The second game of the Hero I-League kicks off for Lajong on Friday against former I-League champions, Mohun Bagan AC at the R. Sarobar Stadium at 7 PM. The match will be telecast live on Ten 2.
Lajong didn’t have the best of starts to the new I-League season. The gaffer, Thangboi Singto fielded eight U-22 players against a formidable Bengaluru FC side and was unable to match up with BFC’s strengths and also lacked proper coordination in their first away game of the season.
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From the foreign signings, Singto picked Fabio Pena, Yuta Kinowaki and Dan Ignat and started them in the first game with the objective to get out the majority of the contribution from them. Dipanda Dicka came on as a second-half substitute and could not make such a big impact that day.
The international players were able to showcase their abilities and looked promising but it was just not enough in the end.
Lajong, who are playing their record 7th season in the I-League, have now moved on from this and Singto’s army are focused on bringing the best in tomorrow’s game. They will also look to combine much better with one another on the pitch and Singto is expecting more quality and aggression from the boys this time and more contribution from his foreign signings.
Thangboi, ahead of tomorrow’s game said, “Mohun Bagan is as strong as last year with lots of good Indian players. Their foreigners and mainly Jeje will be a big threat in tomorrow’s game but as for us, we will play a confident attacking football tomorrow.”
He further said, “We have to learn from the last mistakes and play stronger both defensively and in attack. All the players are available and we have worked on improving our shortcomings and we will play more confidently and go for a good result,” he concluded.
The mariners, however, who played with ten men in their first game of the season with Subashish Ghosh being awarded a red card, were happy with the outcome as they managed to beat Churchill Brothers by a solitary goal courtesy Balwant Singh who made a comeback to the league after nine months out.
Balwant capitalised on Pritam Kotal’s cross from the right flank and headed the ball into the net. The Kolkata outfit were very lucky as Churchill Brothers also fought very hard and came close on many occasions to draw the match. Mohun Bagan, however, held on to earn full points from the match.
Bagan, who won the I-League two seasons ago under Sanjoy Sen, and finished runner-up last season, have a very glittering and strong lineup this season as well. They retained their two foreigners, Japanese playmaker Yusa Katsumi and Haitian striker Sony Norde.
Their two new foreign additions are Scottish marksman Darryl Duffy and Equatoguinean footballer Eduardo Ferreira, who played for ISL team FC Pune City last year. They are privileged to have good Indian footballers in their ranks with goal scoring machine, Jeje Lalpekhlua, including the very experienced Pritam Kotal, Kean Lewis, Sehnaj Singh, Anas Edathodika, and Pronay Halder to name a few.
A very enticing contest will take place on Friday the 13th as both teams aim to get three points early on in the season. Even though home side Mohun Bagan maybe favourites in tomorrow’s clash, Lajong, filled with youngsters and promising foreign players, will hope to give a tough run and upset the Kolkata giants.
