Pune FC hosts Salgaocar FC in a crucial I-League Round 15 encounter at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi on Tuesday.
Speaking at the pre-match Press Conference, Pune FC Coach Karim Bencherifa discussed the recent games, the form of the team among other things.
When asked about his views on playing back-to-back games, Coach Bencherifa said, “As you see, we hardly had any time to think about the last game. As soon as the final whistle blew on Saturday, we started thinking about this game because we had just two days. However, we had a good discussion to highlight a few things from the previous game that we need to improve and work on. At the same time, we also worked on the positives from the game. We had a very light session yesterday and a tactical session today.”
He further added, “Every game is a tricky one in the I-League and you can’t know the outcome of it due to the competitiveness that is there in every match. All the teams are at a similar level. We are definitely expecting a strong performance from Salgaocar tomorrow. I saw their game against Mohun Bagan the other day and I felt they were unlucky not to get anything out of that game. So, I think we will have a strong match tomorrow.”
Talking about the Pune FC squad he said, “I did explain a lot on the issues (of player availability) we suffered in the last month or so. But I am happy now that all my players are back. Arata Izumi is back from suspension. Though we lost Dhanpal Ganesh (sending off) and Edgar Marcelino (injury) in the last game, I think we have a good balance in the squad with the return of the attacking players in Darko Nikac, Ryuji Sueoka and Thongkhosiem Haokip, that we were missing. And as I said, the players who were away will only get better with every match. So I am expecting a much better performance in the attacking front and hopefully we get that win tomorrow. We are not losing much, but at the same time we badly need the three points.”
“We had a lot of chances to keep in touch with the top teams and tomorrow we have another chance. A win puts us closer to Bengaluru FC and Royal Wahingdoh who are in the second and third place and we hope for the best,” he added.
Speaking about the visitors, Coach Bencherifa concluded, “It’s always a pleasure to play against a team like Salgaocar who like to play football and are known for their fair play like us. The three games that we have played against them in this season have all been closely fought. Tomorrow, it won’t be any different and we are looking forward to a good match.”
