Defending champions Chennai City FC will look to bounce back from two consecutive losses when they take on All India Football Federation’s developmental side Indian Arrows in their I-League match in Coimbatore on Wednesday.
Having picked up just one win from their previous five outings, Chennai City find themselves in a relegation scrap – at ninth place in the table with eight points. They were beaten 2-3 by league leaders Mohun Bagan in their previous match.
Chennai did show a lot of fight and almost pulled off a comeback from being three goals down, showing glimpses of their form which fetched them the trophy last year.
Head coach Akbar Nawas said his side will not rest until the finish line and will continue the fight, irrespective of the situation.
“I have great belief in my team. As long as it is mathematically possible for us to win the title, we will not give up, not until the final day. That is the way for us to move forward, even when things don’t seem to go our way,” he said.
“The way we played in the second half against Mohun Bagan, it was better than any of our performances put together from last year. We must build on it. It is not enough if I believe in my players but my players have to believe in themselves too,” he added.
The Arrows will be walking into this fixture in an upbeat mood, having stunned Kolkata giants East Bengal at Kalyani. Sticking to their brand of football has been paying dividends for the youngsters, which could work in their favour in this match, with their counterparts being under immense pressure to live up to expectations set prior to this season.
“We are ready for the game against Chennai City and have been preparing well. We’re looking forward to a good match against them as they have a lot of good quality and technical players. They are also a young side like ours, so we can expect a very good match,” said head coach Shanmugam Venkatesh.
Weighing in on their win against the Red and Golds, he added, “There is no better way to boost confidence than three points and that too away from home against a quality team like East Bengal that has many quality players.
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