THE BUSINESS END of the Hero I-League at the Garden City will witness the winner of the previous edition, Bengaluru FC hosting DSK Shivajians tomorrow at the Sree Kanterava Stadium, Bengaluru.
While the primary focus will be on the hills at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Aizawl where the front-runners of Hero I-League, Aizwal FC and Mohun Bagan will be battling it out, and probable winner of the Hero I-League title will be decided, the significance of the Bengaluru versus DSK match would be to maintain the winning form – both teams won their respective last round Hero I-League matches.
BFC coach Albert Roca at the press conference said,
"The main aim is to win. We hope that we can give our supporters a gift because they deserve it. It will be good to keep winning as we've been working hard. We have to be focused and we know we have an important month coming up."
He further added,
"The Federation Cup comes soon after this and we have to go into that tournament on a good note, We are happy about our players. We have a young team and we try to count on them and they've done well."
Player Nishu Kumar said,
"The mood in the camp is great. We've been unlucky but we've worked hard throughout the season and we'll look to do the same. The coach has trusted me and it's been a big motivation to get that from him. I'm happy that the coach has given me the chance."
On injury concerns, the coach said,
"Unfortunately Marjan Jugovic has been ruled out of tomorrow's match with an injury he sustained in training."
The Pune-based team Shivajians increased Kingfisher East Bengal’s woes by defeating them at their home on last Sunday. Arguably, a top performance, considering they’ve won only three matches playing 15 games prior to that. With three teams in 17 points, they would definitely like garner away points and take the sixth spot in the points table.
DSK’s Keeper and Indian national player Subrata Paul was brilliant under the bar as he thwarted several of East Bengal attacks. A form that he would like to carry tomorrow.
After winning two I-League titles and finishing another one by a whisker, this edition of I-League must have been a disappointing one for the Steelmen. Out of League contention, they are making amends of their poor start in the League. With a couple good wins in the previous two rounds of I-League complemented by top performance in AFC Cup Group league stage, they stand a bright chance of finishing among top three in the I-League.
The match is scheduled at 07:00 pm and will be telecast live on Ten 2.