Kalinga Super Cup 2025: Chennaiyin name strong squad for opening game against MCFC

Chennai, April 22 (IANS) A motivated Chennaiyin FC will begin their Kalinga Super Cup 2025 campaign with a Round-of-16 match against Indian Super League (ISL) outfit Mumbai City FC at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, with a 2025-26 AFC Champions League Two, Qualifying Play-off berth up for grabs for the tournament winner.

Head coach Owen Coyle has named a strong squad for the Kalinga Super Cup, led by attacker Connor Shields, and standout Indian performers Irfan Yadwad and Jiteshwor Singh, among others.

Wilmar Jordan Gil and Daniel Chima Chukwu lead the attack, with the former aiming to become the outright top-scorer of the Super Cup. With eight combined goals across multiple editions, Jordan, the leading cup scorer in 2023, is a goal shy of Sunil Chhetri at the top of the all-time standings.

Chennaiyin head into the tournament on the back of a convincing 5-2 win over Jamshedpur FC in their final league game in March. Building on that momentum, the Marina Machans spent three weeks training locally and played a friendly against East Bengal FC in Kolkata to sharpen up for the Super Cup.

“We’re under no illusions how difficult the game will be–Mumbai City are a wonderful side, with some outstanding players, both foreign and domestic. But, we’re looking forward to the game, we’ve shown that when we are at our very best, we can stand toe-to-toe with the best teams,” said Coyle in his pre-match press conference.

“The Super Cup is a great opportunity for everybody because there is an AFC spot available. There’s a huge incentive to have a go and win the cup,” he added.

Chennaiyin and Mumbai City share a history in this competition. The two sides have faced off three times in the Super Cup, with Chennaiyin claiming victory once, at this very stage in 2019, a result that sparked their run to the final. That history adds an extra layer of intrigue to Wednesday’s fixture, with the winner advancing to play either Bengaluru FC or Inter Kashi in the quarterfinals.

Joining Coyle for the press conference was Shields, who topped the playmaking charts in ISL 2024-25 with eight assists and recorded the most chances created in the league (76) in 21 games.

Speaking ahead of the fixture, Shields said, “We’re looking forward to it. We didn’t finish well in the ISL, but we’ve been back training for three weeks now, and everyone is ready to go.”

Ahead of the tie, Coyle also confirmed that he has no fresh injury concerns, barring Laldinliana Renthlei, who is recovering from a long-term affliction and thus misses the squad, with one final training session scheduled before matchday.

Chennaiyin FC’s Full Squad for Kalinga Super Cup 2025:

Goalkeepers: Mohammad Nawaz, Samik Mitra, Malhar Umesh Mohol

Defenders: Ryan Edwards, PC Laldinpuia, Vignesh Dakshinamurthy, Ankit Mukherjee, Mandar Rao Dessai, Pritam Kotal, Edwin Sydney Vanspaul

Midfielders: Jitendra Singh, Lalrinliana Hnamte, Jiteshwor Singh, Elsinho Dias, Lukas Brambilla, Farukh Choudhary, Maheson Singh

Forwards: Connor Shields, Vincy Barretto, Kiyan Nassiri, Wilmar Jordan Gil, Gurkirat Singh, Irfan Yadwad, Daniel Chima Chukwu

--IANS

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