KOCHI: With just one point separating the two sides, Kerala Blasters FC and Mumbai City FC will be playing a virtual play-off match to get into the semifinals.
Mumbai currently occupies fourth place with Blasters just a point behind as the two lock horns in a high-stakes encounter at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Vasco on Wednesday.
With just one round to go after this, the encounter takes a must-win nature, especially for the yellow brigade. As for the defending champions, any slip-ups could prove costly as their last fixture is against high-flying Hyderabad FC.
For Blasters, the prospect of finishing in the top four since the 2016 season would be a huge motivating factor and their head coach Ivan Vukomanovic feels it will be a fiercely competitive affair.
"When you start playing football, you dream about and work hard for these kinds of games. So the game on Wednesday is big, it doesn't matter if you are a senior player or a young player. Of course, this is a nice experience and a nice opportunity to play a good game. So that's it. It's a good game, against a good opponent and that's everything you wish for as a football player. That’s really a thing to dream about, to go on the pitch and play good teams and try to achieve something nice. That's the beauty of football. So we have our preparation, it doesn't change a lot, compared to other games.," said Vukomanovic.
After struggling with injuries and suspensions to key players, Blasters have a near full-strength squad to choose from. Winger Rahul KP is back in contention and gives more attacking options for Blasters.
"I think for sure as a local player, as a part of a team, it's really important for us to qualify (for the semi-finals), but also coming back from injury, it is really difficult. I think that I've been doing whatever is in my control. You know, injury is not in my control, that happens," said Rahul.
Vukomanic has frequently played down Blasters' top-four ambitions, saying that the priority of the club was towards long-term growth over immediate success. However, the Serbian coach admitted that a lot was at stake against Mumbai.
"The game is one of the final games in this competition. Of course, there will be high stakes," he said.
As for Mumbai coach Des Buckingham, the team will be stick to their approach regardless of the magnitude of the game.
"Yes, I can understand why people are looking at it like that (a virtual quarter-final). But it’s not an approach we’re taking. We’ve spoken all season about being consistent in how we approach each game and that’s something that has put us in this position that we’re in.