AGENCIES, GUWAHATI: This would be the first time in the second season of the Hero Indian Super League that Zico and his FC Goa would be playing a game away from home, against NorthEast United FC, and the Brazilian head coach expects an engaging performance from the Highlanders at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium on Thursday.
“We hope to recover from our loss against Chennai (which they lost 4-0) and play well. NEUFC also have had similar problems as ours, like injuries. In the last game, they suffered an undeserved loss (vs FC Pune City). They have a very good coach (Cesar Farias) and they fared well in South Africa (in the pre-season training). So we expect a good and difficult game,” said Zico. For their first away game, Goa have been practicing many strategies.
“A team can only play what they know. We had opportunities for a comeback (against Chennaiyin) but could not take them. They took theirs very well. We hope to recover and hopefully win the game,” Zico said.
But do the hectic “travel” schedules affect the training sessions of the players in any way? “The location and timings of the training sessions may change a bit, we may also change players on the pitch but the philosophy remains the same. Always. Home or away makes no difference to us,” the Brazilian said.
Reviewing his first loss against Chennai, Zico commented, “This is football – sometimes it happens according to the plan, sometime it doesn’t. Our plan was to defend well and mark Elano and (Stiven) Mendoza well, but it failed. Sometimes you encounter a team playing better football on that night.”
“In my coaching career of 16 years, I’ve never lost a match 4-0. We are very sad about the loss.”
When asked about countering the euphoric NorthEast United crowds at the Assam stadium, Zico said, “When I was a player, I liked noisy venues a lot. For or against my team, it did not matter. Last year, we had around 30,000 people here. We had a good game, drew 1-1. Every good player, eventually, is motivated by the environment of the stadium. The noisier the better!”
