FC Goa scripted history again by holding Al Wahada to a 0-0 draw three days after they did the same against Al Nayyan in their first-ever AFC Champions League game. Juan Fernando's men have shown some class defensive acts with decisive counter-attacking displays in both the games. As a case, they received plaudits from Nayyan's manager and French football legend Laurent Blanc.
Although all the games of the Group E of the competition are centralized in Goa due to the pandemic situation, it went on to show the development of Indian football on a high level. The orange army's approach in each game has been spot on, unnerved by the quality possessed by their opposition. Both Al Nayyan and Al Wahada sustained players having a lot of experience playing in Europe. Even with their repeated attacks, they failed to break the resilience of Goa.
Performance in a nutshell
Against the Qatar outfit in their first ACL appearance, Goa went full-on defense allowing less space for deadly attackers like Brahimi to exploit. Intentions were to clog Nayyan's attack and extract something out of the game. They were rewarded with a draw on a historical evening. The strategy changed a little bit in the second game of the group stage. Al Wahada is known for their progressive passing game with fullbacks getting high and midfielders joining the attack. Juan Fernando took an acute note of it and set his side to counter at every possible breakage of play. They almost won the game with Brandon Fernandes hitting the post and Devendra coming close on a few occasions.
Individual brilliance
FC Goa as a whole has been brilliant but they do have a group of players to thank for these results. The first of many names will be Dheeraj Singh. The 20-year-old once again proved his assurance of being the future goalkeeper of the Indian national football team. He drew out immaculate saves in both the games especially against Al Wahada when he kept out goal bounding strikes late in the game. Dheeraj was also vocal between the sticks and showed fantastic leadership traits throughout 90 minutes.
The center-back pairing of Donachie and Ivan Gonzalez has been a class. The former won almost every aerial battle while the latter physicality kept out runners away from the goal. Not once they got wrong-footed by any trickery. Glan Martins finely dominated the midfield while captain Edu Bedia's command on the ball has been sensational. Ortiz, Pandita and later Devendra excelled in the attack.
Will they advance?
With a string of good performance come high expectations. The question on everyone's lips is can they advance to the round of 16 stages? Goa faces Iranian champions Persepolis who are the only side in the group to register maximum points from the two games they played. Without a doubt, they will be the toughest side for the Goans to face. They play them twice simultaneously but are hopeful their home advantage persists.
To get through, Goa should stick to their style of play but have to score goals from now on. They showed that the countering team isn't a problem for them and they have got it in their arsenal to finish those chances. It's the decision-making in getting into good areas and a little inexperience of big tournaments that has led them down. But their confidence is building with Fernando's tactics working emphatically well in the understanding between the players. If they do good against Persepolis, there is no stopping them.
However as often as the case at this time, pressure starts to produce cracks. It is all down to them to prevent it from getting wider, hold onto their mantle and dream bigger. They cannot allow their hard work to not produce fruitful results. With this talented group of individuals, Goa and Indian football may be walking towards greatness.
