav Bera
Rehman, Stephen, Amiri, Mehta;
Chakraborty, Quao, James, Nicholas;
N.Chettri, Khongjee, Anyichie, Biswajit;
Mumbai FC continued their winning run by beating Shillong Lajong FC comprehensively 4-1. This was after they had garnered their first points on the board after defeating Sporting Clube de Goa 3-2, even after they had conceded 2 goals in the first half without reply.
Khalid Jamil will look to continue the winning run as they meet an in-form Mohun Bagan side, but in their own backyard. N.D Opara who has scored five goals may find himself strangely relegated to the bench, as he was in their last two wins, in favour of Ghanaian Yusif Yakubu.
Jamil will not tinker much with the winning combination as he would pair up the impressive Justine Stephen with Amiri in central defense while Yakubu will have Gabriel Fernandes for company.
|Gabriel Fernandes will look to continue his fine form
Meanwhile Mohun Bagan have witnessed a change in guard as Karim Bencherifa will officially take over for this match from Mridul Banerjee who steered the side to 3 wins and 1 draw in his 4 matches in charge.
Karim will look to stick with the interim man's plans though it will be interes as was done in thing to see whether he does use Syed Rahim Nabi in a more attacking role, as he had claimed earlier. With Tolgay Ozbey out injured, Odafa Okolie will play the role of the lone striker up front with Stanley Okoroigwe playing a roving role behind him.
Denson Devadas, who was very impressive against Salgaocar FC will play the role of the anchorman in midfield.
Both teams are in good form and this should be an interesting encounter as Mohun Bagan will look to push for maximum points, as Bencherifa would want to start his tenure on a winning note, while also climbing the table.
Mumbai FC: With no injury worries, Khalid Jamil is expected to make no changes to his side that beat Shillong Lajong, with on-loan keeper Luis Barreto likely to bag his third start of the season.
Mohun Bagan: Karim has indicated that he would look to start with an unchanged XI from the last match. Tolgay Ozbey and Arindam Bhattacharya are the long term injury absentees. Manish Maithani hasn't travelled with the squad due to a knock. Mehrajuddin Wadoo and Eche are nursing injuries too.
|DID YOU KNOW?|
- This is Karim Bencherifa's second stint with Mohun Bagan, after he was unceremoniously sacked in 2010.
- In the last five matches between these two teams, Mohun Bagan have won 3 and drawn 2.
- Mumbai FC coach, Khalid Jamil, during his playing career was offered a contract by East Bengal and Mohun Bagan but rejected it as they were sponsored by an alcohol company.
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Top 3 Predictions
Mumbai FC 0-2 Mohun Bagan A.C.
- 18.33 %
Mumbai FC 2-1 Mohun Bagan A.C.
- 15 %
Mumbai FC 1-0 Mohun Bagan A.C.
- 10 %
|I-League (IND1)||10-Apr-2013||Mohun Bagan A.C. 3 - Mumbai FC 2|
|I-League (IND1)||25-Nov-2012||Mumbai FC 1 - Mohun Bagan A.C. 1|
|I-League (IND1)||11-Feb-2012||Mohun Bagan A.C. 2 - Mumbai FC 1|
|I-League (IND1)||06-Nov-2011||Mumbai FC 1 - Mohun Bagan A.C. 5|
|I-League (IND1)||03-Apr-2011||Mumbai FC 0 - Mohun Bagan A.C. 0|
|11-May-2013||Sporting Clube de Goa 2 - Mumbai FC 2||IND1|
|20-Apr-2013||ONGC F.C. 1 - Mumbai FC 1||IND1|
|14-Apr-2013||Shillong Lajong FC 2 - Mumbai FC 0||IND1|
|10-Apr-2013||Mohun Bagan A.C. 3 - Mumbai FC 2||IND1|
|07-Apr-2013||Mumbai FC 3 - Air India F.C. 1||IND1|
|18||Haroon Fakruddin Amiri||Defender|
|9||Odafa Onyeka Okolie||Striker|
|14||C S Sabeeth||Striker|
Times In IST
Live Final scheduled Suspended Cancelled Postponed