Defending Durand Cup winners NorthEast United FC will start their Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 campaign by playing against the newly-promoted Mohammedan SC at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan here on Monday. Mohammedan SC won the I-League 2023-24 campaign to earn their place in the ISL 2024-25 season, whereas the Highlanders had finished the previous season in the top tier at the seventh spot.

The Mohammedan SC head coach Andrey Chernyshov has modest expectations from his side in the team’s maiden season and is not putting exceeding pressure on his players right now. He instead wants them to take a feel of the league, embrace a fighting spirit, and improve as they move ahead in the year.

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“First, we need to make a strong team for the ISL. We understand how strong this competition is. We will be playing against many good Indian and foreign players. We need to take this feeling from the ISL, the experience, and we need to fight in every match, show good football for the people, and this is the most important, which inspires us to do very well in every match,” Chernoshyv told the ISL.

The move to the ISL presents a significant challenge for Mohammedan SC, who will also rekindle their fierce rivalry with Kolkata neighbours Mohun Bagan Super Giant and East Bengal FC. Though their head coach is not putting immediate pressure on the team, Mohammedan are eager to rise to the occasion and make an immediate impression, aiming to replicate the impressive debut of Punjab FC last season and take their performance even further.

But Mohammedan has undergone tremendous transition as they bid farewell to key players Eddie Hernandez and David Lalhansanga, who were pivotal last season. Hernandez, their top scorer in the I-League, and Lalhansanga, the leading Indian goal-scorer, will be missed. Despite these losses, the club has bolstered their squad with intriguing new signings. Forward Cesar Manzoki, who joins from the UAE Pro League, is a standout addition. The 27-year-old has also showcased his talent in the CAF Champions League and the Chinese Super League.

In addition, Indian talents like Gaurav Bora, Amarjit Kiyam, and Rochharzela, each with ISL experience, will be hoping to make a significant impact and establish themselves in the league.

Fresh from their Durand Cup triumph, NorthEast United are still basking in the glory of bagging the first silverware in the club’s history. However, head coach Juan Pedro Benali is looking beyond that to deliver a successful ISL 2024-25 season.

Having missed the playoffs qualification by a whisker in 2023-24, the Highlanders are sure to leave no stone unturned in the coming term.

“The feeling of winning the Durand Cup was great, but it finished 24 hours later. We cannot live with it anymore if we want to move forward. We need to forget that. It’s great for the paper and the stats, but we just need to think about the next game,” Benali said.

“We have our own mentality. We take every game as the finale. We are playing against a strong team, a good coach, in a very good stadium, with great fans, so we need to be smart, cool, and calm in our approach,” he added.

Their recent success is because Benali adopted a more pragmatic approach to winning games. The never-say-die attitude began to reflect in the players.

The Highlanders began their journey under Benali with last year’s Durand Cup, where their dreams were halted in the semifinal by East Bengal FC after a penalty shootout. Undeterred, they carried their resilience into the ISL, only to narrowly miss the playoffs by a single point, finishing behind sixth-placed Chennaiyin FC.

The management saw the value in his approach and granted him a contract extension during the previous season. Even though the team missed the ISL playoffs by a narrow margin, Benali was committed to guiding them to triumph in the upcoming season.

The ISL presents NorthEast United with the right platform to further establish the success of their approach.