Majority of squad available for Al Jazira clash, confirms Des Buckingham

The Islanders will look to emulate their winning form against the Pride of Abu Dhabi.

Mumbai City FC will try and better their record, as they take on former UAE champions Al Jazira on April 14 in the AFC Champions League group stage. Des Buckingham's side have already achieved the uphill task of becoming the first-ever Indian club to win a game in this competition. After a belittling start to their ACL journey with a 3-0 loss against Al-Shabab, the Islanders bounced back with a 2-1 win against Iraq's Air Force Club. Rahul Bheke and Diego Mauricio scored in what was to be a memorable win for not only the club but the country as well.  

With a victory in their bag already, head coach Des Buckingham and club vice-captain Mandar Rao Dessai shared their thoughts ahead of the match against Al Jazira:

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Preparations for Al Jazira clash

The Islanders will be playing their third game in the AFC Champions League on Thursday. Despite there being so little time for preparation, Des Buckingham stated that the players have been allowed some much-needed rest and they are ready to deliver once again.

“It’s a game that we’re looking forward to. It's our third game in the space of eight days. So, it’s been important in the last 48 hours to try and get some rest and recovery into the players. But, we’re in a good space. We now have the majority of our squad available and we’re as ready for the game as we can be,” said the manager.

Vice-captain Mandar Rao Dessai was of the same opinion. He explained how important it is to get some rest in such a cramped schedule. “Yes, as the coach said, we’ve been playing quick games in a short period of time. We have to recover well and get ready as soon as possible, so that we can perform better in the next game, ” said the senior Indian international.

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How to refocus after historic night

Mumbai City set out to become the first Indian club to win a game in the ACL. After accomplishing that target, however, they now have a clean slate and can go on and give it their best. Manager Des Buckingham explained how their preparations should give them the platform to perform and go one step further:

“Yes, we spent six months in the ISL preparing ourselves for this. We spent two and a half weeks in Abu Dhabi preparing to try and achieve something no team has done before. We must enjoy the moment because it’s a significant moment for our club and for Indian football.

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"But, we must quickly turn our focus back to this competition and back to this game that’s in front of us. Because if we don’t, we know the qualities we’re up against. We know how ruthless football can be at times. But, we look at it in a way that we achieved what we set out to and we have the opportunity to reset, go and see what we can do. It’s important that with four games to go, we don’t know what we can do. But, I’m excited about what we have the potential to go to do,” explained the 37-year-old coach.

Gameplan against Al Jazira

Des Buckingham’s side play the possession-based attacking football that they inherited from predecessor Sergio Lobera’s era. Even at such a difficult stage, they have admirably stuck to their style of play. The Islanders were seen passing the ball through swathes of pressure at various times in their past two games. The head coach shared how they are going to setup against Al Jazira.

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“Yes, that’s been the pleasing thing about coming to this level of competition. You know we haven’t changed our approach to how we want to play, which is a possession-based game. But, it is an attacking-based game as well because it allows us to put the framework in place to showcase what our players are capable of. We’ve got different ways in which we want to play and we’ve shown that across the two games with the way we setup.

"We’re still missing our leading goalscorer. Our Asian player Brad Inman was fortunately available in the last game. He got 45 minutes into it. Having Brad is available to us and bringing Diego (Mauricio) in gives us different ways of playing. So, we’ll continue our positive approach to showcasing our players and how well they can play, whilst also being wary of the qualities that Al Jazira possess, ” explained the manager.

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