The worst team is ready to win says NorthEast United boss Cesar Farias
NorthEast United defeated defending champions Atletico De Kolkata to win their second straight game at home and of course coach Cesar Farias was a very happy man. Speaking to the media after the match, a jubilant Farias however revealed something that connects a few pieces of NorthEast’s previous game with Chennaiyin.
According to Farias, a player from the opposition team called NorthEast the worst team of the league.
“Today we put the flag that we are a competitive team. And we are willing to win any game. The last game when the score was 0-0, one player from the opponent said that we are worst team in the league.
“Well, the worst team is ready to win, ready to compete. We don’t believe that we are better than anybody. We don’t believe that we are better than anybody. We maintain being humble,” said the coach.
On being asked about the game against Kolkata and his strategy behind benching Simao, Velez and Sanju in the first half, the coach said: “Football is like chess and I control the chess pieces.
“The other team was the champion. It’s a good team, excellent team with excellent players and coach. It’s very difficult playing against them. My players are good mentally, tactically and technically. And these helped them to win it against them. It’s a very comforting win.
We have found the winning momentum and we should remain focused and hope to maintain it.”
He further added when asked about his team having better possession in the first half and yet not scoring.
“We analyze the other team. You cannot analyze how good the team played with possession. We have created lot many chances than the opposition many times. The rival team also similarly analyzes you. This league is so even that any team can beat any team at any given day. It all about the chess game, as I said before.”
Cesar Farias also compared the Indian Super League to the Mexican League in terms of the competitiveness between the teams.
“I come from the Mexican league, which is probably the most even league of the world because the investment which the teams make is almost equal; from the top team to the last team. It’s the same case here. And just like here, teams are very even.”
He also talked about playing away in the next couple of matches and the mentality within the team as he said:
“It’s good to have two clean sheets in two back to back games and the next objective as a team is to get focused and get points away. We know Guwahati is far from any other city and just like we are strong here at home, we need to be strong when we are away. And the mentality in the dressing room is a winning mentality.”
When asked about not playing Silas, who was brilliant in his last match, Farias highlighted the rest factor between back to back matches and also hinted about bring in a new striker into the team.
He said: “Silas was rested for the match. He is 39 and for all his effort have our hats off. In this league there are back to back matches, so you need to analyze the physical condition of the players and just like we have two Andre Bikey and Carlos Lopez coming in, we are working on a new player, an attacker.”