BASIL SYLVESTER PINTO
PANAJI
It is only apt that the two best teams in the course of the league stages meet each other for the showdown of the mega event called the Indian Super League (ISL). The league stage standings in ISL 2018-19 indicates that to pick a winner this edition would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
League standings may have Bengaluru FC at the pole position on 34 points with FC Goa at second with as many points and wins (10) as well, but with only their head-to-head record separating them at the top with FC Goa enjoying a healthier goal difference.
In the course of the ongoing ISL 5 season that culminates on the big match night at a likely capacity 8,000 crowd at the Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday, March 17, the two most passionate clubs’ fans will try and out chant and cheer their own team on where the 12th man will most likely be the difference in the outcome of an anticipated tightly contested affair.
Bengaluru FC may have had the better of FC Goa in the league stages, but the Gaurs can pride in the fact that barely a week ago they whipped a formidable Mumbai City FC in the away play-offs at 5-1 after conceding the first goal. Considering these factors, the match-up between Bengaluru FC and FC Goa at a neutral venue looks touch and go where a slice of luck could influence on who eventually lifts the coveted trophy on their second attempt respectively. It has to be noted that in their otherwise fabulous debut season in the ISL, Bengaluru FC had a very successful tournament, topping the league phase but to eventually suffer a 2-3 heartbreak in the final against the second time Champion, Chennaiyin City FC on their home ground, Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru
a year ago. Meanwhile, FC Goa has been part of the showcase event since in its inception, and is the only team that has reached the play-offs a record four times but yet to win the Cup. In their maiden tryst at the coveted Trophy back in the second edition in 2015 at their Fatorda Fortress, the Gaurs snatched an agonizing defeat from the jaws of victory in the end minutes against the Marina Machans who registered
their first title triumph at a similar score-line (3-2).
With Goa always known to play with an attacking flair of football from the time the Brazilian tactician Zico was at the helm to when the Spanish gaffer, Sergio Lobera took over the reins of the Gaurs stable at the start of the previous season, a goal-fest could always be in the offing. What more, two of the most prolific strikers in the League in successive seasons would look to outscore the other. While Goa’s influential centre forward, Ferran Corominas with 16 goals (from 19 games) this edition and the all-time leading ISL goal-getter has virtually confirmed a back-to-back Golden Boot award, his opposite number, in the strapping Venezuelan striker (5 goals, 11 games), Miku promises to give Coro a fair run for his worth in the all-important appetizer of a game.
