MARGAO
After a crushing 1-4 defeat against Odisha in the 76th National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy at Kalinga Stadium on Sunday, head coach Norberto Gonsalves feels that his side needs the aggression to win and it was missing in Sunday's match.
The big defeat, their second after the 2-3 defeat to Kerala, effectively put Goa out of contention for a knockouts berth, leaving Gonsalves wondering what exactly went wrong for his team. But then, it wasn't that the Goa head coach was unaware of the ground realities.
"The lack of passion to score on the field cost us dear. It is sad that we suffered a second consecutive defeat in Group A. We never expected this outcome. I believe the aggression to score and win a match was missing somewhere," Gonsalves told 'The Goan' after the match.
"It's the small mistakes that always lead to such results and affect the team. It was no different during our match either. The lack of concentration and errors we conceded proved to be the game-changer. It's all about how focused you are when you have the ball with you.
"Odisha were a strong side and backed by home crowd. They performed, scored and finally won the match. It was a really heartbreaking and unexpected result for us," Gonsalves added.
The Goa coach was asked why he made five substitutions against Odisha. "We were down and I made the substitutions to arrest the downfall but it was also just wanting to give chances to the new players in the team. They are new faces on the team. They deserve to play a match so I gave them a chance,” he said.
Gonsalves was not happy with the team’s overall performance. "Scoring is very important for the team. There was a lot of good communication between the midfielders but today the flair was missing," Gonsalves said.
"Everyone came prepared to win the tournament but on a given day, you have to perform. Our boys lacked cohesiveness and somehow couldn't play against Odisha and we had to suffer the loss," Gonsalves said. "These boys are inexperienced and talented, but they have to work a lot harder if they want to succeed in their football careers. Discipline, determination, and passion have to be there," he added.
"We all are preparing for the next matches with a heavy heart and we need to work on many areas. I hope the boys understand that no tournament is easy and they need the necessary aggression to win a match," concluded Gonsalves.
