Habas Exudes confidence

"I am happy with the progress each player has made and hope the pre-season in Spain will help the footballers interact with each other and jell as a unit," Habas said.

Atletico de Kolkata coach Antonio Habas (left) with the co-owner of the team, Sourav Ganguly. Habas is happy with his team's preparations and is confident of defending the ISL title.

Antonio Habas, the head coach of Atletico de Kolkata, made sure that the team got the best pre-season preparation and for that he took the team to Segovia, in the province of Los Angeles de San Rafael, Spain. The high altitude facility was arranged by the franchise’s Spanish patron, the La Liga giant Atletico Madrid, and gave the players the chance to get conditioned with the best resources available with the top European club. “We want to play as a protagonist team and not as an antagonist team,” Habas said, meaning that ATK’s approach would be more attack-oriented and that the team would shun a defensive approach.

“We aimed to build a competitive team and I would appreciate the fantastic behaviour, attitude and fitness shown by the Indian players. With our international players showing good fitness and coordination, this is the best combination I can think of,” Habas, the former manager of the Bolivian national side, said.

The coach’s confidence stemmed from a good pre-season build-up. The team’s marquee player Helder Postiga scored a hat-trick, while Iain Hume struck twice as Atlético de Kolkata won its first friendly match 9-0 against the Gimnástica Segoviana CF U-19 team. “I am happy with the progress each player has made and hope the pre-season in Spain will help the footballers interact with each other and jell as a unit,” Habas said.