MARGAO: Sporting Clube de Goa take on the Bengaluru FC (BFC) in an I-League match at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Sunday. The kick off is 4.30 p.m.
The Flaming Oranje will be looking for a double over the blues this season while Bengaluru FC would be looking to settle the scores with the memories of a loss at Kanteerava looming in the back of their minds.
Currently Sporting Clube are placed in the fourth position with 13 points from 10 outings while Bengaluru FC are second with 21 points from the same number of outings. Both teams would be looking at grabbing maximum points from the fixture.
“We have a good team playing some good football but the results have not come our way. Right now our focus is to narrow the gap with top three, we still have a lot of football left in this league,” said Mateus Costa.
“Bengaluru FC is a good side but with all due respect we have proven ourselves in the previous match. We have to put up our best performance and try to repeat the same,” added the Sporting Clube gaffer Costa.
When asked about how the team has been preparing for BFC, Costa said “The training sessions have been good. All the players are doing well. I keep telling them what we do in training is exactly what we need to emulate on the pitch rest will fall in place.”
About the previous loss against Sporting Clube, Ashley Westwood said, “We did not threaten the goal much, we had a lot of possession but Sporting Clube made the most of two long range shots and their defence showed great character. But tomorrow is a new match a fresh challenge, our second match away from home.”
The BFC coach also mentioned, “We saw the previous match of Sporting Clube against Mohun Bagan, they should have won it. There was a penalty shout turned down and they kept knocking on the goal till the last minute.”
When quizzed about title aspirations, Sporting Clube midfielder Densill Theobald said, “One of the reasons I joined Sporting Clube is because with the coaching staff and the squad which we have. We could challenge the title. However, things have not gone as per plan but we still have six matches left to play.”
Speaking about the title challenge Keegan Pereira of BFC said, “Yes, definitely we are one of the favourites, we are just one point behind Mohun Bagan and with a couple of home matches in hand it looks very much possible.”
Sporting Clube have been handed a major boost ahead of their clash against Bengaluru FC as all of their players are available to play. While the BFC Head Coach confirmed that CK Vineeth and Shankar Sampingiraj would miss the match due to injuries. The football lovers form Goa are in for a treat as both Sporting Clube and BFC are known for their attacking football and will definitely go all out for a win when they face each other.
