Interview with FC Pune City's Nikhil Poojary: "My Goal is to Make India's Asian Cup Squad"

“The 45-day camp with the Indian team before the SAFF Cup has been of huge help to my game,” beamed Nikhil Poojary, who is preparing for his first ISL season with FC Pune City, having made the move there from I-League side East Bengal.

Poojary doesn’t believe that there is a big difference between the I-League and the ISL. “Obviously, things are a little more professional when it comes to the handling of the ISL teams.

"But on the pitch, there is no difference. We all want to play good football at the end of the day,” he said.

Poojary was part of the Indian squad that lost 2-0 to Maldives in the SAFF Cup Final, but he doesn’t believe the final had an adverse impact on the squad, instead choosing to focus on the positives.

The winger said that for a young Indian squad like the one which was chosen for the tournament, the 45-day preparatory camp was a massive boost to everybody in terms of their fitness and their overall game.

He also said that coach Stephen Constantine was an immense help to all of the players. “He is not someone who gets annoyed or criticises players after a single performance, but a coach who looks at overall processes.

“Even after the final which didn’t go our way, he didn’t blame anyone," he continued. "In fact, he proceeded to say that maybe he was the one at fault for not preparing the team well enough to win that game.”

He also mentioned the influence of skipper Sunil Chhetri across the Indian age-group teams. The young man said even though Chhetri is the legend that he is, he ensures he’s accessible to all youngsters and makes it a point to attend the junior teams’ camps, where he interacts with the players.

The 23-year-old is full of confidence heading into the ISL, though. He has his eyes firmly set on being a part of the 23-man Indian squad that travels to the UAE for the AFC Asian Cup in January 2019, and he says the work towards that has already begun and will continue.

“I don’t have high goals for the ISL season," he said. "I want to play as many games as I possibly can, and keep improving. I want to go to the Asian Cup but, for now, the goal is to make the squad for the friendly against China, and I’ll take it from there.”

The young winger is also confident that he can hit the ground running at his new club. He said that his good friend Nandhakumar Sekar had told him about Pune City’s new coach Miguel Angel Portugal when they were together at the India camp.

Poojary said he tried to absorb as much as possible from Nandhakumar on Portugal’s style of play and his philosophy. Having only joined the Pune camp a week ago, after finishing national duty, Poojary said he was getting into the scheme of things, and has already chatted with Portugal about his role.

“He told me he liked my style of play, but now because I joined late, I’m going to have to work extra hard to get used to his system before the first game against Delhi,” he said.

About his time at East Bengal, Poojary said it was a unique club in every way. “The fans want you to win every game, the board wants you to win every game... Good players are made if they thrive in that pressure at East Bengal. The club made me a better player for sure,” he quipped.

Poojary also said that he’s looking forward to spending time with senior players such as Robin Singh and Adil Khan, in addition to seasoned professionals like Marcelinho and Emiliano Alfaro.

“Ultimately, I want to become a better footballer every day. I keep talking with Robin, Marcelinho and Alfaro and keep looking for ways to improve my game. And they have been extremely helpful too,” he opined.

There is only one way for Nikhil Poojary’s career graph to head now, and that is upwards. In the upcoming ISL season, he would want to push his case to fulfil one of his cherished short-term goals - to represent India at the AFC Asian Cup in the UAE.