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          The other Mumbai Indians: City boss Kratky aims to win ISL with domestic core

          Abhijit Addya/ Focus Sports / ISL
          • Aaditya Narayan
          May 3, 2024, 03:00 PM

          The magnitude of the task that faces Mumbai City FC in the 2023-24 ISL final cannot be overstated. While Antonio Lopez Habas refrained from calling his Mohun Bagan Super Giant side the favourites for the final, the numbers and the circumstances certainly do stack up in their favour. If Mumbai City are to win the trophy on Saturday, they will have to pull off one of the most famous wins in Indian football.

          There's one little piece of history that they can take heart from, though - The home team have lost all three ISL finals that haven't been played at a neutral venue in the nine previous seasons. The odds may be against them, but it won't be the first time they would be fighting adversity this season.

          They lost their head coach midway through the season as Des Buckingham went back home, they lost arguably the most gifted footballer the ISL has seen in recent years in Greg Stewart, they parted ways with their rock at the back in Roystyn Griffiths.

          Petr Kratky came in from the City Football Group stables and has taken over as if he's been in charge of this team for years, but in just five months in charge, he has also put his own stamp on the team.

          "Mumbai Indians"

          Perhaps for the first time in the history of the ISL, a club has managed to reduce its foreigners to being the support cast for the Indians. The last few seasons may have seen the number of foreigners allowed on the field reduced to four, but they were still playing all the important positions through the spines of the sides.

          Without underplaying the importance and performances of the likes of Jorge Pereyra Diaz and Yoell van Nieff to Kratky's team, this clearly is a side that is being propelled by its Indian talent.

          The numbers paint a glowing picture for Kratky the coach. 23 of 33 league goals that Mumbai City have scored under him have been by Indians. 20 of those goals have been assisted by Indians. Their top three goalscorers under Kratky have been Indians. Their top four assist-providers under Kratky have been Indians.

          What has he been feeding them, then?

          "I think it's confidence," Jayesh Rane said, "that helps a lot, the words he says really helps not just me, but everyone in this team."

          Despite not being a regular starter for his side, Rane has four assists this season, all of them coming under Kratky, the joint-most in that time period alongside Lallianzuala Chhangte.

          Rane's importance in the final could be even more than it has been so far, with Yoell van Nieff out with a suspension. He could come into midfield alongside Apuia and either of Alberto Noguera or Thaer Krouma, should Kratky choose to go that way. Up against Joni Kauko and co., he will face a stiff test, but it is one that he is primed to take on.

          Chhangte himself has scored 9 times in 18 games under Kratky, with Vikram Partap Singh followed close behind with 8 goals of his own. The youngster's emergence has seen him earn a starting spot in Igor Stimac's national team as well.

          For Kratky, it is simple. His idea when he came to Mumbai City was to cut out the dependency on just one or two players for the goals. In the six league games before he arrived at the club this season, Mumbai City scored 13 goals and Pereyra Diaz scored six of them.

          "For me as a coach, I want to see the players performing and growing. If it's the local players, it's fantastic. I just hope they keep performing and proving they are good footballers, because they are," he said.

          The importance of the leader Rahul Bheke

          Mumbai City's most experienced Indian player has certainly stepped up in crunch time this season. Particularly in the second leg of the semifinal, Bheke completely shut down the threat of Noah Sadaoui to ensure that FC Goa's attacking threat was minimized, as Mumbai City protected a one-goal lead at home in style. Bheke even assisted Pereya Diaz's goal that broke the deadlock on the night.

          "He's been amazing support from within. Very happy and blessed to have him in the team, he helps a lot. Especially in the last game, he stepped up, it's always a privilege to have this type of player in the team," Kratky said.

          With the changes within the team midway through the season, it was doubly important for Mumbai City to have a leader who ensured the players were focused on the task at hand, as they were also playing the AFC Champions League at the time.

          "We were shocked when Des left," Bheke said. "When coach [Kratky] came into the team, we welcomed him really well, and the team continued to play the same brand of football, I think that was very important."

          However, even if the brand of football remained the same, there are always some specific adjustments that each coach makes. Without having a pre-season at hand, it was important for Kratky to get his message through to every player in the squad. Bheke was his man for that.

          "Especially the younger players in the squad, they need to know exactly what the coach's ideas are, what he expects of them, I just ensured that all of them understood what was needed from them," the Mumbai City skipper said.

          The precociously talented bunch of players that Bheke will lead out on to the Salt Lake turf on Saturday night know that a famous night awaits them. If they pull off this win, it will be remembered for a long time. Perhaps even if they don't, this season they produced deserves to be remembered for a long time.

          Like Kratky said, they have done things "the Mumbai City way".