Bhubaneswar: The Kalinga Warriors will look to build on their recent momentum as they travel to Kolkata to face Sreebhumi FC at the Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay Stadium, Barrackpore on Saturday.
After a rocky start to the season, Odisha FC found their rhythm with a convincing 2-0 win over Nita FA at the Kalinga Stadium, showing signs of a strong comeback. Currently sitting in 4th place on the league table with 7 points, they’ll aim to continue their climb up the standings.
On the other hand, Sreebhumi FC, making their debut in the Indian Super League, comes into the fixture on the back of their first win of the season a 2-0 victory over Kickstart FC. With 3 points, they sit in 6th place.
Ahead of the match, Odisha FC’s head coach, Crispin Chettri, and player Lynda Kom addressed the media during their pre-match press conference.
When asked about preparations for the Sreebhumi FC match and possible changes to the starting XI, Coach Crispin said, “There might be some changes, yes. We have one more training session before the match, and we’re focusing on the fitness of players who had some injury concerns in the last game. It's not a major issue, but we have to assess it closely. There may be two or three changes, or we might stick with the same starting XI.”
When questioned about relying too much on individual brilliance and the team’s defensive approach this season, Coach Chettri responded, “To some extent, yes. Compared to last year, all the clubs have a lot of new players this season, you can say youth players and it takes time to gel as a team. We’re slowly getting there, but it’s a work in progress. We’re not always playing defensively. Every match is different, and sometimes we need to focus on defense, especially with back-to-back away matches like the ones we had against Gokulam and Hops. But if you look at the second half of those games, we regained our rhythm and played better.”
On the subject of her standout performance in the previous match, Lynda Kom was asked if she intended to pass or shoot when scoring her fantastic goal, and about her goalscoring form this season, “Last goal, I was thinking of attracting the defender and passing the ball to my teammate. But when I saw she was moving to the right side, I decided to take the shot myself. As a striker, my job is to score goals and help the team win. I’ll definitely try to perform better this season than I did last year, and hopefully break my own record.”
