CHENNAI: Chennaiyin FC's Dutch midfielder Nasser El Khayati was one of the few shining lights for the team in their lacklustre ISL campaign. But they have shrugged off the disappointment and are now ready to face the new challenges in the ongoing Super Cup, being held at Kozhikode and Manjeri. Nasser said the boys are eager to give their best and looking forward to having a great campaign in the Super Cup.
"We won some fantastic matches and played impressive football in the ISL. But yes, we should have won more matches and made it to the top four. Despite taking an early lead, we couldn't win matches against Mumbai City FC and Hyderabad FC... That probably dented our chances," the twinkle toed medio told TOI.
He believes that CFC will build on the positives in the Super Cup. "The Super Cup is going to be a fresh start for us. We have prepared well and winning both the friendly matches (against East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting) in the recent past came as a huge morale booster. The boys are ready to fire and we're confident of having a good campaign in the Super Cup," Nasser said.
CFC will start their campaign against Northeast United FC on April 11. The other teams in the group are Mumbai City FC and a qualifier (winner of Real Kashmir Vs) Churchill Brothers. CFC suffered in ISL by conceding late goals and Nasser feels that's an area they need to work on. The fact that they conceded 37 goals in the ISL - the highest by any team - went against them despite the fact that they were a freescoring side, netting 36.
"Scoring is important, but we can't afford to concede goals after taking the lead. We'll have to focus on that from the beginning," Nasser, who scored nine goals in 12 matches, added.
