Still unbeaten in the Hero Indian Super League (Hero ISL) 2019-20, NorthEast United FC will face off against newcomers Hyderabad FC at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday. NorthEast currently have five points from three outings and will be eager to add to their points tally.

It may, however, turn out to be a tricky away fixture for the Highlanders, with Hyderabad registering their first win in the Hero ISL against Kerala Blasters FC in their last outing at home. NorthEast head coach Robert Jarni, at the pre-match press conference, acknowledged the fact and stated, “We have seen Hyderabad’s games. You never know how they will play and they can surprise you. They won the last match and will be confident. We will need to be prepared. They were outplayed by Kerala but somehow managed to find two goals and win the match.”

“As for us, we are still unbeaten and have played some big teams in the league. We are confident. It’s going to be a tough match. We’ll try to win every game and the objective will be the same. Our team is a young squad. They need experience and you have to earn it by playing matches. Hopefully we can learn quick and improve our performance to win more games,” he added.

NorthEast managed to hold last season’s champions Bengaluru FC to a goalless draw in their first match of the season and followed it up with a win against Odisha FC at home, before holding last season’s runners up FC Goa to a 2-2 draw in Guwahati. Asked if managing to hold off two strong teams like Bengaluru and Goa will boost the confidence of his side, the Croatian opined, “People say they (Bengaluru and Goa) are the strongest teams in the league. We played very well against these two, and any of the teams could have won these games. It’s good for us because it gives you confidence when you do well against big teams. Every game is different and very difficult to win. We still have room to improve.”

Defender Kai Heerings needed to be taken off in NorthEast’s last match against Goa with what seemed like an injury. Providing an update on the centre back, Jarni revealed, “As far as we know now, Kai will be fine for the game.”

Goalkeeper Subhasish Roy, who was also present at the briefing, was then asked about the few defensive mistakes the team made against Goa. “Mistakes happen. When we win, we win as a team and when we lose, we lose as a team. We have tried to learn from our mistakes and will try not to repeat them in the next match,” the custodian responded.

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