PRE-MATCH QUIPS: Vingada: Want to reach a nice position; Materazzi hoping to win remaining games
VINGADA AND MATERAZZI say their teams will give it their all.Speaking to the reporters before the game, Vingada said,
"As I always say the next game for me and my team is most important and most difficult. But it is more than that, it’s very crucial for both teams. Even though Chennaiyin have played one more game than us, they still have a chance for the semi-finals. There is a chance for Kerala, Pune, NorthEast and Chennaiyin. Only Mumbai is safe and the other teams are in it. Regarding our last few games, we lost even when out performance was good,”
He continued: “But in football only results are important, so tomorrow we will target a result which can put us into a nice position to qualify. It will be hard, it will be difficult but Chennai won in Guwahati and we can win here. Our determination is to win but we respect the defending champions. We are playing better than we did a few weeks back, so I hope we can be the real NorthEast United and face the organisation of Chennaiyin. As I said Chennai won in Guwahati, so we can win here. Chennai also have ambitions and will play well tomorrow.”
Materazzi aware that his team has not been upto the mark in competition but also knows that key players missing from last year's squad could not pointed the difference in performance.
“Well, maybe Bruno more than Elano. If you can remember in the last season in the final four games when Elano was not playing, it was actually Bruno who made the difference and Mendoza. As I said in the first year, he id really well and if not for that injury to him we could have won in the first year as well. But yes, what I think is that we’ve wasted too many chances this season,”
The Italian went on to say,
“In Kolkata we conceded a late goal, same in Pune where we conceded a late free-kick. We could have sealed the games against Kerala and Mumbai as well where we should have scored the second goal but instead conceded in the second half. So yes, I regret that maybe we didn’t play to our potential this year. We didn’t play the way what we thought we could but we are looking for six points, hoping at the same time that other results also go in our favour.”
Speaking about the confidence boost his side has received after the win over Pune in the last game Vingada said,
“My words are the same today as they were when we played Pune. We have no option other than winning… To be honest, we had better games before and we didn’t get the results. Against Pune we did so-so but we won. In Kolkata, we were much better than Kolkata but we drew. In Goa, we were much better but we missed chances and lost that game in the last minute. Maybe in Pune we were lucky even though we had more second-half corners kicks and chances. I’m focussing to win tomorrow. If we play with concentration, we can win.”
Materazzi was asked spare a few thoughts on the on-going ISL and I-League merger issue. He replied saying,
"First of all I would like to thank the ISL and Chennaiyin FC to allow me to coach for these three years. I don’t know about the marquee players because as far as I know, it’s a rumour till now. The league for next year would start in November and end in April or May. It will be difficult to hold onto these big names. And I think it will also be difficult to keep the enthusiasm for that much time. For me, the best arrangement is three-four months. But I respect the decisions and I believe those at the ISL will decide what’s best to develop football in India,”
The NorthEast United Coach commented on the injuries that his side are facing saying,
"Tomorrow we have Borges suspended . And then Gustavo is still recovering. Remaining players have small problems, maybe Nirmal cannot recover but most of the players will be okay to play,”
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