FATORDA: Zico’s men came into the match desperate for a win in order to keep themselves in the hunt for the semi-finals but after the draw their chances have taken a severe beating as the strikers failed to make their mark, at Fatorda Stadium, on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media after the match, Zico didn’t try to hide his disappointment.
“As a coach I had to change my team and I had a lot of other alternatives to do it, as you know Joffre could not play 90 minutes, so I decided to play him in the last 30 minutes as you can see we had many opportunities, but unfortunately the goals did not come”, he said.
“Because of our mistakes and a lot of wrong passes we were left open for counter-attacks. I do not regret the team formation. Of course, we took a lot of risk against a team like Mumbai with Sony Norde, Sunil Chettri and Diego Forlan in their ranks. We too had a lot of chances but our strikers failed to find the nets”, he added.
As compared to last year (34 goals), FC Goa have managed to score only 8 goals so far, but Zico feels it is matter of competition in the league and the teams don’t open too much.
“The teams don’t open up too much. They play defensive and wait for the counter-attack. I think our team needs to adjust according to the situation, we had a lot of opportunities not only in this game but also in other games.”
Not just the Gaurs, other teams too have witnessed a dearth of goals.
Zico was effusive in praise of both the goalkeepers.
“We have to give credit to the goalkeepers of both teams. They played really well. They defended well under the bar,” the 63-year-old Brazilian said.
Zico thanked his players and the fans for their support.
The Gaurs, who moved off the bottom of the table with 11 points from as many games, now host Atlético de Kolkata on November 24 at home.
