Avoiding last place on Mario Rivera's mind ahead of NEUFC clash

The Red and Gold are currently at the bottom on the points table.

It's been a season to forget for both SC East Bengal and NorthEast United as they find themselves at the bottom of the table. Mario Rivera's side come into this game on the back of a narrow defeat to Mumbai City FC while NorthEast United lost a nail-biting thriller against Jamshedpur a couple of days back.

Both sides will be keen to end their campaign on a high as the league enters its business end. Ahead of the match, SC East Bengal head coach Mario Rivera addressed the media.

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Importance of winning against NEUFC:

Mario Rivera: It’s crucial as winning tomorrow will mean overcoming them in the points table. We are playing well but we also want to get some good results.

Approaching the last two games:

Mario Rivera: The team's approach in the last two games will be to win. After the NorthEast match, we will think of the next match, and try our best to win.

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What is the team talk like?

Mario Rivera: If my players watch the last few games, I don’t need to motivate them. They have improved with every match with better attitude, better offensive football, and played well overall.

Injury updates

Mario Rivera: Yes, there are some players who won’t be available. Amarjit (Singh) won’t be able to play, and Jacki (Jackichand Singh) most probably won’t play as he didn’t train yesterday.

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Reason for signing Ananta Tamang so late in the season

Mario Rivera: The reason is very easy. You need one Asian player in your team, and Tomislav (Mrcela) got a good offer in Australia and left. That is why we signed the centre-back.

Method of choosing formations

Mario Rivera: It’s 80% strategy and 20% opponent’s formation for me. In football, you have to play in different formations. It is easier for you and difficult for your opponent. Also, I don’t like playing with the same set of 11 players. In the last two matches, we played with 18 players I think, and the performance is going up every match. This is good as it is reflective of our training. It also shows that all the players are available, and if they are ready to play, then only we can play different formations.

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