Kolkata: Making their maiden appearance at the prestigious Durand Cup, Mumbai City FC will square off against Indian Navy FT in the opening match of Group B in Kolkata on Thursday. Addressing the media over a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Mumbai City FC Head Coach Des Buckingham and experienced defender Rahul Bheke spoke about a variety of topics including the Islanders’ pre-season preparations in Dubai and the team’s prospects at Asia’s oldest club competition.
“We’ve just had three weeks of a preparatory camp in Dubai before we’ve come here because we wanted to prepare as well as we can firstly for this tournament, and then secondly, for the ISL. But, I won’t disrespect this tournament and say we’re using it as a preparation for ISL because it is the oldest competition in Asia and it’s our first time competing. So of course, we want to try and do as well as we can. We must make sure that we get off to a good start and that’s making sure we only look at the first game within the group,” Buckingham stated.

