SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Ajit John
Mandar Desai, Hugo Boumos, Mourtada Fall all left FC Goa at the end of the last season. Big stars who contributed extensively to the fine campaign last year. Carlos Pena retired from the game and Ferran Corominas who scored 14 goals in 17 appearances last year left the country. And then of course Sergio Lobero the coach, the man responsible for the stylish football had to part ways with FC Goa suddenly. But new coach Juan Ferrando has more than filled that void with his style of play. FC Goa started this year’s campaign with a new team with key players leaving and new signings coming onboard. The new coach did a good job sticking to the clubs philosophy, building the league’s best attack and with great sense for positional attack. The recent matches saw good defensive display from Gaurs. Players like Lenny and Nawaz were poached by other teams but Glen Martins proved his worth in midfield. The Goan team broke unbeaten record only because they did not depend on individual players but focused on everyone in a squad fulfilling their roles and of course the mentality of never giving up. - Meblish Fernandes, São Jose de Areal I think the first people we need to congratulate are the FC Goa management because of the flak they received from the public who passed judgment based on speculation. Building a team almost from scratch with a large number of local based players is to be admired. One must remember FC Goa as a club cannot compete financially with the clubs from the metros. The reason for FC Goa success I suppose is due to their philosophy of grooming young talent and maintaining a balance with an attacking and competitive play style. There were so many teams who had the same squad from last season and yet they failed, so the feat what we have achieved becomes even greater. I hope we go all the way and lift that cup when no one even expected it. It will be fun to see the lobsters coming back to Goa then. Haha. - Kevin De Calangute, Calangute FC Goa’s success lies totally on its youth development. If you see FC Goa focuses on local talent. The Indian players signed by the team like Dheeraj, Amarjit, Redeem, Pandita, Romario, have helped the team. The foreign signings have been spot on. Kudos to the management for having an exceptional scouting team. And the main credit has to go to Juan Ferrando. He has instilled a never give up attitude in the boys and that’s how we saw Goa bounce back so many times this season. Whatever happened in the past with players leaving made the season tougher for the Gaurs, but even in the transition phase, the coach kept belief in his players and now they have tasted the success of their hard work. They truly deserve qualification. Força Goa. - Suraj Subhash, Ponda This squad and its coach possess that attitude of never say die. Frankly speaking our team is far from the best 11 out there but what they make it up with is the attitude with which they play. One can easily make out from the visuals that the players enjoy each other’s company and their success. Apart from the reserve goalkeepers there is hardly any player who has not got an opportunity to show their skills. The team policy of giving everyone a look in has been excellent. Despite the injuries to key players and suspensions in many matches most of which were unfair ones, we have successfully made it into the playoffs for or the 6th time in 7 attempts. One can only imagine how strong this team will become when a player like Brandon comes back into the XI. - Vivek Kudaskar, Bicholim I think this season has been far from perfect but we must not forget this team was rebuilt just before the start of the season. I would rate this last league match we played to be one of the worst performances of the season but given what was at stake I think the boys held their nerve and achieved something that was almost impossible at the start of the season. The best part about this team is the number of our very own Goan players in the squad and the addition of Glen Martins has been just amazing. In fact I even the goal he scored against Mumbai is what gave everyone the belief that we could go all the way. - Valeriano Rodrigues, Betalbatim Many say Goa has been lucky to reach the top 4 but then they should remember to remain unbeaten in 13 matches required skill and hard work and some luck. After the setbacks and departures we endured following the end of the last season, I was expecting a very difficult season for FC Goa and before we started I never thought we would fight for a place in the playoffs. But what this team has achieved under the tutelage of Juan Ferrando has been nothing short of greatness. FC Goa’s recruitment has been second to none in the ISL and we have brought in many unknown players and turned them into superstars, the result being virtually 2 FC Goa teams have qualified into the playoffs, if you know what I mean. - Upesh Morajkar, Vasco FC Goa has proved that even though we have a brand new team with only a few old players, we were able to make it to the semis. And this is mainly because of hard work, good ground strategies and a never say die attitude. Credit to coach Juan for staying calm, more importantly we fans have never bowed down no matter how many disappointments came our way.Força Goa ! - Conchita Goes Proenca, Calangute We are still not at our best. There is a lot of work still left to do in the midfield and defense especially. But despite all the shortcomings we still made it to the playoffs and this goes down to the team mentality and the work put in by the head coach Juan Fernando who unlike many other coaches came without a bag full of ex-players but rather assembled a brand new team featuring many young players. Special mention also goes out to whoever recruits the foreigners for FC Goa because every year we find gems from a mine of players. #VamosGoa - Francis Ferrao, Agonda FC Goa made it to the playoffs by being loyal to the brand of football the team was structured on. The management initiated a bold move to replace some Indian deadwood that had moved on to other rival teams by promoting the Development team players who are well-versed with the style of play. Even the foreign contingent signed by the management was spot on. Loyalty to the playing style was the trump card played by the management which paid off. - Johnny Carvalho, Nagoa Recruitments, signings, coaches etc. are ok but For FC Goa, football is not a sport. It is a passion, it is blood in their veins, and it is their indomitable fighting spirit, no matter who is part of the team. Even if a new player comes into the club then he becomes revitalised with the culture of the club and the fans which is second to none in India considering the unique vibe of Goa. - Anthony D, Ex. Army, Chicalim Despite so many key players from last season leaving the club our coach Juan Ferrando has done a tremendous job by rebuilding a fresh team around the existing season campaigners like Seriton, Edu, Brandon, etc. Every new player stepped up in a different game which proved crucial for us. We were not dependent on a single individual but the whole team worked hard and gave it their all. - Kunal Kunkolienkar, Goa It’s traditional for this team to qualify for the Play Offs. We’ve been there 6 times out of 7. The only one season we did not make it was when we had a lot of off field issues including the rebuilding of the whole Club. This season the scouting team has really done well in rebuilding the squad after we lost key players last season. Let us hope Juan Ferando can win the league and trump what Lobera and Zico did in their first seasons at the Club ! - Conrad Barreto, South Goa
