FC Goa appears to have had a forgettable outing at the Indian Super League (ISL) this season. A crowd favourite, it could however be all over bar the shouting for the Goan outfit in this edition of ISL. With 18 points before the match against group toppers Hyderabad on Saturday, FC Goa has 18 points and just three matches left to be played. Hence, their chances of making it to the play-off stage are almost non-existent. In the 2015 and 2018-19 season, they reached the finals in the league. In the 2019-2020 season, FC Goa topped the league stage and won the first ever ISL League Winners Shield and directly qualified for the AFC Champions League group stage. However in the 2016 season, they finished at the bottom of the table. In the present edition of the league, the only thing at stake for the team is pride. However, it was not easy going for the team during this season. They lost some star players to Mumbai FC. Players like Mourtada Fall and Ivor Angulo to name a few. Luck was never on their side. Many close calls and wrong decisions by the referees leading to defeats did not do any good for the morale of the team. The team had a change of the head coach midway through the league. Derrick Perreira was called in to replace Coach Juan Ferrando. Derrick had his task cut out and did his best to boost the morale of the team. However the bright side is that FC Goa is in the process of building a team for the future.
ADELMO FERNANDES, Vasco
