I write this at a time when not just India, but the whole world is celebrating the beautiful game of football. The ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has been highly entertaining and at the same time, given us plenty of lessons to learn.
The million-dollar question in the minds of most Indians right now, is this - how long until our flag flies high in the world’s biggest stage? The answer, I believe, is ‘soon’. One reason for this is the rise of Asian and African football. Though not usually named along with the European and South American powerhouses of the sport, Morocco, Japan, South Korea, Senegal, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Cameroon showed us how discipline and determination can go a long way in terms of sporting development.
As a budding football nation, India can take several pointers from the success of all the above countries.. Apart from this, I’ve also been happy with the performance of the team that I support - Portugal. They showed quality to reach the quarter-finals, especially with how they dismantled Switzerland in the round-of-16.
FC Goa will bounce back
Meanwhile, we did not have a really great time in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL), over the course of the past month. While we did well to win against ATK Mohun Bagan, we failed to capitalise on the momentum we had built up. But all that is past now. All we can do now is to take those as learnings, rectify what went wrong, and not repeat those mistakes in the future. Our Coach, Carlos Pena is someone who can definitely lead us in the right direction, and we’re well on our way to bounce back.
The victory against Odisha FC on Saturday is a refreshing change. We have 11 matches remaining in the league, and the focus is now on how we can take home as many points as possible from them with our eyes firmly on the playoffs. On an individual level, I was disappointed over the last few weeks. An injury meant that I couldn’t help the team as much as I would have wanted. It’s a situation that no footballer desires.
That said, I’m happy to add that I’ve already recovered and got playing time against Odisha. I hope to utilise my chances well in the days to come, so that we achieve our objectives.
Another thing that I look forward to in December is the start of the 2022-23 edition of the Goa Professional League (GPL). In many ways, the GPL played an important role in making me who I am today, and I’m grateful to the platform I got in the league.
It’s where I started my professional career, and I won the trophy twice with my former club, Sporting Clube de Goa. One of my most memorable moments in my career also happened in the GPL, when I scored for Sporting against Dempo SC in the season opener a few seasons back. It really set the tone for my development since then, and I always look back at that strike with a lot of fondness.
Coming back to one of my points from earlier, India has several lessons to learn from the successful teams in the World Cup, and one of these is the importance of game time to budding young players. It improves their confidence and footballing skills, and state leagues like the Goa Pro League are one of the ways to achieve this.
I would like to wish the very best for the FC Goa Dev Team that will take part in the GPL this season, and Our Dev Team, which comprises several exciting talents will play in the league, and I can’t wait to see them shine and get the attention that they deserve.
(Footballer Glan Martins is the midfielder of Indian Super League club FC Goa)
