No game comes at as important a juncture in the season for Hyderabad FC as their clash against NorthEast United FC in the Indian Super League in their trip to Guwahati on Sunday. The Yellow and Blacks were given a bolt from the blue midweek when two of their foreign acquisitions, Felipe Amorim and Oswaldo Alanis, left the club in the middle of the season. While Amorim terminated his contract with his club, centre-back Alanis ended his career and moved out of India. There have been distractions aplenty for the Nawabs off the field, but how they manage to channel that anger into something productive on the pitch will differentiate them from their opponents. Head coach Thangboi Singto was optimistic when he addressed the media ahead of the game. “That’s what the management desires. And I think at Hyderabad FC, as many know, if you’re talented enough, you have a very, very good chance to play and do well for yourself and for the team,” he added. “So overall, I know it’s going to be a tough game because not mentioning the last game NorthEast United FC had, but they are much above us at the moment. So, it’s catching up, not only NorthEast United FC, but as a club, as a team, we need to start winning games and that’s our aim,” Singto elaborated. Singto, who hails from northeast India, knows that it will not be easy for the Nawabs by any means at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium on Sunday. The Highlanders, despite having been creamed 0-5 by East Bengal in their previous game, are known to perform well in their lair backed by their vociferous supporters. Hyderabad, for their part, have had a horrendous start to the season and are ranked in the last position of the league table at the moment with a mere three points to their name. “It’s good to be back in the northeast- I belong to the northeast. But, at the moment we are here for this match and we really are up for this game because, sooner or later, we have to make a change in terms of winning a game,” he said during the pre-match press conference. “It has been really tough. But the only thing, like I said we can do, is keep working hard. Forget about the past, because the past is the past. We have had a legacy, which is very difficult to continue by any other coach or any other club at the moment. But, we can continue. We have to continue,” he added. “We would like to bring back a little bit of joy to everyone around, the fans, especially, who have always been there and of course, the players themselves. We need that little bit of lady luck, I would say. And hopefully Sunday is a new day and we can get a win,” shared the 49-year-old.
Hyderabad FC: A Hub for Nurturing Young Talent
