Missing players leave Mumbai City worried
MUMBAI: With just four days to the ISL 2016 curtain raiser, Mumbai City FC have the look of a makeshift team when they begin their campaign away to Pune City FC on October 3.
The Mumbai outfit is set to be sans Sunil Chhetri, Amrinder Singh, Udanta Singh and Lalchhuanmawai Fanai, who will all continue their 2016 AFC Cup campaign with Bengaluru FC. They are scheduled to play the semifinal legs against Malaysia’s Johor Darul Ta’zim on September 28 and October 19.
The four players are set to miss five matches, joining the squad on October 20. However, should Bengaluru make it to the final, the players will be unavailable for an additional four games, joining MCFC after the November 5 final. To add to MCFC’s woes, Udanta and Fanai are injured.
Speaking to HT over the phone, MCFC CEO Indranil Das Blah confirmed that Fanai is likely to miss the entire season while Udanta will be unavailable for at least a month. He also confirmed that another player had picked up an injury on Sunday, but refused to give the player’s name until medical staff could confirm the extent of his injury.
Blah said Mumbai City’s squad is complete at the moment but they are considering replacements for the injured players.
To add to their woes, midfielder Sony Norde has been included in Haiti’s preliminary squad for their 2017 Caribbean Cup qualification matches. Should he be called up for matches, Norde will miss MCFC’s first three games.
“Sony (Norde) adds so much value to the side that even if he misses two-three games, he is still important enough for us to have in the squad,” Blah said.
With three goals and three assists in ISL 2015, Norde certainly contributed richly to Mumbai City’s campaign. Similarly, Chhetri was the team’s leading scorer last season with seven goals and one assist.