JFC aim to derail Bagan’s applecart | Ranchi News – The Times of India

Kolkata: Khalid Jamil could have made history in 2020-21 but fell just short when NorthEast United FC couldn’t make it to the Indian Super League (ISL) final despite making the playoffs. However, he has the chance to become the first Indian coach to make it to the ISL final this time around with Jamshedpur FC.
And in order to achieve that Jamshedpur will have to get the better of consecutive Shield champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the semifinals to be played over two legs — the first of which will be held at JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Thursday.
It’s going to be quite challenging though considering Jamshedpur lost the away game to the Mariners 0-3 while managing to earn just a 1-1 draw at home thanks to a goal from Stephen Eze.
“We are playing against a very strong team, and we need to remain positive in our mindset. The fact that we will be at home in front of our fans is a big advantage, and we must make the most of it,” said Jamil on Wednesday.
While playing in front of the fans will be a big boost for Jamshedpur, they will also have the momentum on their side considering they beat NEUFC 2-0 in Shillong in the playoffs in a hard-fought encounter.
But their big concern will be the fact that they lost two of their last two home games — against NEUFC and Odisha. Also, scoring remains a concern for them. They are the only team in the playoffs to have a negative goal-difference.
However, they have done well in the second half of the season scoring the most goals — 22 — since the start of the calendar year — one more than their semifinal opponents — 21. Also, their defence has been spot on especially with Eze controlling the backline. Pronay Halder has also been brilliant and he had a superb game in the playoffs.
Having said that, the 2021-22 ISL Shield winners will have their task cut out against the green and maroons, who almost ran away with the Shield this time winning 17 of their 24 matches. They scored the most goals — 47 — and also conceded the least — 16 — during the league stage. They have also been unbeaten on the road in the previous six games, winning thrice and scoring 13 goals in expense of conceding merely thrice.
Naturally MBSG coach Jose Molina exuded confidence during his pre-match press conference and said, “We trust in ourselves and in our work. The way we played during the whole season, we are not going to change anything now. We are the champions and we were on top of the table.”
Hopefully, they will be able to play like champions but Khalid certainly will have different plans having coached various clubs in India over more than a decade.