ALLAN D’CRUZ
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
FATORDA: On a night which saw as many as eight new faces for FC Goa on the pitch, nothing worked right for Juan Ferrando’s side who were totally outplayed by Persepolis FC 4-0 in the Asian Football Confederation Champions League at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda.
Persepolis FC scored two goals in either halves through Shahriyar Moghanloo (24’), Mahd Torabi (43), Alekasir (47’) and Kamal Kamyabinia (58’) to record fourth win in four games to progress into the next round of the competition.
Coach Juan Ferrando never feared to rotate the players in ISL and on Friday he made eight changes in the line-up. Naveen Kumar started in goal giving reprieve to Dheeraj Singh, while Princeton Rebello, Devendra Murgaonkar, Amarjit Singh were preferred over tired Glan Martins, Brandon Fernandes and Jorje Ortiz. For Persepolis, there were six changes in their playing XI.
However, the change didn’t live-up to the expectations of the coach Ferrando, who desired to put up his best against Persepolis, despite being handicapped with a ‘tired’ set of players. It looked like the Gaffer wanted to rest his best to get better results against Al Rayyan and Al Wahda in the final two games.
The Gaurs weren’t at their best and undeniably had their poorest start in their four matches so far. Without the regular names, FC Goa looked even sloppier in the back line and keeper Naveen made it worse for them. The custodian conceded the first of the evening in the 24th minute, when he let Shahriyar Moghanloo’s shot slip from his hands into the goal.
Though the Gaurs didn’t make any productive runs upfront, their defence wasn’t completing them the way they did earlier in the competition. Whereas Persepolis’s Ali Shojaie, Alkasir and Sharifi continuously attempted to create spaces troubling the Gaurs.
It went from bad to worse in the 43rd minute when he brought down Issa Alkasir in the penalty area. Mahdi Torabi sent Naveen in the wrong direction.
Nothing changes in the second session as Persepolis wasted no time in consolidating their lead. It was build up from behind which saw Alkasir make a run in the area before being assisted by Shahriyar, and fired a low shot past Naveem. This time the keeper couldn’t do much.
Ferrando finally introduced Ortiz, Glan along with Mohammad Ali who came in for injured Ivan Gonzalez. However, Ali delayed in clearing Alkasir’s delivery from a corner to which Kamal Kamyabinia, who had all the time to pounce, toe-poked the ball into the back of the net for the team’s fourth.
FC Goa looked to have finally found the shape and enjoyed better possession, but that didn’t trouble the visitors, who kept a check on them whenever Goa attacked. Naveen produced a fine save late in the game, putting a solid right hand to deny Omid Alishah’s long range attempt. Persepolis nearly got their fifth but Mehdikhani slammed his header on to the crossbar.
FC Goa displayed some fine football in the final 10 minutes of the game but the goal eluded the Gaurs, who had their first shot on target in the 93rd minute where Ortiz was denied by a diving Bozidar Radosevic.
In the first match, Omar Khribin’s second half penalty earned UAE’s Al Wahda FSCC a 1-0 win over nine-man Al Rayyan to keep alive their hopes of advancing to the knockout rounds from Group E.
