THE BLOG BY CPD FOOTBALL | The World of Indian football and beyond by Chris Punnakkattu Daniel

Sporting Clube de Goa take on Bharat FC

Sporting Clube de Goa

Sporting Clube de Goa

Sporting Clube de Goa take on new entrants Bharat FC in Round 9 of the Hero I-League at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune on Wednesday. The kick off time is 19.00 IST.

This is the final round before the I-League club’s take a two week break to accommodate the national team’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers and so both teams would be looking to sign off on a high.

In their last match Bharat were defeated by Mumbai FC 0-2 and will be relieved to have the services of Vignesh Gunashekar and Dharmaraj Ravanan who come back from suspension.

Bharat’s New Zealand striker Kris Bright is in good form with three goals to his credit so far and with his height possesses an aerial threat.

Bharat can also count on goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya who has already picked up two Hero of the Match awards this season.

In their last game, the Flaming Oranje lost out 1-3 to Bengaluru FC. Sporting Goa coach Mathew D’Costa knows he has a talented squad at his disposal which has just started to find their form, but it is the killer instinct in front of goal which has been the biggest challenge.

In their last game, marquee player Anthony Wolfe netted his first I-League goal of the season and in the previous match against Pune, Goan striker Victorino Fernandes got off the mark and so the tide looks to be turning slowly in the right direction for the Flaming Oranje.

Bharat FC is currently tenth in the standings with five points from six games, while Sporting Goa is eleventh with three points from seven matches.