Faz wants double figures

Fahrudin Kuduzovic has set himself a personal goal of scoring 10 or more goals this season, while he also believes it’s pivotal that Cork City qualify for Europe.

“Personally, I want to score as many goals as possible and hopefully get into double figures, doing that will also hopefully put the club into a good position. We want to be in at least the European spots and it’s got to be our main priority” said the man from Vlasenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Faz, as he is known as by players and fans alike, has settled in well on Leeside and admits that he is a long time admirer of the club.

“Basically, I wanted to come to Cork City as soon as Paul (Doolin) gave me the call. I’ve always admired the club, they’ve always played excellent football and the stadium’s great

“I’m happy to be here and since I’ve arrived the atmosphere has been great. We’re playing some good football in pre-season so I’m pretty happy with my decision to come down here” added the midfielder-cum-striker.

Kuduzovic left Drogheda with the clubs future still in doubt, but as the Co. Louth club went to part-time football, he felt it was important to remain in a professional set-up.

“Obviously, any full-time footballer wants to stay full-time if they’ve been doing it for the past seven years. It was a good chance (to join Cork) for me so I took it and also, going from one top club to another was a big thing for me” said the 24 year old.

New Cork manager Paul Doolin has brought in a host of new faces since he took over from Alan Matthews six weeks ago. However, the unfamiliarity of the squad is something Kuduzovic doesn’t look on as a hindrance as Cork go into the new season with strong title aspirations, despite there being nine new players at Turners’ Cross.

“The nucleus of the squad has stayed here. The core of the squad is very good and it was only a question of Paul adding a few players to compliment what was already here, for example Joe Gamble, Colin Healy and Dan Murray”

“I can’t see why we shouldn’t challenge for all of the trophies” said Kuduzovic but he also believes that this season will be the most open for some time.

“Good players have been scattered everywhere and I think it’ll be a funny year really. We will really need to compete and to be honest with the players we have we should. Also, everything has gone well pre-season so I don’t see why we shouldn’t be up there.”

It’s often said that Cork have been poor in the past couple of seasons from dead-ball situations, a skill that Faz is known to be a specialist in. “To be honest, I’ve not had many opportunities pre-seas and I’m not too disappointed about that. If I get my opportunity, I’ll take it.”

However, he also thinks that some of the players already at the club can do well from free-kicks. “We’ve got some great free kick takers such as Colin Healy, who showed us versus Kildare how good he is from a dead ball situation. I think there’s a bit of a queue lined-up but I’m sure we’ll all be fighting for the spot”

This week his quest for glory on Leeside begins. He has yet to win any trophies since his arrival in Ireland and hopes that finally he can get off the mark at Cork after unsuccessful spells at both Drogheda United and Sligo Rovers, who Cork take on this Saturday as the new season kicks off.

“I want to win things as I’ve not won any major honours in Ireland so this season, I want to win some trophies here at Cork”