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Having won the I-League title with a match to spare, RoundGlass Punjab FC have the chance to enthral their fans one last time with their skills on Sunday, March 12 as they take on Tiddim Road Athletic Union (TRAU) FC at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium at 7pm IST.
TRAU have secured a top-four finish for only the second time in their I-League history, but will have a chance to move up to third with a win should Gokulam Kerala lose to Sreenidi Deccan in the earlier kick-off. Sunday’s match will be a good chance for coach Leimapokpam Nandakumar Singh to test his strategy and the ability of his boys against a strong team like RoundGlass Punjab, ahead of the Super Cup qualifiers next month.
Staikos Vergetis’s men would like to avenge the 2-0 defeat in Imphal, when these two teams met earlier this season in December. If TRAU manage to stop them, they will have the rare honour of being a team the I-League champions could not beat. But RoundGlass Punjab are in no mood to let one go.
“We would like to remain unbeaten at home,” Vergetis said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday. “However, some players are really tired and I’d want to give chances to some who have not played much.”
Nandakumar said, “I’m happy with our position on the table and I congratulate RoundGlass Punjab for their title victory. It’ll be good for us to play a team of that calibre.”
However, he said the win in the reverse fixture is unlikely to have a bearing on Sunday’s tie. “In Imphal, they missed some good players because of injuries, and they’ve also improved a lot since then. We’re also going to miss some players because of suspensions.”
The match will be telecast live on Eurosport, DD Sports and Discovery Plus OTT platform from 7pm.
