ISL 2023-24: Odisha FC are one of the best teams in the ISL – Ivan Vukomanovic

Kerala Blasters FC head coach Ivan Vukomanovic admitted that Odisha FC are one of the best teams in the Indian Super League before their playoff clash against the Kalinga Warriors at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneshwar on Friday.

Both teams will battle it out for a place in the semifinals with Mumbai City FC and League Shield champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant already into the last four.

When these two teams met earlier in the season in the league stage, they won one match each by 2-1. While Odisha FC finished at fourth place in the ISL standings, the Kerala Blasters took the fifth position in the points table.

The Serbian manager revealed that Adrian Luna has recovered from injury and he is expected to play the must-win game.

“He has (Luna) arrived so we can expect to see him tomorrow (on Friday) playing,” stated Vukomanovic in the pre-match press conference.

He continued, “We have to take in some considerations, when you are coming back after four and a half, five months and especially seeing the circumstances, the weather conditions and everything where you need three water breaks in one half, you know, in these (humid) conditions. So it’s obvious that he cannot play 90 minutes. But we will see how many minutes he will be available to play depending on circumstances, whatever it is. But probably we’ll see him tomorrow on the pitch after so long, with pleasure.”

Vukomanovic revealed they were forced to make a lot of changes to their squad composition throughout the season because of injury woes.

“During the season, we changed the whole team, which was caused by issues, by surgeries and actually, many things that we couldn’t control. So you have to deal with that now in the playoffs after the season, it’s completely different. Everything is different. The mindset and everything,” he shared.

He added, “Whoever goes on the pitch, give everything you have, give 100%. Fight for every ball, fight for every duel. At the end, it’s like being without regret that at the end, you say ‘I gave everything’.”

Assessing their upcoming opponents, Vukomanovic said: “(They are) one of the best teams in the league. I think that it was the team who was the most consistent throughout the whole season, without, let’s say, dangerous injuries. They were one of the teams who were consistent with the full squad of foreigners throughout the whole year.”