Salgaocar FC face Pune FC in I-League opener
Vasco: The 2014-15 edition of the Hero I-League gets underway tomorrow with Salgaocar FC taking on Pune FC in what promises to be an exciting contest at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda. The teams have played each other twice in the last couple of months, at the Durand Cup final in November and last week in the Federation Cup with the Greens emerging victorious on both occasions.
Salgaocar FC finished a very respectable third at the 2013-14 edition and will look to better that performance. With just 11 teams featuring in the upcoming edition, it promises to be extremely competitive.
Salgaocar FC made an impressive start to the season, having been unbeaten in 18 games at one point en-route to winning the Goa Pro League and the Durand Cup. The Greens also made it to the semi-finals of the recently concluded Federation Cup. Coach Derrick Pereira however sounded confident, yet was cautious ahead of the game.
Speaking on the side-lines of the team’s final training session at BITS Pilani ahead of the curtain raiser he remarked, “We have played Pune FC a couple of times in the recent past and know our opponents fairly well by now.
“We have done our home-work and we will look to get off to a good start in the league. Unfortunately Duffy is still nursing an injury, however, the rest of the squad is fit and raring to go.”
Salgaocar FC will benefit from playing their first 5 games in Goa and will look to accumulate maximum points from those games.
The three Goan I-League clubs, Salgaocar FC, Dempo SC and Sporting Clube de Goa recently announced a joint marketing initiative at a press conference aimed at bringing back crowds to the stadium and the opening match day could well set the tone and give an indication of what is to follow for the rest of the Season.