MARGAO: Delhi Dynamos FC’s marquee player-cum-coach Roberto Carlos is not one to regret losses. The legendary Brazilian made his Indian Super League debut at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Sunday and saw his team put up a great fight before losing 2-0 to FC Goa.
Delhi Dynamos FC conceded two goals in the first half and that made Carlos bring himself on at the outset of the second and the Lions did improve greatly following his entry but despite putting in a lot of efforts they couldn’t put any in the back of the net.
Speaking at the post-match conference, Carlos, one of the greatest left backs of all time, praised his team for playing the way they did.
“I’m happy with my team’s performance. The two goals were conceded because of our mistakes. We played a good game and lost. Sometimes that’s better than winning in a bad way,” the 42-year-old said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Dynamos marquee player-manager Roberto Carlos slammed Indian national coach Stephen Constantine for not acceding to their request of playing the likes of Robin Singh, Sehnaj Singh and Francis Fernandes against FC Goa on Sunday in their opening Indian Super League (ISL) match.
Players were to be released by every ISL franchise for the national team commitments who are to play twin 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Turkmenistan and Oman on October 8 and 13 respectively.
Dynamos had expressed their desire to release the players on October 5 which would have been a violation of the stipulated FIFA rules who have explicitly mentioned that the players be released by clubs for international duty at least four days prior.
According to sources, Stephen Constantine has intimated every ISL franchise, including Dynamos and their manager Roberto Carlos about the national team commitments at the ISL auction.
In the aftermath of the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Zico’s FC Goa, Carlos said, “Yes I spoke to him (Constantine) and asked if I could keep them (players). I did not like the way he spoke at all.”
Sources in the All India Football Federation (AIFF) informed that Constantine merely reminded Carlos of having told him of the national team commitments at the ISL auction and that it is their mistake of not having kept a track of the same. The AIFF source further mentioned that when the ISL, on the behalf of the clubs, had already intimated the federation that the players would be released on October 4, there was no reason for Dynamos seek an exception.
“I don’t want to speak about the Indian national team because of the way he spoke to me, good luck to him,” the Brazilian added.
