We are not going to take any team lightly- Balwant Singh

The striker talks about being an impact sub, his expectations from the Intercontinental Cup and scoring goals.

In the Tri-Nations series last year, India had a new trailblazing striker in the form of Balwant Singh who showed great mettle and outshone the national team's regulars. This time around after a 15-goal season for the Mumbai franchise of the Indian Super League, Mumbai City, the forward spoke to the media gathered at the JW Marriott, Mumbai on the eve of the Intercontinental Cup.

He elaborated on his aim for the tournament saying, “As a striker, my only aim is to score as many goals as possible and help my team do its best. As a striker, I haven't set any personal goals. The more you do, the lesser it is.”

As the Intercontinental Cup is being played at Mumbai City’s fortress the Mumbai Football Arena, the striker expressed his happiness saying, “Playing in Mumbai has always been great. We have played before too and have got good support here. We will expect the same this time too.”

Speaking about the driving factor for him in the national camp he said, “As a player, if we take the competitions with pressure and not as motivation, it decreases the level of performance. There's competition at club level and at the national level and the best part of it is it makes us improve each day.”

Not downplaying his opponents seems to be a priority for Balwant as he went on to stress, “I won't point out a single team, all three teams are very strong opposition and we are not going to take any of them lightly. We will have to give our best.”

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He also went on to elaborate on how he keeps his head down and always goes on performing for his teams, “There have been no changes in attitude from my side. Even when I was scoring during the ISL and when I wasn't, the attitude didn't change. I have always tried to score as many as possible.”

He also added, “I think nobody wants to be a substitute, everyone wants to start. If the coach thinks I can play on the wings, I have no issues with it.”

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But he seems to be upbeat about the challenges ahead as he said, “Yes, there will be a lot of challenges. Some teams are well oiled tactically, while some play very physically. We had 15 days of training and the coaching staff worked really hard.”

Finally speaking about the preparation for the Asian Cup he said, “Yes, whatever games we are playing and whatever training camps that are being held are all preparations for the Asian Cup. The tri-nations series that we played was also a part of the preparations for the Asian Cup.”