Under-pressure Habas Targets Full Points Against Delhi

PUNE:
Except for leaders Delhi Dynamos, no team can take their qualification to the semi-finals of Hero Indian Super League for granted, feels FC Pune City coach Antonio Habas.
Habas won the inaugural Indian Super League with Atletico de Kolkata and led the team to semi-finals last year, losing to eventual champions Chennaiyin FC. He is now with FC Pune City and surely knows what it takes to qualify for the play-offs as he prepares for Delhi Dynamos in an important clash at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex Stadium, Balewadi-Pune, on Friday.
FC Pune City are placed sixth with 12 points from 10 matches and will need full points against the league leaders to stay alive.
“We are on the hunt for a win. This league is very tough and all teams are in a similar situation. We are ready to grab these three points,” said Habas during the pre-match media interaction.
Pune City were flying high after victories over Atletico de Kolkata and Mumbai City FC but they were grounded by Chennaiyin FC who scripted a comfortable 2-0 victory in their last clash. Habas admitted losing all points was a setback but all is still not lost for his team.
“All teams, except Delhi, are close (to eac
h other on the table). The teams who play better and score goals will be the ones who make less mistakes. If you look at the points table, it’s all about plus or minus two points difference. Now it’s all about minimising mistakes,” said the Spanish coach who will be under pressure to deliver.
There is no doubt Delhi Dynamos are among the best teams on view in the league but that is not enough for coach Gianluca Zambrotta. He has continued to stress on the fact that his team has not yet achieved their primary target of qualification and that could come as early as Friday if they manage to win against FC Pune City.
“At the moment we are in a good position but we are (still) a long way off from the play-offs. It’s a strong league. The next four matches will not be easy. We have to take match by match. Right now our focus is only on this match against Pune,” said the Italian World Cup winner.
Delhi Dynamos did extremely well to snatch a point against Atletico de Kolkata after an exciting 2-2 draw, achieved despite having a player sent off in the first session. Zambrotta will miss Milan Singh who scored a screamer against ATK but picked up a booking, his fourth of the league, which automatically suspends him for one match.
“I know Pune lost the last match (against Chennaiyin) but they have won two successive games against Kolkata and Mumbai. They are a difficult team and have good quality players,” said Zambrotta.