We have to grab chances against NE United: Garcia

Atletico De Kolkata’s marquee player and captain Luis Garcia is optimistic that the Indian Super League will help improve the quality of the sport in the country.

After eight matches, Kolkata are on top of the standings with 13 points. Garcia believes that his side have the right mix of players, the reason behind their decent stint in the league. Kolkata are now on a four- match winless streak and the Liverpool star said his team will have to take their chances against NorthEast United on Tuesday. Excerpts: Q) Most people rate Atletico De Kolkata as one of the best teams in the ISL - what are the reasons for this? A) I think a team being prepared for the first time has many reasons behind it being successful. I think our team has a great combination of some excellent foreign players like the Ethiopian Fikru Teferra, Jose Miguel, Arnal Llibert and myself. From the Indian side we have a healthy mix in Baljit Sahni, Mohammed Rafi and Arnab Mondal among others. Q) Your match against NorthEast United is being called the clash of the eastern giants. What result are you expecting from this game? A) NorthEast United have some very exciting players like Koke and James Keene upfront, and of course Joan Capdevila leading a very strong defence and Kondwani playing exceedingly well in the midfield. Our team will have to simply take their chances that come our way in order to get a victory. It is too tight for me to predict. Q) According to you, which are the four most likely teams to qualify for the semi- finals? A) This is the most difficult question for anyone to answer. You look at the results of games and except for a few matches all results have been very close. Just when everyone may have been thinking Goa vs Kerala featured teams in the lower half, they both came up with great wins against Delhi Dynamos and Kerala jumped from sixth to third spot. We were feeling confident and were surprised by Pune FC in a home match. Keeping all this in mind, I can only hope that Kolkata could be one of the four teams to reach the semis.