ISL | FC Pune City to participate in AWES Cup ahead of 2018 season
Indian Super League (ISL) club FC Pune City will kick off their pre-season preparations by participating in the second edition of AWES Cup in Goa which is scheduled to begin from August 29. Head coach Miguel Angel Portugal believes that match practice is the best way to evaluate the preparations.
In the last edition of AWES Cup, FC Pune City Reserves squad qualified for the semifinals before losing to Dempo Sports Club 1-0. But this time around, the club has decided to participate in the event with their entire first-team squad.Â
“AWES Cup is played for a noble cause and we are glad to be a part of this. Having said that, it also is a very competitive tournament and it will give our team a good platform to test their skills and execute plans in match conditions. It will also help the coach to figure out what the team needs to work on for the upcoming season and most importantly, the team will get a great opportunity to gel together and find sync in real situations,” said Pune City CEO Gaurav Modwel. Â
Team’s chief coach Miguel Angel Portugal is of the opinion that apart from training, match practice is very important to evaluate the preparations for the upcoming 2018-19 season.Â
“It is important for us to understand how’s the pre-season training helping the team and how the team is shaping up for the 2018-19 season. Playing AWES Cup will give us a clear indication of what we need to work on. Having said that, we aren’t going to the tournament to just participate,” said coach Miguel Angel.
FC Pune City is placed along with Dempo SC, Salgaocar FC and FC Goa in Group A and they will face Salgaocar FC in the opening day. In their next two pool games, they are scheduled to play against FC Goa and Dempo SC on September 6 and 9 respectively.Â
FC Pune City squad:
Forwards: Marcelo Pereira, Emiliano Alfaro, Diego Carlos, Iain Hume, Robin Singh, Rahul Yadav (Reserve), Jakob Vanlalhumpuia (Reserve); Midfielders: Marko Stankovic, Jonathan Vila, Adil Khan, Gabriel Fernandes, Rohit Kumar, Shankar Sampingiraj, Alwyn George, Abhishek Haldar (Reserve); Defenders: Matthew Mills, Martin Diaz, Gurtej Singh, Sahil Panwar, Chhuantea Fanai, Keenan Almeida, Nim Dorjee Tamang, Tarif Akhand (Reserve), Dimple Bhagat (Reserve); Goalkeepers: Anuj Kumar, Bilal Khan (Reserve), Debopriya Das (Reserve).