MUMBAI: Indian Super League (ISL) team Mumbai City FC (MCFC), has selected Thailand for their pre-season tour a month before the tournament begins.
Club CEO Indranil Das Blah said that they have had a training camp in Navi Mumbai since August 23 to prepare for the tour, where they will play four matches across the cities of Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
“They have started the pre-season four days ago in New (Navi) Mumbai and all the players will go to Thailand on Thursday (August 30) and five foreign players will join the team directly in Thailand,” PTI quotes Blah as having said during a media briefing.
“We moved slightly late because of certain issues. So our pre-season started late and we have all the Indian boys, except three who are with the U-23 team.
“We will come back and play two games (In India) ahead of the tournament. So our expectation is to do as best we can. We are still getting our stuff, so we will have an uphill task and we will have catching up to do,” Blah added.
For the first time, Mumbai City FC’s new head coach, Jorge Costa interacted with the media.
The 46-year-old hails from Portugal and has a wealth of experience to fall back on, having been at the helm of clubs in Europe such as Portuguese clubs SC Braga and Paos Ferreira, Romania’s CFR Cluj, Greek sides AEL Limassol and Anorthosis Famagusta and the Gabon national team.
“I am not here to make any promise but I can promise good football,” Costa said.
“Then I started watching games. In Portugal we don’t watch too much of Indian League (ISL),” he added.
“My philosophy is winning three points — I will respect my players and my philosophy will depend on the players.”
