FC Pune City head coach Franco Colomba is not treating tomorrow’s game in the Hero Indian Super League as a final, unlike his counterpart at Chennaiyin FC, Marco Materazzi. He is however giving the match the same importance that he has given his earlier fixtures even though the winner tomorrow can displace league leaders Atlético de Kolkata from the top of the table.“It will be a good match, not a final though,” quipped the Italian gaffer at the pre-match press conference this evening.Chennaiyin are known to play fast attacking football, and Colomba is cautiously optimistic about the challenge and hopes the match serves up a good spectacle for the fans. “Chennaiyin have strength and quality, and they are fast. They have quality in players like Elano, experience in players like Materazzi and others. But we don’t look at players, we look at teams, and tomorrow, it’s Pune versus Chennai,” he emphasised.Colomba thinks his team has improved with time and are playing much better than they were at the start of the tournament. “We have a system now, I feel. It’s not the same always, but there is a pattern now. All the matches are difficult and there’s still a lot of room for improvement. I am happy though,” he said.With Pune going on the road again after tomorrow’s encounter, winning at home is vital to their campaign. “The competition is strenuous and difficult, with the way the fixtures are placed, but I wish to keep winning in Pune, it is important,” Colomba stressed.Colomba has a major injury worry in John Goossens who is expected to face a long lay-off, but the arrival of Englishman Jermaine Pennant will compensate for the loss. “Any good player in welcome in my side, and Pennant is a good player,” remarked Colomba, on his new signing.The former Arsenal and Liverpool winger who was present at the press conference, explained why he chose India and FC Pune City as the current destination on his footballing journey. “Football is getting better in India every day. You can see it from the matches, because when a new league is usually formed, it takes a while to get up to speed. But here, it has been very competitive from the beginning. Everybody wants to win,” Pennant, who had watched his team beat league leaders Atlético de Kolkata from the bench a few days ago, acknowledged.Pennant is not sure of starting tomorrow, but when asked what he’d bring to the Pune side, replied, “Creativity, hopefully, and of lot of supply to the big players in the squad who play upfront, like (David) Trezeguet and Dudu (Omagbemi).”
