Snatching
defeat from the jaws of victory is perhaps the best way to describe things, as FC Goa
went down 2-3 against Chennaiyin FC in the exhilarating final of the second
season of the Indian Super League (ISL) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in
Fatorda, Margao-Goa, on Sunday evening. The state was awash with anguish, as
all eyes were on the prize. With Goa being in the final, and playing on home
turf no less, expectations were sky high, and given the team’s form, the fans
had every right to expect a thrilling encounter. However, it all came to
naught, and the last game of the season ended in heartbreak for FC Goa.
As FC Goa went up 2-1
in the 87th minute courtesy Joffre’s free kick, it seemed done and dusted.
However, it is never so simple in football, opines Akshay Agarwal, who caught a
birds-eye view of the action from the West Stand on the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Stadium in Fatorda. “The first thing that comes to mind is the moment when the
game slipped away. The keeper, going down in a brave attempt to stave off yet
another Chennai attempt, and as luck would have it, after blocking two from the
spot, it just simply wasn’t his time. Before I could recover from the referee’s
decision of letting the goal count, another Chennai attempt hit the back of the
net. The game was lost and all the fervour that led up to it went with it. The
audience was in as much agony as the players themselves, if not more. You could
feel the disappointment, directed not towards the team, but the decision makers
and the consequent results of those decisions,” he says.
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As far as fan
reactions go, the person who is an ideal person to judge is none other than
Conrad Barreto. The founder of The Football Dug Out, he has been a rallying
point for those that bleed blue and orange. From organising screenings to
getting road-shows organised, to ensuring that FC Goa was the first-ever team
to have a mascot at the ISL, he has done it all. As a fan himself, and the
voice of many others just like him, he says, “Sunday’s result was heart
breaking, all the more so because we were playing at home. We just had to hold
on for a few moments more. I think that Zico should have gotten Sabrosa on
after Joffre’s goal, and that would have done the trick. Either way, wherever
next year’s final may be, we will go all out on the quest for glory, as the
fans will always be behind the team.”
A third perspective,
one that berates some of the fans is that of Candido Sardinha. A fan who has
watched every one of the home games live from the stands, he believes that the
fans should know better than to react the way they did. “I waited for every
last bit of the festivities. Right up to the end of the presentation ceremony.
I honestly feel that the home fans should not have jeered at the opposition in
the manner that they did. Even if the referee had a bad game, you cannot boo
the away team. For instance, when Edel was awarded the Golden Glove, the fans
booed him and called him names. That isn’t the done thing, because if Goa had to
win at the death, we would have been celebrating. While we had our moments, so
did they, perhaps more so. We need to get behind the team for the right
reasons,” he says.
As many fans look at the curtain coming down on the season, many
will wonder what the next season holds in store for the local team. And others
will hope for better still. Either way, as sporting things go, one can only
hope that things get better from here on out, and that the Força is strong with
the squad next season.
