Mumbai wary of rejuvenated Blasters

MUMBAI: Transition phases are often tricky, but Kerala Blasters have shown that it doesn’t necessarily have a negative impact. And that’s what Mumbai are going to be wary about when they host the David James-coached side at the

Mumbai Football Arena

on Sunday.


The former England goalkeeper was roped in to coach the Blasters on January 3 after the club parted ways with their much-acclaimed former Manchester United assistant coach

Rene Meulensteen

, who managed just one win in seven games.

In the two matches since James took over, Kerala drew the first blood against Pune and then beat Delhi Dynamos 3-1, thanks to a fine hat-trick by Canadian Iain Hume.

Mumbai coach Alexandre Guimaraes said that Kerala are looking like a reformed side and his team isn’t going to take them lightly by any means.

“A new coach shakes up everyone — those being left on the bench, those starting, everyone. They have won a very important game away and it has made them alive and that is a warning for us that we cannot give them any chances. They also have a new foreign player (Keziron Kuzito) who gives them something different. This is a team which travel energised,” Guimaraes said at the prematch briefing on Saturday.

The fans reacted brilliantly to the appointment of James as coach, and have been very vocal in their support. Though they’ll be the away team on Sunday, sources have said that the Kerala fan club ‘Manjappada’ have booked as many as 2000 tickets for the match, with many travelling fans scheduled to attend. Mind you, the stadium capacity is only 8,500 and generally just 200 tickets are reserved for away supporters.

Not that Mumbai will lack any support though. Spectator count has gone up this season, especially for weekend games. The hosts have been having a pretty decent run off late. Placed fifth with 14 points, they’re just four points behind leaders Bengaluru. They seem to be gradually picking momentum and the fact that they’ve gotten 10 points from their last five games is testament to that.

“Our first goal of the season was to finish close to the playoff spots at the halfway stage and I think we’ve accomplished that. This has put us in a good situation to continue to compete and we hope that we can make the most from our run of home games now. I am very confident that we have the resources and the players to fight till the end and be in the top four — that is for sure,” the Costa Rican said.