After starting the season with two away games at Delhi and Mumbai, it has been a good one week’s rest from live action for Coach Colomba’s boys. After a defeat at the DY Patil Stadium, the boys have got their heads together to put up a proud display in the first match in front of the home crowd!The stage is set on Sunday for a blockbuster as Hrithik Roshan will set the ball rolling at 5.45 pm with a performance for the home crowd. What follows that should be a mouth-watering clash between two talented teams.FC Goa are just above us at the standings at this point, having secured the same points (1) having played a game more (3). While they haven’t won any matches yet, we will have to be mindful of their goal scoring abilities. Coach Colomba might look at bringing back Daniel Magliochetti in place of Andres Ramires and resorting to a familiar 4-3-2-1 rather than a 3-5-2 as against Mumbai City FC.FC Goa and Zico have been worried about their defensive lapses too. FC Goa played well to take the lead but then succumbed to Atletico De Kolkata in the previous match. As has been seen already in this Hero ISL, sitting deep and counterattacking has been the key to many wins. Whether Coach Colomba prefers that or goes for an all out attack on home turf, will be interesting to see.As far as individual battles go, the most interesting one would be between Kostas Katsouranis and Robert Pires. The marquee midfielder Robert Pires has complained of harsh tackles on him this season, but the huge Greek captain is surely not going to be a pushover on the home turf. Bruno Cirillo and his men have worked to plug the gaps in the defence in training, which could mean Lenny Rodrigues and Israil Gurung getting more chances upfront!FC Pune City cannot be hungrier for a win- given the home crowd and the previous result. Being spurred on by co-owner Hrithik Roshan cheering from the stands, joined by 12,000 Punekars is surely to spark magic into the moment.So C’mon Pune! Join in for our 1st Home Game at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex. If you haven’t yet, book your tickets NOW!
