Kalinga Super Cup 2024: Depleted Mohun Bagan Bear New Look Under Interim Coach Antonio Habas

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Mohun Bagan Super Giants will push for their second Cup title of the season as they open their campaign in Group B on the second day of the Kalinga Super Cup 2024 (January 9) in Bhubaneswar against Sreenidi Deccan.

The reigning ISL champions will bore a new look with their technical director and former coach Antonio Lopez Habas taking charge of the team on an interim basis. The side will be without their seven Indian internationals, who are away on national duty at the AFC Asian Cup 2024 in Qatar from January 13.

However, the match that has everyone's interest is the Kolkata Derby on January 18 as East Bengal are also clubbed in the same group. The Kolkata Derby could also be the decider for the semifinal as it is the last match of Group B before MBSG face Hyderabad FC on January 14. Saying that, the road to semis for the is tricky given Mohun Bagan are playing the tournament with a depleted squad.

Playing without the likes of Sahal Abdul Samad, Vishal Kaith Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Subhasish Bose, Anirudh Thapa and Deepak Tangri significantly weakened the squad as all of them were first-choice players under former coach Juan Ferrando, who was laid off earlier this week following a string of poor results, including AFC Cup exit.

Adding to their woes, the side continues to be without their injured centre-back Anwar Ali and winger Ashique Kuruniyan, who anyways would have been part of the national setup if fit. However, that could merely be an excuse for demanding fans of the club with their arch-rivals East Bengal clubbed in the same group with the Kolkata Derby slated on January 18.

To make up for the losses, all sides are allowed to use as many as six foreign players in their line-up, allowing coach Antonio Lopez Habas the luxury of using the likes of Jason Cummings, Armando Sadikou, Hugo Boumous or Dimitrios Petratos in the same line-up.

As far as filling for the Indian players in the line-up, Mohun Bagan have some of the best-talented youngsters among their ranks as the likes of forward Suhail Ahmad Bhat, attacking midfielder Kiyan Nassiri Giri, midfielder Lalrinliana Hnamte.

The position that looks tricky to fill is the defensive midfielder as Glan Martins has mostly been a utility player in the Mohun Bagan squad. However, the pivot is a crucial slot in the formation of Habas, who prefers having a defensive solitude before attacking. For a better physical presence in the midfield, he may turn to Hector Yuste instead while pairing Brendan Hamill and Sumit Rathi as the two centre-backs.

With captain and left-back Subhasish Bose away, Ravi Bahadur Rana and Amandeep will fancy their chances of getting regular minutes in the Kalinga Super Cup 2024 while Asish Rai remains the obvious choice for the right-back position.

As far as the goalkeeping position is concerned, the battle is between Arsh Anwar Saikh and Syed Zahid Hussain Bukhari with the former expected to start as he started in the AFC Asian Cup against Maziya and was the first-choice during the Calcutta Football League as well.

Mohun Bagan probable line-up: Arsh Anwar Saikh (GK); Ravi Bahadur Rana/Amandeep, Brendan Hamil*, Sumit Rathi, Asish Rai; Hugo Boumous*, Hector Yuste,* Glan Martins, Kiyan Nassiri Giri; Dimitrios Petratos/Armando Sadikou*, Jason Cummings*

Players unavailable: Sahal Abdul Samad, Vishal Kaith Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Subhasish Bose, Anirudh Thapa and Deepak Tangri (national duty); Anwar Ali, Ashique Kuruniyan (injury)