As Viva Kerala is eying their second consecutive win at their home stadium, a former Viva Kerala player Othallo Tabia will try his best to stop Viva from scoring and to pave way for the victory of his current club Pune FC.
"It is interesting for me to play against Viva Kerala, as it is my former team. Also, their coach A M Sreedharan had coached me when I was in the Viva team,'' he said. However, he is keen in winning the match on Sunday and grabbing three decisive points for his team. "I am happy to be back in this city and play against my former team. My concentration will be to help my team win the game and secure a safe place in the League table,'' he said confidently.
"We are missing striker Jeje Lalpekhlua and left back F Lal Rozama as they are in the under 19 national camp. Also, the loss of Nigerian Chika Walli due to injury will be a major blow for us,'' he said.
But our strength lies in the midfield. With Djidjia Douhou Pierre and former Indian skipper Shanmugam Venkatesh we could bring out a good play, he pointed out. He explains that as a team they are all set and the team is peaking at the right time. "I have watched viva playing on television and I think they have also improved by adding several youngsters in the team. Actually, there are only three or four players that I have played along with in the 2006-07 season when I was there,'' he said.
A native of Thiruvananthapuram, he is keen to return back to Kerala but insists that there must be more professionalism here. "If there are good facilities, I am ready to return. The facilities here have to improve a lot,'' he said.
In Pune, we have two grounds, both turf, to train and we are allowed to train under floodlight also, he said. Also, the crowd there is very supportive. Though people over there are ardent followers of foreign leagues, they never forget to support their home team, he said.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 22 January 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.