Uttar Pradesh Wizards would be going all out for a win to ensure a berth in the semifinals when they take on Dabang Mumbai, who are lying at the bottom of the table, in the Hockey India League game tomorrow.
The two teams would face off in their last round robin clash at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium here after suffering losses in their previous away games against defending champions and league toppers Ranchi Rays.
While UP were trounced 0-6, Mumbai were edged 0-1 by Ranchi which helped the title holders to become the first team to reach the semifinals in this year's edition.
UP have got one more day to recover from their exertions as compared to Mumbai, who played yesterday and lost.
The visitors, thus, are expected to be in better shape than the home team players.
How much energy will Mumbai possess, after finishing their match last evening and travelling to their home venue, will be a major factor in determining the outcome. Mumbai need to win tomorrow's game and then depend on the other results to make the last four stage for the third year running.
UP possess top-class penalty corner experts in Argentinian Gonzala Peillat, who is the team's highest scorer in the tournament (6 goals) and was also the highest scorer in the 2014 World Cup, other than India's V R Raghunath and another top defender in Holland's Jolie Wouter.
India's no. 1 keeper P R Sreejesh will stand under the visitors' bar and they also have Akashdeep Singh, Tobias Hauke, who was part of the Olympic Games gold medal winning German teams of 2008 and 2012 and veteran Australian Jamie Dwyer to lead their attack with midfield promptings from the likes of Chinglensana Singh.
All in all, the visitors have everything to trouble the under-performing Mumbai who will need to put behind the disappointment of a stuttering campaign to come out trumps and keep their slim hopes of reaching the semifinals alive.
