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Just around a month to go for the start of a brand new Indian Super League season and the Nawabs are making big strides to full fitness before our first game against Chennaiyin FC late November.
Brazilian midfielder Joao Victor is one of many players impressing in the pre-season in Goa. The 32-year-old signed a two-year contract extension a few months ago and is already more familiar with the language, the culture, the weather, the food and the people in the country.
“I am really happy to be back in India. The last season was good but what was important was that we created a very good group with an amazing relationship between us,” said Joao Victor.
Though it was one of the perks of staying in a bio-bubble, staying away from your loved ones for a stretch of six months is never easy. Especially for people like Joao Victor who is a “Family Guy”.
“To be far away from family again is really hard,” said the midfielder. “Everything I do, I like to do with my wife and my kids and it is not easy to leave them. But to be back with the same group, your second family, makes it a bit easier,” he added.
Joao Victor, along with Joel Chianese, the two overseas players entering into their second season with Hyderabad FC, will be playing with a few new faces and the No.8 is excited to get started.
“We have four new foreign players but three of them are very well known to the league. They are winners, have won in India before and now we all want to do it together. If we all can play to our strengths like last season, we can achieve everything we want,” said Joao Victor.
Hyderabad FC also added the likes of Aniket Jadhav, Abdul Rabeeh, Aaren D’Silva and Pritam Soraisam to the first team. Mark Zothanpuia and Ishan Dey have also made their mark in the pre-season.
And even to these new names, Joao is already a mate. A leader but more importantly an accomplice in anything you want to do, with a personality that rubs off on you. This really helps new players settle in and want to improve in every training session.
“We can see the potential of the young Indian players and I hope that the experience in the rest of the squad helps them improve, feel comfortable and give their best for the team,” Joao added.
Manolo Marquez’s side have played and won four pre-season friendlies (4-1 vs Kenkre FC, 4-2 vs Salgaocar FC, 2-1 vs Churchill Brothers and 2-1 vs Gokulam Kerala) so far with Joao Victor leading the team and he believes that it is important to have a long pre-season.
“Of course we would have liked to spend more time with the family but we understand that a long pre-season is really important, especially after most of us have had a long off-season,” Joao Victor said.
Even with more than a month left for our 2021-22 ISL campaign to kick off, Joao Victor is really excited and cannot get started.
“I’m blessed because I have the opportunities to play football. When I talk to my wife about my career, I always say that when I stop feeling the excitement to start a season or to play a game, I will understand that it is time to stop playing football. But I’m very far from that. Every training session, every match, and every moment I spend in the dressing room and on the pitch with my teammates and all the staff, it makes me feel really happy and renews my will to continue playing for lots of years more,” said Joao Victor.
