Ever since FC Goa lost Jorge Ortiz to injury in the Durand Cup, they have expressed concerns over the safety of the players due to the pitch conditions in Kolkata. The state has been seeing incessant rain and it has led to the pitches getting waterlogged, making the playing conditions dangerous. Ortiz had got injured in FC Goa’s match against Sudeva as the Delhi team’s defender’s foot got stuck in the ground and he ended up making a dangerous tackle at Ortiz.
Ahead of the quarter-final against Delhi FC, which was to be played at the Mohun Bagan ground initially, was also a matter of concern for the Goan team.
“We are extremely concerned about the conditions (at the Mohun Bagan ground) for the match tomorrow (Friday) to the point that Juan (Ferrando) and I visited the ground in the morning and we were pretty much aghast with the conditions at the match venue. The pitch is waterlogged, I don’t see how it’s possible for a match to happen there. We pointed it to the Durand Cup organisers and thankfully they saw the sense in it and agreed that the match should not be played there. They are trying to find an alternate venue, I believe Kalyani and the Salt Lake are the two other options but I believe there’s already a match at the Kalyani around the same time. We are waiting for them to get back. We are having the pre-match press conference but we don’t know where we are going to play the match tomorrow to be completely honest,” FC Goa’s Director of Football Ravi Puskur said in the pre-match press conference on Thursday.
The organisers zeroed in on Kalyani for the match. Though FC Goa released their poster for the match and confirmed that they will be playing the quarter-finals, they had expressed concerns regarding Kalyani as well.
“Honestly, it doesn’t bring in a lot of confidence when the coach of another team (Kerala Blasters), who has had first hand experience is not very complimentary of the situation (at Kalyani). Also, we had a bit of discussion after we came back and Kalyani does not make a lot of sense for us because it’s not exactly close to us, it’s two and a half hours away. The game’s kick-off is at 2pm so in order for us to be there in time along with our backward planning, we will have to leave at 6am in the morning. I don’t think that’s ideal for a professional club to be up and running at 6 for an afternoon match. We have to travel for 2-3 hours to reach the venue,” Puskur had explained.
FC Goa head coach Juan Ferrando said he was initially very happy to be participating in a prestigious tournament like the Durand Cup but knowing the realities of the pitch now, he hopes the organisers can fix it in the future.
“When we decided to participate in the Durand Cup in Kolkata, I was very happy because it’s a prestigious tournament but day by day, we know the real situation of the pitch and the conditions. In this case, it’s not possible to change and we can only focus on our work and improve our team. I hope the situation with the pitch changes because it’s not good for the tournament and for the professional teams to come here and to participate with full strength,” he said.
Ferrando, who was not satisfied with the length of the pre-season last season, was happy to have got a long pre-season this time around, enabling him to work with the players the way he wanted.
“We are working on different plans, with the foreigners and the youngsters, that’s our target. This is time to work step-by-step. I am happy with the young players and with the foreigners, who have been helping the young ones.
“Our focus is to improve and the development of the players. We need to control a lot since it’s the pre-season. It’s a good time here in Kolkta for me because we are working a lot on tactics. In a month or so, we will be ready for the ISL and so, this is the moment important moment for us and all the clubs.
“Our target is to improve day by day. I am very happy that the club allotted the time last month for me to come here and start working with the team. Also, we have players from the developmental team. I am very happy because we have a good pre-season. We can work everyday. We’ll be participating in the ISL and sure, we have more plans according to the team and time in the season, this is why pre-season is very important for me. Last season, we had only 3-4 weeks of pre-season, now I have got more time, we have had good friendly games. Also in a competition like the Durand Cup, there are a lot of positive points and I hope in the end, the result in the ISL will be better,” he expressed.
Ferrando said the team was not thinking about the wins they had in the group stage and was instead taking it fresh in the quarter-final against Delhi FC.
“It’s in the past (three group games). Now we have our focus on the Delhi FC game, we have a plan for the game, it’s a tough opponent. We learned some details from the previous games but we aren’t thinking about the wins.”
Since ATK Mohun Bagan’s 6-0 thrashing to FC Nasaf in the AFC Cup inter-zonal semi-final on Wednesday, there has been a lot of chatter around respecting FC Goa’s run at the AFC Champions League. In the ACL, FC Goa were up against vastly superior teams like Persepolis, Al Rayyan and Al Wahda. However, they overachieved with three points and finished third in the grpup ahead of Qatar’s Al Rayyan.
FC Goa captain Edu Bedia also posted an Instagram story saying people will respect his team’s ACL performance more now. However, Ferrando said he could not speak about what happened with ATK Mohun Bagan and his target remains to improve his team.
“Believe me, yesterday (Wednesday) was a game of course but my personal target is to improve FC Goa. I am not thinking of them, I don’t know the emotions in the dressing room, the situation with ATK Mohun Bagan, it’s difficult to talk about the other teams becuase 100 per cent, my focus is in my team. I don’t know what happened with them. My aim is for FC Goa to keep improving and my dream is for the team to participate in the Asian Champions League in the future. This is my target, my dream, my focus. When other teams participate in the international competitions, I wish them the best but it’s tough to know what happened, I don’t know what their plans were.”
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