Having defeated two of the top three teams in the last two games, both at home, FC Goa’s mood has improved significantly
Panaji:
Manolo Marquez
has bittersweet memories about his trips to Kerala.
When he took
Hyderabad FC
to the Nehru Stadium in Kochi for the first time, he was greeted by a sea of yellow. After two seasons behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was the first one with fans allowed back at the stadiums, and the Spanish coach enjoyed the experience. The result too was in his favour as Hyderabad edged past Kerala Blasters 1-0.
His last trip to Kochi was a forgettable one.
It came with FC Goa last season. The visitors took a 2-0 lead inside the first 20 minutes, then had a goal disallowed. In the second half, Manolo’s side was blown over as they shockingly conceded four goals, three in the last ten minutes. Blasters won 4-2, a result that the experienced Spanish coach found hard to digest.
“It’s always nice to play in Kerala, because in football, you always want to have such an atmosphere,” Manolo told reporters during a pre-match media interaction on Tuesday. “Covid seasons were a disaster because, maybe, one of the worst things to happen is to play inside a stadium without the fans. It’s good when there are lot of people. Last season, we played a great first half, even scored the third goal that was not given. In the second (half), maybe it was one of the worst memories that we had last season.
“They scored four goals in the second half. I felt in that moment the crowd helped them a lot to turnaround the score. But I prefer these kind of games, rather than play without crowd.”
The loss against Blasters last season was a huge blow to Goa’s Shield chances in the Indian Super League (ISL). The team never really recovered from that blow, eventually finishing third and losing the semifinal.
Manolo now takes Goa to Kochi for another crucial clash on Thursday. This time, his team is sixth, but in good form, having defeated two of the top three teams – Bengaluru FC and Punjab FC – in the last two games, both at home. Blasters are ninth with a point less, having played an extra game, but with confidence restored, thanks to win at home after three losses in a row.
“The team is now much better; the players are training well. The best training session in my two years here have been in these moments, after the (international) break. You can see the attitude and hard work (in training) but you cannot guarantee results. But usually, when you train like this, the team will get the results, (and I say this) despite knowing the kind of game that awaits us in Kerala,” said Manolo.
It's hard to tell whether the international break has come at the right or wrong time for Goa.
The team had the momentum with back-to-back victories for the first time. After some lacklustre performances, those wins were much-needed. Then the international break happened with the Blasters game on Thursday being played three weeks after the win against Punjab.
It's also true that the break has helped key players return to full fitness. Borja Herrera is back, so is Carl McHugh, Udanta Singh and Aakash Sangwan. Goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani, Rowllin Borges and Muhammed Nemil are nursing injuries and won’t make the trip to Kochi.
“This is football, we knew about the fixtures and the international break. In fact, before the break, we spoke of picking up six points which would be good for us. These were very good six points. Now we need to continue in the same way after the break, which is normal. These are FIFA windows and we can’t do anything about it. In December, we won’t be in action for almost two weeks, while others play. We need to train like we are doing right now, because we are training very, very good.
“As for the other side, we recover most of the players. I think we have a good team. I’ve been saying from the first day that we will have a good season and my opinion doesn’t change. We will have a good season,” said Manolo.
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