Confident Jamshedpur FC face fearless Diamond Harbour in battle for semifinal

Jamshedpur, Aug 16 (PTI) A confident home side Jamshedpur FC will face debutants Diamond Harbour FC in the third quarterfinal of the Durand Cup here on Sunday.

Jamshedpur FC qualified for the quarterfinals as winners of Group C while Diamond Harbour FC squeezed through as one of the best second-placed teams.

Under interim head coach Steven Dias, who stepped up following Khalid Jamil's elevation to the national team, Jamshedpur are not just tactically sharp but also deeply motivated.

"We face Diamond Harbour FC for the first time, and we know they are a strong side and were unbeaten in 23 matches. We must stay cautious and focused," Dias said.

Jamshedpur enter the contest on the back of a flawless group stage campaign, with a 3-2 win over Tribhuvan Army FC, 1-0 win over Indian Army Football Team and a 2-0 victory over 1 Ladakh FC.

Diamond Harbour FC started the group stage campaign with a 2-1 victory over Kolkata giants Mohammedan SC before running riot against Border Security Force with a 8-1 victory but suffered a 1-5 defeat to Mohun Bagan.

In the end, a goal difference of +4 was enough for the debutants to occupy their place in this knockout fixture.

The team from Diamond Harbour have been a revelation this season, arriving at the Durand Cup with an unbeaten run that stretched to 23 consecutive matches across competitions.

"We didn’t get the desired result in our last match, but that is part of football. What matters is that we learn from our mistakes, stay focused, and give our full concentration to the next game," head coach Kibu Vicuna said.

"We know it will be a tough challenge against JFC, who are an ISL team with quality players. However, we are determined not to let our journey end in the quarter-finals." Jamshedpur FC will rely on their balanced Indian group which consists of their experienced captain Pronay Haldar and Ashutosh Mehta, youngsters like Praful Kumar Y V, Vincy Baretto, Nikhil Barla, Ritwik Das and Mohammad Sanan.

With Japanese attacker Rei Tachikawa also joining the squad, they look to finish the job in style.

Diamond Harbour start striker Clayton Silva is doubtful for this important match due to injury.

But they have an able backup in the experienced Luka Majcen, who has already scored four goals in the tournament and will be ably supported by Jobby Justin and Girik Khosla and also have the experienced Halicharan Narzary and Naro Hari Shrestha, who can be called up when needed.

The defence, led by Spaniard Mikel Kortazar and Melroy Assisi, will be up for the task against Jamshedpur and will be aware of the setpiece-heavy attacking of the home side.

Kickoff: 4pm IST. PTI TAP AM TAP AM AM