PANAJI
There is no middle path from now on for the Gaurs. Billed as early favourites to make the ISL play-offs given their sterling start to the season, FC Goa have fallen by the wayside, eking out a solitary point from their last four matches to languish at the sixth place in the 10-team league table.
After having more of themselves to blame than curse their ill-fortune after a 0-1 defeat to Chennaiyin FC at home in their last match, coach Sergio Lobera put their equation to the play-offs that offered a plaintive analogy. “We have four finals ahead to make it to the play-offs,” FC Goa’s Spanish gaffer had stated matter-of-factly.
In reply to a question put forth by this reporter at the pre-match press conference at Bambolim on Tuesday, the Lobera stated that they have to live to the reality that it is a must-win situation for them here on to ensure a passage to the last four. “Tomorrow (Wednesday) is a game that we are playing which is like a first of four finals and we all know that we have to get three points which has to be the motivation for the side. Knowing that if we get the three points that we want (against Delhi Dynamos FC), we will still be depending upon ourselves,” the Spanish tactician maintained.
He reiterated the team’s poignant situation with a touch of self-belief. “Like I said earlier, more than facing the situation with pressure, we should look at it with excitement. This is because I think we can achieve something big this year and we are four games away of trying and achieving something to that extent,” Lobera contended.
He also stressed that the team, irrespective of the corresponding result, prepares itself to a match in the best possible way putting up its best XI on field. His approach to the match against Delhi Dynamos is as simple as his players need to retrospect and be loyal to their selves. “We have to focus on restoring the confidence of our players. We have a good team which has already demonstrated through the course of the season and we have to demonstrate the same in this final phase,” the former Barcelona youth level coach stated.
If the thought of thinking on a happy 5-1 walloping of Delhi in their earlier match would help arrest the slide, Lobera refuted the claim that it could put the home side in good stead in the reverse game at Fatorda. “If you have to think of that game, you have to analyse that the result of that game does not reflect on what went on in the pitch. The opposite team went down with 10 players after which we managed to score quite quickly. From there, the scoreline became quite extensive. But until they were a player down, it was quite different with the game evenly balanced,” argued the FC Goa gaffer.
He went on to add that Delhi Dynamos are playing good football and deserve more points than they actually have got. His buy that the Wednesday fixture against the Lions would not be easy for the Gaurs to reproduce the earlier outcome again is certainly a valid one. On recent form, the Delhi side has done well picking up four points from their last two games to salvage lost pride, though out of the hunt for the play-offs since a while.
The dynamics of Coro-Lanza are set to integrate to a new pattern on a do-or-die Wednesday match for the Gaurs, with the creative midfielder, Manuel Lanzarote sitting out the match to a suspension. Perhaps it could prove a blessing in guise as the once deadly duo has provided less of a spark and more of a lull in recent matches upfront. The strapping young Dutch forward Mark Sifneos could weigh in as a double-edged attacking alternative alongside Ferran Corominas, especially to make good of his height from set-pieces curling into the six-yard box -- a job efficiently handled by Lanzarote so far.Meanwhile, Delhi Dynamos’s head coach Miguel Portugal stayed very positive ahead of the match at Fatorda. Brushing away the fact that they have no chance at 11 points from 14 matches to make it to the play-offs, he sees the remainder of the league matches presenting a challenge in itself.
“In our last two matches we played well, drawing against Chennaiyin FC (1-1) at home and defeating NorthEast (1-0)in an away match. I have full confidence that my side will do well against FC Goa. I look at our four matches as one final which we have to win,” he stated with an air of assurance.
With a former FC Goa player, Manuel Arana in their ranks, who for the better part of the season was with the Gaurs, the Delhi Dynamos team manager stated that the Spanish winger is an important part in their plans. “(Arana) is a good player and I know him well from being his coach in the Premier Division in Spain. I hope he will play well against the Goa side and he has helped in sharing insights about his previous team,” the former Spanish midfielder said.
