Semifinal spot at stake, confident Punjab face formidable Goa

BHUBANESWAR, April 25: Confident after a dominant victory in the previous outing, Punjab FC would hope to keep the momentum and snap their losing streak against formidable FC Goa when the two sides clash in the Super Cup quarterfinals here Saturday.
Punjab eased past Odisha FC 3-0 while FC Goa got the better of I-League side Gokulam Kerala FC by the same scoreline to book their last-eight berths.
The Shers put in a dominant display in the Round of 16 against the home side with Asmir Suljic, Ezequiel Vidal and Nihal Sudeesh scoring the goals. Iker Guarrotxena scored a hat-trick for the Goan side and will be the main threat to Punjab’s defence.
“We took our chances against Odisha and converted them. Odisha created a lot of chances against us, which would be the most by any team against us in the season and I would like that to be not repeated tomorrow against Goa,” Punjab head coach Panagiotis Dilmperis said in a release.
The coach is confident that he will have the players of his choice on the pitch.
“We had some players who did not feature in the first match, including Luka Majcen and Filip Mrzljak. They have trained ahead of the quarterfinals and we hope to have a full squad for tomorrow’s match,” he said.
FC Goa did the double over Punjab FC in the Indian Super League season winning 2-1 in Goa and 1-0 in New Delhi.
Punjab will look to snap that record and get the better of their opponents and book their sport in the semifinals.
“We played well against Goa in both the matches but could not get the desired results. We hope to keep playing like we did in the first game and get a win against them tomorrow,” said youngster Muhammad Suhail F.
With an Asian ticket as the ultimate prize, Punjab FC cannot afford to blink against Manolo Marquez’s side. (PTI)