Can't change my game entirely: Sehnaj

Sehnaj Singh is  the crowd’s favourite due to his full commitment towards the game. The Mumbai City FC defensive mid-fielder plays the game with aggression which drives crowd into frenzy but gets him into referee’s book sometimes.

The wily Punjab player has received seven yellow cards in 15 appearances for Mumbai City FC in two seasons where he made 34 fouls and 32 tackles while playing mostly in the defense. He received a red card last year in Mumbai City colours. Earlier, he had received a red against Guam while representing India in his short international career. Both those crucial reds came in first half leaving his team with ten men. But luckily on both occasions it didn’t cost his team much.

He acknowledges he has to avoid getting cards but is in no mood to change his aggressive style of play.

“In football tackles, cards this and that goes on. I am human and sometimes temper takes over. But I realize my mistake and try to avoid it. I leave everything on the field itself,” he told this paper in an interview.

He has been in the city before with disbanded Mumbai Tigers and Mumbai FC and now is representing Islanders in the Indian Super League since 2016 season.

“I have my style of play and if I change, it will be difficult for me to cope. I will avoid cards but not leave entirely my game,” he added.

The 25-year-old gives his everything to protect the citadel and covers lot of ground to make smart clearances and blocks. Due to his strong physicality and skill he is a coach’s treat especially against strong opponents.

He displayed his sportsmanship by welcoming Matias Mirabaje after Mumbai City signed the Uruguayan attacking midfielder for the fifth season. Mirabaje who played for Delhi Dynamos last season was red carded in his last game at the Mumbai Football Arena here on December 29 after argument with Sehnaj. Both were red carded late in the first half reducing both sides to ten men in the second half. Mumbai City won that game eventually 4-0.

Mirabaje who represented Uruguay at the FIFA U-20 World Cup was banned for four matches and Sehnaj was handed two-match ban after the incident. They buried the hatchet and Sehnaj welcomed Mirabaje to his club as a true professional.

“Guess what #Islanders, someone who ‘packs a real punch’ has just joined the MumbaiCityFC family!” Sehnaj had tweeted.

“What happened was in the heat of moment for those 1-2 minutes. We are all professional players and it happens. After match everything was normal and later when we went to Delhi to play against them we met each other also. We are now both in one team and are good together both on and off the field,” Sehnaj said on Tuesday.

He had some fitness issues last season and didn’t fit into previous coach Alexandre Guimaraes plans often, but this season he hopes to get more matches under new coach Jorge Costa to help Mumbai City do better and eye a comeback into Indian senior national team.

“Every player in India wants to play for the Indian national team. I also want to play again. It will be great to get more games. However it will depend on what formation coach wants.  We had a good pre-season in Thailand and are all motivated to do well this season,” he said.