CALCUTTA (India): Defending champions Chennai City FC return to their home ground in Coimbatore when they host Neroca FC in the I-League on Saturday.
Chennai are currently placed seventh on the table with four points to their name from three matches (one win, one tie, and one loss).
Neroca FC have garnered only three points with a solitary win and two losses, and are placed just below Chennai on the table.
Chennai are presented with a major challenge of how to convert possession into goals.
Despite dominating possession against Aizawl FC, Chennai couldn’t manage to find the back of the net and had to settle with a point that came through a Roberto Eslava penalty. They also missed the services of Pedro Manzi in the last match, who was out due to injury and are trying to find the perfect combination to repeat last season’s magic.
“We want to win every game in the league. We never have the championship on our mind. It is better that we have that approach,” said Chennai coach Akbar Nawas.
“We won the league last year by the sheer grit and the way we played. It is for the other teams to follow suit. But we can’t expect the same thing to happen every time. We would have preferred having more continuity, but we are working with a new group and trying to ensure that we do our best.”
Neroca also has had a tough run since the beginning of the season. They lost to Gokulam Kerala and then a 1-4 loss against East Bengal. The only win has come against Aizawl FC (1-0).
Neroca captain, Marvin Devon Phillip said, “The mood in the camp is great. Yes, we had a small break but during this time we have been working hard to go all out to get a positive result going into this game.” (Source: the-aiff.com)
