Sports
FC Goa target top-four spot against FC Pune City
Margao: Languishing at the lowly seventh position in the standings, hosts FC Goa will aim for a win against FC Pune City here Saturday that can help them reach the play-off spots for the first time in the Indian Super League (ISL) football competition.
After a stuttering start to the campaign, FC Goa have hit upon some form, taking four points from their last two matches away and will have the added incentive of avenging a first leg 0-2 defeat against Pune.
Pune are better placed ahead of the match, in the fifth spot with 12 points from nine matches.
But their recent form may be a worry for coach Franco Colamba, having managed just a point from their last two contests, both away, and have to cautious against the attacking might of a team coached by Brazilian legend Zico.
Having an offensive-minded coach have allowed Goa to display and an eye-pleasing brand of football wih an inclination to search for goals from the very beginning of a match in most of their games. But profligacy from their strikers has been their biggest obstacle in winning matches.
Zico has expressed repeated frustration at the faliure of his attackers to convert clear-cut but with three successive home matches, the first of which is Saturday, could finally turn the tide in the favour of his bungling strikers.
Both teams have scorers well aversed to Indian football in Tolgay Ozbey (FC Goa) and Dudu Omagbemi (FC Pune City). But it is the performance of the men supplying them with final passes, Andre Santos and Robet Pires for Goa and Pune’s Kostas Katsouranis that could determine the outcome of the match.
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.
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