In this post, we look back at Des Buckingham and his MCFC’s Durand Cup campaign. After last year’s close call at the Durand Cup, the gaffer hoped to clinch the trophy this year. However, he fell short.
Des Buckingham and his group stage journey
Mumbai City FC started their campaign for this year’s Durand Cup very aggressively. Des Buckingham and his side looked very solid as a team. They were almost considered favorites to win. They faced Mohammedan SC in the opening fixture. MCFC were handed a comfortable 3-1 victory. Next up, they faced familiar faces from Jamshedpur FC. They humiliated JFC, handing them a 5-0 loss. To finish things off in style, Mumbai finished their group stages with a 4-0 victory against the Indian Navy FT.
The knockouts
Des Buckingham seemed very confident ahead of the big clash against MBSG. he stated the following at the pre-match conference:
“In the three games we’ve had in the Durand Cup, we’ve tried a few different things. We’ve obviously had a chance to look at different players and different ways of doing certain things. It’s been a good start. I’m very happy where we are at the moment and very much looking forward to what’s to come.”
MCFC scored the opening goal but were outplayed as MBSG made a thrilling comeback and won 3-1 to progress through
Des Buckingham said the following in the post match meeting: ““We didn’t play for what we wanted. This is what we need to do if we’re going to compete for things. So it’s a learning experience for us, but we’ll be humble when we win games and when we win things, and we’ll be humble when we lose. We’ll make sure that when we come back to play against them, the players will be ready“.
