CUTTACK: Former champions Aizawl FC travel to Cuttack’s Barabati stadium to take on Indian Arrows in the I-League on Friday.
In what will be a bottom-of-the table clash, Aizawl go into the game lying ninth on the table with five points from eight games while Arrows bring up the rear with just one win and five losses in the six matches. Both teams will be eyeing a win, albeit for completely different reasons.
For the side from Mizoram, this will be the end of a near two-week journey on the road traversing the length and breadth of the country, made more arduous by two deflating back-to-back defeats. Coach Gift Raikhan will need to point to the team’s goal-scoring prowess to inspire his players for one major push towards securing a win before they head back to the comforts of home, where their next three games are lined-up over a period of next 30 days. Indian Arrows coach Floyd Pinto, on the other hand, will know that his side despite being bottom placed has not quite been blown over or overwhelmed in the league campaign so far and that this would be a perfect chance to pocket a second win against a jaded Aizawl, further disheartened by sound back to back defeats. Both teams go into the game after suffering heavy defeats away from home, the home side against Neroca and the visitors against Churchill Brothers.
The former champions are up on the head-to-head count having won one of the two games between the sides previously, but the Arrows have managed to hold Aizawl once. Aizawl’s problems have stemmed from an inexperienced and wobbly defence which has conceded as many as 15 goals, second behind worst conceders Shillong with 22. Their opponents have also conceded 12 and that gives Aizawl the edge in the game, given that they have scored nine times so far to the two that the Arrows have managed. Raikhan will be banking heavily on his frontmen — Ivorian Zikahi Dodoz, Liberian Ansumanah Kromah and Mapuia — to see him through with their goal scoring instincts in this game. Between the three of them, they have scored seven of Aizawl’s nine goals in the campaign.
The Aizawl coach acknowledged in the pre-game chat that his team was not in the best frame of mind. “The team is a little bit down because of two back-to-back losses but this is football. We have to handle situations like this.” (PTI)
