NorthEast United FC’s new head coach Floyd Pinto hailed the collective team effort after the Highlanders made it to the semifinal of the recently concluded Hero Super Cup 2023. The club had a dreadful run in the Hero ISL 2022-23 season as they finished as the cellar-dwellers of the tournament with a solitary win in 20 matches.
However, after taking over the coaching reins from Italian head coach Vincenzo Annese, Pinto was able to turn the tables in the Hero Super Cup. In fact, Northeast United were drawn in Group D alongside Hero ISL Shield winners Mumbai City FC, two-time Hero ISL champions Chennaiyin FC, and Hero I-League side Churchill Brothers FC in the Super Cup.
Ergo, not many people were betting on them in the tournament. After suffering a 4-2 defeat against the Marina Machans, the Highlanders bounced back in style to stun Mumbai City FC by 2-1. Pinto’s team then thrashed Churchill Brothers by 6-3 in their final league stage match to make their way into the semifinals.
However, they lost to eventual champions Odisha FC by 3-1 in the semifinal contest.
“It was just a month’s training. I learned a lot from my previous experiences with Kenkre FC, AIFF, and RoundGlass Punjab FC. One thing I was sure of is what I wanted to do as a coach in terms of the preparations, how I wanted to train, how we wanted to approach games, and the standards we wanted to set as far as fitness and tactical levels were concerned,” Pinto said in an interview with Sportskeeda.
Pinto admitted that the team was lacking fire in their 4-2 loss in the opening game against Chennaiyin FC but they were able to bounce back stronger after that defeat.
“The Chennaiyin FC game was a by-product of the team not playing competitive games for a while. Chennaiyin FC also played a couple of friendlies, so that affects your mentality when you go into competitive matches. I felt that was lacking in the first game. But it’s the basics. If you need to score goals and restrict chances, you need to be good in both boxes,” the head coach elaborated.
Pinto has certainly done a good job and he will look to keep up the good show to get the best out of his players.
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