I-League 2017: Match Preview, Mohun Bagan vs Neroca FC
Mohun Bagan will be looking to seal three points and give their I-League 2017 title aspirations a further push when they take on Neroca FC at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Having said that, Bagan are plagued by plenty of problems. To begin with, they have a plethora of injuries in their team. They will miss the services of defender Arijit Bagui, who is currently nursing an injury. Yuta Kinowaki has already been ruled out for at least a month.
On top of that, the two star foreigners, Ansumana Kromah and Sony Norde too are doubtful. Kromah is recovering from an injury and has allergy too, but he sounded confident of taking the field.
Sony, however, practised on the sidelines alone which is indicative of his desperation to get into action. Star defender Kingsley, who has been rock solid at the back, will miss this encounter since he was given marching orders in the previous game against Shillong Lajong. He is most likely to be replaced by Rana Gharami.
Rana, who took the field for 20-30 minutes against Lajong, did not look too impressive and it remains to be seen how he performs. Bagan gaffer, Sanjoy Sen, however, sounded optimistic about his team's chances and boasted about the fact that while his team had conceded only two goals in the last four matches, their arch rivals East Bengal have conceded six goals from equal number of matches.
Neroca FC on the other hand, are high on momentum after back-to-back wins in their last two encounters against Gokulam and Chennai City FC. Their team has Indian players like Gourmangi Singh, Subhash Singh and Govin Singh, who have experience of playing for the city giants.
Their foreign contingent has Fabian, who happens to be a close friend of Sony and in case the latter takes the field on Tuesday, the duel between the two Haitians will be one to watch out for.
With Minerva FC, winning on Monday and extending their lead at the top of the table, Mohun Bagan will be desperate for a win while Neroca FC will look to continue their winning streak. Therefore, Tuesday's clash promises to provide a lip-smacking encounter and it remains to be seen whether the teams live up to the expectations.
Playing XI (Probable)
Mohun Bagan: Shilton Paul (GK), Kingshuk (C), Rana, Ricky, Abhishek Das, Shilton D' Silva, Kromah/Narohari, Sk. Faiyaz, Dipendu Dowary, Raynier, Dipanda Dicka.
Neroca FC: Lalit Thapa (GK) (C), Govin Singh, Tondonba, Kitamba Jr, Fabian Vorbe, Felix Chidi, Singam, Gopi, Saran Singh, Pritam Singh, Glen Williams.
Predicted Scoreline
Mohun Bagan 2-1 Neroca FC