ISL 2020-21: "My focus is on the game tomorrow," says Kerala Blasters captain Costa Nhamoinesu ahead of season opener
Following his transfer to Polish side Zagłębie Lubin, Costa Nhamoinesu became one of the most sought-after left-backs in Europe. After spending over a decade in Poland and the Czech Republic, the 34-year-old has now made his way to the Indian Super League. The Zimbabwean will be captaining Kerala Blasters in the upcoming season.
Speaking ahead of Kerala Blasters' first game of the season, Costa stated that the current pandemic is not going to be used as an excuse by the team this season.
"It is a different situation and different adaptation from normally what we are used to," said Costa Nhamoinesu. "It is all about the mental aspect. The mental and physical aspects are demanding. We have to be strong and we know the things at hand," he added.
"We are looking to work with what is available to us. No excuses. Yesterday we had an activity after dinner and we tried to use whatever space is available to us. We are looking to use our resources and see where it takes us," continued the Kerala Blasters captain.
Costa also went on to add that he would take it one game at a time as opposed to focusing on the entire season right now. Currently he isn't thinking about anything beyond the all-important first game of the new season.
"For me, I always want to take things to step by step. I want to look ahead. For example, my focus is on the game tomorrow and not on the season and other games. We will work in training and try to implement what we have been doing. A good achievement will be to win the next game," said Costa.
Costa Nhamoinesu on adapting to Kerala Blasters, ISL and India
For any foreign player, adapting to Indian conditions has not been easy. In the case of the Kerala Blasters captain, the food, humidity and the local language are proving to be things he is slowly starting to adapt to.
"We start with food. I have had a few spicy dishes that I still have to adjust. Where I come from we don't use a lot of spice in our dishes. That is one that I will have to adapt to. The climate is hot, but it is a different type of hot and humid. We have been sweating a lot. It is something the body has to get used to. But we are training every day.
"I am not sure of the condition of the pitch. The training pitch is not that bad but it's a little different than I have been training on before. The rest is more or less similar. The guys we travel together on the bus crack some jokes I don't understand because of the language, but the body language I can understand. But yes, we will see," the Kerala Blasters star concluded.