Elite Preview: Mumbai Strikers vs Mumbai Customs & CBI vs W. Railway

by Siddharth Yadav December 19, 2017

19th December 2017, Mumbai: After a gap of a couple of days, the premier division of Mumbai Football – MDFA (Mumbai District Football Association) Elite Division will resume tomorrow when two matches will be played simultaneously at Cooperage Stadium and Mumbai Football Arena (Andheri), respectively. Mumbai Strikers will face Mumbai Customs at Cooperage while Central Bank of India (CBI) will face-off against Western Railway at Mumbai Football Arena.

03:30 pm: Mumbai Strikers vs Mumbai Customs – Cooperage Stadium 

With only 1 point in three games, the newly-promoted side Mumbai Strikers will be looking forward to winning their first match of the season when they will take on Mumbai Customs at Cooperage Stadium. The Strikers is going through a rough patch as they have not managed to put up a decent performance so far this season.

They will be heading towards the match on the back of a 1-1 draw against KSA (Karnataka Sports Association) where they conceded in the last minute when Tushar Poojary nodded home with a classic header to rescue a point for KSA. That would have been surely Strikers’ first win of the campaign had not for poor man-marking.

Their Opponent Mumbai Customs, on the other hand, will be geared up to clinch their third win of the season. Although Customs will be looking to bounce back after a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of MS (Maharashtra State) Police in their previous match.

Players to watch out for: Ravish D’Souza, Arnold Mascarenhas and Akshay Devadiga (Mumbai Strikers); Ashrafali Makandar, Francisco Salin, Hekmat Singh and Praneel Mendon (Mumbai Customs).

03:30 pm: Central Bank of India (CBI) vs Western Railway – Mumbai Football Arena (Andheri)

The other game at Mumbai Football Arena will see a winless Central Bank of India (CBI) side taking on Western Railway whose morale will be boosted after a convincing 1-1 draw against ONGC in their previous game. CBI will surely have to dig deep in order to snatch their first win of the season.

Contradictory to Western Railway’s preparation, CBI is heading towards the match on the back of a narrow 1-0 defeat by the hands of arch-rivals Union Bank of India (UBI) in the ‘Bankers Derby’. CBI did put off a great fight against UBI but once again failed to make a genuine effort in front of the goal. Their Elite Division journey might be in jeopardy if they fail to get a positive result tomorrow.

Western Railway who are fifth in the Elite Division table is hopeful to win their third game of the season after a decent display against a strong ONGC side. Sukhinder Singh scored in the 89th minute which salvaged a crucial point for the Railways.

Players to watch out for: Kuldeep Maschi, Kevin Patrick, Andrew Burthelo and Rishikesh Shinde (Central Bank of India); Lineker Machado, Mervin Stephen, Somi and Ravikant Naidu (Western Railway).