Indian Super League: Clean Sheet Is Important ‘Mentally’, Says Atletico de

A Sameehg Doutie brace helped Atletico de Kolkata move atop the Indian Super League table with comfortable 4-0 defeat of FC Goa on Sunday.

“FC Goa wanted to practice at the same time as ATK at the Bidhan Nagar Municipal Ground and since their request came yesterday (Friday) night, ATK immediately made arrangements for the away team to practice at the Mohan Bagan Ground. Keeping a clean-sheet is very important for our mentality”, he mentioned. We were a bit nervous. But Habas said ATK were not at all anxious with that result before the match.

Zico’s boys have remained unbeaten in the last four matches, while the host has also not suffered a loss in the last three matches since the start of the second phase of the league. “I am not going to talk about play-offs”. But FC Goa discovered to their horror that they will have to take the field without having a feel of the turf.FC Goa will instead train at the Mohun Bagan ground on Saturday.ATK have also not been allowed to train at the stadium on Saturday but the hosts have already played four matches at the venue and have, by now, got accustomed to the turf. “No, it’s about good team work and good team spirit”. We have a fantastic squad. All 26 players are very important. Now we have the next game against Pune City.

But what gives Zico’s boys the mental advantage may well be the big win in the previous round, which fetched it a bagful of records – seven to be precise – making it the most remarkable match of in the history of the tournament.

Goa are presently the league leaders with 18 points from 10 outings, Atletico are third on the leaderboard, gleaning 17 points from 11 games. “I just want to focus on the next game against Pune and try to win”. “But on Sunday, it was a show of complete dominance”. Maybe the first 15 minutes, the team was nervous. In football, there can always be results that are surprising. “But today, they (ATK) were the better team”. “But if you are in Goa it isn’t like that, we respect our opponents and even if we don’t train at the pitch in Fatorda we let our rivals train”, Zico had said via his interpreter in the pre-match media conference.

Spaniard Antonio Habas has a clear edge over Zico, enjoying an unbeaten record in the last five meetings of the two sides. Our team didn’t react well after those goals.