Kalinga Super Cup: Confident Punjab face Goa for a spot in semis

Bhubaneshwar, April 25 (IANS) Punjab FC riding on their dominant victory against Odisha FC, will face FC Goa for a spot in the semi-finals when they face each other in the second quarterfinal of the Kalinga Super Cup which will be played on Saturday here at the Kalinga Stadium.

Punjab FC eased past Odisha FC 3-0 while FC Goa also got the better of I-League side Gokulam Kerala FC by the same scoreline for a spot in the quarterfinals. The match is scheduled to kick off at 8 pm.

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 for Punjab’s defence.

Speaking ahead of the game head coach, Panagiotis Dilmperis said, “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.”

Asked about the squad and the injury concerns, Dilmperis said, “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.”

FC Goa did the double over Punjab FC in the Indian Super League season winning 2-1 in Goa and 0-1 in New Delhi. Punjab will look to snap that record and get the better of their opponents and book their sport in the semi-finals.

“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 Punjab FC youngster Muhammad Suhail F.

With an Asian ticket as the ultimate prize, Punjab FC will look to put their best foot forward and secure a positive result against Manolo Marquez’s side.

--IANS

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