“Man and I are sweethearts
He craves me and I long for him,
But alas! Between us has appeared
A rival who brings us misery.
She is cruel and demanding,
Possessing empty lure.” Kahlil Gibran in Song of Fortune
FC Goa did not need fortune to win against Delhi Dynamos.
They were fortunate not to have lost by a more humiliating margin. At the end
of the day , the best team won and the thousands that gathered to see their
teams fortune change for the better, the story was the same – the best is yet
to come.
One win, one draw and five defeats. This is not statistics
but the story of FC Goa in ISL 3 and nothing could have been worse. At the
Nehru stadium yesterday evening when India was lighting itself to fireworks, Delhi
left Goa dumb with its blasts. When the first blast happened, the writing was
imminent. On the second blast, the stadium started emptying. Enough is enough.
FC Goa coach Zico opted to start with Luciano Sobrosa- who
was played for the first time – along with Sanjay Balmuchu and Raju Gaikwad.
Gregory, Dumas and Lucio sat on the benches. Richarlyson and Mandar who were
expected to bolster the attack played deep behind their lines leaving strikers
Rafael and Cesar with little to do upfront.
Infact, the first half belonged to neither. In the forty
five minutes, Mandar had a good strike
of his hit the horizontal and Subhasish had to dive to thwart a Gazde strike.
That was it as the twenty two on the pitch appeared to look to the skies.
FC Goa had two attempts at the Delhi goal during the first
half. Goalkeeper Toblas came to his teams rescue in the fourth minute and the
horizontal denied Mandar the opportunity to register his name amongst the
scorers of this season. The first half excitement for the FC Goa fans lingered
on these two chances.
Delhi Dynamo coach Zambrotta made two changes in the second
half- Kean Lewis and Marcelo Pereira . This was enough for the dynamo from
Delhi to ignite.
Two goals in four minutes and the crowds realised that this
could perhaps be FC Goa’s worst run in the Indian Super League.
Kean and Marcelo added steam to the Delhi attack . both
changes flanks initially and it was during one of these changes that Marcelo
found the back of the nets. He ran deep into the FC Goa box and when he
appeared to be narrowing the angle for himself , let go a shot that flew past
FC Goa goalkeeper Subhasish into the
side netting for what would eventually be the beginning of a damp start to the
first half of ISL.
The second goal was equally classy. There was nothing anyone
from FC Goa could do about it. Delhi Dynamo had three chances- the third one
came their way during extra time but not utilised- and they scored two.
FC Goa did not have chances because they could create
none. All they did during the ninety
minutes was run through the flanks to cross to the centre to be cleared by the
Delhi defenders. In the end it looked routine.
At the end of the day , Zico must have been an unhappy man.
No one is in football to lose. However, when one is thrown in with the ball and
few players to choose from, one waits for the roll of the ball. This is luck .
Yesterday even with luck , the
result would not have gone FC Goa’s way
because Zico did not have men who could make or could bring change.
The battle for FC Goa is now and it has to be so till the
end.
No comments:
Post a Comment