Kerala Blasters FC’s 2016 Hero Indian Super League campaign got off to a disappointing start after succumbing to a 1-0 loss at the hands of NorthEast United FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium on Saturday evening. It was an evenly contested game that saw a 55th-minute strike by Katsumi Yusa decide the outcome of the match. Cedric Hengbart, who was a part of NorthEast United FC last season and played the full 90 minutes for Kerala Blasters FC today, spoke to indiansuperleague.com in an exclusive chat shortly after the game. Here are the excerpts for the interview.It was your first match of Hero ISL 2016. What are your initial impressions?It was a difficult match because both teams didn’t want to lose the first match so it was not a great match but one action and one goal is enough to win.What was the mindset that Steve Coppell instilled in you before you took the field today?He wants to play forward first, counter-attack and today I think we missed a lot of opportunities on the counter. We lost too many balls but I think our defence was great but we need to improve.What are your thoughts on coming back and playing against your former club?Yes, I’m very happy to be here. There are a lot of people who love football so I’m happy to play this match but now we have 13 games left so we’ll see what happens.What are your thoughts on being one of the few players to have been part of all three seasons of the Hero ISL?Yes, I’m very happy. Always happy to play football with every player, I don’t mind. I’m very happy to play football.
