Mumbai City target Super Cup success, working on Guimaraes contract extension

Despite a difficult season the club's top brass is happy with the Costa Rican's handling of the team and are keen to retain his services.

After having taken over from Nicolas Anelka, Alexandre Guimaraes was picked to be the man to lead Mumbai City FC to the title. In the third season of the Indian Super League, they managed to top the table but stumbled in the playoffs against ATK who eventually went on to seal their second title. The Mumbai-based outfit were hopeful for a good season this year but things simply did not seem to go their way. The team reeked of inconsistency and struggled to put together a string of good performances.

With the introduction of the Super Cup, the Mumbai City FC management are looking to have a successful run-in in the cup competition Khel Now understands. Their first fixture in the Super cup saw them beat the young Indian Arrows 2-1 but the game looked like it was going to end in favour of the Arrows. Thanks to Achille Emana’s equalizer in the 91st minute, the game went into extra-time which made sure that the Mumbaikars sealed the deal with Everton Santos’ right-footed finish in the 104th minute. This means that Mumbai City FC will now face East Bengal on 5th April.

Having performed poorly in the league, the club management expects the team to at least get into the final of the competition sources close to the club have revealed exclusively to Khel Now. This quest seems to be justifiable as a team like Mumbai City have definitely underperformed this season and will need a good performance in the Cup to salvage their poor season.

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Another important issue that the club management wants to address is the contract extension of manager Alexandre Guimaraes, Khel Now understands. The former Costa Rican international has been the team’s most successful manager in the Indian Super League. The club achieved their highest ever finish in the league under Guimaraes and also made it furthest into the competition (semi-finals) under him last season. Despite a difficult season it is understood the club's top brass is happy with the tactician's handling of the team given the limited resources and are are keen to tie him down with the club for the foreseeable future.

Mumbai City FC have a big task at hand in the form of East Bengal and will have to be on top of their game to get through to the next round of the competition. With all the clubs gunning for a piece of silverware this season, the Super Cup is an excellent opportunity and the Islanders will be looking to make the most of it.