MUMBAI, Oct 6: Mumbai City FC are looking to climb up the ladder as they face an in-form NorthEast United FC in their second round clash of the Hero Indian Super League at Mumbai Football Arena here on Friday.
Mumbai City FC won their opening round clash against FC Pune City for the first time and tasted a rare away win in the Hero ISL. The win boosted the confidence of the entire squad and they are now looking to dethrone NorthEast United FC from the top. The visitors are on a high after registering two victories from their first two matches.
�We won against a very good team. This is always good because history tells us that Mumbai never won opening match. Also, we didn�t win away and we won the first game against a very tough team,� said Mumbai City coach Alexandre Guimaraes.
Mumbai will be up against a team which has won both their matches and Guimaraes admitted they have a mountain to climb. �They deserved to win the first two games and we will have to play even better and harder to win this game,� said the Costa Rican coach.
Much of the focus of fans during the opening game was on Mumbai City marquee Diego Forlan. The Uruguayan superstar is the biggest name this season and gave glimpses of what he brings to the team. It was his brilliant flick that created the only goal of the match but for Guimaraes it was clear that opponents will not give him too much space to operate.
NorthEast United are bristling with confidence after pocketing six points from the first two matches at home but coach Nelo Vingada is not taking anything for granted.
�For me tomorrow is the most important and also the most difficult game. I hope it�s a great promotion for the ISL. Three results can happen and we are here to make life hard for Mumbai. It won�t be easy for us but we will try to make things difficult for them,� said the Portuguese coach fondly called The Professor.
Vingada has coached in several countries around Asia and was pleased with what he saw in the Hero ISL so far.