AFC Cup: Pune FC coach Mike Snoei eyeing knockout berth

Pune FC coach Mike Snoei praised his team’s second half display as they came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 away at Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC in a AFC Cup Group H encounter on Wednesday.

“We chose to press, it’s ok. It is little like the Dutch style of football, to press on the opponent. We are already two goals down, so you have to risk. Its big risk of they going 3-0 up, but then if we can score a goal, they will get nervous and that is exactly what happened.

“It was two fantastic goals scored by us. Of course, they too got a few fantastic chances at the end, but our goalkeeper (Amrinder Singh) saved them. Then again, we also had a fantastic chance of going 3-2 up, but yeah it was a perfect second half and hopefully the players get more confidence from out of this,” Snoei was quoted saying in Pune’s official website.

This was Pune’s first-ever match outside India and they had difficulties in the first half with Kitchee racing to a two-goal advantage.

“The first 45 minutes was completely Kitchee’s. We had big, big problems with the field. Even though the field was fantastic, the wet pitch for many Indian players’ is a problem because it is always dry where we play football. So they had to adapt and that was too slow.

“I must also say the other team played very well, especially the combo with the central defender Fernando Recio, the one who played on mid field, had a fantastic combination with No. 10 (Lam Ka Wai) and No. 6 (Gao Wen), and their striker Juan Belencoso, he had a fantastic strike. So we had to do something after the first 45 minutes and we made some changes,” the Dutchman said.

The introduction of Australian striker Mirjan Pavlovic certainly improved Pune’s performance after the interval but Snoei defended his decision of not starting with the big centre-forward.

“Pavlovic just joined the team. He is not in the right fitness yet for playing 90 minutes, so I chose to start with Riga and you can always bring him in. He is strong. He has a nose for scoring goals but I also know he can only do pressing for 45 minutes. His level of fitness must improve… we are working on that. Yes, he is getting better and better. Second half he showed he can be an improvement for us,” he said.

After two draws from as many games, Pune are third in the group but they remain in contention for a place in the round of 16 and to achieve that target, Snoei believes a win would be needed next up against Singapore’s Tampines Rovers.

“We just want to end in this group stage with a top-two finish. So, we really want to win the game in Singapore because we dropped points at home. We know the result that Kitchee got against them. We want to win and hopefully the boys can manage it,” he concluded.