AIZAWL: Aizawl FC has done extremely well with a dazzling display in this season of the Hero-I-League, especially at home where it is yet to lose. Having mustered twenty points from 10 matches, Aizawl look the better team compared to the visitor Chennai City FC (CCFC) who has a mere eight points with the same number of matches.
However, Aizawl was defeated 2-0 earlier by the debutant, CCFC, courtesy the goals netted by Marcos 'Tank' Vinicius and Charles de Souza. Aizawl will be attempting to overturn the result on Saturday when the two clash here.
CCFC head coach V Soundararajan sounded pretty confident ahead of the match. “All my players are fit, but we might face certain difficulties because of the artificial turf.”
At the ninth position with just Churchill Brothers below, the coach maintained that “there are still several matches to be played, we will try our best in those matches to be safe and to end the season with a good result.”
CCFC midfielder Lalnun Mawia also spoke of his excitement to be playing in his home state, “I am very thrilled to be playing here in Aizawl because the turnout is always huge for the I-League matches.”
Reflecting on its defeat at Chennai, Aizawl FC coach Khalid Jamil stated: “Tomorrow's [Saturday] match is an important one. We are playing a team who defeated us at their home pitch. We have to try to do the same thing to them tomorrow.”
Aizawl will be playing its key player Lalruatthara, despite he being down with an injury. R. Laldanmawia is likely to be seen on the pitch after having scored the winner against East Bengal in its last home match. The match is scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m.