Mumbai City FC begin their Indian Super League (ISL) campaign as they play host to Jamshedpur FC at the Mumbai Football Arena on Tuesday.
After finishing seventh last season, The Islanders have made wholesale changes to their squad to turn the tables. Former CFR Cluj coach Jorge Costa has joined the side in place of Costa Rican Alexandre Guimaraes.
The coach seemed confident about picking up three points against Jamshedpur after a successful pre-season in Thailand.
"We are excited to start our first game. It is always difficult to play the first game but our players have quality and I hope that they will put up a fight and we will get the three points. We played seven friendly games. We are scoring a lot of goals. This made me happy. Let us see what we can do in our first game tomorrow but I hope to be happy with our performance," said Costa.
The Portuguese coach informed that there are two injury concerns in his squad including Davinder Singh who is suspected to be out for the season with a knee injury. He also said that his first target will be to finish among the top four teams.
"We are ready to start the season. I know that the team finished seventh the previous season. But a lot of things have changed since then. New players have come in. Our first target is to qualify for the playoffs and finish in the top four. After that, we will see," stated Costa.
The coach acknowledged that he does not have much information on Jamshedpur but remains confident that his side has the quality to put up a good show.
"To be honest since this is the first game, I do not have a lot of information (on JFC). I don't want to expect as they have changed coach and also the players. He has a lot of experience. I am not the kind of coach who cannot play without information. The most important thing for me is to know my players well and to see what we can do on the filed and I am sure we will do very well," concluded the coach.
