John warns Atletico of NEUFC slugfest

SHILLONG, OCT 15: After the nail biting win over Kerala Blasters in the second match of the Indian Super League played in home ground Indira Gandhi stadium in Guwahati, North East United FC’s (NEUFC) co-owner John Abraham promises that his team’s next outing against Atletico de Kolkata will see his players fighting like no one has ever seen to defeat  Saurav Ganguly team, who outclassed its rival in the first match of the ISL in Kolkata.

During a media conference in Shillong on Wednesday, the Bollywood  actor and co owner of NEUFC John Abraham said his team will put up a fight ‘like no one has ever seen’ against Atletico de Kolkata.

A great football enthusiast in the country,  Abraham  did admitted that his team rival Atletico de Kolkata in the   next ISL match is tough as it outclassed  and beat the Mumbai FC at the inaugural match by 3- 0 goals.

However, like his Bollywood persona, John Abraham  is not exactly  quivering over the upcoming clash with the Kolkata based team  as he said that though Atletico de Kolkata is a tough side but he has a young team and will put all their heart in the match to clinch the second victory.

Abraham said, “We will put up a fight like no one has ever seen.”

NE United FC pulled off a hard fought 1-0 victory against Kerela Blasters in a packed Indira Gandhi Stadium in Guwahati even as the latter were much better in the game statistically.

Referring to his young players, Abraham said,  “They are a bunch of warriors out there and would give Atletico de Kolkata a tough fight.”

As for the composition of the NE United FC, Abraham said NE United FC is the only team in the ISL where the domestic players are drawn exclusively from the region where the team represents – Meghalaya, Assam and the other six north eastern states.

Speaking about the north east region, Abraham said the passion for football in the region is ‘unmatched’ and as if to make a point informedthat his team co-owner and Shillong Lajong’s MD Larsing M Sawyan was a football player himself.

Abraham also informed about the plans to take the ISL to Shillong, Imphal and Aizawl besides other state capitals in the north east in the coming editions of the ISL.

Abraham also felt that the involvement of Bollywood superstars and cricket players as team owners is also important to draw eyeballs initially to football.

However, Abraham said, football is a sport of purist and domestic heroes should be crowd pullers. “As a team owner, my job is to build these domestic heroes,” he said tossing out of window views that the ISL would turn out to be a show of vanity.- By Our Reporter