Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham is very confident ahead of their semifinal first leg against Bengaluru FC. The Shield Winners will be looking to win the ISL trophy aswell this time but it will be a big challenge considering Bengaluru FC are in exceptional form.
Theb fixture promises plenty of action as the Blues are in a nine-match recording breaking run and were one of the two teams to beat the Islanders in the league phase. Simon Grayson’s team defeated Kerala Blasters in the knockouts to reach the last four stage this season. The English tactician has already guided the team to a Durand Cup triumph and is looking to complete his double with the ISL trophy.
Despite it being a two legged semifinal, Buckingham feels it’s two separate matches and that is how he will see it. He wants his team to focus on a single leg at a time and believes that his team is in good space, all rested and recovered and gunning to take the field.
“I see this as two individual games. You have to plan for the 90 minutes you’re about to face. Obviously, we know that the outcome of that 90 minutes could influence the second part, but there’s no point in looking at the second part until the first part is done. So we’ll approach this game in the same way we have done for the other games, which we’ve had two weeks now to plan, prepare and rest and recover. We’ve got everybody in a really good space. We’ll take each game as it comes, the same as we did in the league, but it’s important that we just look at this game in isolation to start with,” the Englishman stated at the press conference.
The first leg of the semifinals will be played at the Mumbai Football Arena in Mumbai. The Islanders have had a great home record this season. Buckingham have hailed the Mumbai fans and feels that the players are really motivated to prove a point when they play in front of them. “I’ve said this all season, especially not only the home crowd, I think it’s the atmosphere when you come to the Mumbai Football Arena. Fans are a lot closer to the pitch and the atmosphere that is created is very different to the grounds. Not to say it’s better, but it’s very special,” he added.
The Englishman is eager to see the Mumbai Football Arena sold-out on the first leg of the semifinals.”Fans are very important and it’s so good to get to play in front of them this season as opposed to what was last year when we were in the bubble. We’re looking forward to a sold-out Mumbai Football Arena to hopefully cheer us on against a very good Bengaluru FC team and one we will be ready for,” Buckingham hopes.
Lastly both the teams have beaten each other and it will be a very exciting clash altogether considering the teams have different strengths and weaknesses. The Blues handed Mumbai City their first defeat of the season that too at home. However Buckingham feels sticking to a style of play will surely bring results as he wants everyone to also remember that even the Islanders did beat Bengaluru FC. So its very even for now and promises to be a spectacle.
“We can look at it as they were the team to beat us or we can go back to the format where we beat them at home. We’ve shown that we can stick true to what we believe in the way that we do things over a period of time. Performances firstly, and then you hope that the result follows, we’ve shown that over 20 games, 18 times,” he concluded.
Mumbai City have been intensely consistent this season whereas Bengaluru FC started poorly and then starting raking in those wins one after another to finish in the top four. Both the teams have had their struggles this season and will give their everything to get to the finals.
