last year's semi-finalists, Mumbai City FC, are gearing up for the fourth season of the Indian Super league (ISl) with their head coach Alexandre Guimaraes on Thursday stressing his side has two of the finest goalkeepers in the squad.
Mumbai City FC kick-off their campaign with an away game against two-time I-league winners and ISl debutants, Bengaluru FC, on November 19. They are to play their first home game on November 25 at the Andheri Football Arena here.
"I cannot say about the other teams. I can say that we have the two best goalkeepers in our side — Amrinder (Singh) and Arindam (Bhattacharya) — and one new guy like Kunal (Sawant), who is getting experienced and learning.
"I also (feel) that someday maybe (we) can see two of the best goal-keepers in India playing," Guimaraes told a media conference here.
"So what we did in this season is that for our goalkeeping department we have got local players because we are interested to develop them," quipped the Costa Rican, who coached the team last year too.
last season the franchise lost in the play-off after topping the field in the league stage.
The club had a successful pre-season camp in Spain, where they won four games, drew two and lost only one encounter. They also drew against top flight Spanish side's B team - levante UD.
"The result is positive and we are building the team from the beginning and the players understood the idea very fast what were are trying to introduce. They are doing the best they can and they are showing what we are asking them to do.
"My boss here (Ranbir Kapoor) has insisted that the players should play with their heart and they did that even in the pre-season. Even though it was pre-season, the players felt bad when we lost a game, so this is very good for a coach and for our staff," Guimaraes said.