Thursday 28 Mar 2024

Excited to play in front of my home fans

GLAN MARTINS | SEPTEMBER 16, 2022, 11:22 PM IST
Excited to play in front of my home fans

FC Goa midfielder Glan Martins.

Photo Credits: FC Goa

For a long time, playing for FC Goa had been one of my biggest dreams. When it finally became a reality in January 2021, I knew I had to make my opportunities count.

It will be two years this coming January that I joined the club. And yet I am to play a single game in front of my own people, the mad crowd in Goa. It’s set to change finally this season and I can’t wait to get on to the field at Fatorda and finally live the dream. Words cannot simply express how we have all missed our 12th man over the last two seasons. I remember cheering for FC Goa at Fatorda, and I cannot wait to experience how it feels to be on its receiving end.

“A season to forget for FC Goa” - I’ve lost count of the number of times I read this line on newspapers, websites, social media over the last few months. But the truth is far from it. In fact, we do not want to forget our Hero ISL 2021-22 campaign. Instead, we want to remember it throughout our pre-season and throughout our upcoming campaign - because we do not want that to happen again at any cost.

If we do well, we try to do better. If we don’t, we learn and improve. So if you ask me if we want to pretend like last season never happened, we would always say no, without a doubt. There is a lot of hunger in us now. The hunger to prove ourselves, and to get back to where we belong - at the top of the charts. This has kept us determined throughout our ongoing pre-season camp. Be it even the simplest of training drills, a small-sided game, fitness exercises, maintenance of dietary patterns - there is a real intensity to it all.

Pena's arrival as coach a big boost
Carlos Pena’s arrival as FC Goa’s new head coach has been another big boost. I’ve watched Pena during his playing days with FC Goa. Everyone who played with him had great things to say about him as a leader in the dressing room.

Upon his return, I noticed that the respect for him had only increased manifold. And it’s not hard to see why. Coach Pena knows us very well, and his ability to think both as a tactician and as a player has helped us a lot over the past couple of months. His energy in training is unmatchable, and it has constantly kept us on our toes.

In addition to regular training sessions, we have also been playing friendlies to get ourselves match-ready. We had great outings against Velsao and Calangute Association. There seems to be a new energy surrounding the club and we can’t wait to get on to the pitch. We will be playing more friendlies in the days to come, and I hope you all can attend those games as well and get behind us.

(Footballer Glan Martins is the midfielder of Indian Super League club FC Goa)

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