For two seasons, Mumbai City FC have been trying and failing to find a footing in the Indian Super League. The club from India's financial and glamour capital, has got the finances and the glamour part right – they have a Bollywood star in Ranbir Kapoor as co-owner, their team sheet has been adorned with big-name players like Freddie Ljungberg, Nicolas Anelka and Sony Norde. They even have Indian football's biggest current name Sunil Chhetri within their ranks.
They have had all the right ingredients in their cabinet for two years, but somehow the final product has just not tasted good. It is safe to say that Mumbai City FC is far from being a formidable force in the ISL.
Teams like Chennaiyin FC and Atlético de Kolkata have done well in the ISL because they have found a core to rely upon. They, for all the drafts, auctions, signings, and sweeping changes that come with a new ISL season, have found relative stability, a winning formula, and have stuck with it. For Mumbai, on the other hand, change has been the only constant. Things are not different for the club this time around as well. But this time, change could be a good thing for Mumbai.
Can Forlan galvanise Mumbai?
For ISL 2016, Mumbai went ahead and signed a marquee player who truly is marquee in every sense of the word. Diego Forlán has not only represented some of the biggest clubs in world football, but is also a national hero in Uruguay. After a brief spell with Manchester United, where he failed to truly take off, he came unto his own at Villarreal and subsequently at Atlético Madrid, scoring well over a hundred goals in six seasons for the two Spanish clubs. And his exploits for Uruguay in international competitions is the stuff of legend.
With his sheer hard work, his excellent ability to galvanise his teammates and his freakish long-range shots, he took Uruguay to a fine fourth place finish at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. With five goals to his name, tied with the breakaway German prodigy Thomas Müller as the tournament top-scorer, and a hearts-out display in every game, Forlán was deservedly awarded the Golden Ball. A year later, he scored twice in the final against Paraguay to lift the 2011 Copa America to cement his place as one of Uruguay's greatest footballing sons.
Forlán hung up his international boots well over a year ago and he is 37 now. It is understood that the ISL is a cozy post-retirement community home for yesteryear's stars. Many such "marquees" have come and gone, without playing a combined 90 minutes in the whole tournament. But Forlán, though in the wrong side of his thirties, is still far from seeking a pension plan. In 2015, he joined Peñarol, the Uruguayan top-division club where it all began for him. He made 31 appearances and scored eight times to help his boyhood club lift the Primera Division Championship. One can expect him to galvanise Mumbai, like he has been doing for his clubs and country, and help the club bid for their maiden crown.
Bengaluru FC trio retained
Mumbai have retained Sunil Chhetri and left-back Fanai Lalchhuanmawai from Bengaluru FC, and have also acquired the services of the prodigious 20-year-old forward Udanta Singh from the 2015-'16 I-League champions. However, the tricky bit is that Mumbai will be missing all three of them and goalkeeper Amrinder Singh for their new campaign. Fanai and Udanta are currently sidelined due to injury and along with Chhetri and Singh, will be donning the blue kit for Bengaluru FC, who have made it to the semi-finals of the AFC Cup, beating all the odds.
They face Malaysian Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim FC in two legs on September 28 and October 19. Bengaluru FC's players won't be available to appear for Mumbai as long as their AFC Cup campaign is alive.
But Mumbai's new head coach Alexandre Guimarães is not fazed by the fact that he will be missing key players as the season kicks off. "You have to be prepared to deal with surprises, sometimes nice and other times they are not nice. We now have 20 players with us, this is a good number to start with," a Sportstar report quoted the former Costa Rican international as saying.
Native reinforcement for Mumbai
Mumbai have also reinforced their squad by signing native talents Jackichand Singh, Aiborlang Khongjee, Boithang Haokip and Pronay Halder, who have all impressed in recent times. In Jackichand Singh, Mumbai have got a nippy winger who can affect a game in a single move with his pace and trickery. He has also become a crucial cog in the Indian national team and recently put up a stellar display, bagging his first goal for the men in blue in a friendly against Puerto Rico. Khongjee, who has captained Shilong Lajong in the I-League, provides defensive grit and solidarity to the back-four.
Haokip, who primarily operates from the central midfield and represented NorthEast United for the first two ISL seasons, adds versatility to Guimarães' plans as the 25-year-old can also play wide as a winger or a full-back. Halder, a defensive midfielder, has already made himself indispensable to the national team and has featured regularly since being handed the national cap in 2015 by head coach Stephen Constantine.
In addition, Mumbai have also signed the 23-year-old Aizawl FC midfielder David Lalrinmuana, who captained the club through their ill-fated 2015-'16 season. The young Mizo could not help Aizawl from going down despite finishing above DSK Shivajians in the I-League, but he did catch the eyes of football fans and was nominated for the Football Players' Association of India Fans Player of the Year for the 2015-'16 season. Besides local talent, Mumbai already have one of ISL's best forwards in Sony Norde and have added Argentine striker Gastón Sangoy to their ranks.
Mumbai City FC boasts of one of the strongest squads, brimming with Indian talent, and if two seasons of ISL have shown anything, it is that a club cannot go far without a strong core of Indian players. Forlán will be the icing on the indigenous cake.
However, the absence of a talisman like Chhetri puts extra responsibility on the shoulders of the veteran Uruguayan. He will have a squad of young players looking up to him, and it remains to be seen if he will be able to inspire them and club to a first playoff appearance. The initial signs are good as Mumbai enjoyed an undefeated 35-day pre-season tour to Dubai, winning two of their four games and drawing the other two.
The key for the upcoming ISL season, as Forlán himself pointed out, will be fitness. Under ISL's punishing schedule, clubs have to play 14 games in the space of two months, which involves a lot of travelling to different corners of India as well. A single injury to a key player could disrupt a club's progress and lay waste to their plans. Mumbai will need to find a balance in a rotating group of players, who do not depend excessively on a single individual.
The 2015 season saw controversy and turmoil in Mumbai ranks as player-coach Anelka failed to recognise his best XI and also refused to deploy Chhetri from his preferred position. Under Anelka, Mumbai remained an inconsistent, tinkering mess. This time around, they have a new coach, a new leader, and a new home in the Andheri Sports Complex. ISL 2016 could also be a new beginning for Mumbai City FC, who would be hoping to brush aside their failures of the past and get third time lucky.