MARGAO: Salgaocar Football Club take on Pune Football Club in the opener of the Hero I-League, at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, here, on Saturday. The kick-off is at 4.30 p.m.
The teams have played each other twice in the last couple of months, in the Durand Cup final in November and in the Federation Cup last week with The Greens emerging victorious on both occasions.
Salgaocar FC finished a very respectable third in the previous edition and will look to better that performance this time round. With just 11 teams featuring in the upcoming edition, it promises to be an extremely competitive league.
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-final of the Federation Cup.
Head coach Derrick Pereira 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 five games in Goa and will look to accumulate maximum points from the home matches.
