Mumbai City FC are not taking ‘Agile’ Arrows lightly

by Chittu Shetty March 15, 2018

All India Football Federation’s developmental team Indian Arrows will ‘aim to continue the good work’ when they face Mumbai City FC in the third qualifier match of the Hero Super Cup 2018 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar tomorrow (March 16, 2018).

The Arrows, comprising of the India U19 National Team boys and the Indian U17 World Cup team, most of them emerging from the AIFF Academy are being coached by Luis Norton de Matos who believes that the ‘process needs to continue.’

The kick-off is slated for 5 pm and the match will be telecast live on Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD, and on Hotstar and Jio TV. The qualifiers of the tournament will be played between teams who finished between 7th and 10th in the Hero ISL and Hero I-League respectively. The four winners will proceed to the final round of the tournament which kicks-off from March 31.

“We are in a process and we’ll continue to show that we are able to showcase a good brand of football, no matter who are we facing,” Matos stressed.

“We had four wins in the Hero I-League despite being the youngest squad in the league.  Moreover, the youngest highest scorer Abhijit Sarkar is in my team. My boys were chosen for the Hero of the Match 10 times. Naorem scored arguably the best goal in the I-League and mostly, the team proved their mettle against the physically superior sides.”

Princeton Rebello also said that the team knows how tough the match is going to be against Mumbai City FC and they’re ready for it. “This is a competition where we can bow out on first day itself. Even after a single match. We can’t let this opportunity go,” Rebello mentioned.

Meanwhile Mumbai City FC coach Alexandre Guimarães lauded All India Football Federation’s developmental project saying: ”This is a very good idea of the federation to give them a possibility to compete with professional teams. This is not very usual in other places where I have been (Asia or South America) before.”

”This process can be continued and it’ll gain them gather more experience for future. I watched some games and we know how hungry they’re for the success.” Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, who has recently extended his ally with the Mumbai-based club, also reaffirmed the same and ratified that they are taking the match very seriously.

“All the youngsters have experience of playing in a FIFA World Cup, which is huge for any footballer. They’re agile, they are learning with each passing day and we’re aware of their potential. They can surprise one and all on a given day.”

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