NorthEast United FC head coach Nelo Vingada is eyeing a winning start to Hero Indian Super League 2016 as his side prepares to host Kerala Blasters FC at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday.The Highlanders finished last in 2014 and fifth in 2015 narrowly missing out on the semis but Vingada is hopeful of turning the tables this time around.“We play in our home our city tomorrow and we’ll play with determination to win and get full points. Our target is to reach the semis and reach the final and for that we need to win games, especially the first game,” the Portuguese made his intentions clear ahead of the game.“I hope tomorrow is a great day for India, maybe a new time, a new era…I hope the first game can be a great game to promote football. Quality football will bring more fans to the game. More fans means better reward for football,” he added.Vingada, however, refused to admit that the opening ceremony in Guwahati preceding the match would bring extra pressure. “No. Look, to be honest, with or without the ceremony, the pressure for me is the same. I hope the opening ceremony will be a fantastic one for everyone. But it doesn’t bring more pressure. For me the pressure begins at 7’o clock. For me and the players it’s the same,” he said.Last year while playing at home, NorthEast United FC lost to Kerala Blasters 4-1 and that’s what probably keeping Vingada on his toes as he refused to lay too much importance on the home advantage factor. “We made our preparations in Dubai, they [Kerala Blasters] made theirs in Thailand. I don’t think we have a great advantage other than the home advantage. It can be a small advantage tomorrow,” he said.Discussing the balance of his squad, Vingada cut a satisfied figure. “I tried to build the team with good balance between different sectors. So I don’t want to give any special attention to attack or defence. My concept of football is start building the team with strong organisation. Start from defence.“I am not saying we won’t be playing attacking football. We will attack or counter-attack according to the situation. In the forward line we have faster players. Everybody knows Nicolas Velez, Sasha Aneff is a real number 9, big and tall, so we have different players. In midfield, most of you know Yusa Kastumi, he is very fast with or without the ball. Didier Zokora is more pass and move. I honestly have good balance. The quality of Indian players is better than I expected, to be honest,” he said.“I tried to bring in some foreigner players. I tried more foreigners in the centre and more local players on the left and right. Right-back, Left-back, Right-Wing, Left-Wing, we have good options with Indian boys,” he added.
