Monday, July 27, 2015

Bengaluru FC kick off pre-season today

Bengaluru FC Media 

Bengaluru FC kick-started their pre-season program with a light training session at the Bangalore Football Stadium today. After a two-month break from a successful season Ashley Westwood’s boys began shedding turf rust as the gaffer said his team would look to slip into the routine. 

“It’s nice to see some fresh faces with the boys coming back in. We have done a lot of traveling to be back here so it’s just a case of familiarizing ourselves with the routine again,” said Westwood, speaking to the press after the session.

New signing and team’s Asian player Kim Seong-Yong will land in the city in another three days owing to delay in visa formalities. 

When asked whether the Blues would be adding to the armory with new signings, Westwood said he is keeping his options open. “We’ve left ourselves maybe three or four slots to fill. We are talking to somebody who’ll come in tomorrow or on Wednesday. That will be another starting XI contender. We’re in a bit of a different situation compared to some other sides, we’re looking at players who can come in and affect an AFC Cup game.”

On being asked if the Bengaluru FC players’ participation in the upcoming Indian Super League would take a toll on the club’s I-League preparations, Westwood thought otherwise. “We've had two years to prepare for the ISL. The elite players in the country are prepared to withstand a 40-50 game season. They're modeled on European players which is what our training techniques require. We played over 35 competitive games last year. We had a few friendlies as well, which makes it a 40 game season last season and we had almost no injuries. There are only 14 games in the ISL and 20 games in the I-League which leaves you on 34 games so they’ll be well prepared and it won't affect us.” 

The pre-season program that lasts a little less than a month could see BFC play a few friendlies. “We are in talks with an Indian academy side about playing a couple of friendlies in August. We’ve just got to make sure that any game we play will be a worthwhile experience,” said the gaffer.





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