Khalid Jamil- the man in demand, leading Mumbai FC from the front

by Vidhi Shah February 21, 2015

Delighted, excited, robust is what Khalid Jamil should have been but he is a man who keeps his emotions under check. Nonetheless, a sense of joy and relief was evident on his face as he faced the media after his team came back from behind to defeat Royal Wahingdoh FC 2-1.

The match saw Mumbai FC conceding the lead very early in the first half and Khalid admitted that after the goal the team was finding it difficult to build regular attacks thanks to the midfield trio of Royal Wahingdoh. To curb this, he asked Ashutosh Mehta to play in a little deep and also mentioned that the goal was unfortunate for it came off a deflection.

The head coach of the Mumbai team is a man who does not forget tough moments easily, but nonetheless banks on these very moments to ensure future victories! Khalid Jamil revealed that just in the morning he had watched their last Federation Cup Match against Wahingdoh. (Mumbai had lost 2-1 then) He felt that, “In the last match as well as this one we were mentally, physically and tactically stronger. We were fantastic and controlled the game.. last time around we were too late to pull back the goal but this time we were right there with the two goals in the second half!”

Santosh Kashyap had earlier pin pointed that Mumbai FC played dirty football and the refereeing was inefficient as the reasons for his teams loss. The home coach however took a very subtle and shrewd stand saying “the job is to play well, take those 3 points and move on!” However, he did take a pot shot at the losing gaffer, “When they lose, they blame the referee. His performance was decent, not bad.. both the teams got their fair share of yellow cards and at the end of the day one needs to consider the fact that the ref is also a human being.”

His usual humble self, Khalid attributed the victory entirely to his players, “They have all worked really hard, especially to make the comeback and on the set pieces. The boys deserved the win.”

As Mumbai FC gear up to play the derby at home away from home in Pune against Kalyani Bharat FC, Khalid Jamil, the ever so calm man is sure that the confidence will help them achieve a positive outcome.