MCFC vs KBFC Match Details

Date: Sunday, 8 October 2023

Time: 20:00 (IST)

Venue: Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai

MCFC vs KBFC Match Preview

Mumbai City suffered back-to-back defeats in the AFC Champions League to put their qualification hope at stake. Their trip to Uzbekistan to face Navbahor ended in a 3-0 loss in which Greg Stewart missed his penalty with the score at 0-0 on the stroke of half-time and the Islanders had a total capitulation in the second half. They are yet to open the score in the competition and are left to do it against the strongest opponent in the group in Al-Hilal. Mumbai’s last outing in the ISL has also not ended in desired fashion with Jorge Diaz’s late goal saving them from a loss in the 2-2 draw against Odisha FC. Des Buckingham’s side trailed before the break after Mohammad Nawaz spilt an easy collection to gift Jerry Mawmingthanga an open goal. Rostyn Griffiths’s header two minutes after the break restored priority but Roy Krishna’s penalty retook the lead until the away side rescued a point. The ISL Shield winners don’t have an ideal start to the season placed fifth after two games but this was the pattern last season as well and they went on to grab the silverware unbeaten. Although second-placed Kerala Blasters will throw a sizeable challenge, the season’s first game in front of their own supporters will surely motivate Mumbai City to return to winning ways.

Kerala Blasters have made a sensational start to the tenth edition of the ISL by winning the opening two games of the season for the first time. The Tuskers beat Bengaluru 2-1 and Jamshedpur FC 1-0 clearly being the dominant side with their talismanic captain Adrian Luna scoring the winner in both the cases. The team has spring in their step with an intention to prove something after their season ended in a controversial fashion last time. The opening-day win over the Blues, the fixture that they walked out in the previous season, has further galvanised them to do well this term although the challenge will be higher in the next match. While the atmosphere in Kochi for the season’s first two games has helped a lot, Kerala Blasters will now have to repay the faith in away games starting against the Shield holders Mumbai City. Blasters have received recent success without their coach Ivan Vukomanovic and will hope to carry on the momentum despite the fact they have won just once on this trip. Last time they were beaten 4-0 and only managed to score four while conceding 18 in this meeting at Mumbai.                                             

MCFC vs KBFC Predicted Lineups      

MCFC: Phurba Lachenpa; Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Singh, Rostyn Griffiths, Akash Mishra; Van Nieff, Apuia; Lallianzuala Chhangte, Greg Stewart, Bipin Singh; Jorge Diaz

KBFC: Sachin Suresh; Prabir Das, Pritam Kotal, Milos Drincic, Aibanbha Dohling; Daisuke Sakai, Jeakson Singh, Danish Farooq, Mohammed Aimen; Dimitrios Diamantakos, Adrian Luna

MCFC vs KBFC Head to Head

Played - 18

MCFC won - 8

Drawn - 6

KBFC won - 4

MCFC vs KBFC Dream11 Team Prediction

GK: Sachin (6)  

DEF: Bheke (8.5), Kotal (8.5), Griffiths (8), Drincic (8)

MID: Stewart (9), Apuia (7.5), Luna (9)

FW: Diamantakos (9), Diaz (8.5), Chhangte (9)   

Vice-captain: Jorge Diaz

Captain: Adrian Luna

Stay tuned to ISL 2023-24 for upcoming matches.