PANAJI
FC Goa captain Edu Bedia said his side need to keep their heads up after suffering a heavy loss in the AFC Champions League.
FC Goa's maiden voyage into Asia's biggest continental club competition started off on a positive note as the Gaurs eked out two points from their first two games thanks to some spirited display from everyone across the pitch. That run of positive results was halted after two consecutive losses at the hands of Iranian powerhouse Persepolis, with the latest being a morale-sapping 0-4 loss on Friday night.
"We need to keep our heads up. We have been competing against the best teams in Asia. A few years ago this was unthinkable for an Indian team," the club website quoted Bedia as saying. "We have to forget about the last game and think about the challenges that we have in front of us," Bedia added.
The Gaurs were able to hold off the threat of Qatar's Al Rayyan and UAE's Al Wahda in the opening two games. The two goalless draws to start off the campaign was not only a show of grit but also of the abilities that the Goan team possess on the ball.
Bedia issued a rallying cry to all as he believes that the Gaurs can truly make history -- not just by becoming the first Indian side to participate in the group stages of the AFC Champions League, but by pushing the envelope and looking to end the campaign with their eyes firmly fixed on second place on the table.
"We can still mathematically finish second in the group. Now, that would be something historic. We have to recover from the effort we put into all these games and believe that we can do it," Bedia said.
FC Goa will look to take the first step towards the same when they take on Al Rayyan in their next game on Monday. Led by former World Cup winner, Laurent Blanc, the Qatari side has had a campaign to forget till now as they lie last on the table with just a point from their four games.
