King's Cup, Bhutan: Pune FC face Bhutan's Ugyen Academy in Round 2
Pune FC go into the game having logged a morale-boosting 2-1 win over MMC, Nepal in the opener, which incidentally was also the Club’s first ever overseas win.
However, facing the Ugyen Academy team will not be easy as they too will be high on confidence after a stunning 1-0 win over Bangladesh’s Abahani Limited on Tuesday.
Ugyen, one of the six teams in Bhutan’s top-level football league, is made up majorly of young local players. Despite that, Ugyen put on a great show and made Abahani Ltd. pay for sloppy errors, something Pune FC will need to avoid on matchday.
Coach Karim Bencherifa expects a similar performance from Ugyen against Pune FC and wants his team to be at their best against a young group after the opening round win.
“It is good to begin with a win, but we should not get carried away. Ugyen is one of the best Bhutan teams in the competition. They are a young energetic bunch of players who have good coordination between them and we have to be ready,” said Coach Bencherifa after a training session at the Chanjiji Stadium.
He further added, “We do have minor injuries to deal with, but we will put out a strong eleven. We are confident and will go for three points against Ugyen.”
Ugyen, which hails from the Punakha region, has been one of the best performing sides in the league. Having finished third in the 2012 season, Ugyen improved a lot and went on to win the national league in the 2013 season before representing Bhutan in the AFC President’s Cup in Sri Lanka earlier this year.
Furthermore, in the 2014 season they finished second in the league behind eventual champions Druk United only due to goal difference despite having equal points.
On the other hand, Pune FC will once again have to deal with the cold conditions in Thimphu going into the game. But, with the match scheduled a couple hours earlier than the previous one, the conditions might be slightly better.
Nonetheless, Pune FC have been training regularly to get accustomed to the chilling conditions and having improved a lot in the past week, the Durand Cup finalists will be ready to fire on matchday.
On the team news front, Pune FC do have a few players on the missing list which include Luciano Sabrosa (injury) and Velington Rocha (fever). However, Coach Bencherifa expects everyone in the team to step up in the absence of those injured.
Meanwhile, striker Thongkhosiem Haokip, who was stretchered out in the previous game, is fit and will give Coach Bencherifa another option upfront.
The game which will be played under floodlights kicks off at 5.00 PM local time (4.30 PM IST) on Thursday.
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