Mumbai is widely cherished as a city of contrasts. Its modern skyscrapers and old school British architecture overlook a sea of slums, while its Bollywood stars commonly share neighbourhoods with the working class population. Quite fittingly, Mumbai’s two most prominent football clubs, Mumbai City FC of the Indian Super League and Mumbai FC of the I-League, perfectly encapsulate the city’s contradictions.
Mumbai City FC is co-owned by Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor and less than two years since its formation, the club has shown a penchant for extravagance. It managed to rope in internationally renowned faces such as Fredrik Ljungberg, Nicolas Anelka and Peter Reid, making news around the world in the process. Mumbai City have done wonders to reach out to the ordinary Mumbaikar with its promotional activities, but have ultimately lacked the identity, or achievement, to truly resonate with the general public.
At the other end of the spectrum is Mumbai FC, with its small but fiercely loyal fan base. They are the grafters who so often play away from the camera lens, yet represent the unconfined joy of unadulterated football. If Mumbai City is the football equivalent of a Page 3 bash – trendy, fashionable and contrived in nature – Mumbai FC is the low-key local gala just around the corner with an authentic flavour.
The grafters
On a shoestring budget, Mumbai FC have managed to stay in the top tier since they were promoted in 2009. The club has proudly defied the odds year after year. Success to them is avoiding relegation, though expectations have been raised after a positive start to the current season of the I-League. The pragmatic approach of head coach Khalid Jamil, now in his seventh year at the club, has helped steer the ship clear of relegation time and again.
During its time in the top flight, the club has survived several threats of folding up and has frequently flirted with relegation. Mumbai also had to suffer the disadvantage of not being able to play at their spiritual home, the Cooperage football ground, for five years until 2015. Cooperage, a modest venue with a capacity of only 5,000, serves as a training ground for Mumbai City FC from August to December – a clear indicator of the disparity between the two clubs.
Miserly at home
At the start of the current campaign, Jamil’s team had established itself as the I-League’s dark horses with eight points from their first four matches. However, familiar failings in the form of away defeats have grounded expectations in recent weeks. All three likely title contenders – East Bengal, Bengaluru FC and defending champions Mohun Bagan – have visited the Cooperage this season and have failed to score. While the two Kolkata clubs came away with goalless draws, the Blues from down south were beaten 2-0.
At the centre of Mumbai’s miserly defence (which has kept four clean sheets in seven matches) has been new signing Minchol Son. The North Korean’s impact has been phenomenal. When he left the pitch injured against Sporting Club de Goa last Sunday, Mumbai ended up conceding two penalties and eventually lost 2-3. Before the defeat in Goa, the club had not conceded more than once in a match.
Son’s commanding displays almost single-handedly stifled the league’s in-form strikers Ranti Martins (East Bengal) and Cornell Glen (Mohun Bagan), allowing Mumbai to earn two valuable points. Against Bengaluru, his aggressive nature in dealing with 50-50 challenges earned him a freakish tackle-turned-shot goal from the halfway line.
Squad strength
The North Korean is just one of many smart signings Mumbai made ahead of this season, prompting Jamil to label the current squad as the best of his long tenure. At 5 feet 11 inches tall, Pawan Kumar has pulled off stunning saves between the posts – most spectacularly when keeping the champions Mohun Bagan at bay. Japanese-born Indian Arata Izumi has been a level-headed source of creativity in central midfield, while striker Sushil Kumar Singh, with three goals, has replaced last season’s top scorer Josimar in the line-up.
Liberian Eric Brown, the only non-Asian of the four foreigners in the squad, has shown great industry in shunting up and down the wings while the likes of veteran winger Steven Dias and midfielder Asif Kottayil have provided much-needed depth. Japanese forward Ryuki Kozawa is yet to make a decisive impression, but his compatriot and skipper Taisuke Matsugae, retained from last season, has provided the thrust in Mumbai’s midfield. A screamer in the win over Salgaocar has been the highlight of the captain’s season.
With Matsugae injured in the last two matches, Mumbai have struggled to impose themselves on the opposition. In his absence, Jamil has opted to shift centre-back Pratik Chaudhari into a defensive midfield role. It cannot be termed a masterstroke but the move has been effective: Chaudhari played a major role in halting Mohun Bagan’s star-studded offence in its tracks.
Over the years, the coach has proved himself to be a smart tactician. He prefers to make the pitch a condensed battlefield (perfect for a compact ground like the Cooperage) rather than a stage for flamboyance – although some of Mumbai’s delicious passing moves would easily make this season’s highlight reel. Against Bengaluru, most notably, Jamil put his side out to stop the visitors’ trademark passing from the back. It proved to be a success.
The team’s lack of cutting edge up front remains a concern. Poor finishing and a wayward final pass has cost them at least five points this season. Without a firing foreign striker – like Martins, Glen, Kim Song-Yong (Bengaluru FC) and Odafa Okolie (Sporting Club) – to convert losses into draws and draws into wins, especially away from home, their ambitions will remain limited to somewhere near mid-table.
On Saturday, Mumbai FC will face minnows Aizawl FC in Mizoram where they will go into the contest as favourites. It is a narrative they are not too familiar with; none of us really are. The giant-killing storyline certainly suits them more as It gives them their own special place in the city’s football landscape.
Akarsh Sharma is a writer from Delhi who occasionally tweets here.
