ISL 2019-20 | We are here to try and win, says Josep Gombau

Odisha FC will take on hosts NorthEast United FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati after a disappointing 2-1 loss to a 10-man Jamshedpur FC side away from home in their opening match. NorthEast United, on the other hand, drew with the mighty Bengaluru FC at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

However, the Odisha FC coach was confident about his young side and has stated that they are looking for a win going into the game.  The Spaniard also admitted that it was his team's mistakes against Jamshedpur FC that saw the team not capitalizing on the advantage after JFC's Bikash Jairu was shown a red card in the first half. 

“I think we had a good game (in our last outing). But we need to learn from the mistakes that we made in the game. We took some wrong decisions and missed some chances to score as well. I think we have a young squad, the youngest squad in the Hero ISL. When younger players play after a long time there is some pressure on them, but now that they have played their first game, we are very motivated and we are here to try to win,” said Josep Gombau in the pre-match press conference, the ISL website reported.

Gombau has acknowledged the threat of Ghana’s all-time top scorer Asamoah Gyan, who made heads turn by missing two good goal-scoring opportunities against mighty Bengaluru FC.

“He is a big name, but we are not a team that does any special man-to-man marking. It’s true that our players know him. We need to be careful because he has a lot of quality. I hope that it’s not his day (against us).” said the Spaniard.

Young Indian midfielder Vinit Rai from Assam, who was also in the press conference with the coach, and stated that he was honoured to play in front of his home crowd. 

“It’s really an honour to play in front of my (home) crowd. Obviously, I will not be playing for the home team, but it always feels special to be back in my home state and to play in front of the fans. When they cheer for me it feels good. I’m very grateful for them,” Rai said.