NorthEast United FC lock horns with FC Pune City in an east-meets-west encounter at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017-18. The Highlanders showed good spirit against a strong FC Goa side in their last match, where they came back from behind twice to snatch a point. One of the regulars in their backline this season has been their 32-year-old Swiss defender Jose Goncalves, who has appeared in each one of his team’s fixtures thus far. On the eve of his team taking on the Stallions, Goncalves spoke to indiansuperleague.com and shared his thoughts regarding the league and the upcoming fixture. Here are the excerpts.

How did you develop your interest in football?

I remember the day I was watching a football game from the Portuguese League. I think it was Benfica versus Sporting CP or FC Porto. I can’t recall exactly, and my father was very pumped up. He was going crazy in front of the television and I could feel the emotion. From that day, I wanted to be there on television. That is the feeling I had, and since that day, I started playing football.

How has your first experience of football on Indian soil been?

It has been very good. I knew a little bit about Indian football because I tried to find out about it before I came here. And it has been good so far. People have been treating me well and there was no issue with adaptation. So far, so good.

Was it difficult to settle into the team?

No, I don’t think so. Everyone was open, they helped every foreigner to settle into the team and that is very important in any team. If you have people to take care of you, things go easier.

You have been the captain of your team for some time now. So how has that experience been?

It is good. I am happy to take the responsibility. I like taking responsibilities on and off the field and I am very honoured to be the captain of this club. It’s a very important position. I take this very seriously and try to do my best to help my teammates on and off the field.

You drew the last game against a tough opponent. So, how is the mood in the camp like?

We are positive. We took a point away and we could have also taken three points. But football is like this. You have one point, don’t be too greedy and now move on to the next match. We have a tough month with six games and everyone needs to be ready because for sure there will be some changes. Some players will be tired or suspended. So, everyone is focused on our next opponent at home, which is Pune. It will be a tough game, so we need to make sure we are all ready.

Any particular part of your game you have improved upon?

I think everyone has improved in all the positions. From defence to midfield to offence, we can see that we are improving. We have scored more goals than the first half of the season. We are also conceding less and creating more chances. So, that is very positive. We have to keep going like that.

How would you contain the likes of Marcelinho and Emiliano Alfaro?

We played very well against FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC, and they are also good offensive teams. We made a few mistakes, but we showed that we can beat any team. And that is the same for anyone in this league. So, there is no real tactic to stop two players like this. We have to just play our football, be confident and score some goals and defend.