Mumbai City FC were presented the coveted Hero Indian Super League Winners’ Shield after their last game of the league season at their home stadium the Mumbai Football Arena after narrowly losing to East Bengal 1-0, in a match that was thoroughly dominated by the Islanders.
The Islanders’ squad and coaching staff received their medals and were presented the pristine League Winners’ Shield in front of hordes of adoring fans. The energy of the home fans made the atmosphere in the packed stadium electric as their cheers echoed throughout the Mumbai Football Arena for the Mumbai City FC team they unrelentingly supported throughout the season.
After the presentation, most of the players were highly elated and emotional as they paraded the Shield and their medals around the stadium while expressing deep gratitude to the home crowd for their consistent support in the 2022/23 ISL season.
The action will return to the Mumbai Football Arena for the 1st leg of the Semifinals on the 7th of March 2023.
This was the Islanders’ first piece of silverware under Des Buckingham – one that the Englishman and his side have achieved in record-breaking fashion. The Islanders have dropped just one game this season and have secured 14 wins, 4 draws, and just one loss in the 19 matches they have played so far this league season.
We take a look at the stand-out components of this historic title win – a second for Mumbai City in three years!
Under the guidance of head coach Buckingham, the Islanders are a side transformed. The 38-year-old has brought a new definition to ‘attacking’ football and his Mumbai City side is a testament to it. The Islanders have scored an astounding 54 goals in 19 games so far this league season. The goals have come from all over the pitch for Mumbai City with 12 different Islanders getting their names on the scoresheet. However, the free-scoring Islanders have four attacking pillars to lean on contributing to 65% of the league goals scored. The quartet of Jorge Pereyra Díaz (11 goals, 6 assists), Lallianzuala Chhangte (10 goals, 6 assists), Greg Stewart (7 goals, 7 assists) and Bipin Singh (6 goals, 2 assists) have been in scintillating form and have given life to Buckingham’s attractive, attacking philosophy.
Diving deeper, the goals have been a return on the tremendous attacking output the Islanders have consistently produced game after game. Mumbai City lead the Hero ISL charts for most successful passes (7721), most touches (12,513), most chances created (212), most shots (297) and most shots on target (137). Mumbai City’s fluid tactical set-up has also allowed the Islanders to control and dominate possession in nearly all their games in the season so far, averaging nearly 60% possession in the 2022-23 season so far. These unprecedented attacking numbers are a result of the continued hard work that Buckingham and his staff have put in since his arrival at the club.
Since his arrival at Mumbai City, Buckingham indicated that one of his key objectives will be to nurture and help develop Indian players. His utilisation of the likes of Apuia Ralte, Mehtab Singh, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Bipin Singh, Vikram Partap Singh and Phurba Lachenpa has seen the players develop and add new facets and levels to their skillset. However, there is no better example of the result of Buckingham’s work with Indian players than Lallianzuala Chhangte. The diminutive yet pacy winger joined the Islanders in January 2022, midway through Buckingham’s first season in charge. The remainder of the ISL season was seen as a bedding-in period for the 25-year-old attacker. It was in the AFC Champions League that he started to show glimpses of his development. Chhangte was truly unlocked at the start of the 2022-23 season – he picked up the Golden Boot in the 2022 Durand Cup with 7 goals in as many games and currently has 10 goals in the ongoing league season. He is well and truly in contention for both the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball awards.
While the younger players like Vignesh, Vikram or Mehtab have shown a stark improvement in their football, the experienced seniors have stepped up a notch as well. Rahul Bheke has had, arguably, the best season of his career. He has added several facets to his game and has consistently put in a solid performance every time he has played. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the likes of Apuia Ralte and Vikram Partap Singh who through thorough development plans have shown remarkable growth. Be it Apuia’s new-found attacking role or Vikram’s holistic development as an attacker, Buckingham has put in the work with the Islanders’ domestic contingent who have raised the bar. There is no better testament to this than the 25 goals that have been scored by Indians for Mumbai City this season – an all-time Hero ISL record for a single season!
