Mumbai City FC head coach Des Buckingham has acknowledged that they need to be on top of their game while playing against Jamshedpur FC in Hero ISL Club Playoff for a place in the AFC Champions League 2023-24 group stage at the Payyanad Stadium in Manjeri, Kerala on April 4.
The Islanders had ticked the right boxes in the Hero Indian Super League, remaining unbeaten in their first 18 matches of the season. Mumbai won 14 out of the 20 league stage matches and clinched the League Shield by topping the points table.
But, their journey was ended when they lost to eventual runners-up Bengaluru FC in the semifinals by 9-8 on penalties. However, the Islanders will want to be at their best against the Red Miners.
“Jamshedpur FC are a good team. They showed that over the course of the year, they certainly showed it twice against us, and then they showed it in the last four or five games of the league phase,” Buckingham said during the pre-match press conference.
“They’ve got good individuals, a good coach in Aidy (Boothroyd). So we’ve to be on top of our game and need to do everything to put ourselves in a position to do what we did (against them) in the league stage,” he added.
Meanwhile, when Mumbai City FC faced Jamshedpur in ISL 2022-23 season, they won one match by 2-1 whereas the other game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Buckingham highlighted the importance of a major tournament like the AFC Champions League and wants his team to be at their best.
“The AFC Champions League is the highest level of club football (in Asian Football). We are only the second Indian club to go to the Champions League and we’re the first team to go and win a game. We won two and managed to get a draw. We got three results out of six games. So, that shows what the players from here can do,” he said.
“It is a very exciting tournament to be a part of and we have players who played it last year (also). They’re very keen to try and do everything we can to put ourselves back in that position for next season. We know it won’t be easy since Jamshedpur FC will be trying to do exactly the same thing,” Buckingham added.
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