The hosts, in their previous encounter, won narrowly against Mohammedan SC, thanks to an early goal by Luka Majcen, while Rajasthan United will seek a return to form as they faced a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Real Kashmir. The two teams previously faced each other on two occasions with Punja
Aizawl will head into the match on the back of a 1-1 draw against TRAU FC in their opening fixture, where Argentine midfielder Matias Veron was sent off and will be suspended for this game. Gokulam won their opening match 1-0 against Mohammedan SC earlier this week. In their previous meeting
The 24-year-old defender suffered a knee injury in the semi-final of the 2022 Durand Cup against Mohammedan SC and has since undergone successful surgery.
A last gasp winner by Bipin Singh (90+1') proved to be fatal for Andrey Cherynshov's men who bravely fought until the very end as their Durand Cup campaign came to an end while the Islanders became the first finalists of the Durand Cup 2022.
The Gaurs took the lead against Mohammedan SC in their opening match on Tuesday before a second-half blitzkrieg helped the Black Panthers take home the three points.
Muhammed Nemil opened the scoring with a beautiful outside-the-box finish (34') but three second-half goals from Pritam Singh (49'), Faslu Rahman (84'), and a stoppage-time goal from skipper Marcus Joseph (90+3') were enough to seal the deal for the night.
The Gaurs arrived at Kolkata for the tournament on Sunday ahead of the club's third campaign at the Durand Cup, having previously played in the 2019 and 2021 editions. So far, the club have remained unbeaten in the tournament and would look to extend their solid run.
FC Goa, who are also the defending champions of the Durand Cup remain unbeaten in the competition, having competed in two editions of the tournament in 2019 and 2021.
Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], May 15 (ANI): Gokulam Kerala FC created history in Indian Football on Saturday when they defeated Mohammedan SC 2-1 to win back-to-back I-League titles for the first time in the history of the tournament.