FATORDA: FC Goa played a goalless draw against Mumbai City FC at Fatorda Stadium, on Wednesday.
Following their 2-1 win over the Highlanders few days back, nevertheless too late, FC Goa finally seemed to return to their good old days -the fans back at the stadium, the revival of Romeo and Mandar and more importantly Zico found the missing piece in his puzzle as he finally got the perfect formation along with appropriate players in those positions for his team- but they failed to get the much needed win despite controlling most of the game.
Zico’s men looked as if they would clinch another late victory when second half substitute Julio Cesar had the best chance of the match in the 4th minute of the injury time but the Brazilian failed to square his shot past the Mumbai keeper.
Coming into the match, though Julio Cesar, Joffre Mateu and Lucio returned from injuries, the Brazilian legend yet again showed his faith in the Indian players as he fielded eight domestic players along with Richarlyson, Rafael Coelho and Gregory Arnolin -who captained the side.
Zico’s newly-found team didn’t disappoint the jam packed stadium. Once known as the most vulnerable defence showed great zeal as they pinned the Mumbai City FC attacking line-up of Deigo Forlan, Sony Norde and Indian International Sunil Chhetri in the first period.
Gregory was well supported by Sanjay Balmuchu, Keenan Almeida and Debabrata Roy.
The midfield was the best area for the Gaurs as Romeo, Richarlyson, Mandar, Sanjay were exceptional with their pace and trickery equally supported by Rafael.
However the second half was bit a nervy one for the home side. Coach Zico introduced Joffre and Trinidade in place of Keenan and Debabrata Roy to bolster the attack thus changing his formation from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2, which albeit gave room for the home attack, but simultaneously weakened the back line as Sanjay had to be stretched off with an injury.
Kattimanni helped the Gaurs keep their third clean sheet of the season. The Goan custodian denied Chhetri and Uruguayan international Deigo Forlan with stunning saves. But this was not what the fans were hoping for. Win and only win would let the fans march out of the stadium smiling.
The 18,917 spectators waited eagerly till the last minute hoping the Gaurs would find the back of the net, but their creativity lasted till the rival goal area.
Zico finds himself in a tricky situation but the gaffer rubbished any claims of a challenging season.
“I don’t consider it as a difficult season. We lost against Kerala, Delhi and Pune cause of our players mistakes. If we had it right we would have been in different situation. We would have atleast 4 points more,” Zico explained.
“And Kerala, Delhi and Pune wouldn’t have been where they are today,” he added.
Now with just three games to go, the question on everyone’s mind is ‘Can FC Goa qualify for the play-offs?’ It’s a crunch situation for Goa as their next three matches are against ATK at home, Delhi Dynamos away and their ultimate match against defending champs Chennaiyin FC at home.
Even if Goa claims 12 points from these matches, Goa will have to hope other results go in their favour.
